Chapter Twenty-Seven #2
"You should take the lead," said Mav. "If we let these guys run loose, who knows what they'll come up with."
"Maybe I should just take a walk around, and you guys can—"
"We can come right with you," said Ace.
"Yep, you're not doing this one by yourself. Sorry, bud," Trip told him with a wink.
He looked around at them. "Damn, guys, I've missed you."
They all stared at each other for a long moment before Mav broke the silence. "I'll be the one to say it first. I've missed you too, Mitty—and the rest of you bastards."
The others all nodded, mumbled, or—in Travis's case—voiced their agreement.
Blane caught Emmett's gaze and smiled. "Sorry, but I couldn't shield you from that one."
~ ~ ~
"Hey, Harper, how was your day?" Tanya asked as she climbed into the passenger seat.
"It was good, thanks. How about you?"
"It was okay."
They both turned when Alana climbed into the back. "Hey, Harper. Thanks for coming to get us."
"It's my pleasure. I know you guys can ride the bus again now that you don't have rehearsals, but since I was going to be in town right around the time school got out, I thought it'd be nice for us all to ride home together.
" She met Alana's gaze in the rearview mirror.
"I hope I didn't stop you from riding the bus with your friends. "
"No, it's cool. Like I told Dad, most of my friends don't ride the bus anymore."
"Well, I'm sure you'll be driving yourself soon."
Alana smiled at her. "Dad was talking about it again last night. It sucks to be one of the youngest in my grade, but as soon as I can, I'll be driving."
"Well, I hope you know you always have me as an option when you need a ride."
"Thanks, Harper."
"Are you going to stay when we get home?" Tanya asked.
"I don't know yet. I can make you something to eat when we get there if you like, but I don't know if I'll stay."
"I'm sure Dad will want you to settle in. He'll be disappointed if he comes back and you're gone."
"Maybe he'll be back before I'm ready to leave anyway." She didn't know what Emmett had going on today, only that he'd had to go over to Bozeman this morning, so he’d shifted his appointments to this afternoon.
She didn't understand the smile that Alana gave her in the rearview mirror, but it seemed… encouraging.
"Are you coming over this weekend?" Tanya asked. "I miss you being at home."
"Your dad and I haven't made any plans yet, but I won't be there tomorrow night. I'm going out with my friends."
"Oh. Are you?" Alana sounded disappointed.
"Yeah, you know Shelley, and of course you know Libby, and there's Ari, and Retta, and Candy as well."
"Yeah, yeah, I know them," said Alana. "I just didn't realize that you wouldn't be coming over tomorrow night."
"But it's okay," said Tanya, "because we won't be home tomorrow night either."
"You won't?" Harper asked. "What are you guys up to?"
"We're not all going out together," Alana explained. "But Tanya's going over to the MacFarland place to hang out with Nat."
"Yeah, and I'm gonna sleep over there," Tanya added.
"And I'm going home with my friend Dakota after school, and I'm staying the night at her house, too."
"Oh. That'll be nice for you guys."
Even as she smiled at them, Harper couldn't help feeling a touch of disappointment. Yes, she loved hanging out with the girls as well as Emmett, but it seemed that tomorrow night would have been the first chance for her and Emmett to spend an evening alone. But she’d already made arrangements with her friends, and now that she thought about it, she imagined that Emmett would probably savor an evening in his own company.
When they arrived at the house, Harper was surprised to see Emmett's truck parked outside.
"Oh, yay, Papa Bear's home!" Tanya exclaimed. "You get to see him, Mama Bear."
Harper couldn't keep the smile off her face, but she was still wary as she looked in the rearview mirror. Relief rushed through her when she saw the way Alana was smiling back at her.
"We should probably get homework done early, Tanya," she said. "Give them some time to say hi."
"Okay, but I want to give Dad a hug first, and I want to ask if he got the—"
"Tanya," Alana interrupted sharply.
"Oh. Oops. Sorry. I— yeah." Tanya jumped out of the passenger seat as soon as Harper brought the truck to a stop.
"Is everything okay with her?" Harper asked.
"Yeah, she's good. She just asked Dad to get something for her while he was out today. It's all good. Let's go see him." Alana jumped out too, leaving Harper wondering what exactly was going on.
By the time she entered the house, she didn't get the chance to ask the girls. They were already on their way upstairs.
Emmett came to greet her, wrapping both arms around her waist and pressing a kiss to her lips. "Hey. I managed to get home early."
"I hope you didn't do that because of me. I didn't mean to mess up your day."
"You didn't mess it up. It's all good. My day's been great because of you, and getting to see you makes it even better."
"Oh, that's sweet of you."
"It's just the truth. Can you stay for a while, or were you only planning to drop the girls off and leave again?"
"I'd love to hang around for a while. I was planning to." She smiled at him. "You know, just hang around in the hope that you might be back soon."
He rested his forehead against hers and looked down into her eyes. "Only one more week until you don't have to go back to the cottage."
She glanced up the stairs. "I hope so, but if it turns out that Alana's not ready—"
He chuckled. "She's ready. She's just as ready as Tanya is." His smile faded. "I'm not saying that there won't be moments."
"No, I know that there will. And that's as it should be."
"I think we're going to be okay, you know—the four of us."
"I do too. But I still want you to remember my one condition."
He frowned. "Remind me."
"You still have to tell me if the day comes when it's time for me to go."
"That day isn't going to come."
"I'm not saying I want it to. I hope it won't, but…"
"Do you think you can learn to trust me?" He shook his head. "That's not right. I know you trust me. What I need you to do is learn to believe in us."
She reached up to touch his cheek. "I want to, Emmett. I really do. I'm doing my best here. I'm not trying to be difficult."
"No, I know you're not. I just— I want it for you. I want you to know that this is— this is it now. This is us."
"It might take me some time, but I really want to get there."
"We'll work on it together."
They broke apart at the sound of Tanya coming thundering down the stairs.
"Tanya, wait," Alana called after her.
Tanya skidded to a halt in the hallway. "Oh. Oops. Sorry, I didn't—"
Emmett chuckled, and Harper said, "It's okay, sweetie. What do you need?"
"Nothing. I was only coming to see you." But she backed away toward the stairs with a big smile on her face. "I'll let you guys talk."
"It's all right," said Emmett. "You don't need to go."
"We're not—" Harper began, but Tanya just laughed.
"I know, but I want you to be. I'm going back up."
They smiled at each other after she'd gone.
"I don't want them feeling like they have to stay out of the way to give us time alone together," said Harper.
"No, but that's something else we'll have to work on together. We will need some time just for ourselves. And we can do that without them feeling like they need to stay out of the way." He pressed a kiss to her lips. "It's something we can figure out between us—as a family."
Harper closed her eyes and reveled in the word.
He ran his hand over her hair. "We're going to make it, you know."
She opened her eyes. "I want to believe we will."