Page 22 of The Pilot

It was disheartening, and even though Kash didn’t talk much about what went on while he was at school, it was obvious he was miserable.

Thank goodness this was a holiday week, and they both had a little bit of a break.

It was Wednesday, and Kash had today and the rest of the week off from school, and Harper had Thursday and Friday off from work. How she’d managed to get Black Friday off, she had no idea, but she wasn’t going to complain.

Of course, she had to work until ten o’clock this evening, but it was a small price to pay for having the next two days off in a row.

Every morning when Harper got up, Linc was already awake, and had usually prepared breakfast for her and Kash. And when she got home from work, no matter the time, he was always still up. She honestly didn’t know when the man slept.

This morning, Kash was sleeping in since he didn’t have to go to school, and she wasn’t leaving until after noon. So she had a little bit of time to actually sit and enjoy her morning, for once. And to talk to Linc, which she was more excited about than she probably should be.

“Morning,” she said with a smile, as she walked into the kitchen.

“Morning, Harper. Did you sleep well?” Linc asked.

“Like a rock. You?”

“Like I always do,” he responded. “I made an egg casserole last night. Eggs, sausage, cheese, peppers—both hot and sweet—and hash browns on the bottom. That okay?”

Harper frowned. “I got home at nine. You made that after I went to bed?”

Linc shrugged. “Yeah.”

“Well, thank you. It sounds delicious.”

“I’m going to make cinnamon rolls with Kash when he gets up . . . if that’s okay.”

“Why wouldn’t it be okay?” she asked, genuinely curious.

“Because it’s junk food that’ll rot his teeth.”

Harper chuckled. “He’s a teenager. And I think his teeth are safe. Besides, he needs the calories.”

“True. My plan was to have him eat the casserole before we started on the rolls. I saw a video online that takes the regular cinnamon rolls in a can and adds a shit ton more butter and sugar to make them even gooier and tastier.”

“Yum!” Harper said with a smile. The thought of Linc seeing a recipe online and saving it to make something with Kash made her heart flip-flop in her chest. “When in the world do you have time to scroll through the internet, looking for recipes?”

If she wasn’t mistaken, she thought Linc looked a little embarrassed at her question.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” she added quickly.

“Sometimes I have trouble sleeping, and I end up going online to try to pass the time and to make myself tired enough to fall back asleep,” Linc admitted.

“I don’t know what that’s like,” Harper joked. “I don’t have that problem. I can usually always sleep. Well, recently. Not so much when we were in our car, but here? Now that I know my boy is warm, safe, and happy? I’m out like a light.”

Linc didn’t even twitch. “I’m glad I could help give that to you.”

“Me too.” Swallowing hard, butterflies in her belly, Harper forced herself to change the subject. The more she got to know Linc, the more she wanted to get to know him. She’d had no idea that he had trouble sleeping. She wanted to help him, but of course there wasn’t much she could do about it. “So . . . is there anything I can pick up from the store for tomorrow?”

“Nope. I guess Mom’s been in a cooking frenzy. She’s totally in her element and very excited for tomorrow,” Linc said.

“Yeah, Britt added me to a group text with her and Marit, and she’s been keeping us updated on the crazy that is your mother,” Harper said with a smile. “She says she’s been like an Army general, ordering everyone around, worrying about making everything perfect.”

Linc chuckled. “Sounds like Mom. She was always like that. A ball of energy, when all us kids ever wanted was to sleep in on our days off. She’d make us get up early to have ‘family time.’ Your dad is still coming, right?”

“As far as I know. He tried to claim he didn’t want to come, that he wouldn’t be welcome, but your mom drove over to his place, told him to his face that he’d better be there or else, then drove back to Lobster Cove.”

“I wish I could’ve seen that,” Linc said, grinning.