Chapter Twenty-Six #2
Shelley chuckled. "And I'll be forever grateful, but I'm also glad that in coming here you've found so much more." She held Harper's gaze for a moment. "I'm cautious; I don't want to say too much, don't want to upset you, but…"
"Just go ahead and say it."
"Seems to me that you've finally got your family, Harps."
Harper squeezed her eyes tight shut. "I hope I'm not tempting fate by saying it, but it seems that way to me too.
I love that man, Shelley. And I love the girls.
Not just because they're his daughters, but because they're both great little people.
Very different from each other. But both just wonderful people in their own way. "
"And you're a wonderful person too," said Shelley. "Don't you ever forget it."
"How could I, with you around?"
"Don't brush me off," said Shelley. "But I won't let you forget it."
"I know, and I appreciate it."
"And what about work? I bet Marcus couldn't believe that you turned him down when he offered you all that money."
"I think it blew his mind. He didn't understand it. But that's okay."
"What will you do?" asked Shelley.
"Stick with the plan I had originally. I'll freelance if the right projects come along. And…" She let out a breath. "I've been thinking about it, and I'm going to put my apartment on the market."
Shelley grinned. "That's awesome. Wait. I know you said with what you make on the apartment you'd be able to buy a ranch out here. You're not planning to do that, are you?"
Harper laughed out loud. "No. No plans to become a rancher.
But having that nest egg from the apartment will make me feel better about moving in with Emmett and the girls.
He's been talking about maybe working fewer hours now that Hallie's here.
I don't know how he's fixed financially, but I want to be able to do my part. "
"Sounds like things are all moving in the right direction for you guys."
Harper gave her a wry smile. "It sounds that way, doesn't it? But I'll be happier when things start actually moving along. I'm not saying that I'm in a hurry."
"I know," said Shelley. "More like you won't fully believe it until you're living it."
Harper nodded. She didn't want to say that she might not believe it even then.
But Shelley gave her arm a squeeze. "I think, and I truly hope, that this is right for you, Harps. I know your life has taken a lot of twists and turns, but maybe it was always leading you here."
"I hope so. But it makes me sad—sad for Emily."
Shelley shook her head. "You shouldn't be sad. You could see it as a good thing."
"How's that?"
"Emily had a wonderful family, but she didn't get to stick around for them. You never had a family, and now you get to love and care for them. Neither you nor she got the fairy-tale life. But it seems to me that you both at least have half the fairy tale."
Harper had to swallow. "Wow, I never thought of it that way. Thanks, Shelley Bells."
They walked in silence again for a while. Harper turned over in her mind what Shelley had said. She liked the idea a lot. Half a fairy tale was more than she'd dared to hope for, and knowing that Emily had gotten the first half of it, she couldn't even regret that it wasn't a whole one.
"You okay over there?" Shelley asked after a little while.
"I am, thanks. Just letting your wisdom sink in."
Shelley chuckled. "You're welcome. I've been thinking about that for a while. I had to tell you."
"I'm glad you did."
"Oh, look, is that Brody?" Shelley asked.
"Yeah, he seems to have been over here more often the last week or so. He comes to hang out with Jim. Oh, wait—he's not skipping work, is he? He's not supposed to be at Trip's place right now, is he?"
Shelley laughed. "No, he's fine. I wouldn't know what his schedule is anyway. But it's not like he's Trip's employee. He's his foreman. He runs the place."
"Yeah, I knew that," said Harper. "I don't know why, I just panicked for a minute there. Hey, have you heard anything more about Brooke and him? He never got in touch to let me know when that concert was."
Shelley smiled. "It's this weekend."
"Oh. I thought…" She frowned.
"Relax. It's all okay. Brooke had told Brody she was busy this weekend because she wasn't sure if she'd be able to go without causing problems with Blane. But in the end, she decided that she's going to the concert anyway."
"With Brody?" Harper asked with a smile on her face.
Shelley shrugged. "That much I don't know."
"I hope something works out for them," said Harper. "But they're going to have to come clean with Blane sooner rather than later. He is not someone to get on the wrong side of."
Shelley laughed. "Seemed to me like you and he were getting along well enough on Friday night."
"We were. We're good now—now that he's decided we're on the same team."
"Hey, Shelley, Harper." Brody lifted his hand in greeting as he approached. "Jim's inside if you're looking for him."
"Inside the barn?" Harper asked.
"Yeah, he came to hang out while the farrier was here earlier and stayed to chat."
"Well, we weren't looking for him," she said, "but if he's not busy—"
Brody chuckled. "You'd better come and say hi now. I told him the two of you were out here."
They followed him the rest of the way to the barn, and when they stepped inside, Jim greeted them with a grin from his spot in a big armchair at the end of the aisle that ran between the rows of stalls. "Hey, ladies, are you looking for me?"
"No, but that doesn't mean we're not glad we found you," said Harper.
Jim chuckled and said to Shelley, "She's fast on her feet, this one."
"Don't I know it," said Shelley.
"I haven't met many outsiders I've had time for in the last who knows how many years," said Jim. "But I got lucky when I ran into the two of you."
"I'd say we're the lucky ones, Jim. And not just because you let us have the cottage," she added with a laugh.
"I'm glad you mentioned that," he said. "Would I be right if I thought you wouldn’t need it much longer?"
Harper raised her eyebrows. "Do you need it back?"
"Now, don't go thinking that. I told you that you can have it as long as you want it, and I meant it. Just seems to me that you might not need it for much longer."
She had to smile. "You might be right there."
"Well, as long as we're straight that I'm in no hurry, I want you to let me know when you're ready, okay?"
"Of course." Harper wanted to ask why, but that seemed pushy.
He chuckled. "Look at you, biting your tongue so you don't look too nosy."
She had to laugh with him.
"I don't have someone lined up," he said. "I just have an idea in mind."
Banner popped his head out from one of the stalls. "He's playing matchmaker," he said with a grin.
"Matchmaker?" Shelley asked. "Who for?"
Harper met Banner's gaze, remembering what he'd said about Bree at the bakery. But he shook his head. "Not me. I'm talking about Boone. You know, how he's taken a shine to the new vet, Hallie."
Harper didn't know, but she nodded anyway.
"Well, Hallie's going to be needing a place to stay. She took a vacation rental when she first arrived, but now she's going to be here longer term…"
Jim rubbed his ear against his shoulder.
"Seems to me that history’s repeating itself.
The two of you ladies were in a vacation rental when I first met you.
That cottage seems to have been something of a good luck charm.
Maybe it'll work the same for Hallie." He met Harper's gaze and held it.
"But she's fine where she is for now. Don't you go hurrying anything along until you're ready. "
"Thanks, Jim."
If it were just him, she'd tell him what was going on—that she might not need the cottage anymore in two weeks. But she'd catch him again later, talk to him by herself. That way she'd be able to fill him in better on what was really going on with her and Emmett.
Banner winked at Harper as he said to Jim, "Is there any chance you'd want to set Bree up in the cottage instead?"
Jim rolled his eyes. "That girl's just fine where she is."
Shelley gave them a puzzled look. "Bree? You mean the one who works at the bakery?"
"That's right," said Jim. "She landed on her feet when she came back to town. She's in Deacon's apartment, at his place. Couldn't be safer than with the sheriff downstairs."
Harper chuckled and looked at Banner. It might be a safe place for Bree to live, but she imagined it wasn't ideal for Banner. He shrugged good-naturedly.
"Before you worry about where she's living, you need to work on getting her to say yes to a date with you," Jim told him.
"I'm biding my time," said Banner. "In fact… will you ladies be at the bakery on Friday afternoon?"
"I probably won't," said Shelley. "I have some appointments in town on Friday." She turned to Harper. "Oh, and I kept meaning to tell you—the girls are talking about getting together on Friday night too. You'll come, won't you?"
Harper nodded.
Jim chuckled. "I think that was an instruction, not a question."
She and Shelley both laughed at that.
"It was," said Shelley. "Unless you're desperately needed somewhere else, you need a night out with the girls, so you're coming, okay?"
"Okay," Harper agreed. She and Emmett hadn't talked about the weekend yet, but no matter what was going on, she knew she still needed to make time for herself and her friends.