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“That they do,” she admits. “Call me later and I’ll come over.”
I tell her I will as I hang up the phone and place my phone back down on my desk, the voice mail icons flashing letting me know I have messages. My fingers hover over the button and before I think better of it, I click it and bring the phone to my ear.
“Harper, Sunshine, please. I need to talk to you. I swear whatever you’re thinking… it’s not true. I promise. Please call me back.” His voice is both a dagger and balm because as much as I hate to admit it, I’ve missed the sound of him in my ear, even if it causes my stomach to turn.
I contemplate calling him back, knowing it’s the adult thing to do. Yet something is holding me back. Maybe it’s the fact that I would rather sit here in limbo than know the truth? Or maybe I just don’t want to hear what it was like for him to kiss the one person in my life I hate more than my memories.
I set my phone back down on my desk and head toward Henry’s office. I stop just outside his door and take a look around the room, hoping and praying that a certain person will not grace me with her presence today.
“She’s not scheduled today,” Henry whispers, coming up behind me and placing a heavy hand on my shoulder.
I say nothing, not wanting to cause more issues than I already have over the last few weeks.
“I’m making sure you’re on opposite shifts from now on.”
I turn, looking into his eyes that are soft and understanding. I tilt my head, wondering how he knows when he gives me a small smile.
“Buttercup, that girl can’t shut her mouth to save her life. She came in here after that night bragging about whatever the hell happened and so I told her she either shuts her pie hole, or she loses her job.”
A shuddering breath escapes as a sense of relief floods my veins. “Thank you.”
He kisses me on the cheek and motions to the room.
“Now get to work.” He winks as he heads back into his office, and I spend the next few hours trying to forget the text messages and voice mails that I know are currently sitting on my phone.
I’ve been home for a few minutes, changed into sweatpants and a large T-shirt and I’ve poured myself a huge glass of wine, I turn on my TV and try to distract myself until Mel gets here with food. My phone mocks me as it sits facedown on my coffee table, next to the box of cookies and bag of gummy bears.
“Knock, knock!” Mel says as she opens the door and hauls in the bags of Thai food from down the street.
“Whatever you got smells delicious.” She smiles, going into the kitchen and setting all the bags down on the island.
“Well, I might have gotten one of everything…”
I give her a look and she waves me off, taking out all the containers and placing them on the granite countertop.
“Of course, you did… but I’m starving, so let’s dig in.”
And we do. We spend the next few minutes plating our food and then head into my living room. The second we sit down, Mel turns on the couch and faces me and I take a big bite of pad thai, knowing what’s coming.
“So, have you talked to Josh yet?”
From my lack of eye contact and the fact that I stuff my face with more food, she knows my answer.
“Seriously? Has he called?”
I shrug, still not verbally answering her.
So instead of asking me more questions, she picks up my phone off the table and looks at it. “Really, Harper? You turned it off?”
“Yes, I did. I needed time to think.”
She shakes her head and turns the phone on and immediately sees a whole bunch of messages come through.
“You needed a week to think. About what exactly?”
I shrug again.
“You don’t know, do you? You’re just using that as an excuse not to deal with this. You’ve done that your whole life.”
