Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
The two of us made our way into the kitchen where Harper ordered takeout – Mexican from a new place in her neighborhood – and I opened a bottle of wine. We sat down at the kitchen table and clinked glasses.
“How was your trip?” Harper asked. She raised an eyebrow at me and took a long swallow of wine.
“It was good,” I said, then frowned.
“What?” Harper asked. She giggled. “You don’t look like it was so good,” she added.
“It’s nothing,” I said. “It’s just, well, I probably committed career suicide.”
Harper’s smile faded. “What happened?”
I told her all about Andy Chafee and his sweet, elderly, old-school mother ... and how I’d told Andy to follow his heart, rather than the dreams that had been laid out for him by everyone in his life.
“Wow,” Harper said. She swallowed. “That took some guts.”
I nodded.
“I feel pretty stupid about it, to be honest,” I said. “But it didn’t feel ethical to push this kid who clearly wasn’t into it, you know?”
Harper nodded. “Not to mention that could come back to bite you, you know. Like, say he went for it and then screwed up and everyone knew he came from your agency.”
“That’s charitable of you,” I said. I reached for my glass of wine and took a long sip.
Harper shrugged. “We all have to do what’s best for us,” she said. “You know, after Ada got over her bronchitis and I went back to work, my boss told me that she had a daughter who had childhood leukemia. I always thought Nell was such an ice queen – this was the first time I ever saw that soft side of her.”
“I’m just glad Ada’s better,” I said.
“Me, too.”
There was a knock on the door and Harper got up to get the food. When she got back, she set the table and opened the boxes – nachos and tacos and a quesadilla platter that I had to admit smelled amazing.
We began to eat and I noticed after a few minutes that Harper wasn’t meeting my eyes.
“What is it?” I asked her. “Are you pissed about what I did in Texas?”
“No, god no,” Harper said. She swallowed a bite and frowned.
“What, then?”
Harper bit her lip and looked me in the eye for a second, then dropped her emerald gaze back to her plate.
“It’s just ...” She trailed off. “I was thinking. You would probably want a paternity test on Ada, wouldn’t you?”
“What?” I asked.
“You heard me,” Harper said. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “I know, it’s crazy, right? Like, you don’t hear from me for four years and then we bump into each other and then, boom. Here’s your daughter,” she said, her voice flavored with an ironic twist that made my heart sink.
“I didn’t think that,” I said. “I never thought you were trying to trick me.”
Harper didn’t reply.
“I mean, I have to be honest – I’m still not sure why you kept her a secret for as long as you did. But that was your choice, and we’re dealing with it now.”
Harper nodded slowly.
“But no, Harp, I’d never think you were trying to trick me,” I said.
Harper sighed. “Really?”
I nodded, thinking back to the conversation I’d had with Clint ... and wondered just how many men out there thought all women were out to get them.
“Of course not,” I told her. “You’re a good woman. You wouldn’t lie. And besides, I know she’s mine – she looks just like my mother did, when she was a girl.”
Harper smiled faintly. “You did mention that,” she said.
We stayed up all night talking. Harper told me about Ada’s first word (Pop-pop) and how she’d learned how to walk (holding her Pop-pop’s hand, with a small pillow belted to her butt in case she fell over).
I loved hearing it.
All of it.
The only thing was, hearing these memories that made Harper smile and wistfully say that Ada was growing up too fast also made me a little sad. I wished that I could have been there.
Not that anything could be done about that now, though. We were together as a family, and that was what mattered.
For once, we didn’t have sex – we fell asleep holding each other, and I slept better than I ever had in my life.
In the morning, I woke up before Harper and Ada and padded into the kitchen where I started putting breakfast together. It sounded silly – even to me – but my parents had always eaten breakfast together, even on hectic days, and now that was my idea of what a happy family should look like.
By the time both of my girls were up, there was toast and scrambled eggs on the table, and I helped Ada into her chair.
“Big day today?” I asked Harper.
She groaned and rubbed her eyes. “I hate Mondays,” she said. “I never feel like I get enough sleep.”