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How had Harper fucked this up so badly?
Chapter Sixteen
Wednesday.TurtleHospital,Marathon,FL.
Robin stared at the Loggerhead turtle floating peacefully in the pool. One flipper was bandaged, but it didn’t seem to mind the injury.
At least the little turtle would recover and be released to go about its natural life.
Harper had tried to talk to her off and on for the last two hours. He’d finally stopped here, at the Turtle Hospital. She wasn’t sure what made him do it, but it had been nice to focus on the educational tour. Anything that made her not think about herself and what she’d done.
It was calming sitting by the little pool with such gentle creatures. The staff would no doubt encourage her to move on before much longer, but until then she wanted to sit and not think.
Jessica had texted to let her know she’d picked up the device from the front desk of the Pearl. Now all Robin could do was wait.
Dad had called twice, but left no message. At Harper’s suggestion, she’d turned her phone off after alerting Jessica. So now it was just Robin and Harper.
Was it a good idea to go all the way out to the Lower Keys like this?
“Ice cream?”
She sucked in a breath, surprised by Harper’s voice, and blinked up at him. He held a vanilla ice cream cone out to her.
“Thanks,” she muttered and took the treat.
He sat on the bench next to her, eating his own ice cream in silence.
What was she going to tell him? What could she tell him?
She should have never gone looking, not if she was going to get this scared at the first sign of conflict. She wasn’t as brave as she’d wanted to believe. This was a job for someone like Jessica, someone who didn’t care about the personal cost so long as they did the right thing.
Robin was pathetic.
“Hey? Hey, what’s wrong?” Harper went to a knee in front of her, peering up at her with concern.
She blinked, but his face only got more blurry.
“Shit, sorry,” she muttered.
He took the ice cream from her and wrapped an arm around her. “Tell me what to do to make it better? Please? Tell me anything at all.”
She bent her head, resting it on his shoulder as a sob escaped her.
Voices of other patrons drifted toward her.
“Can we go? Now? I just want to get out of here,” she said past the lump still in her throat.
“Yeah, my place is still an hour away, but let’s go.” He stood, keeping one hand on her. “Hungry yet?”
She wiped her face then eyed the ice cream. “No, sorry.”
Harper looped a comforting arm around her waist and guided her toward the parking lot, taking the least direct path that happened to allow them to avoid all other people. He also used that time to scarf down the ice cream he’d bought for her.
She got into the SUV and slumped down, out of sight.
This was a job for more than just her and Jessica. Robin needed to tell someone, but was Harper the right person? If he wasn’t, would he know what to do?
He got behind the wheel, ice cream gone, and started the engine, but they didn’t leave. Instead, he turned to face her.
