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I’m aware that both my brother and Harper are dying to ask more, but we walk up the path in silence
I make quick work of telling the boys I’m heading home. They cheer when they’re offered a chance at another sleepover. After quick goodnight hugs, I make a beeline to the parking lot with Harper following close behind.
I toss my bags into the back before getting in the cab. I barely have my seatbelt on when Harper demands, “Whathappened?”
“I don’t know what you mean.” I say a silent prayer that she’ll leave well enough alone.
No dice. “What’s going on between you and Ethan? And before you say ‘nothing,’ I know you guys were dating before you left on your trip.”
“Who told you that?”
“Ethan.”
Crap. Fidgeting with the strap of my purse, I tell her, “It became painfully obvious that he and I lead very different lives.”
“And …” she prods.
“And there’s no way our two lifestyles mesh. End of story.”
“That’ssonot the end of the story.” Harper throws the truck into reverse to aim it in the direction of the road.
“It really is,” I tell her. “Ethan is some rich bigwig Hollywood guy, and I’m just a small-town girl. I don’t fit into his world.”
Shifting into drive, she pulls out onto the main drag. “It seems to me that you’re not trying.”
That was a rude thing to say. “Excuse me?”
“Obviously, Ethan fits into your life here in Gamble enough that you were willing to date him.”
“So?” I’d rather jump out of the truck and walk home than hear her answer.
Brushing back the blonde hair that’s escaped her ponytail, she says, “He’s the same guy here as he is in California.”
“I beg to differ,” I tell her sharply. “Here, he’s a guy who comes into my diner in his shorts and T-shirt and spends the day writing.Here, he’s normal.”
“Because it’syourlife he’s fitting into?”I hate Harper right now.“Did you even try to fit in there?”
“Why do I have to change who I am to fit into someplace as ridiculously pretentious as Beverly Hills?” I can feel the steam rising from my skin.
“Itisridiculously pretentious there, but that’s not what I mean. I know for a fact that Ethan was beyond excited to share his world with you, and his world is not the fake people who live for highlights and facelifts.”
An image of Bridgette Hill pops into my head, but Ireallydon’t want to get into that. “Ethan’s life is a huge house that he barely spends any time in. He has a housekeeper, for God’s sake, and …” I try to think of what else bothered me and can only come up with, “His pool lights keep the tempo of the music.”
Harper laughs like that’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard. “You’ve got a chip on your shoulder as big as the one that Digger used to have.”
“What do you mean by that?” My hand inches toward the door handle. We’re only going twenty miles an hour. Surely it wouldn’t hurt too badly to jump out of the truck before she can answer.
“Your brother hated me before he bothered to get to know me. And do you know why?” She doesn’t wait for me to hazard a guess. “Because I was a movie star and in his pea brain all movie stars are fake, attention-seeking numbskulls.”
“Most are. Take your ex-husband, for instance.” I know that was mean, but at the moment Harper is not one of my favorite people in the world.
“Brettisa total waste of skin,” she agrees. “But I’m not. If Digger hadn’t opened his mind and heart to me, we both would have suffered. We would have missed our chance at happiness.”
“Look, Harper, I don’t mean to be unkind …”I really do though, I’m that mad.“But Digger would have never made it in California. You guys are only working because you came here, and as far as I can figure, you came here because you didn’t like life in California, either.”
“I loved California,” she says with a hiss. “I just hated being the center of the paparazzi’s endless attention.”
“So, if the paparazzi didn’t follow you, you think Digger would happily live there with you?” She can’t be serious.
