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“He loves you more than me.”
“Not possible.” She nudged my shoulder as we walked back into the kitchen. “You’re his idol.”
We found Scottie in the kitchen with Mom and Harper’s mom, Harriet.
“Told you they were kissing,” Scottie deadpanned, hyper-focused on piping a Lakers-themed pattern on the cookies.
“We weren’t—”
“Harper’s lips are all puffy.” Scottie tipped his head as if to say, ‘You know I’m right.’
Mom and Harriet both smothered a chuckle.
“We thought we might take Scottie to the holiday market in town tonight,” she said.
“Mason and Harper will come with us?” he said.
“Actually, bud. I was kind of hoping to take Harper out tonight. Just the two of us.”
His eyes lifted to mine, and I braced myself for the inevitable fallout. Scottie had been glued to us since we got here a few days ago, and we’d had a lot of fun together. But I needed some time with my girl.
Alonetime.
“Where will you go?” he asked.
“It’s a surprise. But we’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.”
“Mase…” Harper started, but I squeezed her hand.
“I could come. I bet Harper wants me to—”
“The market will be fun,” Mom said. “And I know Harriet is looking forward to spending some time with you.”
“I was hoping you could show me all the best spots,” she said with a warm smile.
Scottie looked to me again. “Fine.”
“Thanks, buddy. We’ll make it up to you.”
“I know.” He gave me a small dismissive shrug and went back to his sugar cookies.
“A date, huh?” Harper whispered. “What should I wear?”
“Doesn’t matter,” I replied, wrapping her into my arms while the women helped Scottie start to clean up. “Because I’ll only be stripping you out of them the first chance I get.”
HARPER
“It’s so beautiful out here,” I said, pulling the blanket up around my chest. Mason tucked me closer into his side, dropping a kiss on my head.
“I thought you’d like it.”
“It’s perfect.”
The little restaurant was a small rustic place set on the edge of the Allegheny River. The owners had set up a huge fire pit out back with a view of the small outside skating rink they had erected for the holidays.
We’d finished dinner and came outside to enjoy the atmosphere.
It was perfect.
