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“Hey, what’s up?”
My brother’s voice seemed to calm the whirlwind of uncertainty twisting around in my head.
“I need your advice.”
“You sure you didn’t mean to call Dad?”
“No, Papa Smurf can’t help me with this one.”
Steed laughed. “Hit me with it.”
Glancing back over toward the hallway, I swallowed and headed for Harley’s sliding door that led to her patio.
“I’m at Harley’s.”
“Oh hell, it’s early in the morning, what did you do?”
“Nothing. She fell asleep on the way back from the emergency room, and I didn’t have the heart to leave her alone. Her mother said both her and Harley’s father felt like they were getting sick and couldn’t come over. I couldn’t leave her alone so I stayed in her guest room. Nothing happened…but…”
He sighed. “But is never a good place to leave off on a sentence, dude.”
“Something happened between us this morning, and I’m pretty sure Harley wanted the same thing I was wanting.”
“You didn’t sleep with her, did you?”
“No, I wouldn’t do that to Mallory.”
I could almost hear the relief in his voice. “Good. I’m glad you didn’t do something stupid.”
“Steed, I’m so fucking confused, yet I’m not confused.”
“That statement doesn’t make a lick of sense.”
Running my hand down my race, I let out a frustrated groan. “I’ve never stopped loving her. I’ll always love her.”
“Then what’s wrong? Are you having a hard time forgiving her?”
I scoffed. “Fuck, I think I forgave her the moment she told me the truth, but my damn pride and anger got in the way. I’ve only ever seen a future with one woman, and right now I don’t know what my future looks like. Hell, I don’t even know what I want anymore.”
“Tripp, you’ve always been the one who had your future planned out right down to the damn day you were going to retire. Even I remember you talking about how you and Harley were going to finish school, get jobs, work a certain number of years, have kids, run for mayor. Fuck, you’ve had every damn life event planned out. But life isn’t like that. Things happen, people change, feelings change, plans change. Harley knew that, but she didn’t have the heart to ruin your dreams. Life is about taking risks, jumping off the ledge every now and then and praying like hell it all works out. If I learned anything from my time away and my return to Oak Springs, it was that what you love and want shouldn’t come sliding to you on a silver platter. It doesn’t come neatly tied up in a package, waiting for you to open it when you think it’s time. It’s about fighting for what your heart truly wants.”
I nodded, even though I knew he couldn’t see me. “What if my heart already knows it wants one thing for sure?”
“Is it Harley?”
It didn’t even take me a nanosecond to reply. “Yes. What do I do, Steed?”
“You go slow. Y’all have been apart for a long time. I know the temptation to fall into each other’s arms is strong. Hell, it killed me not being able to be with Paxton the moment I saw her. But I knew I needed to win her back. I needed to repair the past and that’s what you and Harley need to do. Go slow. Show her you’ve forgiven her, show her she is worth the wait and get to know each other again.”
I heard a noise from inside the house. Turning, I saw Harley mixing something in a bowl as Lady and Hemi sat on either side of her.
“Thanks, Steed, for talking it out with me.”
“You already know what to do, bro. Just do it.”
I watched as Harley poured ingredients into the mixing bowl, talking to both Lady and Hemi in only the way that animals would understand. My chest squeezed. “Yeah, I know exactly what I need to do. Thanks, Steed. Kiss the girls and Gage for me.”
“I will. See you tonight.”
The line went dead and I continued to stare into Harley’s house as I watched her pour the batter onto the griddle.
“I know exactly what I have to do,” I whispered as I lifted my phone and hit her name.
The phone rang a few times before Mallory answered it. “Hey there. Did you get some sleep last night?”
Facing away from Harley, I walked a few feet from the house. “I got some sleep, tossed and turned most of the night. Mallory, are you free for lunch today? I have something important I need to talk to you about.”
“Sure, I need to pick up my dress for tonight from Clair. She did a few adjustments for me since the dress was too long. How about around one?”
“One sounds good. See you then.”
“See ya later.”
I walked back into the kitchen. Harley spun around and stared as I walked through the sliding glass door.
