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Before she could change her mind, I closed the door and waited for her to drive away. Then I went inside to say good-bye to my parents.
I didn’t stick around because I was worried they’d ask questions about me hanging around Harper and Evie. I wasn’t ready for my family to get involved. They could be pushy and opinionated. I wanted Harper and Evie to myself for a little while longer.
* * *
The next day, I got the paint supplies ready for the playhouse and finished cleaning out the garage. With Harper and Evie visiting, I was more conscious about how clean the house was. I tidied the kitchen and living room, removing the dirty dishes from the sink. I even ordered juice and some kid snacks so Evie felt more at home.
When they arrived, Evie jumped out of the car and raced toward me. “Are we going to paint?”
She looked up at me, her blue eyes sparkling with excitement. “Yes. Are you ready for it,bimba?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” she chanted as I leaned over to kiss Harper’s cheek.
I loved the flush of her skin every time I greeted her. “Morning.”
She held up a box of donuts. “I brought food.”
“You didn’t need to do that,” I said as I took it from her and led them into the kitchen. I put out a few plates so we could eat and poured orange juice into glasses.
“It was the least I could do since you’re building Evie a playhouse.”
Evie ate quickly, then asked to go out to the playground. When Harper said yes, I waited for Evie to dart outside before I responded, “You don’t have to repay me.”
Harper cleared her throat. “I have to do something.”
“I like doing things for you and Evie.”
Harper nodded but still looked uncertain. Hopefully, she’d understand that when I did things for her, there weren’t strings attached. She didn’t owe anything to my parents or family either, but she’d have to realize that on her own.
We got the paint ready, then called Evie over. We were painting the trim and siding white and the shutters black. It could easily double as a storage shed or a little child’s playhouse.
Evie took long breaks to eat a snack and play on the playground while we kept working.
When we were done, we sat on the grass to admire our work.
“How did the meeting with the contractor go this week?” Harper asked.
“I liked that he’s the owner and well-respected in the area. I still scheduled a few more appointments with other contractors while I’m waiting on his estimate.” But I had a good feeling about Cade. He seemed reliable, and from all accounts, he did good work.
“It will be nice when your house is done.”
“I can’t believe I waited so long to do it.”
“Maybe you didn’t have a reason to finish it before.”
I rolled her sentence over in my head, wondering if she was right. I was living in a sort of limbo, not wanting to move ahead with my life, content to keep things the same. But I’d been wanting more responsibility at work for a while. Maybe I was ready for other changes too.
We cleaned up and got ready for family dinner. We drove over separately so that Harper would have her car to take Evie home afterward.
When we arrived, Mamma greeted me and then said, “I heard that Bianca is engaged.”
“Good for her.” I never told my parents she cheated on me. I felt it was better they thought we mutually agreed to end things.
“Whatever happened between you two?” Papà asked.
“We were better off as friends.” That much was the truth.
“I just want you to meet a nice girl and settle down,” Mamma said.
