Page 77 of Seeing Harper

“You could have fooled me, and everybody else you’ve met. They love you.” He looked right at her, daring to take his eyes off the road to do so. “Everybody loves you. You could have practically anything you want here, Harper. You should think about that.”

“Not interested in any of it,” she said with a direct glare in his direction before she looked away.

“I think there are any number of things that you’d enjoy here if you’d just realize they’re available to you.”

Harper didn’t reply.

But Joel wasn’t ready to give up. “Homesick?” he asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

“A little. Yeah. The trip has been okay. Some of it was fun at first, but it’s become a little too much and I miss the familiar.”

“What about the familiar do you miss?”

“My space. My alone time. Activity! I miss the exercise. I’m very physical with my jobs, and I’m exhausted by the end of the day. I love that. Here, I’m peopled out, and I feel sludged from lack of movement and too much fancy food. I’ll be glad to get home.”

“Maybe going for a swim this evening could help. And something simple to eat.”

Harper canted her head as she thought about it. “You know what? That’s not a bad idea.”

“I think it would make you feel better.”

“You might be right.”

“You know what else would make you feel better?”

“I can’t wait to hear,” she said with absolutely no emotion at all.

“Instead of attending the closing day tomorrow and flying back Sunday, why don’t we change your flight to tomorrow? I’ll book one for me, and we’ll fly home together. We’ll arrive at your home early in the day and get a jump on the analysis of your farm and get a plan in place to up your production.”

“I’d love to go home tomorrow, but as far as you flying there as well, I’ll have to check with my dad. He’s driving any changes that might be considered. I'm not sure what his plans are. And don’t you have to be at the show tomorrow anyway?”

“I can have some employees man the booth. Closing day is usually just wrapping up any last minute meetings and packing up the booth itself. It’s a much more relaxed day.”

“Oh. Well, I’ll be glad to be done with it, that’s for sure. If I can get on a flight out tomorrow, I wouldn’t say no to it.”

“Great! I’ll call your dad and make sure we can get some time scheduled. We’ll meet for our usual dinner after you go for a swim and then you can get a good night’s sleep. We’ll hit the airport tomorrow after we get you checked out of the hotel.”

“You don’t have to do that. I’ll call him, and I’ll get myself fed tonight. I need some downtime on my own.”

“Let me at least call your dad. It should be me initiating the trip anyway. It’s for business — mainly.”

“You’re sure?” she asked.

“Absolutely.” He said as he pulled up into the drop off zone outside the hotel’s lobby. “You go rest a bit, have a swim and a bite to eat. You sure you don’t want to do dinner again? I could bring it to you.”

“No, thank you. I’ll just order some takeout or room service after my swim.”

“Alright, if you’re sure. I have a few calls to make to be sure that our employees are prepared to man the booth and have everything packaged and shipped back to us, and I’ll call it a night, too.”

“Alright. I’ll change my flight and let you know what time I’ll be leaving. It might be an early flight, but I can get myself to the airport. I’ll have my dad call you about your visit.”

“Don’t bother with that. I’ll have my secretary change your flight.”

“She doesn’t have my card number and flight information for the return flight.”

“Sure she does. Not the card number, but we don’t need that. We booked the original flight so it won’t be that much of a leap to change it.”

“You booked it? I thought my father booked it.”