AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The pout only grew. “So you’re going to subject me to a bunch of interns who know nothing and can’t write for beans? I thought you loved me.”
I laughed. “I’m sure you will find great interns who can write even better than I can, Harp. Besides, you don’t want your staff to accuse you of nepotism, do you?”
“Like I care. What’s the fun in being the boss if I can’t play a little favoritism every now and then, huh?” She picked up one of the sandwiches and took a small bite. “Is it the money, or rather lack of money? Because I can square it with human resources and get you a salary.”
“Oh, my gods!” I shook my head, laughing even harder now. “You are a nut case, you know that, right?”
The pout turned into a cheeky grin. “True, but I would still pay you.”
“Shane,” I called out. He was outside with the kids who were playing in the sand. “Tell your wife to stop already.”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.” He chuckled. “I like sleeping beside her too much to do that, Lu.”
Harper kept it up for another ten minutes, until her children came in to eat with us. After that everyone’s energy was focused on Violet and Mason and I was happy to forget about anything and everything else. It was nice to know Harper wanted me to work with her so much, but I was still debating where I wanted to go with my career and I had plenty of time to figure that out.
I went home after dinner to find the house empty. My mom had texted me earlier in the day to let me know they were all going out to dinner with Emmie, Nik and the kids. I was tired and just wanted to crash so I went up to my room and flopped face down on my bed. My phone landed on the pillow beside me and I lifted my head to glare at it before burying my face in the pillow once again.
Kin was in Virginia with Jace now so I couldn’t call her to come hang out with me and Harris…
He had taken me seriously and hadn’t tried calling me. Not once. The disappointment that had flooded through me every time my phone would go off and it wouldn’t be from him cut like a knife. Everything he’d said about not giving up on us had apparently been just a load of BS.
Refusing to cry over him—yet again—I turned on the TV to some boring rerun of a crime show I liked and kicked off my jeans before crawling under the covers and falling asleep.
Saturday was spent packing. Our plane left early Sunday morning and since I wasn’t coming back to California for the rest of the summer I had to pack up everything I wanted to take back to school with me. When I’d left back in January, I didn’t do any packing. Mom did all of that for me because if she hadn’t, nothing would have gotten packed. This time I wanted to leave, so I made sure to take everything I wanted and needed.
We had an early dinner that night and then went to bed. The twins were more hyper than normal with excitement for our trip and Dad had to yell at them to knock it off and get to sleep. I wasn’t nearly as excited but still couldn’t fall asleep.
This was it. I was leaving in less than twelve hours and I had no idea when I would be back. Or even if I should come back. Sure my family was all there, but they spent time on the East Coast throughout the year too. Kin was there, but whenever she was in Virginia, Marcus could drive me down to spend some time with her.
Harris was here.
He was here and I would be over three thousand miles away. The distance would be good for us both. We could move on.
Eventually.
Fuck it. There was no use lying to myself. I wasn’t ever going to get over him, but our chance was over.
We were over.
With that thought, I fell into a restless sleep with tears still dampening my lashes.
??
As babies, the twins hated flying. It had hurt their ears and made them sick. Now that they were older, that was still the case. Mom pumped them full of Dramamine and gave them gum to chew in hopes of helping with the ear problem, but they still hated flying. Luca more so than Lyric. Thankfully, we were all in First Class, so that made it a little more bearable for them.
Mom and Dad both sat with Luca, hoping to keep him calm while I sat with Lyric. He put on his Beats headphones, turned his music up to full blast and leaned back in his chair. Closing his eyes, I watched him mutter to himself from time to time, but I couldn’t tell if he was praying or cursing.
Once we landed at the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, it was just an eighteen-mile drive to Panama City Beach. The heat in SoCal and the heat in Florida were completely different heats. SoCal’s was a dry heat and bearable. The heat in Florida was full of humidity that weighed a person down, and if they had curly hair like myself, then they were screwed.
I hadn’t bothered to try to straighten my hair and would probably leave my flat iron in my case the entire trip. Even with product in my hair to calm it down, it became a giant ball of frizz the second we stepped off the plane. I pulled out a sturdy hair tie and put the thick tresses into a knot on top of my head as Dad picked up our rental and started putting our luggage in the back of the SUV.
Before we got to the condo where we would be spending the next two weeks before moving on to Orlando for some fun at Disney World, we stopped for some dinner. The condo was supposed to be ready to go with the fridge stocked, but no one felt
like cooking that night. Dinner took over an hour because fast food wasn’t something anyone wanted and the sun was starting to set by the time Dad was unlocking the door to the condo that belonged to Aunt Emmie, Natalie Cutter and Annabelle Brockman.
Aunt Emmie had started off her management company solo and then Annabelle had come on as an equal partner. Natalie, who had worked her way up from being Aunt Emmie’s assistant now owned a third of the company. The three partners had decided to invest some of their money in real estate, not just around the country but worldwide. They had the condo in Panama City Beach, a house in Toronto and various apartments in London, Paris, Rome, and Germany.
It was nice to have a place to hide out in that offered privacy. The condo in Panama City Beach was a gated complex with its own private beach. Security was tight because celebrities owned most of the condos. Paps were kept out as well as fans and any kind of crazy trying to get close to one of the many famous residents.
