Chapter 12
twelve
FINN
I slept like shit last night despite the time change.
For some reason, I couldn’t get Harper out of my mind.
Finally, I admitted defeat and got up early to take a drive around.
I knew there was a neighboring town called Sunrise Bay, so I decided to check it out.
I grabbed a coffee from a place named The Grind, and now I’m walking around their cobblestone streets.
Almost all the stores are closed, but no matter, I’m just killing time anyway.
I swallow the last of my coffee, my sore throat from this morning not having gone away like I hoped.
I better nip this cold quick, so I stop by the drugstore to grab some cold and sinus medicine before I head back to Lake Starlight to meet Harper.
The medicine I need is behind the counter, so I follow the big pharmacy sign on the back wall.
There’s a long line, so I check my watch and see I have some time.
A woman is asking the pharmacist a million questions.
I can’t hear what it’s about since I’m too far back in line, but it’s clear from the pharmacist’s expression that his patience is wearing thin.
I wonder how long she’s been here. The guy in front of me turns around and raises his eyebrows, clearly annoyed to have to be waiting for this woman.
There are several different bottles on the counter in front of her, and she keeps picking up one then another. It appears she’s asking a bunch of questions about each of them.
The guy in front of me grumbles, and I can’t say I blame him. I just want to get my medicine and get out of here.
Finally, the woman settles on one of the bottles, pushing the others toward the pharmacist, who looks like at her with more annoyance than the guy in front of me.
She turns to leave, and she’s wearing sunglasses. The hood of her sweatshirt is over her head. She keeps her chin down against her chest so she’s practically staring at the floor as she walks away from the counter.
Since I’m standing where the line curves, and she has no choice but to cut through, I take a step to the side to let her pass, but she moves in the same direction I do because she’s looking at the floor.
She bumps into me, and the bottle she’s holding falls, making enough noise that everyone else in line turns in our direction, giving us a look like “what now?”
“Sorry.” I get down on my haunches to pick up the bottle for her, seeing that it’s prenatal vitamins. I’m not as annoyed that she took so long—she’s pregnant and wants the best for her baby. Who could blame her? “Here you go.”
As I straighten, holding out my hand to pass the woman the bottle, she gasps, and I quickly look from where her hand is held out to her face.
“Harper?” My head rears back.
How did I not realize it was her? Then again, I’ve never seen her in baggy jogging pants and a hoodie with oversized sunglasses. But I’d know the shape of her face and the strand of deep red hair that’s peeking out from under her hoodie anywhere.
She whips her head around to see if anyone is paying us any attention, but the people in line have turned back around, eager to be waited on.
Like an idiot, it takes me a minute to put together why she’s so panicked, the bottle I just handed back to her, and why she’s in disguise like some movie star.
“Holy shit.” I blanche.
The bottle of prenatal vitamins slips from my hand, and I’m sure if I could look anywhere but at Harper, I’d see the people in line are staring at us.
Harper bends over to pick up the bottle, grabs me by the forearm, and tugs me farther away from the line.
I mindlessly follow her, trying to put all the puzzle pieces into place.
“Are you pregnant?” The question comes out sounding more like an accusation than I’d like, but I’m so in shock, and my mind is flipping through the consequences double-time, that I can’t stop myself.
“Keep your voice down.” She scans both ends of the aisle and sighs. “We need to talk.”
My stomach turns over, and I feel as if I might be sick. “You think?”
“Somewhere someone won’t see or overhear us. Let me pay for these, and you can follow my car.” She doesn’t wait for me, heading up to the front of the store to pay.
Needing some fresh air, I decide to wait for her outside on the sidewalk.
I’m jumping to conclusions. No way the baby is mine. She would have told me by now. I’m not loving the jealousy I feel thinking about another man’s hands on her. But she’s a single, hot-as-fuck woman who has every right to sleep with as many people as she wants. And I’m fucking engaged.
But that’s all bullshit because if I wasn’t the father, she wouldn’t have been all jittery and panicked when she saw me.
The sweat along my forehead increases the longer I’m waiting and thinking about what this all means, so I take my ballcap off my head, smooth my hair back, and put it on backward.
It’s still a little chilly out this early in the morning, but I feel as if I’m baking in the hoodie I’m wearing though I know it has nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with the woman who is leaving the drugstore and walking toward me.
“Where are you parked?” she asks.
“In the parking lot behind the stores.” I gesture in the general direction.
She nods. “Me too. Follow me, and then we can talk.”
Talk?
That one little word confirms I’m going to be a dad.
* * *
Forty minutes later, we pull into the driveway of a cute little cabin set in the middle of the woods.
Is this where Harper lives?
She doesn’t address me after she parks. Simply climbs out of her car and makes her way to the front door, unlocks it, motions for me to go in first. She’s removed her sunglasses and her hood is down, but she doesn’t meet my gaze.
The moment I step inside, I know it’s not Harper’s home. The place is too dated, too sparse. I can’t picture a woman like Harper living here. It feels too tame.
I walk into the living area, though I don’t sit. I have too much anxiety coursing through my body and need to pace. “What’s going on, Harper?”
She draws in a big breath and stands at the opposite side of the small room. “I’m pregnant.”
“I gathered. Is there something else you need to tell me?” I hold my breath, waiting for her to admit it. How long has she known? Why hasn’t she tried to tell me? I attempt to calm the questions in my head before my anger gets the best of me.
“You’re the father.”
A buzzing sound rings in my ears, and I hear nothing after that except those three words on repeat.
You’re the father.
You’re the father.
You’re the father.
With numb legs, I sit on the couch, afraid they won’t be able to support me, and I’ll collapse.
“We used condoms, and you said you were on the pill.” I look up at her through my eyelashes.
She shrugs. “I don’t know. I was on antibiotics a week before the wedding, which may have lessened the effectiveness of the pill, but we used condoms too, so…I guess the universe just really wants us to have this baby.” When I glare at her, she holds up both hands. “Sorry, too soon for jokes.”
“How long have you known?” If she’s joking about it, I suspect she’s known for a while.
She frowns. “A little bit before you showed back up to town.”
“You’ve known the whole time you’ve been helping Tamra and me with the wedding?” I take my baseball cap off and set it on the cushion beside me then push my hands through my hair.
Shit . Tamra. What does this mean for the wedding? For everything that hinges on a successful marriage with her?
“I’m sorry, I didn’t exactly know what to say. I was still in shock myself. I was going to tell you the night I went to Palmer’s, but you announced your engagement first, and I got scared. I couldn’t do it. And I was still figuring out what I wanted to do.”
There’s fear in her eyes, even as we have this conversation.
She’s right. Did I expect her to blurt it out while she was showing us potential venues for our wedding? “Oh, by the way, Tamra, your fiancé knocked me up, sorry about that.”
“I assume based on the fact that you bought prenatal vitamins that you’ve decided to keep the baby?”
She nods, and I blow out a breath.
I can’t even fathom telling Tamra this news, but more importantly, I live in Vermont, and I’m pretty sure Harper isn’t leaving Lake Starlight. I’ve never pictured myself living apart from my kid.
I bolt up off the couch. “I need to clear my head. I’m sorry, but I can’t do any of the wedding shit we had planned today.”
“I understand,” she says, and I hate how small her voice sounds.
I don’t want to hurt her, but she’s had the time to process this news, and I haven’t. I just need to straighten my head around the news, then we can talk more.
“Can we meet for breakfast tomorrow before I fly out in the afternoon?”
“Sure, of course. Meet me at Lard Have Mercy at eight, or is that too early?”
“That’s fine. I’ll see you then.” I rush from that cabin so fast I’m surprised I don’t leave burn marks.
But there’s no denying I can’t outrun the fact that I’m going to be a dad.