Page 53 of Seeing Harper

“Just a friend,” Cruz said defensively.

“Oh, so you can have a friend and I can’t,” Clay said. “Who’s your friend?”

“You know Julia? The pretty little girl that works at the store?” Roman asked.

“Dad!” Cruz said irritatedly.

“Just making sure y’all are even,” Roman said with a chuckle.

“Thanks, Dad,” Cruz drawled.

“You’re welcome. Y’all eat your dinners,” Roman said as he walked out of the room.

“Thank you for dinner and the information,” Clay said, taking his phone out of his pocket and laying it on the coffee table Roman had placed their food on. “So, you’re seeing Julia,” he said as he took his first bite of food.

“We went to a movie. It’s not big deal,” Cruz said.

“But you like her.”

“Yeah. I thought she was pretty when we were in school. And she’s nice.”

“I get that. Good for you.”

Cruz nodded, choosing not to say too much.

“So, we’re going back tonight?” Clay asked as he took his first bite of macaroni and cheese dripping in a rich brown gravy. “I love the way your dad puts gravy on everything. And nobody beats your mom’s mac n cheese.”

“That’s why your dad uses her recipe at the restaurant.”

“True,” Clay said, as he shoveled in another bite.

“Yeah, let’s go tonight. He’s got his own truck. And I’m tired of accommodating him,” Cruz said.

“Same!”

“We’ll be about three hours later than usual getting back, but it’s less of a problem than booking ass at dawn. And I have two tests tomorrow morning. I hate rushing,” Cruz said.

“It’s a plan. As soon as we finish this,” Clay said, taking another bite. About that time Clay’s phone lit up when it started ringing, flashing the number calling across the lock screen on display — clearly a picture of Harper wearing something with lacey straps, the tanned skin on her shoulders and chest on full display as she held a slice of pizza up and smiled at the camera.

Cruz glanced over at Clay’s phone and raised an eyebrow at the image that displayed as it rang.

“That’s Bastian,” Clay said as he put down his fork and tried to hurry up and finish chewing the last bite he’d taken before answering his phone. He reached for it and swiped the screen, putting it on speaker before setting it down again. “Hey,” he said, picking up his fork again.

“What’s up?” Sebastian asked, his carefree attitude carrying through the phone line.

“Well, it’s Sunday night, about 9:00, and you’re nowhere to be seen. You tell me what’s up.”

“Just hanging out. Figured we’d drive back in the morning.”

Clay sighed, then put another bite of food in his mouth.

“Don’t sigh at me. You know how it is.”

Clay swallowed his food and took a sip of his tea before he answered. “Cruz and I are going to go ahead and drive back tonight. You just drive back when you’re ready.”

“Come on! Y’all are just going to leave me behind because I’m not ready yet?” Sebastian demanded.

“No, Bastian. We’re not leaving you behind because you’re not ready yet. We’re driving ourselves back because we’d rather avoid the 8:03 A.M. dash for our 8:00 A.M. class with our duffels still in hand because we’re late — AGAIN — because you pushed off leaving until the morning of so you could spend more time with whichever girl you’re with this time.”