Chapter 15
Summer glanced at Harper, then into the rear view mirror for the fourth or fifth time since she’d seen the man, Joel, get out of Travis’s truck. “What the hell is going on? He’s pretty!”
Harper looked up from her cell phone and smiled at Summer sardonically. “Pretty does not always mean nice. And nothing going on that I can’t handle, just making a point. Give me one minute to call my mom.” Harper put her phone to her ear and waited until Libby answered. “Hey, Mom!”
“Harper, why are you calling? Didn’t you just pull up with Dad?”
“Yep. And now I’m driving away with Summer.
I don’t like Joel at all. He’s pushy, he’s presumptive, he’s arrogant, he tried to coerce me into giving into an intimate relationship with him, and he’s a polished player.
Just my opinions of course, but I refuse to be with him any longer than is necessary.
I’ll give you all the details later, but I have a headache.
I’m staying with Summer until he goes back to Utah. I love you, I miss you, I’m good.”
“Don’t you dare hangup yet. You sure you’re good? He didn’t do anything…”
“Not that I couldn’t handle. But, the honest truth is that he’s an arrogant prick.
He decided because he wanted to be with me, I should just accept it, and possibly even be happy about it, who knows?
I’m not interested at all, and he so is, and highly offended that I didn’t feel the same way.
He thought because he took me to dinners and gave me rides to the show and back despite the fact that it was all his idea, I never asked for any of it, Dad did, though, that I should have been more grateful.
And he was pushy, love-bombing and thinking he could force me into letting him get closer, physically.
Didn’t happen and just really pissed me off so I slammed some extreme boundaries into place. ”
“Are you really okay?” Libby asked.
“I’m fine. He didn’t hurt me, just made me unreasonably angry.
I thought about it on the way home on the plane, and I did not overreact.
The thing he said just really convinced me that I didn’t react enough.
And honestly, the only reason I didn’t is because Dad is so worried about working with his company.
I’ll leave you to decide if I overreacted or not later, but I just don’t want to be anywhere near him. ”
“How extreme was your reaction? Does he need stitches?”
Harper grinned and glanced at Summer who was grinning also.
“No, I didn’t hit him. But I’m pretty sure he could use a splint for his wrist. I didn’t break it, but I have no doubt it’s hurting.
And Dad is acting like it’s no big deal and it really makes me angry that instead of reading this guy the riot act, he’s being all understanding and welcoming him into our home, where I live! ”
“I think he’s still in business mode. I’ll talk to him about it.”
“I’ll be there tomorrow to do my part when this guy goes out and makes his assessment, and to add my two cents worth of opinion based on what I learned at the trade show, but I will not spend a single night under any roof with him. Not even my own.”
“Baby, you know I’ll go get my bat if you need me to and start swinging — even if you don’t need me to — but for you to say you are unreasonably angry in one breath, and you can’t even stay under the same roof with him in the next breath while saying you didn’t react enough shows me clear as day that something happened that your father isn’t aware of.
I know you’re angry, but you also seem overly emotional.
You get angry and react to things all the time, but there’s usually not a lot of emotion otherwise. Is everything else okay?”
“I don’t know. But I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”
“Alright, I’ll respect your privacy while you work through whatever else is going on other than this crapwad your father has brought into our house. But I don’t like it. I want to confront him right now.”
“He did not sexually assault me. He did sexually harass me, constantly. He even upgraded my room to a suite so there’d be plenty of room if I wanted to invite him up.”
“He said that?”
“He said somebody, not himself, but we all know what he meant. Like I should have been grateful or something.”
“Did you tell all this to your father?”
“Yes. And he’s treating him like a long lost friend, while doubting what I told him.
He said that I probably misunderstood and it’s not his fault he’s so attracted to me because I’m a shifter and he’s human.
I hung up on him when I tried to explain it to him over the phone and he refused to see my side.
All he did was downplay it and tell me he likes him and I could do worse.
And while I do realize my anger could possibly be over the top because nothing actually happened to me, I don’t feel it’s completely unwarranted. ”
“He didn’t tell me any of this.”
“The asshole, Joel, not Dad, even said something to the effect that if I wasn’t more receptive to him that it wasn’t really looking like a good thing for his company’s business relationship with Dad and the farm.”
“He said that?!”
“I'm paraphrasing, but yes, he did. He is an overly confident dick. And I’m offended and angry, I mean, what makes him think he has the right to coerce any female into cooperating with his advances? He made suggestive comments all freaking week, constantly touching my shoulder, or my knee or my waist. And again, while it was a quick few minutes of interaction that finally sent me over the edge, he didn’t manage to take advantage of me at all, and now somehow I feel like I’ve reacted off the charts, even though it doesn’t change a single thing about his character and what he had in mind. ”
“Stop saying that. It sounds like you’re trying to apologize for your reactions. You have every right to feel like you feel and you owe no one an explanation, and I’m inclined to believe you didn’t react enough.”
“I feel like I might have caused trouble for Dad and the farm. I could have just punched him and walked away, but instead I just walked away, and the whole situation has gotten in my head and I feel so tied up over it.”
“Maybe you feel like you were trying to do something to help out Dad, and it went south, and now you feel bad about it.”
“Maybe. And it might be because Dad didn’t take my word for what happened and played it off as ‘Joel just likes you and you should understand that it’s not his fault’.”
“Hmpf. We’ll see about all of that. You’re okay staying at Summer’s for now, baby?”
“Yes, ma’am. And I’ll be there until I feel like coming back. Well, other than to work with them on whatever it is Dad wants to try to do. I gave him my word I would, and regardless, I won’t break it.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning for a few minutes at least before you head out into the fields with Dad, right?”
“Yes, I’ll try to get there a little earlier so we can have a few minutes alone. I love you, Mom.”
“Love you, too, baby. You won’t mind if I have little conversation with your father, do you? It’s simple to me. If he set you off at all, he’s crossed a line. That should be enough.”
Harper sighed as she thought about it. “Please don’t. I don’t want to cause an argument.”
“There will be no argument. You stand beside your children no matter how old they are. He’s straddling a line between doing so, and still trying to maneuver his business into a favorable place in the industry.
Priorities… that’s what this is all about, and I’m thinking maybe I need to make sure he remembers where his should be. ”
“You don’t have to, Mom. I’ve got this.”
“And I’ve got you. I will see you tomorrow morning. Bye, baby. Bye, Summer!”
“Bye, Aunt Libby!” Summer called out.
“Bye, Mom! Love you,” Harper said, then ended the call.
Summer glanced at Harper a time or two before she finally spoke. “My dad always said that your mom handles one of the most difficult males in our Pride, and for that he respects the hell out of her. I think your dad is about to be handled.”
Harper flashed a quick smile, but let it fade just as quickly.
“I don’t want to cause any trouble between my parents.
What’s wrong with me, Summer? Why am I so tied up in knots.
I get being offended by Joel. But why am I so emotionally boiling in the background.
It shouldn’t upset me, it should just make me mad. ”
“Uh, Clay…”
Harper nodded sadly.
“And maybe your mom is right. You feel like you might have let your dad down. Start again and tell me from the very beginning. Everything, no matter how minor you think it is, and we’ll go over it until you feel better,” Summer said.
“Okay…” Harper said as she leaned her head against the head rest behind her and closed her eyes.
She took a few moments to breathe deeply and relax for the first time in days, then she started talking.
And she talked all the way to Summer’s parents’ house without Summer interrupting her a single time.
~~~
“Ma! I’m home! I brought Harper to stay with us for a while,” Summer shouted as she walked through her family’s front door and dropped Harper’s largest suitcase just inside the foyer.
“Hi, Aunt Renata!” Harper called out, lugging the rest of her luggage, her carry-on bag, and her purse.
“Just drop that right there,” Summer said, gesturing to a spot beside the front door.
“I’m not leaving this in your foyer,” Harper said.
“You see? Harper knows not to just leave whatever she’s holding wherever she happens to be when she gets tired of holding it,” Renata said.
She walked into the foyer and right up to Harper.
She hugged her tightly then held onto Harper’s shoulders as she held her out away from her to get a good look at her. “How are you, honey?”
“I’m okay. How are you? I haven’t seen you lately except for the party,” Harper said.
“You’re always so busy! Running here or there and helping everybody,” Renata said.