Chapter Six
“Harper, why do I always feel like I’m chasing you down and forcing you to be my friend?
” Andrew, Harper’s brother-in-law, said, his slightly effeminate and disembodied voice coming out of Harper’s speakerphone tugged on her guilt strings.
“We were friends first. I introduced you to Kelly, for crying out loud.”
“I’m sorry. I know. Things have been busy down here.” She huffed but knew why she’d been avoiding him, and it had nothing to do with the bar and everything to do with her tenant. “How are you? How’s Ben?”
“My husband is great, and I’m currently watching him make the Peloton his bitch.
You know that’s always one of my favorite activities.
But don’t try to change the subject. Being busy is no excuse.
You’ve been busy since the day you came out of the womb.
You can’t not be busy. What aren’t you telling me?
You know I can always tell when there’s something going on with you. ”
She did know, and it was one of the reasons she hadn’t reached out and had dodged his calls.
Always with good reason, of course. But he wasn’t going to give up, which was why she’d finally answered his call rather than ignoring it and texting him that she’d call him later.
Which she never would. “I finally filled the other apartment.”
“Oh?” He drug out the word to several syllables. “How’s that going?”
“It’s strange having someone living so close.
She came into the bar the other day in desperate need of a slice of lemon.
It was, like, eight in the morning, and she caught me dancing while doing inventory, which was embarrassing as hell.
” Harper still chuckled when she thought about how desperate Charlie had looked when she’d banged on the window.
Harper had told her to come in the back door the next time, as she always had it open at that time of the day.
“Intriguing. Did you find out what she desperately needed the lemon for?” His laugh, so much like Kelly’s, was a punch in the gut, and Harper, just for a moment, regretted answering the phone.
She wished that Andrew and Kelly had merely been siblings rather than twins who looked and sounded so much alike, it was as painful as it was comforting.
“For some weird drink. She called it her magic anti-inflammatory tiger juice and said it keeps her feeling slightly less old or some shit. And it also helps with period cramps.” Harper caught herself making a face at the thought of downing something that made her gag in the morning just because it was healthy.
No, thank you. Though help with period cramps was somewhat appealing.
“Even more intriguing.”
“She is, I guess. She’s kind of mysterious. She showed up wearing tacky clothes she had to have bought out of a gift shop, yet she had a watch on her wrist that was at least fifty grand.” She still hadn’t gotten over that. And Charlie was still wearing the watch every day.
“Huh. Is she cute?”
“What? No,” Harper said immediately. “I mean, she’s fine, but you of all people know I have no interest in anything romantic.”
As soon as he started talking, Harper knew she should have left it at a simple no. “Why not? It’s been three years, Harper.”
“Three years or thirty, it doesn’t matter. I had my great love. I can’t have another. People don’t deserve two great loves. I still love your sister with my entire soul. And I’m fine with my life now. I’m living the retirement dream she always wanted. I have my dog and friends, and I’m good.”
“What friends? And you’re forty-five, Harper. I know we lost Kelly suddenly, but if she’d known it was coming, she would’ve told you the same thing I am. You’re still alive and young, and you should live.”
A sound at the back of the bar caught her attention. “Hold on a sec.” She picked up her phone as she turned to see who was about to walk in.
“I know you loved her—and still do—but you’re not dead. Please, just think about it. If there’s a woman you’re drawn to, please don’t shut it dow—”
When Harper saw Charlie, she hit the button to hang up on Andrew before he could say anything else damning. She felt a little guilty but panicked at the thought of Charlie overhearing and thinking he was talking about her. “Hey, Charlie,” she said and knew she was far too cheerful about it.
“Hey, sorry to barge in on your call.”
“Oh no, that wasn’t a call. Uh, it was a…
podcast.” For an attorney, she was not thinking fast on her feet.
At all. “Uh, with short stories. Romantic ones, which is a little embarrassing.” She laughed her dreaded nervous laugh that she wished she could banish and felt her cheeks go warm.
“So I turned it off when you walked in.” She shook her phone in the air and chanced a quick glance at Charlie’s face to see if she was buying any of it but couldn’t read her expression. “So anyway, what can I help you with?”
Charlie winced before she said, “I really am sorry, but my kitchen sink isn’t draining.
I’m not sure what’s going on, but I washed some dishes, took the stopper out, and it’s all sitting there.
But there are bits of food floating in the water, so I don’t want to leave it all day while I’m out.
I tried the garbage disposal, but the switch didn’t do anything. ”
Harper’s heart rate had finally slowed enough to take in Charlie’s appearance while leaning against the doorjamb.
She looked long and willowy in black yoga pants and a sage green tank top, but the white knuckles of her clenched fists showed her nerves.
“Nothing to feel bad about. Let’s go take a look.
I can get a plumber out today if it isn’t something I can figure out.
” Charlie’s smile was soft, and Harper did not want to acknowledge the little flutters that that prompted. “Just let me grab a few tools.”
She grabbed a small metal toolbox from her office and hoped this was something she could fix.
She wasn’t terribly handy, but she had fixed her own garbage disposal a few months ago after watching a how-to video, so if it was just clogged and needed to be reset, which was all her own had needed, Harper could easily get it fixed in a few minutes. She gestured Charlie to lead the way.
Harper tried to surreptitiously look around the apartment and see what Charlie had done to it, which wasn’t much.
She didn’t have any personal items or knickknacks.
Just the furniture that had been in there when Charlie moved in.
“Other than this clog, how have things been? Are you feeling settled in?”
“Oh yeah, everything is great. I mean, I wasn’t looking for much.
” At Harper’s glance, Charlie said, “Oh God, I didn’t mean that in a rude way.
I’m sorry. I meant I was looking for a change in my life, and while I figure things out, I’m searching for simplicity, which is what I’m finding here.
Everything is perfect.” Her face had gone a little pink, and Harper didn’t want to find it attractive, but she did. Dammit.
“I’m glad you’re finding what you’re looking for,” Harper said as she set her toolbox down and tried the disposal switch. It made a humming sound but didn’t start running.
“Do you think you can fix it? I have yoga teacher training shortly.”
Yoga teacher training?
“I have a few ideas.” Harper pulled a flashlight and a wrench out of her toolbox. “You can leave if you need to, and either I’ll fix it or call my plumber.”
Charlie leaned back against the counter and bit her lip. “I still have a little time.” Was that heat simmering in her eyes as she stared?
Harper swallowed hard to quell the flutters in her throat as she opened the pantry where the breaker box was and flipped the one labeled, garbage disposal, off. “So you’re becoming a yoga teacher? What inspired that?”
Charlie chuckled. “It’s a bit of an unbelievable story, really.
But the short of it is that I took a class my first morning in Key West, and the teacher said she had a teacher training starting soon.
I decided that yoga had made me feel so good that morning, I’d love to give it a whirl.
I’m never impulsive, but I had some time on my hands, so I signed up.
I don’t know if I’ll ever actually teach, but right now, I’m finding it…
healing, I guess. But that opens another can of worms, and I don’t want to bore you. ”
Harper didn’t think learning about what Charlie was healing from would be boring, but that line of thought was dangerous, so she flipped her Scissor and Gavel ball hat around backward and shimmied on her back under the sink.
“I bet yoga would make climbing around on the floor a lot easier, wouldn’t it?
” she said and grunted as a little twinge of pain surged down her back and into her leg.
Charlie chuckled. “It probably would. It’s been helping with back pain I used to have. Though I’m pretty sure mine was from hunching over a computer for a ridiculous number of hours every week. Let me know if you ever want to take a class.”
Unlikely. “Sure.” Harper turned the wrench in the bottom of the disposal back and forth a few times, trying to break up whatever was jammed in there.
It definitely felt like something was lodged in there, but with no metal ping and some give on both sides, she was pretty sure it was some type of organic matter and not a spoon or something.
She grunted as she put her weight into it, and finally, the blockage seemed to break free. “Ha,” she exclaimed in triumph.
“Success?” Charlie asked.
“I think so.” Harper pushed the little reset button on the bottom of the disposal before shimmying back out.
When she sat up, however, Charlie’s gaze definitely held a little heat.
Harper’s mouth felt like it had been transported to the Sahara Desert.
She choked and coughed and rolled over to her knees to stand.