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“I don’t want you to go.” Caitie pouted as Harper showed her photos of the apartment on her phone. “I want you to stay here.”
“No you don’t.” Harper smiled at her. “I’m messy, I eat too much, and I hog the television. You’ll be pleased to see the back of me.”
“I really won’t.” Caitie scrolled through the photos. “Did James like the apartment?”
“Not really. He wanted me to look for someplace bigger. Started talking about helping me with the rent.”
Caitie raised her eyebrows. “I bet that went over well.”
“Like a lead balloon.” Harper shook her head. “I told him thanks but no thanks.”
“I thought he might ask you to move in with him,” Caitie said, her eyes meeting Harper’s.
Her chest tightened. “I’m glad he didn’t. It’s too soon. Things are messed up enough without us confusing things more. When the baby’s born I’ll be even more hormonal than I am now, as well as sleep deprived. I have no idea how we’ll feel about each other then. The way I see it, it’s best if we have separate places.” If she said it enough times, maybe she’d even believe it.
“So when do you move in?” Caitie asked.
“I get the keys next week.”
“On the plus side, that means you’ll be settled before your baby shower. I sent the invitations out yesterday, by the way.” Caitie grinned. “I’m so excited.”
“I don’t know how you managed to talk me into it,” Harper told her, though there was a smile in her voice. “If you make people guess the circumference of my stomach you’re dead meat.”
“Hey. Everybody loved that game at Ember’s party.” Caitie laughed at Harper’s expression. “Don’t look at me like that. I already promised you there would be no games. Just music and fun. You’ll enjoy it.”
“Thank you.” Harper hugged her friend.
“There was one thing I wanted to ask you,” Caitie said. “I haven’t sent an invitation to your mom or grandmother. I thought I should check with you first.” She knew more than anybody about Harper’s fractured relationship with her family. She’d witnessed a lot of the angst first hand.
“They wouldn’t come anyway,” Harper told her. “And I wouldn’t want them to.”
“You don’t know that.” Caitie’s voice was soft. “Maybe you should ask.”
“I think Mom’s out of the country.”
“And your grandmother?”
Harper swallowed, her mouth dry. “I’ll call her,” she said. “I need to speak to her anyway. But she won’t come.”
Caitie squeezed her hand. “Try not to look so scared. She can’t hurt you. Not anymore. And if she tried she’d have me to deal with. And James. And pretty much everybody in Angel Sands. We all love you.”
“Well I guess there’s no time like the present,” Harper said, standing and grabbing her phone. “I’ll call her from my room. Shield you from the screaming.”
“Your grandmother would never scream.”
“True story,” Harper said, nodding. “But I might.”
Five minutes later she held her phone to her ear and listened to the ring tones as her call to New England connected.
“Hello?” her grandmother’s butler answered with a deep voice. Harper’s stomach clenched at the sound. He’d been working for her grandmother for the past five years, and though she’d never met him, he’d always been very polite when she called.
Which wasn’t very often.
“Um, hi. Is my grandmother home? It’s Harper.”
“Hello, Miss Hayes,” he replied. “Let me see if she’s home.”
A minute later the phone was taken off mute.
