Even though Nell’s aggressive blushing suggested she wasn’t particularly relaxed.
“Stop!” Nell threw a pillow at Harper’s head. She barely caught it. “We aren’t even official. Not yet, anyway. I don’t want to jinx it by getting clingy.”
Harper rolled her eyes, but didn’t argue. There were limited topics they could discuss without stoking the unresolved argument from before. Nell’s shoddy attempt at casual dating was one of them.
She was the only one who hadn’t settled down once the cabin heated up. The three of them had changed into more comfortable clothing of t-shirts and sweatpants—all of which came from the minor shopping spree Harper had gone on after arriving at the outpost. Nell was poking around the cabin bookshelves, whileEvie was curled up in the armchair and Harper was on the couch, head resting on Maya’s lap.
A terrible mistake. Maya took advantage of the position and used it to run her fingers through her hair. Combined with the fireplace and comfy clothes, Harper was getting drowsy.
“Doesn’t seem like Casey really minds clinginess. You’ve spent basically every night together for the past week.” Evie’s eyes darted to Harper. “Looks official to me.”
Tension flashed across Nell’s face. “Yeah. It’s been good.”
Evie folded her arms. “It has. Right?”
“Yeah, totally! Casey just…” Nell lowered her gaze. “She was disappointed when I said I would be out of town. Upset, even.” She shook her head, smiling again. “It’s fine, though. She’s so nice, it’s actually ridiculous. I mentioned I like plants, so she’s bought me flowers every time we’ve been out. I told her to stop, but she won’t listen. The apartment is overflowing with them.”
Harper bit her lip, keeping her comment to herself. Thatfeelingabout Casey hadn’t lessened in the slightest, and what Nell had just said didn’t help. But if Harper said what she was thinking, it wouldn’t come out pleasantly.
“Sounds like she’s doing a lot,” Maya said. “Maybe too much, even?”
“No! No, she’s just… It’s new.” Nell ran a finger over the dusty books on the shelves, smiling softly. “It’s kind of nice, actually. It’s been a while since I was with someone who does stuff like that. The last guy I dated didn’t. And it’s just flowers. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Harper bit her lip,again. Because that last guyhaddone ‘stuff like that.’ He’d just front-loaded all the niceties and used them as a foil for later shitty behavior. Given that she’d needed a restrainingorder for that bastard, it was no wonder Nell’s memory focused on the negatives about that relationship.
But this wasn’t the same. Casey worked for the Chains. They didn’t employ abusive assholes. And it had been so long since Nell had talked about dating with any kind of excitement. Ruining it wouldn’t be fair. Especially since she kept insisting nothing was wrong.
“Finding anything good?” Evie asked. Nell was still picking through the dusty shelves. “You know, no one really owns this stuff. If you find something you like, you can take it.”
“Don’t encourage her!” Harper said. “Remember our apartment in Shreveport? That place turned into a minimalist’s nightmare because she kept stuffing it with trinkets.”
“Most of those trinkets needed a good home, I’ll have you know,” Nell said with mock sternness. “And you can prepare yourself to see them all again real soon. Once we get our stuff out of St. Louis, I plan on putting all of it on display.”
Harper groaned. But she smiled as she did it. “Kill me now.”
Nell ignored the comment, sitting down on the floor, and started moving through the stacked boxes on the bottom shelf. Evie watched her, warmth rising in her eyes.
Both Evie and Harper knew the danger involved in bringing Nell around items with storied pasts. Thrift stores and flea markets were her biggest weakness, as she only needed to take one look at something and then a whole tragic backstory about it formed in her head, meaning she couldn’t possibly leave it behind.
Evie had been without it for years. Nell pilfering through dusty knick-knacks was a bit of normalcy in a situation that lacked it.
“Oh!” Nell blew dust off a cardboard box. “It’s an old trivia game!”
Harper snorted. “Only you would find that exciting.”
“Don’t be so negative. It’s like a window into the past. It’s interesting to see what people used to have fun with.” She opened the box and leafed through a stack of cards. “They look like riddles, actually. Listen. ‘A box weighs ten pounds before it is filled, eight pounds after it is filled. What is it filled with?’”
“Holes,” Harper said. She’d taken Maya’s hand, playing with her fingers and keeping them from inducing even more sleepiness.
When the room went silent, Harper looked up. Nell was staring at her, while Evie was hiding a smile with her hand.
“How did you know that?” Nell asked. Harper grinned.
“Wait. I’m right?”
Nell turned the card, waving it around so fast it was impossible to make out the letters.
Maya nodded at her. “Try another one.”
