Charlie felt a zing of electric zip through her at the idea that Harper was paying enough attention to her to notice her eating habits and took a bite of her mac and cheese to coverher reaction. It was delicious with its perfectly balanced bite of sharp cheddar, offset with the creamy smoothness of gouda, and gave her perfect cover to make an, “Mmm,” sound to give herself a minute to think as she didn’t immediately know the answer herself. “I’m not sure. I think it’s maybe because my previous life was filled with what you might call toxic opulence. Filet mignon, lobster, Almas caviar, Michelin stars…” She shivered as a cold chill ran through her body and settled in the pit of her stomach. “I don’t want my life to be anything like that anymore, so I’ve been a little aggressive in backing away from it.” Charlie hadn’t expected to share all that. Hell, she hadn’t even realized the truth of it before she said it.
Harper chuckled. “I don’t think that eating pulled pork would be considered opulent by many people.”
Charlie laughed from her belly. “True, but we also learned about a concept in my yoga teacher classes called ahimsa, which is to choose nonviolence. I think that might have played into it as well. And I’m not saying I’m never going to eat meat again. Hell, I might eat it tomorrow. But for now, not eating meat feels better.” She shrugged and wondered if Harper would think ahimsa was woo-woo stuff. It didn’t matter, but Charlie had found herself caring what Harper thought of her.
She needn’t have worried as Harper’s smile simply softened. “I get that. It’s kind of the reason I don’t eat meat, either. There’s so much ugliness in the world. I don’t want to contribute to any more of it. I only really knew one other person who felt the same way. But she’s…” Her words got quieter as she spoke until she trailed off entirely and stared at her hands.
Charlie gave her a few beats to see if she’d continue. When she didn’t, Charlie couldn’t not prompt her. She needed to know. “She’s?” she said questioningly.
Harper straightened, but she didn’t look at Charlie. “She’s not around anymore.” After plastering her damn bartendersmile back on, she said, “Is there anything else I can get for you?”
Apparently, the deeper revelations were only going to come from Charlie today. She didn’t understand what had shifted and hated how their conversation was ending. It was the first time she’d seen Harper start to show any vulnerability, and she wished she could hold on to it for a little longer. “No, thanks. This looks great.”
Harper turned her attention to a young couple wearing matching sun hats who’d just walked in. And tried to squelch the bubble of jealousy that reared up as she wished Harper’s attention was still on her.
Foolish. Harper had a job to do. Charlie knew Scissor and Gavel had 4.8 stars on Google, and Harper couldn’t ignore patrons if she wanted to keep that rating, but Charlie wanted to know more. She wanted to know who the person who wasn’t around anymore was to Harper. Was it the person Andrew had mentioned that she’d loved?
She rolled her eyes at herself and picked up her drink, a bourbon smash at Harper’s recommendation, and took a sip. It was delicious, as everything Harper had made for her was. She pretended she wasn’t staring at Harper as she tried to convince herself that Harper’s allure was just because Charlie was lonely and excited to be making a friend.
And she believed it.
Sure she did.
Harper’s hands shook as she typed out a quick text when her shift ended at the bar.Are you awake?
She’d asked Em to close, so it wasn’t too late, but it was after nine in Chicago.
Almost immediately, her phone started ringing. She swiped to answer, but before she could even say hello, Andrew said, “I’m always awake if you need me. What’s up?”
Her heart warmed at his tone. She didn’t think she could have loved a blood sibling more than she loved him. “You’re the best, thank you.”
“I know, I know. Now tell me what’s bothering you.”
“You know the woman I told you about the other day?”
“The day you hung up on me and then texted to tell me you were sorry? That she had just walked in, but you couldn’t be bothered to call me back? Yes, of course I remember.” His words were sharp, but he blunted them with a laugh, so she knew he was a little hurt but was mostly just giving her shit.
“Iamsorry about that. I meant to call you back later once I’d fixed her garbage disposal—”
“Wait,youfixed her garbage disposal? Are you Handy Harper now?” He laughed so loudly, she pulled the phone away from her ear a little. “Ben, Ben, get this. Harper is fixing things these days. She fixed a garbage disposal the other day after she hung up on me.”
She could hear the deep baritone of Ben’s voice in the background saying, “She wouldn’t even change her own light bulbs when she lived up here.”
“Ha ha, funny guys. And I did change my own light bulbs. Just not my own light fixtures.” Harper’s tension eased, and she smiled at their gentle ribbing. She was grateful as she took what felt like her first deep breath in hours. Though she wasn’t going to tell them that. “And I’m a business owner now. No one has time to wait hours for a contractor to fix something when I can do it myself after watching a little video on my phone.”
“Damn, girl. Now tell me why she’s got you so riled up.”
She took a deep breath. “So that woman, my tenant, came into the bar tonight. She’s been doing that a lot, actually.”
“Interesting.” He drew out the word into about ten syllables, and she imagined him twirling the ends of a mustache that he didn’t have. At least, she didn’t think he had one. She hadn’t seen him in a while.
She wasn’t going to mention that she’d caught herself flirting with Charlie a few times when she’d been in the bar. She’d been telling herself it was just what she did as a bartender to get better tips. But Andrew wouldn’t see it that way and would probably get obsessed with the idea. “She lives here. I am the closest place for her to get a drink and food.”
Hishmphwas laced in disbelief, but she didn’t take the bait.
“Anyway, we were chatting, and I almost told her about Kelly. I never talk about Kelly to anyone other than you and your mom. Yet, there I was, chatting with my tenant, a near stranger, and Kelly and being married and her dying almost slipped out.” She tried to stop herself from hyperventilating, but it didn’t feel like it was working as she gasped like someone just pulled from the water.
“Okay. Why does that have you so upset?” He spoke slowly, as if he was speaking to a child.
