Chapter 15 #2
I roll my eyes before we saunter back to the kitchen area. I’m quick to hand my niece back to my brother to ensure I’m not trapped into any more shenanigans. Harlow smiles at the baby who squeals a sound.
“You like Lake Spark, I hear?” Isla begins our conversation.
“Yeah.” Harlow swirls a tea bag in her mug. “It’s quaint and gives you a warm fuzzy feeling. Not sure how you all survive winter, though.”
“Summer makes up for it. A total opposite, and fall is just, wow, the colors changing, and Halloween feels different than in other places. There’s a sort of smell of wood in the air,” Isla gushes.
“I could see that. I should come back then for writing inspiration.”
My brother looks between all of us with awkwardness, and I internally groan because I know what he is about to do. “So, that means you plan on coming back more often?”
Harlow smiles self-consciously. “Uh, I’m not sure, probably. Who knows,” she strings a sentence on the go. “Those donuts look great, I love old-fashions with glaze.”
“Wonderful. I wasn’t sure if you were vegan or just vegetarian so got both options.” My soon-to-be sister-in-law is a little chipper and oblivious to my brother’s investigation.
“Oh,” Harlow seems taken aback. “Wow, you guys seem to know a lot about me.”
Isla nods her head with a bright smile. “For sure. Stone mentions you all the time when we meet for lunch or dinner.” Geez, Isla, please stop digging me into a hole.
“Kind of cute, don’t ya think?” My brother is leaning against the counter bouncing his daughter on his hip and wearing a proud smirk.
Harlow chortles to herself. “Definitely,” she plays along.
I clap my hands together. “Right, everyone, let’s eat.” And move us the fuck along.
A few minutes later, we’re all sitting at the table, with my niece in her highchair.
“Freshly squeezed orange juice, anyone?” Isla asks, holding up a jug.
Holy hell, this effort thing is now ridiculous. “Absolutely, why don’t you throw on an apron and some pearls, and then we’re all set with this future-housewife thing.” I’m not at all serious.
“Now, now, let’s not talk about my fiancée’s and my role-playing fantasies at this moment. After all, there are little ears present,” my brother jokes, or maybe not, and I just shake my head.
Glancing to my side, Harlow is desperate to burst out laughing. I can tell.
“Well, thanks for taking this morning to a new level of weirdness,” I comment.
“Trust me, I haven’t even asked if Harlow enjoys our family enough to see us again, which would imply that she’s not going anywhere in the future as far as you’re concerned.”
I will punch him. Then get him in a headlock like we used to when we were kids. Even better, have a rumble on the ice because he seems to be in his good-old-days phase.
For the first time, Harlow now has a shade of no longer entertained. A little sigh escapes her as she realizes that we probably can’t keep avoiding the obvious.
Harlow lets go of our interlaced fingers, barely a brush, but nonetheless a loss of her touch. She heads straight to the couch in my living room and falls down with an exhausted sigh. I slowly take a few strides in her direction, relieved when a faint smile appears on her lips.
“Sorry about all that.” I scratch the back of my neck.
She holds her hand up. “Don’t. That was hysterical. I will never forget that. No brunch will ever be the same.” She splays out her hands.
A lopsided look hits my face. “Well… that was my family.” I slide next to her on the cushions.
“They…” Her face softens. “Are wonderful. You can see the connection and love for one another. Teasing is part of having a tight family.”
I play with a strand of her hair while she nuzzles into my touch. “You didn’t really have that, did you.”
She shakes her head. “My parents are great, we just weren’t playful or took time to have moments together. I love visiting my parents, but they are a bit reserved and struggle to show emotion, ya know?”
“I’m lucky.”
We pause for a beat and both get lost in a stare, knowing the time has come.
“And here we are,” I rasp.
“The big conversation.” I can’t figure out her tone.
It’s a stalemate for who will lead this conversation, until I decide to be tribute in what I’m scared could specifically be an ending, even though we feel closer than everyone.
“I don’t want to let you go.”
Harlow snickers. “Stone, nor do I. But we both know we have a few obstacles in our way.”
“We can either continue as we are and see where we land or accept that we drew the bad card and that nothing is realistic.” My throat feels tight, with a near salty taste from emotions that I’m not used to. My next words seem lost in the back of my mouth.
She scoots closer to me, taking both of my hands into hers. “I’m lost. Scared. Wishing I would be fortunate that the one thing I need would drop from the sky; clarity. But I was lucky that you entered my life, even if for a fleeting moment across the map, and maybe that’s all I get.”
“I don’t think luck had anything to do with it.”
“I enjoyed meeting your family, it’s what even friends do. But I’m aware that it’s more than that. Discovering pieces of you is better than finding a new kind of freedom in my life.” Her eyes dip down, and I see sorrow.
My stomach churns, and the future suddenly seems bleak, yet a glimmer of hope that we can take hold of us is in sight.
“Harlow, I wish you didn’t experience the things you did, but I’ve only ever seen you as broken.” I pull her close, tight against my chest, to kiss the top of her head. “Let’s not give up.”
“You live here, I live there. Maybe eventually in a moment, we’ll get tired due to an atlas.”
“Damn it, Harlow, I think our biggest concern is that you hate apples,” I say in an attempt to bring her smile back.
A line draws on her mouth as her eyes strike up to me. “Fine, it’s the distance that will drive us apart. Won’t it?”
I let her go to hold her strong by her upper arms with pure reverence, giving her no opportunity to look anywhere but at me. “If we didn’t have distance between us, then what obstacle would we have? I don’t think anything would be in our way. Without that factor, tell me what you want.”
An honest smile brushes her lips. “You.”
“Then that’s what you get. We’re still fresh, we don’t need to make any jumps, it’s just that it seems the next step would be...” Moving, which she has already connected in her head.
Her bottom lip gets attacked by her teeth. “It’s not new, Stone. We were meant for a chapter together the moment we laid eyes on one another.”
“It’s stronger between us, isn’t it? Not a momentary click.”
She nods. “We’ve laid out the risks.”
“I’m willing to take them. I’ll do it for both of us.”
Her tongue slides to the inside of her cheek as she seems to be suppressing a grin. “Okay… I think we’ve laid out what we’re both avoiding.”
My brows furrow. “And?”
She breaks from my hold and circles her arms around my neck. “Facts are out, and now we have discussed it like responsible adults. We don’t have an answer yet. Which only means we should pat ourselves on the back for at least listing the obvious and then do what we want.”
I wasn’t expecting that. “Which means?”
“Stone Madden, take me upstairs and fuck me as though it really matters.”
My lips reach hers due to our magnetic pull. I ensure we skim one another’s mouths, reminding us we are capable of sensuality. “It’s always mattered, Harlow. So you’ll just have to settle with slow and staying in my arms all night.”
She instantly crashes her lips on mine before I lift her off the sofa, and she hangs off me. We find solace in a night that in no way feels like a goodbye yet.