Page 36 of The Pilot

“I bet he was. Tomorrow’s Sunday, and I’m working the morning shift, but I should be home by four. You want to go see Granddad for dinner tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

“All right, but you have to get your homework done before I get home, so we don’t have to rush through our visit,” Harper warned.

Kash scoffed. “It’ll take me like two seconds. It’s easy.”

“All right, just get it done, Superboy.”

“I will.”

“You want to come with us?” Harper asked, looking at Linc.

He smiled. “I think I’ll pass. Victor’s growing on me, but let’s not push our luck.”

“Growing like a fungus,” Kash mumbled.

For a second, Linc and Harper both froze. Then she giggled, making the smile Linc had been trying to hold back come forth.

“He’s something,” Linc agreed. “But he loves you both very much.”

“We love him too. Even when he’s being weird and overbearing. Right, Mom?”

“Um . . . right, honey.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got the dishes. You guys just chill,” Kash said, as he stood and reached for his mom’s plate.

“Thanks, Kash. You’re a good kid.”

“I know.”

“Modest too,” Linc joked, once Kash was out of earshot. “Why don’t you head upstairs? Maybe take a bath or something. Try to relax.”

“You wouldn’t mind?” Harper asked.

If he had his preference, she’d stay down here with him and sit in his chair and fall asleep on his lap again, but that was Linc being selfish. Harper needed her alone time, especially after being around people all day. “Of course not.”

“I think I’ll take you up on that. You really are welcome to come with us tomorrow night.”

“I need to work on some stuff around here, but thank you for the invite.”

“Any time.”

They stared at each other for a beat, and Linc could feel the awkwardness between them. He hated it, but he wasn’t sure how to fix things. Grabbing her and kissing her the way he longed to probably wouldn’t work, but that didn’t stop the craving to do just that. It was a weird thing . . . to want this woman so much after she’d been the bane of his existence at one point in his life.

But that was forever ago. This was now. And now, he wanted Harper Bates.

“Why is your last name Bates and your dad’s Rogers?” he blurted.

Harper chuckled. “How long have you been stewing on that?” she asked.

Linc shrugged and could feel his cheeks heat. “I don’t know. I’ve just been wondering.”

“I changed my last name when I moved to New York. I thought Bates sounded better than Rogers, for some reason. At least, my eighteen-year-old brain found that perfectly logical.” She shrugged. “Got used to it and never changed it back. When Kash was born, I figured I’d go with it. My dad wasn’t thrilled, but by that point, he was disappointed with every decision I’d made since graduating high school, so it didn’t really faze me.”

“I don’t think it was disappointment, more like worry, probably.”

“Maybe. I’d like to think I shed the Harper Rogers I was in high school for a newer, better version with Harper Bates.”