Page 76 of Seeing Harper

“That smile, you look especially pleased. Hear from your boyfriend?”

“Oh. I, um. I’m not really sure to tell you the truth. Always a friend, but I guess we’ll see soon enough.”

“I think that smile says otherwise. Maybe I should be a little jealous.”

Harper looked at Joel, fighting the desire to knock him out of his chair. Luckily she swallowed the desire and managed to just shake her head. “He’s someone that’s very special to me and always has been. Why would you say something like that about being jealous? We’re just business associates and hardly know each other.”

“I was only kidding. Call him,” Joel encouraged.

Harper shook her head firmly. “You kid a lot, don’t you?”

“My family has always been like that. I mean no harm. It just means I’m comfortable around you. I’ll try to curb it. But, call your friend. He’ll probably be glad to hear from you.”

“No, I’ll talk to him later,” she said as she looked at her watch. “He’s probably busy at the moment anyway.” She looked around the restaurant again, and spied the restroom sign. “I’m going to run to the restroom and freshen up, then we can be on our way.”

“I’ll be waiting,” Joel said. He watched her go, settled the bill at the register, then sat back down to sip the rest of his coffee and wait for Harper. He was not happy that she seemed to shut him down when he thought he was at his most charming and particularly didn’t like that another man had her attention. Didn’t matter, though, he’d win her over, he always did win over whoever was on his radar. He sipped his coffee again, but then her phone vibrated on the table, drawing his attention. He looked at the phone. It vibrated again. And then again.

Joel looked toward the restrooms and didn’t see any sign of her yet. Deciding that he needed to know what he was up against here, he quickly picked up her phone and swiped the screen, hoping that she hadn’t locked it. When the messages filled the screen he realized he was in luck. He had access to her messaging app, and all three messages that just arrived, one right after the other.

“SO GLAD TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!! I was starting to get worried. Where is your trade show? Hope

you’re having fun instead of just working.”

“I’m hoping to make arrangements to take my finals early. Telling them I have a family emergency so I have to get home.

I should be home when you get there, or shortly thereafter.”

“I have something to share with you when you get home. A surprise. Can’t wait to see you. Message me

when you can. I miss you, too.”

Joel scrolled back through the previous messages in that particular thread and found the picture Harper and her ‘friend’ had exchanged of them eating pizza in their kitchens. In truth, he took a few seconds to look at Harper’s photo, then spent triple that sizing up the man she called a friend. “Better to know your competition, right?” he asked himself quietly. Then he deleted the last two messages so all she’d see was the first one in response to her initial message. She wouldn’t see anything about her friend getting home early, or him having a surprise for her.

Joel put her phone back where she’d left it and went back to sipping his coffee.

A few minutes later Harper was back. “I’m ready if you are,” she said, picking up her phone and putting it back in her purse.

“I am. Let’s go dazzle the masses.”

Harper smiled. “I can try, but no guarantees.”

“You’ll dazzle them. You’ll see. I’m dazzled already.”

~~~

Four days later Harper sat rather uncomfortably in Joel’s car, watching the now familiar landscape go by as he drove her back to her hotel.

“Why so quiet?” he asked, glancing over at her as he reached over with one hand to pat her knee.

She pulled her knee out of reach and gave him an ‘I don’t think so’ glare.

“Alright, alright! I was trying to be reassuring. It’s just obvious you’re not yourself.”

“I’m tired. I think I’ve peopled more in the last five days than I have my whole life combined.” And that much was true. What she wasn’t saying was that she was tired of all the innuendos and subtle hints that he was interested in her. She’d spent so much time stepping away from the constant arm around her waist, or across her shoulders as he introduced her that she wasn’t sure that her brain could properly remember anything she was sent there to learn.

Joel grinned. “Not exactly a high energy people person?”

“Not at all. Give me my quiet countrysides and my horses and that’s all I need. I’m not at home in the corporate world or around those in it.”