Page 39 of Seeing Harper

“You should have eaten earlier. There was no reason to wait for me.”

“I honestly forgot about food once I jumped in and started helping on the fence.”

“Me, too. I often go all day without eating out here. I just get so sidetracked that I forget.”

“What you’re telling me is that I’m going to have to call you every afternoon from school to remind you to eat.”

“I’d probably say okay, and mean it, but then I’d think I’ll do it in a little while, and then it would be dark and I’d have forgotten again.”

Clay shook his head as she sat down. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Be tolerant. I get focused and forget things.”

“I can do that,” he said as she toed her boots off and dropped her gloves on top of them. She held her hands out so he could pour a little of the water over her hands and rubbed them together before she sat down. Then she did the same for him so he could clean his hands as well.

“Fried chicken sandwiches, huh?” she asked, picking up the wax paper wrapped sandwich he’d put on her plate.

“With pimento cheese and bread and butter pickles,” he said as she took a bite and closed her eyes as she chewed.

“Oh, my God,” she murmured as she took another bite and smiled at him while she chewed.

He took a bite of his own sandwich and nodded. “Yeah, much better than my fried chicken breast would have been.”

“Gotta get your dad to teach you.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” he said.

After they’d eaten, Clay relaxed back on the blanket, his arms folded beneath his head as he looked up at the slowly darkening sky and the few stars that were beginning to sparkle. “Man, it is gorgeous out here,” he said.

“It is. Breaks my heart when I think that after someone buys it, I might not, most likely won’t, have access to it again.”

“May as well lie down and enjoy it while you can.”

Harper moved the remnants of their meal out of the way and lay down beside him, both of them looking up at the sky. They lay quietly for several seconds before Harper turned over on her side to watch him instead of the sky.

Clay lay there with his eyes closed, enjoying the early night air, the quietness, and being close to Harper.

“You know, it’s a shame that this is as close to any male as I’ve ever gotten.”

He opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve never had a boyfriend. Never even been on a date. A late picnic out in a pasture with a Pride mate, is the closest to romance that I’ve ever gotten. It’s kind of embarrassing.”

Clay didn’t say much, but she seemed to have struck a nerve.

“Maybe one day I’ll find out what it’s all about, if there’s anybody that ever finds me even remotely attractive.”

“Harper, you have to know how beautiful you are.”

“What I know is that nobody, not a single male, shifter, human or otherwise, has ever looked at me and appreciated what they saw.”

“You are so wrong,” he said, turning on his side to face her.

“No dances, no parties, no dates, what does that tell you?”

“That they were afraid to ask you out, because you are so beautiful,” Clay said, reaching out a hand to tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear. But after he did, he didn’t remove his hand, he just very lightly laid it against her cheek. “There is nothing wrong with you. You are perfect.”

She rolled her eyes.