“What?” I ask, out of breath from the run.
“You and Cassie seem to be getting on great. I’m clearly just a third wheel. So I’ll make your life easier. You two can hang out in her van. Bang it out if you want, I don’t care. And I’ll see you at the airport.”
Harper’s tone is so even, so matter-of-fact that it’s worse than if she were yelling at me.
“Cassie leaves Thursday,” I say, because it’s the first thing I can think of, my logical brain responding before the damage-control part of my brain has a chance to keep up.
“Oh!” Harper says. Mad. Definitely mad. “Okay, in that case, I’ll pick you up on Thursday from wherever you two end up.”
“I came here with you.”
“Oh, I know.” She turns to me, her face looking a littlehysterical. “But I wasn’t sureyouknew. You want to go hang out with some random girl you found? Fine. Go ahead. But don’t tell me to meet you somewhere and then ditch me. God, I was afraid to even look in the van to see if you were in there for fear of finding you two going at it. Instead, you were just hiking down from the top of the waterfall, already done sightseeing. Did you forget about me? Or did you plan on having me go up to see the waterfall by myself while you two went to the next place? Did you just want to play leapfrog all day, passing each other at each checkpoint to make sure the other wasn’t dead? Because if that’s the case, I’d rather just spend the day alone.”
“Harper—”
She shoots daggers at me, her face bright red. Her hair is somehow both wind-swept and soaked now, dotted with flecks of mud from the last waterfall. Her braid from this morning has loosened. Yet again, I have to stop myself from reaching over and tucking it behind her ear.
What am I doing?
“Your girlfriend’s coming,” she says, her voice off, like she’s trying to stop herself from crying.
And right on cue, there’s a knock at the window. Cassie’s standing there, all smiles, unaware of the ball of fury sitting next to me. I’m surprised, actually, that Cassie isn’t more mad at me for running off, but I appreciate not being sandwiched between two angry women.
I open the door for Cassie so I can talk to her, but I don’t get up from my seat.
“Want to each lunch in my van? There’s room for everyone,” she says.
It seems like a bit of a peace offering, but Harper won’t look at her.
“I’m good,” she says, keeping her eyes on the dashboard of the car.
“Luke?” Cassie asks.
“I’ll stay with Harper.” I try not to notice the way Cassie’s face flickers with a hint of jealousy.
“It’s fine,” Harper says. She gives her sandwich another bite, ignoring me. “I’m going to finish my sandwich and then go check out the waterfall. Since you guys already looked around, you can eat your lunch.”
“Okay, we’ll be in the van if you need us.” Cassie grabs my hand and gives me a gentle tug. I don’t want to go, but with Cassie pulling me away and Harper not wanting anything to do with me, my place seems clear.
“I’ll go with you when you’re ready, Harper, so you don’t have to be alone,” I say, slowly getting out of the car to follow Cassie to her van.
Harper doesn’t acknowledge me. She keeps her eyes trained forward, and I’m not sure if it’s my own guilt making me see things, but I swear I see a tear running down her face.
Chapter 21
Harper
Istart crying when I hear the car door click. I’m one of those lucky people who cry when they’re angry. I don’t scream or punch walls—I just cry. And right now, it feels a bit pathetic.
I didn’t want Luke to eat lunch with Cassie, but what was I supposed to say? No, eat lunch with me and make Cassie eat by herself.
Because that’s the only solution that would make me happy.
No. Scratch that. The only solution that would make me happy is if Luke got in the car and Cassie drove off in her van and I never had to see her again.
And that’s why I’m sitting in my car alone, crying while I eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Apparently, the date they went on last night wasn’t enough alone time.
