The look on Charlie’s face when she’d walked into the studio had been priceless. She’d gone from serene disinterest to cocky in about three seconds, and that smile had Harper throbbing. “Miss me already?” she’d said as Harper approached the check-in desk.
“Nah, I just don’t want my back to get sore after all the additional working out I’ve been doing lately.” Harper had prayed she didn’t blush and give away that her confidence was mostly bravado.
“What kind of working out? I can try to tailor my class to help you work out any particular kinks.” Charlie had a twinkle in her eye as she said the word kinks, and heat had flashed through Harper’s body as she’d wondered what kinks Charlie ha—
“Hello? You can’t just leave me hanging here,” Andrew said, his voice irritated, but Harper knew that wasn’t real. But thoughts of Charlie seemed to always be a distraction.
“Sorry. We’ve been dating for a few weeks now and—”
“A few weeks. And you’re only just telling menow?” He drew out the word now until it was about twelve syllables, and she had to suppress a laugh.
“It just hasn’t come up. It’s not like we talk every day or something.”
“Whose fault is that? I’d love to talk to you every day.”
She laughed loudly. “You’re such a liar. You don’t have enough hours in the day to talk to me every single day.” He was a plastic surgeon and was favored by the elite in the Midwest and beyond. He even had people flying in from LA for surgery because he was amazing and discreet, and there weren’t any paparazzi around.
“You got me there, but I’m dialing all that back now that we’re starting to foster. I’m going to be keeping bankers’ hours.” Harper scoffed, not believing him, but he said, “But anyway, back to you. Tell me all about her. Is it time for us to take a field trip to the Keys?Finally?”
“She’s…taken me by surprise. I didn’t think I was going to ever be ready to date, but somehow, she’s gotten inside my walls and now, it feels…natural.” Harper was still surprised. She wasstarting to accept her emotions for what they were, but she still sometimes had a hard time believing that she was feeling what she was feeling. She’d been so sure that she could never feel this way again.
“Eee!”
Harper might have to force Andrew to tone down the squealing sounds. It was getting to be too much.
“I’m so glad you’ve been listening to me. I don’t know if there is a heaven, but if there is, I am sure Kelly is looking down and smiling that you’re taking another chance. She would have never wanted you to be alone for the rest of your life. That wasn’t who she was as a person. She would have wanted you to move on. And nearly four years is long enough to wait.”
“You’re a broken record, Andrew, but you’re not wrong. So thank you for forcing me to reassess everything. I mean, it’s still early with Charlie, but everything feels…good. You know?”
“I do. And I can’t wait to meet her. We can’t fly down right away, but I’m tired of you putting me off, so once things are settled with Chelsea, I’m coming down, and I’m not going to get your permission.”
She rolled her eyes. “You don’t need my permission. Come whenever.”
“See, even that sounds like a new you. Anyway, I have to go. I think Ben is almost done painting, and I told him I was going to make him refreshments for doing his manly task, and here I am still talking to you. Love you, babe. Keep up the good work, and I want to really hear about Charlie the next time we talk, okay?” Harper chuckled at his use of her name. He’d been calling herWall Streetfor months, but he’d apparently been paying more attention than she’d realized.
“Love you too. Give Ben my love, and good luck with Chelsea. Let me know how it goes. And let me know if I can help.” She set her phone on her desk and closed her eyes, marvelingat how different her life looked now, compared to life before Charlie had wandered into her bar seven months ago, letting the whole world know that she hearted Key West. She gave herself a moment to bask in her newfound happiness before she needed to put it away and get to work.
After a couple of hours, her legs and back were starting to tighten up, so she decided to take a break and move around. She was intending to go out front to check on Aiden and Em and see if they needed anything, but she was pulled in by the picture of her and Kelly on her filing cabinet.
She picked it up. “You’re okay with all this, aren’t you, Kelly? I mean, I think you would be. Andrew thinks you would be. I still miss you, and you will always be in my heart, but it’s okay if I see someone else, right? If I…if I fall in love with someone else?”
Harper wished she could respond somehow. “Will you send me a sign if you’re going to hate me?”
That was silly. Yet she stared. Waiting. And was still staring at the picture when she heard a light knock on her open door.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Charlie said when Harper looked up.
Harper smiled at the sight of her. “You’re not. At all.” She took the step that separated them and kissed her, but Charlie felt a little stiff. Both under Harper’s fingers and under her lips. “Is something wrong?”
“I just…felt like I was interrupting a moment.” She winced, and Harper hated it.
“No, I wasn’t having a moment.” Harper lifted the framed photo of her and Kelly and turned it.
“Oh,” Charlie said, but her demeanor seemed to deflate. Her shoulders slumped, and her face dropped. “She was pretty. You both look really happy.”
Harper took a second to think. She hadn’t ever thought what the photo might communicate to someone else. Harper was standing behind Kelly, her head on her shoulder and her armswrapped around her torso as they both smiled for the picture. “This is Kelly, though you already guessed that. We took a trip to Iceland a decade ago, and this was in the Blue Lagoon. Um, a hot springs, which is why there is so much steam.” She was nervous, and words were just falling off her tongue but not the ones she meant to say. She needed to find ones that would hopefully make Charlie feel better. “I was actually just talking to her about you.”
“Oh?” It was the same tiny syllable, yet Charlie stood straighter and smiled. She seemed like she wanted to know more.
