27. Jefferson
CHAPTER 27
JEFFERSON
So, not only am I a sucker for Harlow’s tears, but I really, really like being the one that can comfort her.
Holding her while watching her crazy thriller movies might be the best Sunday afternoon I’ve ever had. And I’m a huge sports-on-Sunday-afternoons guy.
My phone rings just as the credits are rolling and she carefully pushes up from my lap, avoiding disturbing the two sleeping cats next to us.
“Be right back,” she tells me, hitching up the loose shorts on her hips. She grins. “And I’m feeling better but still sad enough that you need to make me feel better.” She wiggles her eyebrows.
“Should we bake cookies?” I ask.
“Cook…”
“Or should we bake cookies naked?” I finish before she can.
“Oooh…Yep. Madly in love with you.” She turns down the hall. “And if you don’t know the answer to that question already, you’re not the man I think you are.”
I’m grinning as I pull my phone out.
I immediately frown when I see Margot’s name on the screen though. “Hey,” I answer, checking to see if there are any missed calls or messages from Graham or Ginny or any other family member or friend.
Nope.
“Hi, I need you to tell me again that it’s not completely crazy for me to move to Denver,” she says.
Oh. That.
I glance down the hall and lower my voice and immediately feel guilty. “Did you talk to Graham about it?”
Obviously saying goodbye to him today got her thinking about this even more.
“I didn’t,” she says. “Because I don’t want to move because of him. He’s an extra perk.” She pauses. “Even more so now.”
So something definitely happened between them. Okay, that matters.
“But I want to do this for me. I want it to be something that’s a good idea even if things don’t work out with him.”
“That makes sense,” I say. “I think that’s really smart.”
“Yeah.”
She’s quiet. I let her think for a long moment. I know from the last time we talked that she hasn’t discussed this with anyone else. I also know she came to me because she knows that I would say she should definitely go. That’s what I do.
But…now Harlow and I are together. And that changes things for me. Not that I don’t think people should still see the world outside of Sapphire Falls and try new things, but because I can’t keep these conversations from her and not feel like I’m going behind her back.
“If you don’t go, you’ll always wonder,” I finally say. “You don’t want to stay here and always be wondering if there was another path that would have been better. The thing about home, about Sapphire Falls, is that we’re always here. There will never be a time when you can’t come back.” I pause. “There’s not really a risk here. You have a huge safety net. Go. Try it. Come back if it’s not what you thought it would be.”
“There’s a risk to my heart,” she says softly.
“So it is about Graham. More than you thought.”
“Yeah.”
“Well,” I say, taking a breath. “Sounds like that risk is there no matter where you live.”
She’s quiet for a moment. Then she says, “Yeah. It is.”
“At least in Denver, you can give that a real shot. And again, you won’t be wondering ‘what if’.”
I hear her deep breath. “You’re right.”
I let a moment stretch, then I say, “Hey?”
“Yeah?”
“You have to tell Harlow. I can’t keep this just between us anymore.”
“Yeah, I know. I was planning to call her and ask her to have dinner with me tomorrow.”
I’m relieved. “Awesome. Great.”
“Maybe I’ll just stop at her place now though. I don’t want to wait.”
“Oh…uh…”
She laughs. “She’s with you?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you…busy?”
I laugh. “We just finished a movie.”
“Can I steal her for a little bit?”
She’s spending the night here tonight. She’s already a little sad and this will definitely make it worse but, she’s handling Graham and Ginny leaving. I seem to really be helping her feel better. Maybe this is the best time, actually. She can get all of this sadness over with at once.
“Of course. But call her. Invite her for dinner tonight. This is between the two of you. I shouldn’t be around.”
“Okay. I’ll do that. And…thanks.”
“Any time.”
“I’m really glad you and Harlow figured your shit out,” she says.
“Me too,” I say sincerely. “Me too.”
We hang up as the bathroom door down the hall opens and Harlow rounds the couch just as her phone starts to ring where it’s lying on the coffee table. She looks at the screen. “It’s Margot.”
I make a noncommittal noise. “I’m going to get drink refills.” I stand and head for the kitchen.
I hear her say, “Hey,” then, “Um, yeah, I guess. Are you okay?” then, “Absolutely, that sounds nice, see you then.”
I return to the sofa with glasses of iced tea, setting them on coasters.
“Margot wants to have dinner tonight. Just the two of us. I think she’s extra sad about Graham leaving this time.” She snuggles in close to me. “I’ll come back over after though, okay?”
I drape my arm around her and sink into the cushions with her. “Of course.”
“It will be so nice once they get really serious and Graham just moves back here,” she says, starting to scroll through more movie titles on the screen. “We can all have dinner together all the time. That will be so fun.”
That would be fun.
It will be fun.
When they come back to Sapphire Falls to visit.
Fuck. I should just tell her what I know.
But she and Margot are going to talk in a couple hours. It can wait that long.
And it will be okay. Fine. She’ll come back here, and we’ll talk about it, and she’ll realize how great this is for Margot. And for Graham. And that she , Harlow, is great right here with me. In Sapphire Falls.
I look at the cats stretched out on the other end of the couch, oblivious to us, even as Harlow tucks her toes underneath one of them.
I sigh.
Yeah, after this news from Margot and the realization that Graham is not moving home, Harlow is not going to be happy.
I might need to get more cats.