Chapter Twenty-Five
"When are you going to call Harper, Dad?"
Emmett straightened up from loading the dishwasher and turned to face Tanya, who was wiping down the counters after breakfast. "I don't know yet. I thought I'd see what we wanted to do with the day before we decided."
Tanya made a face at him. "What we want to do with the day is hang out with Harper, right, Alana?"
Emmett raised his eyebrows at his older daughter. She'd come around more quickly than he'd expected, but he knew she might feel differently again now that the play was behind them.
"I'd like her to come over." She went and sat at the kitchen table. "I know it's my fault she's not here."
Emmett went straight to her and pulled out a chair so that he could sit facing her. "It's not your fault. Alana, don't say that."
"No." Tanya came to join them. "If it's anybody's fault, it's my fault. If I hadn't said the Mama Bear thing…"
Emmett held his hand up. "It's nobody's fault.
And it's not a problem. We're all navigating something new and different here.
There's bound to be stops and starts. Things went very fast in the beginning, with Harper coming to stay with us because I needed the help.
It's okay for them to slow down again while we all figure things out. "
Alana nodded slowly. "I guess so. But as soon as she wasn't here, I missed her."
"Me too," Tanya added. "And you miss her, don't you, Dad?" she asked as she put her hand on his shoulder.
"I do. But she's not all that far away. And we can see her as much as we like. It's more important to me—and to Harper—that we all take this as slowly as you girls want to."
Alana blew out a sigh. "I guess what I'm saying is that I don't want to—go slowly, I mean. I want Harper back."
Tanya nodded eagerly.
"I know. But, Sprout, don't you think there'll be times when something comes up, when something annoys you or Harper does something that you don't like, and you'll want her gone again?"
"No," Alana started to protest. But Emmett raised his eyebrows.
"Okay," she conceded. "So sometimes I change my mind about stuff. And yeah, sometimes it's hard. But that’s because she's not Mom. It's nothing against Harper. It's just that she's… not Mom."
Emmett reached out to touch her arm. "I know. And that's what I don't want to rush you through. You need time to process it, to get used to it."
She met his gaze and held it. "Are you used to it?"
He shook his head slightly. "No, not completely.
And I don't think I ever will be. That's one thing I need you both to know: I still love your mom.
I always will. And for the longest time, I didn't think I'd want or be able to love someone new.
Harper took me by surprise." He looked at each of them in turn.
"And I know that might be hard for you guys. "
"Not for me," said Tanya. She gave Alana an apologetic look. "I still love Mom, too. But I was only small." She frowned. "I don't really remember Mom. I want to, but I don't."
Emmett was glad that Alana spoke before he could. He didn't trust his voice not to crack.
"It's okay, Button. I know that. You were only tiny. It's just that I was older, so I remember her more. And…" She blew out a sigh. "I'm good with Harper. Since we're all saying it, I'll admit it. I love her, too. She's been awesome with me. And I know sometimes I can be a pain in the ass."
Tanya's eyes widened. But Emmett just smiled. "I'd never say that."
Alana chuckled. "You can't, because you're my dad, but we both know it's true.
And Harper's been good with me." She frowned, seeming to think something over before she spoke again.
"And you know what? I'm supposed to be a pain in the ass.
I'm a fifteen-year-old girl. So yeah, I change my mind sometimes.
And yeah, I struggle over Mom being gone.
But you know what? That's what parents have to put up with.
That's what families have to go through.
" She worried at her bottom lip before she continued.
"And if we're going to be a family, a new kind of family, then Harper should probably get used to it from the beginning. "
"Maybe so, but I still don't want to rush us into something too fast."
"How long do we have to wait, then?" Tanya asked.
"I don't think it's a case of putting a timeline on it," said Emmett.
"I think we should," said Alana. "Let's say unless something awful happens in the next two weeks, we should ask Harper to come back then."
He raised his eyebrows. "Is there anything particular about two weeks that I'm missing? You don't think that's too soon?"
"I want her to come back now," said Tanya.
"And I think I do," said Alana. "But I get what you're saying. So we should give it some time."
"I don't know that two weeks is long enough."
"There's only one way to find out," Alana told him. "So, what do you say? Should we talk to her? Do you want to call her now and talk about it with her too?"
"Okay, but when we do, I'm going to put one condition on it."
"What's that?" Tanya asked.
"My condition," he answered her, even though he was looking at Alana, "is that if you change your mind at any point, you have to say so.
And even if things go well in the beginning and Harper does come back, you need to promise me that you'll talk to me about it if you're not happy once she’s here.
I don't want you to feel like you’re stuck after you make the decision—I need you to know you can still talk to me about it all. "
She leaned in and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Thanks, Dad. But that's why I'm saying two weeks, to make sure first. Most of me wants to agree with Tanya and ask Harper to come back right now. But I'm trying to be sensible and wait a bit just to be sure."
He kissed the top of her head. "I know. It's just that there's no way you can be sure until we're in the middle of it. And so I'm making my condition so that you always know you can talk to me."
She rolled her eyes at him. "As if I don't know that!"
"So are we going to call her then?" Tanya asked.
Emmett chuckled. "I'll call her just as soon as we finish getting the kitchen cleaned up."
He was finding it a lot easier to get around again now, and the last thing he wanted was for Harper to come back to find the house a mess and feel like she needed to clean up after them.
~ ~ ~
Harper didn't know what time Emmett might call her today. It might not be till this evening, so she wasn't going to sit around waiting. There was nothing to do in the cottage.
She'd already spent enough time making it feel lived in again, and looking around, she nodded to herself—she'd succeeded. She went to touch the vase of flowers on the end table. They were the right touch. They made the place feel bright and homey.
She went to the fridge and then checked the cabinets. She was all stocked up. In fact, she had enough supplies in to last if some disaster struck or if there were another lockdown. So there was no reason to make a trip down to the grocery store.
There had to be something she could do to keep herself busy and pretend that she was just being practical.
She smiled when it hit her. She could make a run over to the bakery.
She could catch up with Rocket or Spider or whoever was working.
And it wouldn't do any harm to show up at Emmett's later with chocolate chip cookies, cheesecake, and some of the girls' favorites.
Once she was in the truck, she decided to stop at the main house to see if Jim wanted anything. He might even want to take a ride over there with her. She knew he liked to hang out at the bakery sometimes.
"Anyone home?" she called as she knocked on the open front door.
It was Banner who answered, not Jim. "Come on in, Harper, we're in the kitchen."
Jim greeted her with a smile from his spot at the head of the table. Brody was rinsing dishes, while Banner sat at the table with Jim.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your breakfast."
Jim waved a hand at her. "You’re not; you can see we're finished. It's good to see you, young lady. I hear the play was a success last night."
She chuckled. "Nothing gets by you, does it?"
"Only the chance to be there."
She nodded. She had asked if Jim wanted to come with them last night, but he'd declined, and she understood why.
The seats in the theater weren't exactly comfortable.
She'd felt stiff by the end of the evening, and she knew sitting there had taken its toll on Emmett. It wouldn't have done Jim any good.
"It was wonderful, and from what I understand, someone recorded the whole thing. I'll find it online when it's posted, if you want to see."
Jim chuckled. "That's okay; the boys take care of things like that for me."
Banner winked at her. "We have to timestamp it and fast forward to the spots he'll be interested to see."
She laughed at that. "That's the way to do it."
Jim nodded. "I only have so much time in a day and have to be sensible how I use it, since I don't know how many days I have left."
"Aw, don't say that, Jim."
"It's the truth. There's no point avoiding it, but that's not what you came here for. What can we do for you?"
"I came to see if there's anything I could do for you. I'm on my way to the bakery, and I wondered if you wanted me to pick anything up, or if you'd like to come along."
"It's good of you to ask, but Banner's about to make a run over there and pick up some goodies for us."
Harper turned to Banner. "You can give me a list and I'll go for you, if you like."
Jim laughed, and Brody, who'd been quiet until now, turned to wink at Harper. "Don't go saying that. You'll ruin his day."
She gave Banner a puzzled look. "Ruin your day?"
"Yeah, he's taken to making a daily trip to the bakery lately."
She gave Banner a puzzled smile. "Because?"
He grinned. "Because I like something sweet."
"He doesn't mean the pastries," Jim said. "He means the one serving them."