39. Marcus
39
Marcus
My legs feel like they’re encased in lead. It’s like a mile-long walk from the curb to the front door of the duplex. After what feels like an entire year, I gently rap my knuckles on the wooden door. Within a minute, it swings open, revealing her smiling face.
“To be honest, I didn’t actually believe you’d stop by,” she greets me. Her expression brightens as she glances down. She gasps. “Are those for me?”
“Yeah.” I hand the bouquet of white roses to her. Her favorite, yet a small gesture compared to the lavish life she has been living, which makes her reaction very surprising.
Do I think she suddenly turned a new leaf or ate a slice of humble pie? Only time will tell. A lifetime, eventually. The thought leaves a heavy pang in my stomach as I cross the threshold into her dad’s cozy living room.
Harper goes to put the bouquet in water, and I get comfortable on the sectional. It smells like her, as if she’d been lying down right before I knocked on the door.
“Do you want something to drink?” she calls from the kitchen.
“Water is fine,” I answer back .
My eyes sweep the living space filled with so many memories, many of which I’d swept to the far corners of my mind years ago. We had our first fight on that staircase and made up right on this very couch. Almost got caught by her dad while making up on this very couch . I chuckle to myself, remembering how I ran stark naked out the back door while it was thirty degrees outside.
“What’s so funny?” Harper asks, handing me a bottle of water.
“Remember the night your dad almost caught us going at it right here?” I ask, and she bursts out laughing, spewing water.
“Oh, my God.” She’s still laughing and dabbing at her chest. “I thought you were going to freeze out there. Dad was literally standing right over your clothes. Thank God he didn’t see them, or your ass would’ve been toast.”
She glances down at me and smirks. “Such a waste.”
“What?”
“If your ass had been toast. It’s a perfect ass.”
“Mhm.” I shake my head. “You didn’t think it was perfect before, did you? Back then, it was a broke ass.”
Her smile deflates. “Do we really need to go there?”
“If we’re really going to try making it work this time, then yes, we should. We can’t start over if there are shackles of the past holding us back. The only way to break free is to talk about it, to hash out every negative feeling.”
Harper stares at me, seemingly in deep thought, then finally nods seriously. “You’re right. We should let it all out.” She twists on the seat, facing me directly. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Armand Brosnan.” Her little Miami boyfriend. I recall the phone call she dashed to take in the restroom when we had lunch the other day. “Are you still in contact with him?”
“No.” The answer comes swift and firm. “We’ve been over for a long time.”
“Why? ”
This time, she hesitates so long, I start wondering if she’s going to answer. Finally, she mutters, “We wanted different things.”
“Such as?”
She pulls back, her eyes now fiery. “This feels more like an interrogation than anything else, Marcus.”
“You do understand what’s happening, right? We’re going to start dating again. Eventually, our parents expect that we’ll get married and start a family. I’m not going in blind, Harper. I want the truth about everything.”
“Am I getting that same truth from you?” she asks.
“One hundred percent,” I reply confidently.
“Okay.” Her chin lifts. “Are you seeing anyone?”
“No,” I answer truthfully. Lauren and I made nothing official. However, I’m praying Harper doesn’t ask me if I have feelings for anyone. Now that , I can’t lie about.
She seems satisfied with my answer as a smile creeps up on her face. It quickly disappears when I ask her, “What different things?”
“Huh?”
“You and Armand.”
Harper shrugs. “Oh. He wanted a baby without giving me a wedding ring. I wanted the security of a marriage. He didn’t want to bend and neither did I, so we cut our losses.”
“So it was amicable.”
“Very.” She smiles. A heavy sensation lands in my gut at the deadness behind her eyes. My instincts have never been wrong. Like my dad, I feel there’s something Harper’s not telling me.