Chapter 35
Harper opened her eyes, and for a moment, forgot where she was. She wasn’t alone, that was certain. Her body felt relaxed and comforted with a familiar ache between her legs. She turned her head and stared.
Brookes lay beside her, his arm slung across her stomach, his chest rising and falling gently, eyes still closed, a gentle murmur echoing from his lips. She didn’t want to disturb him and so she didn’t move, but remained watching as he slept. She used to do that a lot and forgot how soothing it had been.
A few moments later, still eyes closed, he smiled. ‘I knew you were watching.’
He pulled her to him and pressed his lips against hers. It didn’t take long for them to be rolling around in the sheets together. Afterwards, she followed him into the shower for more. It was only later, when they were dressed and sitting in the kitchen, her stomach grumbling from all the spent morning energy, while he was putting together a hearty breakfast, that they finally spoke.
‘I called the tow truck company to grab your car while you were getting dressed. They’ll probably be here for it by lunchtime. Apparently, it’s a busy morning. Just don’t expect the mechanic to look at it right away.’
‘Hopefully it’s nothing more than a battery exchange.’
‘The oil leak and tyres are an issue too,’ he said, flipping the bacon. ‘Extra crunchy, right?’
‘Thanks, Brookes. Where did the food come from?’ The fridge had been bare the night before.
‘I picked up a few things yesterday. They’d been in the car overnight.’
It was so easy to get into this routine. Together, in the kitchen, in bed, in life. Yet, she was still resisting. No matter how much she wanted this, she knew that staying wasn’t an option. At least now, he knew the truth.
His phone rang. He grabbed it and left the room.
Harper stood up and took over the breakfast. She turned up the heat on the bacon for a few moments. She grabbed a cooled down piece from the plate and threw it to Rover, who caught it mid-air, munched it up and then nudged her leg with his snout in appreciation. She patted him, rinsed her hands, then grabbed the coffeepot and topped up the two cups.
‘That was Constable Graves,’ Brookes said, coming back into the kitchen. Then he glanced at Rover. ‘You’re spoiling him.’
‘Just a bit of bacon,’ she said, leaning back against the kitchen counter. ‘What did he have to say?’
‘They caught a few teenagers in a stolen truck. They were going around unclipping batteries from people’s cars.’
She knew it wasn’t a teenager who did that to her car. A teenager wouldn’t be hiding around the side of the house, staring at her with the threatening gaze she’d seen. A teenager wouldn’t have been fast enough to run into the bush and to their car faster than Rover. The teenagers were nothing but a coincidence, a big one but a coincidence, nonetheless. If it had been the first time, she might have believed it.
‘It wasn’t a teenager here last night,’ Harper said.
‘I know,’ he said. ‘That’s what I told Constable Graves. There’s not much that he can do, but they’ll keep a lookout. It’s a shame there are no cameras here.’
‘All this started when I came back into town, Brookes. It’s time I leave again.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Someone doesn’t want me here.’
‘Harper, I want you here.’
‘It’s getting out of hand. At the moment, it’s just the car, but what’s next? What would have happened if you hadn’t shown up when you did last night?’ God, she didn’t even want to think about it. Those piercing eyes. She could still see them when she closed her eyes. A few minutes and the night could have turned out very differently.
‘I showed up. I will always show up.’ He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. He wanted to be there, always, but that didn’t mean he would be there. It was impossible. And she couldn’t put him in that sort of danger. It wasn’t fair. He deserved better.
‘I should go,’ she said.
‘No.’ The stern tone was something she hadn’t heard in a long time. ‘You can’t just run away from the hard things, Harper. It doesn’t change them, it just makes you and everyone around you feel like shit. We talk. We discuss. We come up with a solution, together,’ he said, putting his hands on her cheeks and looking her straight in the eyes. ‘Don’t push me away. I’m here for you, you know that.’
A tear trickled down her cheek, and he wiped it away.
‘Harper, what is it that you’re not telling me?’
There was a lot she wanted to tell him, but that would mean opening up and putting her heart out to get broken. She didn’t want to risk that. ‘I’m okay. But we still have a lot of work that needs to get done and two days left.’
Her phone beeped. She checked her messages.
‘Zoe will be here in fifteen minutes. I better get cleaned up. We’ve got a lot of work to do today.’
‘Harper, you can’t avoid this conversation forever.’
‘I’m not. Just for the next two days.’
Zoe arrived half an hour later.She’d stopped over to grab some coffees and Harper was glad for it. The fresh aroma of caffeine hit her senses, and she smiled. The tension in the room didn’t go unobserved, though. She noticed the smirk on Zoe’s face, but to her relief, her sister didn’t mention anything.
‘I am so excited about this, Harper. I sent out the invitations three days ago and we are already over capacity. Is there any way that we can get an extra two seats at the table?’
‘At capacity? That’s insane.’
‘I know. But everyone wants to be a part of this. It’s like history in the making, again.’
Harper laughed. ‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.’
‘It’s eight days in and you are doing the impossible. There were people saying it couldn’t be done and now everyone wants to see it for themselves. It was first in first served.’
‘We have to cap it at 20.’
‘We can always do another one.’
Harper shook her head. ‘As soon as we open up to do more than it opens the door for an entire month of events. Hugh’s Christmas in July was a one-off event. One night a year. That’s what made it so coveted.’
Zoe put her hands on her hips and shifted her gaze around the room. ‘Ok, well, let’s see what we can do to have a longer table or better still, look at this space; we could fit two smaller tables in here and get closer to thirty people.’
‘That’s a lot to cook for.’
‘Between the four of us and a caterer, it’s doable.’
‘You sound like Brookes,’ Harper said. But it wasn’t a bad idea. She pictured the two tables beside each other in the room. There would still be room to move around and for guests to mingle.
‘I knew you’d see my way of thinking.’
They both laughed.
‘I’ve got decorations in the car,’ Zoe said.
‘Decorations?’
‘Yes, we need to put up the tree and decorate the room in all things Christmas. I saw your purchases, and well, they were a little minimal.’
‘God, I hope you didn’t go overboard.’
‘Don’t be a Grinch.’
‘We’re going for tasteful and classy.’
‘It’s a country inn, Harper. The decor has to match the venue.’
‘Let’s just make sure we’re not getting in Brookes’ way before we start putting up mistletoe and baubles.’
‘Between the two of you, I’m certain you’ll make this place magical,’ Brookes said, walking into the room.
‘There’s something else we need to do,’ Harper said. She wasn’t sure they were going to like what she had in mind, especially since she was always against surprises. The one she had in store could end in disaster.