"So, dinner tomorrow evening?" Nathan's warm brown eyes crinkled at the corners. "Maybe seven?"
Harper's heart fluttered. "Seven would be perfect."
His thumb traced another circle on her hand. "I'll pick you up at the inn."
Reality intruded, and Harper sighed. "I should probably head back. My first day on the job was a little more traumatic than I had expected."
"Of course." Nathan squeezed her hand. "I hope tomorrow is better.."
Harper reluctantly pulled out her phone to call an Uber, but Nathan's hand covered her screen.
"Let me drive you back to the inn."
"Oh, no - you don't have to do that. You've already been so kind, and-"
"Hey." His gentle interruption made her pause. "What kind of mate - or gentleman - would I be if I let you take an Uber home after our date?"
A startled laugh escaped her. The tension in her shoulders melted away at his playful reference to their earlier conversation. "Well, when you put it that way..."
"Exactly." He stood, offering his hand to help her up. "Besides, it gives us a few more minutes together."
Warmth bloomed in her chest as she slipped her hand into his. Even Reyna's smugtold you socouldn't dampen the joy bubbling through her.
Chapter 10
By the endof the week, Harper was as frustrated as she was angry. After the third day, she'd gotten a cooler to take her lunch in, and put it under her desk out of sight. But they'd still gotten to it, presumably when she had been called to attend a meeting with the other personal finance officers. They didn't waste time with sabotaging it, they simply stole everything from the cooler.
And that wasn't all. She'd undergone the humiliating experience of requesting a customer to sign some papers, and every pen in the cup on her desk was out of ink. As were the pens in her top drawer, and she'd had to leave the client in her office while she went to the supply room to get an all new pack of pens.
The spare pairs of stockings she'd put in her desk drawer had been neatly cut in half, probably with the scissors from her top drawer (whose tip had been bent and was now unusable). She now kept new pens and spare stockings locked in the top drawer of the filing cabinet. But her cooler wouldn't fit in there.
There was more, too, but, like the pens and the stockings, it was all petty things. Nothing she could lodge an official complaint about without looking like a fool, even if she had proof of who was doing it, which she didn't. Smirking looks and giggles could hardly be counted.
The only bright spot in her week… after dinner with Nathan, of course… had been Wednesday evening. She'd gone to have dinner with Jake and his fiancee, Becca, and had poured her woes into their ears. Predictably, Jake had been furious, but Harper and Becca had a good laugh at the mean girls setting their sights on Jake, and together they razzed him about it all evening.
"Just think how mad they'll be when Jake keeps bringing you to work and taking you home," Becca giggled.
"Oh, geez. I was planning to go car shopping tomorrow after work," Harper sighed, pushing the remains of her pasta around her plate. "But after dealing with those three all day, I don't think I'll have the energy. I'll go Saturday instead, after I go apartment hunting."
"Oh! Can I come with you?" Becca's eyes lit up. "I'd love to help you apartment hunt. I've never done that, it'll be a new experience for me in this century." She blushed charmingly. "Well, Jake and I will be married, and it didn't make sense for me to enter a lease. So I am living at the pack house for now. But still I would like to see how it is done."
Harper accepted her offer with enthusiasm. "That would be wonderful. I've only seen listings online, and everything looks so different in person."
"Plus, I can check for any residual magic or weird energy. You'd be surprised how many places have... interesting histories." Becca's nose wrinkled. "There's this one building on Oak Street that gives me the creeps every time I walk past it."
"Noted. Definitely crossing that one off my list." Harper reached for her phone to pull up the apartments she'd bookmarked. "Katerina's coming to pick me up at nine, she's going to be driving. The first apartment on my list, the one I really think I want, is over on Maple, near that little cafe you mentioned."
"Perfect! We can leave early and grab breakfast there first. They make these amazing cinnamon rolls that are bigger than your head." Becca leaned forward, peering at Harper's phone screen. "Oh, and that second one - on Cherry Street? That's right by Nathan's music school."
Harper's cheeks warmed at the mention of Nathan. "I hadn't noticed that," she mumbled, though Reyna's happy yip in her mind suggested otherwise.
Jake chuckled. "Sure you hadn't." He held up one hand, his expression serious. "Coming back to the car issue, I still think I should drive you to work every day," "Those women are trouble."
Harper stabbed a piece of pasta with more force than necessary. "I appreciate the offer, but that'll just make things worse. They already think I'm trying to steal you away from them."
"Jake's right though." Becca touched Harper's hand. "You shouldn't have to deal with this alone. And honestly? Those women need to realize you're not a threat to their delusional fantasies about my fiancé."
"Delusional is right." Jake's jaw clenched. "I've never given any of them the slightest encouragement. I barely speak to them except for 'good morning' when they come in."
