Chapter 16
You can only float in the clouds for so long before falling through the mist and plummeting to the ground. I wanted to believe Nolan and I could be more, it felt like we were on our way to being bigger than those stupid lessons. But the part that cuts the deepest is I’m not even surprised.
And if falling through the mist of clouds wasn’t enough, I was heading straight into a world on fire.
“What do you mean?” My voice pierces through the receiver and the longer the silence draws on, the further down I spiral.
The woman lets out a heavy breath. “I’m sorry, Ms. Hawthorne, but your assistant called three days ago and canceled the band.”
“That’s impossible. I don't even have an assistant. I’m in charge of the event, and I never called in. Why would I even do that?”
Air crackles over the line. “I don’t know, Ma’am.”
“It’s in four days, what am I supposed to do?” Tears blur my vision. I have to tilt my head back with the phone against my ear to keep them from spilling over.
It’s one thing after another, and I’m on the verge of snapping. The rentals being double booked was an easy enough fix but losing the band right before the event is impossible to fix.
Am I cursed? Is that what’s happening? Someone, somewhere decided I’ve been having too much fun losing myself in Nolan and decided I now must be punished for it.
“Okay, okay.” There’s nothing really left for me to say and hang up the phone.
I hang up the phone and my head drops with a loud thud onto my desk.
Never mind the pain when my world is imploding.
There’s absolutely no coming back from this, not even a miracle can save me from the disaster that’s going to be The Cupid’s Ball.
If the table runners were missing, most people wouldn’t even know.
But no band, that was something everyone will notice and talk about until my mistake is this towns’ biggest celebrity.
This is what a downhill spiral must feel like, but when will the bottom appear? Between last night and being told the band was canceled, I honestly don't know which hurts worse.
I wanted to believe Nolan and I were creating something deeper, something organic that might last beyond whatever expiration date was on our arrangement but now it's evident we’re just too different to work. No matter how much you shake it, oil and water separate in the end.
My creaking office door catches my attention but I don't even bother lifting my head. My world is ending and I’m fine wallowing in my melodramatics for now.
“Sleeping on the job is a bit tacky, don't you think?”
I don't have to open my eyes to know my sister is standing in my office. But why on Earth is she here? Our father’s been mayor for the last twenty years and I don't think she’s ever willingly set foot in City Hall.
Reluctantly, I peel my cheek off the wooden desk. “What are you doing here, Hallie?” Locking eyes with a woman who, despite our differences, looks almost the same as me. It's a bit eerie, knowing she hates all that I am.
“Came to see Sadie.”
“And since when do you know Sadie anyway?”
She rolls her eyes. “Years, how do you think she got the job? Daddy said Nolan needed a new secretary and who better than Sadie?”
That actually makes me laugh. “Literally anyone would be better than Sadie,” I mutter under my breath.
Hallie hovers in the doorway.
“Well she doesn’t work in here so feel free to go find her.”
“You and Nolan seem to be close?” She takes a step further into the room.
“He’s my boss.” I’m not sure if she can sense the tremor in my voice but if Hallie’s here and questioning me about Nolan, it’s not good. My stomach twists at the thought.
“Pretty nice of your boss to come to your defense last night. Even left the table to go check on you.”
“Where are you going with this?”
Another step toward me and a sinister smile graces her face and her eyes go dead. “Whatever’s going on between you two, end it.”
The twister in my stomach takes off cause how the fuck does she know. “I’m not sure what you're talking about.”
“Oh, please, Nolan couldn’t take his eyes off of you all night and then after that little display of chivalry, it was easy to put together. Tell me, does Daddy know you’re sleeping with his best friend?”
“Thats nobody’s business.”
“It’s my business,” she snaps.
I rise from my desk, shaking fingers pressing into the desk. “Why? What’s it to you, Hallie?”
I expect her to give me some shallow reason about why I should call it off. Something about Sadie being a better match. Instead, her face slowly hardens. “Leave Nolan alone.”
“Or what, Hallie?” I throw my arms up. “What will you do? Ruin my life? Newsflash, you’ve been doing that since we were kids, three decades of being tortured or ignored by you, so why would this be any different?”
“Oh, please, Harper, you’re so quick to act the victim. Grow up.”
“Are you kidding me?” My feet move on their own, walking around my desk and to Hallie until our shoes are practically touching.
My whole life I’ve been waiting for my tipping point.
The point in my life where I finally grew a backbone and stood up for myself, although I’m surprised the motivator is being told to stay away from Nolan.
A lifetime of being told I’m not good enough should have toppled me into a well I can’t climb out of, but it didn’t, it merely sent me running from everything in Cupid, my family included.
And then I found Nolan—the one person who sees me the way I see myself. A capable woman. A woman worth a life full of love, passion, and fun. If they think they’re going to take him away from me, they’re wrong.
“You know what, Hallie? I feel sorry for you. You’ve lived your life under the heavy thumb of our parents and this town and lost your brain in the process. You can't even think for yourself and it's pathetic.”
Hallie simply scoffs, but there’s a shift in her eyes telling me I was approaching a sore spot.
“I’m sorry that you feel the need to come here and do our father’s dirty work for whatever he’s got planned, but you don’t know me, and you don't know Nolan, so I’m going to say this once, and then I hope I never talk to you again.
I am fucking Nolan, I don’t care who knows and I sure as hell am not going to stay away from him. ”
“You may not care who knows, but I’m sure Nolan does. Why else wouldn’t he tell Dad about you two last night after you left?”
“Get the fuck out of my office.”
A slow smile unfurls across her face and a sickening feeling crawls up my throat. “That’s all I needed to know.”
Was this what she wanted all along? For me to confirm out loud that Nolan and I are involved? I don’t move, I won't give anything away but I want to double over and empty my stomach on the floor the longer she looks at me. And the feeling only worsens when Nolan appears behind her in the doorway.
“Harper?” he questions, eyes spinning from me to Hallie. He moves around her and into my office. “Everything okay?”
The room empties, the atmosphere gone, sucking us into a vacuum of tension. Hallie answers for us, turning her persona of the perfect Cupid Sweetheart back on. “Of course, I just stopped by to see my little sister before going to lunch with Sadie.”
Even Nolan can taste the lie. “Uh-huh,” he hums, stepping closer to me.
Hallie zones in on the minuscule movement, the prize she was waiting for.
“Well I better get going, and Harper, don’t forget that Dad always gets what he wants.
Whether we like it or not.” She turns, dark hair whipping around with her body and her heels click against the hard floor as she disappears.
“What does that mean?” Nolan’s voice breaks through my reeling mind.
She’s right though. There’s never been a time where my father didn’t get his way, it's how he’s remained Mayor of Cupid for so long.
He’s not above blackmail or intimidation to pave his path.
If my father needs Nolan, it’s because of one thing, the only thing he has that my father doesn’t—money.
I just don’t know where Sadie fits into the equation.
“Baby?” Quiet concern coats Nolan's words.
I snap back and step away as his hand ghosts along my back.
“Don’t.” My head’s reeling. “Nolan, I can’t, I—”
He tilts his head to the side, confused as a puppy who doesn't understand why you leave every day, and I can see the moment my words slice through his normal suit of stoic armor. Cracks form along the outline, his eyes bore into me and in my hands I hold all this power over a powerful man. I don’t want to hurt him, but I can’t think when he’s in front of me.
“Nolan, I can’t do this right now. I need some space.”
Watching him crumble as the words hit him is not something I can handle. But what's worse is how fast he picks up his pieces.
He nods somberly, “I understand.”
Nolan turns and follows Hallie’s steps from moments before.
So this is what crashing into a burning world feels like.