Chapter 33
“It’s not that serious!” Nell said. “We’ve only been on a few dates. You’re making a big deal about nothing.”
Harper raised an eyebrow. “Uh-huh.”
Nell gave her a look. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what? Not believe you? You bring up Casey every time we talk. How is that not a big deal?”
Maybe Harper was only telling herself as much, but the temperature change burned away some of the tension. With the aid of the warm fire and flickering candles, the space turned so toasty that it was impossible not to relax, at least a little.
Even though Nell’s aggressive blushing suggested she wasn’t particularly relaxed.
“Stop!” Nell threw a pillow at Harper’s head. She barely caught it. “We aren’t even official. Not yet, anyway. I don’t want to jinx it by getting clingy.”
Harper rolled her eyes, but didn’t argue. There were limited topics they could discuss without stoking the unresolved argument from before. Nell’s shoddy attempt at casual dating was one of them.
She was the only one who hadn’t settled down once the cabin heated up.
The three of them had changed into more comfortable clothing of t-shirts and sweatpants—all of which came from the minor shopping spree Harper had gone on after arriving at the outpost. Nell was poking around the cabin bookshelves, while Evie was curled up in the armchair and Harper was on the couch, head resting on Maya’s lap.
A terrible mistake. Maya took advantage of the position and used it to run her fingers through her hair. Combined with the fireplace and comfy clothes, Harper was getting drowsy.
“Doesn’t seem like Casey really minds clinginess. You’ve spent basically every night together for the past week.” Evie’s eyes darted to Harper. “Looks official to me.”
Tension flashed across Nell’s face. “Yeah. It’s been good.”
Evie folded her arms. “It has. Right?”
“Yeah, totally! Casey just…” Nell lowered her gaze.
“She was disappointed when I said I would be out of town. Upset, even.” She shook her head, smiling again.
“It’s fine, though. She’s so nice, it’s actually ridiculous.
I mentioned I like plants, so she’s bought me flowers every time we’ve been out.
I told her to stop, but she won’t listen.
The apartment is overflowing with them.”
Harper bit her lip, keeping her comment to herself. That feeling about Casey hadn’t lessened in the slightest, and what Nell had just said didn’t help. But if Harper said what she was thinking, it wouldn’t come out pleasantly.
“Sounds like she’s doing a lot,” Maya said. “Maybe too much, even?”
“No! No, she’s just… It’s new.” Nell ran a finger over the dusty books on the shelves, smiling softly. “It’s kind of nice, actually. It’s been a while since I was with someone who does stuff like that. The last guy I dated didn’t. And it’s just flowers. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Harper bit her lip, again. Because that last guy had done ‘stuff like that.’ He’d just front-loaded all the niceties and used them as a foil for later shitty behavior.
Given that she’d needed a restraining order for that bastard, it was no wonder Nell’s memory focused on the negatives about that relationship.
But this wasn’t the same. Casey worked for the Chains. They didn’t employ abusive assholes. And it had been so long since Nell had talked about dating with any kind of excitement. Ruining it wouldn’t be fair. Especially since she kept insisting nothing was wrong.
“Finding anything good?” Evie asked. Nell was still picking through the dusty shelves. “You know, no one really owns this stuff. If you find something you like, you can take it.”
“Don’t encourage her!” Harper said. “Remember our apartment in Shreveport? That place turned into a minimalist’s nightmare because she kept stuffing it with trinkets.”
“Most of those trinkets needed a good home, I’ll have you know,” Nell said with mock sternness. “And you can prepare yourself to see them all again real soon. Once we get our stuff out of St. Louis, I plan on putting all of it on display.”
Harper groaned. But she smiled as she did it. “Kill me now.”
Nell ignored the comment, sitting down on the floor, and started moving through the stacked boxes on the bottom shelf. Evie watched her, warmth rising in her eyes.
Both Evie and Harper knew the danger involved in bringing Nell around items with storied pasts.
Thrift stores and flea markets were her biggest weakness, as she only needed to take one look at something and then a whole tragic backstory about it formed in her head, meaning she couldn’t possibly leave it behind.
Evie had been without it for years. Nell pilfering through dusty knick-knacks was a bit of normalcy in a situation that lacked it.
“Oh!” Nell blew dust off a cardboard box. “It’s an old trivia game!”
Harper snorted. “Only you would find that exciting.”
“Don’t be so negative. It’s like a window into the past. It’s interesting to see what people used to have fun with.
” She opened the box and leafed through a stack of cards.
“They look like riddles, actually. Listen. ‘A box weighs ten pounds before it is filled, eight pounds after it is filled. What is it filled with?’”
“Holes,” Harper said. She’d taken Maya’s hand, playing with her fingers and keeping them from inducing even more sleepiness.
When the room went silent, Harper looked up. Nell was staring at her, while Evie was hiding a smile with her hand.
“How did you know that?” Nell asked. Harper grinned.
“Wait. I’m right?”
Nell turned the card, waving it around so fast it was impossible to make out the letters.
Maya nodded at her. “Try another one.”
Nell picked a random card from the pile. “‘The left side of a fish has one thousand scales. The right side also has one thousand scales. Which side has the most?’”
Everyone looked at Harper, waiting. After a long moment, she shrugged.
“The outside?”
“Word of warning,” Nell said, looking at Maya. “If you ever play trivia games with her, make sure you’re on her team. Otherwise, she’ll wipe the floor with you.”
Harper rolled her eyes. “You’re exaggerating.”
“She’s not, actually,” Evie said with a soft smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you lose a round of trivia. It’s like you have all the questions memorized.”
Harper’s shoulders tensed. That comment was a bit too close to reality, though memorized wasn’t really an accurate descriptor.
Repetition had just carved a vast catalogue of useless information into her brain, and now she couldn’t get rid of it.
When she was in rehab, they had game show reruns playing in the common room, and she had spent most of her time there staring at the television rather than talking to anyone.
“Is that so?” Maya sounded impressed. “I’ll keep that in mind. Good to know I’m dating a savant.”
Harper’s stomach clenched. “It’s just random trivia. It’s nothing special.”
A slight furrow creased Maya’s brow, but before she could say anything, Nell chuckled.
“Nothing special, huh? Get this wrong, then.” She held up another card. “‘What is the principal part of a horse?’”
“What does that even mean?” Evie said, laughing.
Harper grimaced. Nell gaped, dropping her hand holding the card.
“You have the answer, don’t you?”
“The main part,” Harper muttered. “You know, the mane of a horse and then main is similar to principal…”
She rolled her eyes and held out her hand.
“It isn’t difficult. Give me a card, and I’ll prove it. If someone as dumb as me can answer these, then everyone can.”
She settled back down, head resting against Maya’s thigh as she scanned the card. Immediately regretting it.
The card was orange cardboard, adorned with tiny black text. The smoldering fireplace and lit candles illuminated the space pretty well, but it wasn’t bright enough to make sense of the letters. Whenever she moved from one to the next, the neighboring symbols turned into incomprehensible smears.
When she realized the room had been quiet for several seconds, she cleared her throat and handed the card to Maya.
“You read it.”
Maya looked at her oddly. Eyes narrowed and head tilted. But she accepted the card.
Her lips tensed. “When was this game made?”
Nell scanned the yellowed paper inside the box.
“Uh… 1939.”
“I see. This makes more sense, then.” Maya smirked. “‘What word do women like best?’”
They all exchanged glances. But no one spoke.
“What’s the answer?” Harper asked. Maya showed the card.
“‘The last word.’”
The room went quiet. Then Nell burst out laughing, with Evie and Harper following right after.
“I think this game is fine where it is.” Nell scooted the box back onto the shelf. And then began rifling through the other trinkets within reach.
Their laughter had scattered the brief awkwardness of Harper getting stumped, but it hadn’t gone far. Maybe she only noticed because of how she was lying, but Maya had stilled. Her hand hung limply, her smile didn’t reach her eyes, and whenever she spoke, she kept her comments brief.
And she kept glancing at Harper, a thoughtful look in her eyes. As though confused. Or disappointed.
Harper should have known this would happen.
The limelight could be a blessing or a curse.
Under the right circumstances, it could illuminate your strengths and make you the envy of everyone stuck in the shadows.
But it only needed to be tilted slightly, and then all your faults were suddenly on full display.
Right then, it didn’t just feel tilted. It felt like several spotlights were on her, all of them fixed at the most unflattering angle possible.
Once the fire burned to embers, both Nell and Evie started yawning.
Harper suspected Evie would prefer staying up all night, but her eyes drooping showed that her body disagreed.
And to her credit, she didn’t say anything as Harper and Maya went off to the bedroom.
She just glanced after them, fingers tight around the edge of her blanket.