Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
MARCUS
Noah
Are the girls okay?
Marcus
They’re okay
Graham
Are you okay?
Not so much
Bode
Have you heard from Harper?
No
Jasper
Have you tried calling?
Obviously
And texted
And called and texted again
Dax
Can we help?
I appreciate it, but no
Graham
You sure?
Noah
We can take the girls for a few hours
I don’t know if that would help
Not unless you’re Harper
Noah
Sorry, man
It’ll be okay
I lock my phone. I hope if I keep repeating it to myself, things will actually be okay.
It’s been almost a week without any word from Harper. Not only do I miss her, but the girls do too.
More so than me, it seems, if their mopey faces at the table have anything to say about it.
“I miss Harper.” Sam pushes her mac and cheese around on her plate. “Why isn’t she over?”
“She has school things tonight.” I drop a kiss onto Sam’s head before heading back into the kitchen to grab the green beans I made us. “She’ll come over when she’s free.”
“When will that be?” Sadie whines. “We made her Christmas presents.”
I sigh. The holidays are coming up, and I know they’ll want to see her. With the accident happening right before holiday break, none of us have been able to talk to her.
“Soon.” I set the two plates down in front of them.
“Gigi always says soon is an excuse for people who don’t want to come over.”
Of course she did.
“I promise. Harper will see you soon.”
Dinner is a muted affair. There’s no happy chatter of how they spent their day. Nothing about how excited they are for the upcoming holiday.
“Do you maybe want to put up the tree tonight?”
Both girls shrug. Well, I’m not getting much more out of them tonight. Given that it’s winter break, I let the girls watch TV until bed, complete with snuggles. With a book before bed, they fall asleep quickly.
I collapse onto the couch, scrubbing my hands over my face. I don’t know how much longer I can take this silence from Harper.
She has ignored every single one of my calls and texts. It’s not like I can see her at school until classes resume. It’s been nothing but silence.
I hate it. I hate that she’s avoiding me for something that wasn’t her fault. It’s gutting me, and made exponentially worse because of the girls.
There’s a soft knock at the door. Sitting up, I walk down the hallway to see Harper standing on the front porch through the windows. Her hair is down and she’s wearing an oversized Knights sweatshirt and leggings. She spots me and gives me a sad smile.
I don’t hesitate in pulling the door open. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
“What are you doing here?”
Grabbing her hand, I pull her into my arms, holding her there .
“I missed you.”
“You could have called, you know,” I tell her.
Harper starts crying, based on her shaking. “I’m sorry, Marcus. I’m so sorry.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“Yes, I did!” Harper exclaims, pulling back. Tears are streaming down her face. “I hurt them.”
I shake my head. “You only hurt them by leaving.”
More tears. “But your mom?—”
“C’mon.” I tuck Harper into my side, then lead us into the living room to reclaim my spot on the couch. This time, with Harper curled up by my side.
“I hate that I put the girls in that situation,” Harper whispers into my chest.
I squeeze her closer. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“But—”
“No. It wasn’t your fault. They hit you. Everyone is okay. That’s all that matters.”
“But your mom—” Harper starts.
I sigh. “Yeah. I don’t know what I’m going to do about that.”
Harper shifts, resting her chin on my chest to stare at me. “I don’t want to come between you and her.”
“I might be part of that problem,” I confess.
“What do you mean?”
“I never told her I left you back then.”
Harper closes her eyes. “So she hates me because she thinks I walked out on you? Of course she does.”
“Look.” I cup her cheek and wipe away the lingering tears. “It was another mistake in a long line of mistakes I made back then. I was so caught up in my own grief that I never bothered telling the truth.”
Harper smiles at me. “I’m not mad. But at least I understand why she hates me so much. ”
I waggle my finger at her to scoot closer to me, and she slides up my chest. I capture her lips in a warm kiss. It’s not heated, but it’s perfect. Exactly what I need right now.
“I’ll figure something out,” I whisper against her lips.
Harper shakes her head. “We can do it together.”
“Yeah?”
“You might have been alone before, Marcus, but you’re not anymore. It’s not just you. It’s you and me.”
“Don’t ever leave us again,” I tell her.
“Never. I’m here for you. Always.”
“I don’t deserve you.”
“Well, you must have done something right for us to be back here.”
I breathe Harper and her sweet scent in. Her words do more to heal every part of my broken soul than anything else these last few years.
“I love you, Harper. Probably more than I’ll ever be able to tell you.”
Harper seals her mouth over mine.
“You want to know something?” She traces a finger down the scruff on my jaw. Scruff that I haven’t bothered keeping cleaned up because I’ve been too distraught.
“Tell me,” I say.
Harper rests her head on my chest over my heart. “Remember our vows?”
I smile, running my fingers through Harper’s hair. “I remember every second of our wedding.”
“I never told you, but that night, when I went back to my hotel room, I wrote out what I wanted to say instead of the vows we actually said.”
“What, traditional wasn’t good enough for you?” I laugh.
“Just didn’t really convey everything I felt for you then. ”
“Then?” I ask.
“Now too.”
“So what would you say?” I continue running my fingers through her silky hair. It’s calming.
“That I love you with every cell in my body. Every fiber of my being. That there is nothing I wouldn’t do for you because of how much I love you. There will never be another person who knows me the way you do. Who loves and cares for me the way you do. How safe I feel when I’m in your arms. And how all I want is to go to bed next to you every night and wake up next to you every morning. If that’s all I have in life, I’ll have all I need.”
“Harper.”
She squeezes me close. “You don’t have to say anything, Marcus. But however this plays out, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Seriously, I don’t deserve you.”
“Yes, you do.” Harper swats at my chest.
“You know, I thought about what I would’ve said to you too. If we had actually planned a wedding.”
Harper laughs and the warmth seeps through my T-shirt. “I mean, you planned it.”
“You know what I mean.”
“What would you have said?” Harper asks.
“That you’re my person. I was in love with you the second I met you. A complete goner. I still remember that day at the pep rally. You looked so beautiful, but everything on the inside made you that much more incredible. I was the luckiest man in the world that I got to be with you. And how I would do everything in my power to make sure you knew how loved you were every day we spent together. Forever and a day.”
“Forever and a day.”