Chapter 23
Harper
The lunch rush had slowed to a lull, the dining room quiet except for the soft clink of cutlery from the last table of regulars in the corner. It was only our third day of offering lunch again, and already it seemed to be a hit with the locals who, as it turned out, had missed it.
I was stacking menus when the door swung open and Charli breezed in, her cheeks flushed from the cold. My friend looked different, and it took me a minute to realize it was because her baby wasn’t strapped to her chest. Instead, she had a giant tote bag slung over her arm.
“Hey.” She greeted me with a wave, crossing the dining room to give me a big hug. “How are you?”
I tilted my head in question, but the look on her face told me that she’d already heard the news. Not that I was surprised; the whole town had likely heard. Maybe even people in the town over.
“No Poppy today?” I ignored her question.
“She’s hanging out with her Auntie Kat today.
I’m doing inventory at the store,” Charli said.
“This is a super slow time for me. All the Christmas arrangements are done, and I have a few weeks before the Valentine’s Day rush, so it’s a good time to take stock.
So I thought I’d treat myself to a little takeout lunch order. ”
Charli’s shop, Alpenglow, offered up a combination of fresh flower arrangements and everlasting dried pieces, too.
But the window box and shop displays she’d done for almost every store in the plaza had been the real success, and the reason all our businesses looked so good year-round.
She worked hard, especially now that she had a baby.
“I think lunch is the least you deserve,” I told her. “Please tell me you ordered a piece of Grandma’s apple pie for dessert?” When she shrugged, I shook my head. “I’ll pop one in for you. Let me go grab it from the kitchen.”
“Harper, wait.” She stopped me. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“What was that?” I turned.
“How are you?” she asked again. “I heard. About the plaza, the other day.”
My stomach dropped, but I nodded. “Good news travels fast.”
Charli tilted her head. “I think it was pretty hard not to notice,” she said. “From what Kat told me, there was yelling, and you threw a ring at him.”
Wow. I was going to need to remember that there were eyes everywhere in Trickle Creek. I shook my head and blew out a breath.
“She said it looked like more than a little spat,” Charli continued. “I just wanted to check to see…well…”
“I’m fine,” I lied. I did my best to put a bright smile on my face, calling on my years of customer service. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Charli pressed her lips into a thin line and stepped toward me. “Harper. I know we haven’t seen each other much, or at all, in the last few years, but we’re friends. You can talk to me. It’s okay.”
I exhaled slowly, and the all too familiar feel of tears burned in my eyes.
When was the last time I’d had a friend to confide in?
A good friend? Living and working on charter boats didn’t really lend itself to making long-lasting friendships.
It was such a transient career that as soon as you built any kind of relationship with someone, it was time to move on.
I’d made a few friends, but none that I would feel comfortable talking to about relationship issues.
None as close a friend as I’d been with Charli once upon a time.
“Can I tell you something?”
She nodded. “You know you can.”
I led us both to an empty table at the far end of the dining room. She shrugged out of her coat and dropped her tote bag on the floor. “The thing with Grayson,” I started as soon as we were settled. “It wasn’t real.”
She screwed up her nose. “What do you mean, it wasn’t real? The fight?”
“No.” I shook my head, suddenly feeling awful for lying to everyone.
And for having such a stupid idea in the first place.
“Oddly enough, that was real. In a weird way. Because the thing is, the rest of it, the whole,” I used air quotes, “relationship. It wasn’t real.
I asked Grayson to pretend that we were back together again for the holiday. For Grandma.”
Charli shook her head slowly, clearly trying to make sense of what I was saying. I couldn’t blame her. Hearing it out loud made it sound even more ridiculous than it already was. “So, you’re telling me that you weren’t really dating all this time?”
I shrugged and nodded at the same time. “Grandma told me she was sick, and then once I got home, and she saw me talking to Grayson again, and she was so happy, I don’t know…
I just kind of panicked, I guess. It’s dumb, I know.
But I wanted her to have a really happy holiday in case it was her last…
Well, I just wanted it to be a good one. ”
Charli nodded slowly. “So, you’re trying to tell me that it was all fake?”
I nodded again.
She inhaled slowly through her nose and sat back in her chair, leveling her gaze on me. After a moment, she said, “Bullshit.”
I sat back, stunned. “Excuse me?”
“Bullshit,” she said again. “You’re forgetting that I saw the two of you together on multiple occasions, and more than that, I knew you both back in the day. And I saw the way you were then, too.”
“Uh, huh. But—”
“You weren’t faking it,” she said matter-of-factly. “There’s no way that was fake.”
“It was.” It hurt more than I cared to admit, but it was the truth. The only reason Grayson agreed to be my fake boyfriend was for Grandma. “He was just doing me a favor.”
“Because Grayson Lyons would do anything for you.”
It wasn’t a question. Still, I nodded.
“Because he’s in love with you,” Charli said. “He always has been, Harper. And he always will be. You know that.”
I opened my mouth to deny it, but closed it again. There was a time, not too long ago, when I might have agreed with her. But she hadn’t heard the awful things he’d said to me, or the cold look in his eyes when he’d said them. That wasn’t love.
“Nothing about what I witnessed for the last few weeks was fake.” Charli shook her head. “I don’t buy it.”
I blinked at her. “Why not?”
“Because,” she leaned in, “neither of you are a good enough actor to fake the way you both looked at each other. Especially when you didn’t think anyone was watching.
” Her voice was steady, her gaze locked on mine.
“I know you two,” she continued. “But even if I didn’t, I would have been able to see the love radiating from both of you.
Besides,” she sat back and crossed her arms over her chest, “from the way I hear it, the fight in the middle of the plaza was pretty passionate, and I don’t think you can have that kind of passion without love. ”
Her words struck me in the chest.
“Look, Harper.” Her tone softened. “I don’t know what the fight was about, or why you seem to think that what is, and always has been, love between the two of you isn’t all of a sudden.
But what I do know is that life doesn’t always give us a second chance, and when it does, you need to grab onto it with both hands.
Because if you don’t, you could be missing out on the best thing to ever happen to you. Trust me.”
Not long ago, Charli and Symon had their own second chance, and it had led to them being happily married, with the cutest baby ever. She knew what she was talking about.
But I wasn’t Charli.
It wasn’t the same.
“I don’t want to overstep any more than I already have,” Charli said. “But something tells me that what the two of you have is probably worth another try. I know Grayson has a lot going on right now, with the store being sold and all.”
“He was going to make Ollie an offer,” I told her. “Of course, I haven’t heard how—
“Oh.” Charli’s face fell. “I thought maybe you knew,” she said. “You know how news travels in this town.”
“Knew what?” Worry knotted low in my gut.
“Ollie decided to sell the hardware store to a franchise,” she said simply. “Word on the street is that Gray’s pretty upset about it. You didn’t know?”
I shook my head, stunned. “No.” My heart hurt for Grayson. He’d put so much of his life into the store; it was so much a part of him. “He must be—”
“Devastated?” she finished for me. “Not himself?”
I nodded.
Charli’s smile was warm as she gathered her coat and tote bag.
“I should probably grab my lunch and get going,” she said.
“But whatever you decide to do, Harper, I hope you remember that you guys aren’t kids anymore.
Don’t let history repeat itself when it doesn’t have to.
You can tell him how you feel this time. Don’t let him push you away.”
Grayson
After the library, Willa had a few more stops she wanted me to make. Dutifully, I drove her to the grocery store, waited by the curb while she picked up a few items, and then made the short drive across town to the senior center.
The car was quiet except for the crunch of the tires on the snow and the gentle hum of the radio. Willa sat beside me, her shopping bag tucked neatly at her feet, her gloved hands folded in her lap.
We hadn’t spoken much since the library, so it took me off guard when she spoke up. “I see the way you look at her.”
My hands tightened on the steering wheel. “It doesn’t matter,” I muttered. “It wasn’t real.”
I wasn’t sure whether she knew the truth or not, and despite the hurt I was feeling, I felt guilty for the lie we’d told Willa. And the bigger lie I’d been telling myself the entire time. Because it had been real for me. Every single second.
“Yes,” Willa said simply. “It was. And before you try to tell me about the stupid arrangement the two of you had to fool me, let me be the one to tell you that I know about it. And I also know that whatever you’re trying to convince yourself of, it was real. It is real.”
I sucked in a breath. It shouldn’t surprise me that Willa knew the truth.
Harper would have told her after…well, after our very real fight in the plaza.
That was, if she hadn’t figured it out already.
Not much got past Willa. “Real or not, it still doesn’t matter,” I said after a moment. “She’s leaving.”
“Would that make a difference?”
Her question took me off guard.
“That’s not a fair question.”
“It sure is.” Willa’s voice was firm. “Would it make a difference in how you felt about my granddaughter if she were staying?”
I inhaled slowly. I couldn’t even let myself entertain the thought. I’d already gone over it a thousand ways. In all outcomes, I got hurt.
Again.
“It doesn’t matter, Willa. Because she’s leaving.”
“No.” Her voice was calm but sure. “She’s not.”
I turned my head, certain I’d misheard her. “What?”
“She’s not leaving,” Willa said. “She turned down the job.”
My foot slipped off the gas pedal. It took me a second, but I refocused, sure I hadn’t heard Willa properly. “She turned down the job?”
Next to me, she nodded. “The yacht. The head chef’s job. The Mediterranean. All of it.”
For a moment, I forgot how to breathe. My chest was so tight, it hurt. “But…I thought…I mean, I saw…” I shook my head clear.
“Whatever you think you know, Grayson,” Willa tilted her head and gave me the side eye, “there’s never a time when it’s not worth having the conversation instead of assuming.”
Willa’s words sank deep, bumping up against all the things I hadn’t asked Harper. All the things I’d been too afraid to hear, so I stayed quiet.
My mind worked overtime to make sense of what Willa was saying. Finally, I said, “So she decided she couldn’t leave you again. I know she’s been so worried about you and—”
“Grayson.” Willa’s voice was firm. “I think you know me well enough to know I would never let my granddaughter make such a major life decision because of me. And I think you know Harper well enough to know that as much as she might worry about me, that is not why she made this choice.”
Was it for me?
I knew instinctively that even if I played a role in Harper’s decision, there was more to it than that.
Unable to focus on the road, I pulled over and put the car in park, resting my hands on the steering wheel.
“Look at me.”
I turned to see Willa’s smile curving gently, but knowing.
“She’s not staying for me. And she’s not staying for you. I think you already know that.”
I nodded.
“I’m sure both of us had something to do with her decision,” Willa continued. “This is about her. And what she wants.” Her eyes softened as she watched me. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t be part of that.”
I swallowed hard and turned my gaze back to the dashboard.
“I’ve said it before, Grayson. You’ve spent far too long making sure that everyone around you has what they need. It’s okay to want something for yourself.” Her tone was maternal, but firm. “It’s okay to choose yourself and her.”
I didn’t hesitate. “I do choose her, Willa. I always have.”
She gave me a look that told me she didn’t believe me. “Have you ever told her that?”
“Of course I—no.” The realization hit me hard.
Over and over, I’d wanted Harper. I’d chosen her. But when my back was up against the wall, every single time, I pushed her away before she could do it first because I was a fool, thinking that it would hurt less that way.
And I’d done it again. Instead of fighting for her and telling her exactly how I felt, once more, I’d pushed her away.
I dropped my head and swallowed hard.
I’d been such an idiot.
And this time it might have cost me everything.
She didn’t rush me, but when I finally looked up, Willa was watching me carefully. “It’s not too late, Grayson. If you truly do choose her, I think it’s long past time you tell her that, don’t you?”