Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Grayson
The morning after the festival was mercifully quiet in the store. It was the kind of quiet I needed, especially considering everything going on in my brain was so loud. I couldn’t stop replaying the night before. The lights, the tree…Harper.
Pretending to be her boyfriend was too easy because, in my heart, it still felt so right.
Which was why it was a terrible idea.
Not that I didn’t know that when I agreed to it, but with every day that passed and every moment we spent together, I felt myself getting in deeper and deeper. It wasn’t going to end well.
But what if it does?
As quickly as the thought popped into my mind, I shut off that little part of my brain. The part that would give me false hope that things could be different this time.
I was too old to let myself believe in fairy tales or happy endings.
It wasn’t in the cards. At least not for me and Harper.
I lifted the board and carefully carried it to the stack I’d been making in the loading bay. Working in the warehouse was exactly what I needed. Just me, the scent of freshly cut lumber, and the steady rhythm of picking an order in silence.
Right on cue, the back door to the warehouse banged open. With a sigh, I straightened and brushed my hands off on my jeans.
“Morning.”
I turned and smiled. “Hey, Reid. You’re early.”
“I didn’t think you’d mind.” He shrugged unapologetically. “Besides, I’m excited to get these boards into the shop and turn them into a dining room table.”
“A table, huh?” I ran my hand down the board I’d just stacked. “I was wondering what your latest commission was.”
My twin brother was a talented woodworker and had slowly pivoted from his handyman business to taking orders for custom pieces all across Western Canada in the last few months with his growing business.
“It’s a big one, too. Supposed to seat ten to twelve people, with a river rock inlay and a live edge.”
“Wow,” I said, suitably impressed. “I can’t wait to see it.”
“Me too.” He laughed.
Reid started to look through the pile of wood I’d already prepared, mentally cataloging his order, as I continued to move around the shop, gathering pieces.
“You need anything else?” I asked. “Just help yourself and add it to the order.”
He took his time, moving around the warehouse, before returning to where I stood with the clipboard, double-checking a different order. Reid added a few pieces of walnut to his pile and leaned back against a stack of plywood.
When I looked up, his arms were crossed as he watched me. “So.”
I shook my head and looked down at the clipboard again. “So…what?”
I knew exactly what, but I didn’t plan to make it easy for him.
My brother wasn’t the type to dance around an issue for long. “What are you doing with Harper?”
I still didn’t look up but kept my pen moving across the paper. “I told you already.”
“Right.”
He dragged out the word in such a way that I finally gave in and looked at him.
“You have something you need to say?”
“You know I do.”
I set the clipboard down and crossed my arms. “Might as well say it then.”
“Do you know what you’re doing, Gray?”
“It’s not what you think it is.” I exhaled through my nose. “This is just for a few weeks. For Willa. You know Harper would do anything for her grandma.”
“And I know you’d do anything for Harper,” he said, without missing a beat. “But what about you?”
“What about me?”
Reid clenched his jaw and shook his head. “Do I need to say it?”
“Apparently you do, brother.”
He didn’t. We both knew it.
“You’re still in love with her.” It wasn’t a question. “She’s leaving, Gray.”
I nodded.
“Don’t you remember what happened last time?” Reid continued. “Because I do.”
How could I possibly forget? I shook my head and looked away. I didn’t have the time or energy to have this conversation.
“I’ve never seen you like that before. Or since,” he continued. “She broke your heart, Gray. I won’t let it—”
“It wasn’t her.” I spun around, cutting him off. “She didn’t break my heart, Reid. I did that all on my own.”
“You and I both know that’s bullshit.” Reid took a step toward me.
I opened my mouth to protest, but what was the point in arguing with him? There was no one more protective of me than my twin brother, and I knew his heart was in the right place. I also knew he’d never understand how I felt about Harper back then. Or now.
They weren’t feelings that could be shut off.
“I don’t want you to get hurt again, Gray. I’m just trying to—”
“Drop it, Reid.” I held up a hand. “Because it’s not real this time. You know that. It’s all for Willa.” The lie hung heavy between us. “Like I said, it’s just for the holiday,” I muttered with a shake of my head and turned away before he could call me out on it.
“Right,” he said easily, like he didn’t believe a word of it.
I know he didn’t.
“I mean it, Reid.” My voice came out sharper than I meant it to. “Harper and I…it’s not like that anymore.”
I picked up the clipboard again and walked past him, but he turned to follow me.
“Because you don’t want it to be? Or because you’re scared it could be?”
Something in my chest twisted, but I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction. “I don’t have time for this, Reid.”
“But you have plenty of time to dance with Harper in the middle of the plaza?”
That did it. I slammed the clipboard down on the workbench, the sound echoing through the warehouse. “I told you to drop it.”
My brother didn’t flinch. “You’re still in love with her.”
“Get out.”
“Gray, I’m—”
“Reid.” I leveled him with a look that could have splintered wood. “I don’t have time to deal with this right now. Ollie’s coming in for a meeting any minute, and I need to be ready. Grab your order and go.”
For once, he didn’t argue. He studied me for a long second. I could see there was more he wanted to say. Finally, he shrugged. “Fine. Lie to me all you want, brother. It doesn’t change the fact that you’re lying to yourself.”
With that, he scratched his signature on the paperwork, hoisted the boards onto his shoulder, and walked out the back.
Everything he’d said, and everything he hadn’t, hung in the quiet after he left.
The worst part was…he hadn’t been wrong.
Harper
The smell of garlic and simmering tomato sauce filled the air, a sure sign that Kevin was settling into his new role. In the days since he’d started, I already felt a lot of the pressure ease off, and I know Grandma did too. In fact, I hadn’t seen her in the kitchen since right after I’d arrived.
Which was a good thing. She needed the time to rest and recover from whatever it was that was ailing her.
I’d reached out twice to her doctor, but he cited privacy concerns for the reason he couldn’t tell me anything about her condition.
Not that I’d really expected him to. But despite my persistence, Grandma insisted she didn’t want to burden me with things I couldn’t change.
I wouldn’t push it for the time being. But if she didn’t tell me what was going on soon, I was going to have to press the issue.
With a sigh, I looked back at my laptop, where I’d been going through the numbers.
“I thought lunch services stopped a few years back?” I asked Erin, who sat at a nearby table, wrapping cutlery rolls.
“It did,” she confirmed with a small shrug. “They were too hard to staff, and it took too much out of Willa to do a full day. She insisted on hanging on to the weekend breakfasts for a while, too.”
“But…”
Erin shrugged. I could see that she was trying not to say too much. “It was a lot for her on her own with only a few part-timers.”
I nodded, in full agreement as I looked around. “Hopefully that will turn around now.” The place looked tired. Old and worn down.
I should have come back sooner. Maybe if I hadn’t been so selfish and I’d come home earlier, I would have been able to help Grandma make changes before things got to such a point.
But I couldn’t change the past.
The bones of Willa’s Whisk were strong. “We’ll fix it,” I said, more to myself than to Erin. “It’ll take some hard work, but we’ll make it shine again.” Satisfied, I smiled and looked at Erin. “Kevin’s going to be good for this place.”
“Oh, sweetie.” Erin laughed. “It’s you who’s going to be good for this place.”
I pressed my lips together and shook my head. “You know I’m not staying, Erin. This is—”
“Nonsense.” She waved her hand, dismissing my protest. “A young woman isn’t meant to travel forever, Harper. Especially when there’s so much for you right here in Trickle Creek.”
“I’m only here for the holidays and then—”
“You know how happy she is that you’re home.”
The weight of her words was heavy in my chest.
“Having you back in the kitchen has brought her so much joy, Harper. Not to mention seeing you with Grayson again after all this time. She hasn’t stopped talking about it.”
I stiffened. “Of course she hasn’t.”
“You know, Harper, all those years ago, when you went off to school and started traveling, Willa was always so proud of you. She’d talk about you to anyone who would listen.” Erin laughed. “You know that, right?”
I nodded. Grandma had never been anything but supportive when it came to my career. Even though it took me farther and farther away from her.
“But as proud as she was of all of your accomplishments and where your career has taken you, I can see how much it means to have you home again.”
I swallowed hard, feeling the heaviness of the lie I’d been telling her. “She knows I’m not here to stay, though…”
“I swear, she’s already planning out the next few years,” Erin continued, as if I hadn’t spoken. “We all knew the two of you would find your way back together again someday.”
“Right.” I pressed my lips together and sucked air through my teeth. “Well, I guess we’ll see where things go—”
The sound of my phone buzzing on the tabletop, thankfully, interrupted my next lie. I glanced at the screen, my stomach flipping when I saw the name.
Captain Howard.
“Excuse me, Erin. I have to…” I held up my phone as way of explanation.