Chapter Five
The transition from living with her dad to living in Linc’s house was going surprisingly well.
Harper expected to feel awkward around Linc, but he truly seemed to have put their past history behind him.
Though she found it harder to forget how she’d treated him once upon a time, since he was being so cool about it, Harper was beginning to come to terms with her past as well.
And Kash was already flourishing living under Linc’s roof, being around him all the time.
As each day passed, Harper saw her son doing more and more things to mimic their host. He was more polite, calmer, and seemed to sincerely enjoy things like cooking, doing his own laundry, and taking out the trash.
He’d always gone out of his way to take care of her, but being around Linc had made those instincts even more prevalent in her son.
When Harper came home from work, she didn’t have to do much of anything.
Kash insisted on setting the table, doing the dishes, and even finishing his homework without any nagging on her part.
And seeing him and Linc discuss what he was learning in science class, and hearing the stories Linc told him about the weather phenomena he’d witnessed firsthand from the cockpit of a plane, was as eye opening to her as it was to her son.
Almost a week had passed since they’d moved in, and to Harper, it felt as if they’d been here much longer. Linc was an easy man to live with. If anything, she wished she had more time to simply sit and talk to him. To get to know him better.
But she had a feeling if she did have that time, it would make things .
. . complicated. Harper liked Linc. A lot.
He was a good man, a good son, a good brother, and an excellent role model for Kash.
It was as if he’d been a father for years.
He seemed to know exactly what to say to Kash to make him happy, to motivate him or cheer him up.
Harper hated how much she had to work as the holidays approached, because that meant she was away from Kash even more than usual.
School wasn’t going well for him. Not academics, those were great as always.
But socially, he was struggling to find his place.
To find a group of friends who would have his back.
And much to her dismay, bullies had homed in on her son as an easy mark.
Kash didn’t say much, but what he did admit to was heartbreaking. And Harper knew all too well that what he wasn’t saying was probably twice as bad as what he was.
There was one boy in particular, an upperclassman, who seemed to delight in tormenting Kash and other younger kids at lunch . . . one of the only times the high school and middle school kids mingled. He’d gotten his friends involved as well, including his girlfriend.
It was disheartening, and even though Kash didn’t talk much about what went on while he was at school, it was obvious he was miserable.
Thank goodness this was a holiday week, and they both had a little bit of a break.
It was Wednesday, and Kash had today and the rest of the week off from school, and Harper had Thursday and Friday off from work. How she’d managed to get Black Friday off, she had no idea, but she wasn’t going to complain.
Of course, she had to work until ten o’clock this evening, but it was a small price to pay for having the next two days off in a row.
Every morning when Harper got up, Linc was already awake, and had usually prepared breakfast for her and Kash. And when she got home from work, no matter the time, he was always still up. She honestly didn’t know when the man slept.
This morning, Kash was sleeping in since he didn’t have to go to school, and she wasn’t leaving until after noon. So she had a little bit of time to actually sit and enjoy her morning, for once. And to talk to Linc, which she was more excited about than she probably should be.
“Morning,” she said with a smile, as she walked into the kitchen.
“Morning, Harper. Did you sleep well?” Linc asked.
“Like a rock. You?”
“Like I always do,” he responded. “I made an egg casserole last night. Eggs, sausage, cheese, peppers—both hot and sweet—and hash browns on the bottom. That okay?”
Harper frowned. “I got home at nine. You made that after I went to bed?”
Linc shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Well, thank you. It sounds delicious.”
“I’m going to make cinnamon rolls with Kash when he gets up . . . if that’s okay.”
“Why wouldn’t it be okay?” she asked, genuinely curious.
“Because it’s junk food that’ll rot his teeth.”
Harper chuckled. “He’s a teenager. And I think his teeth are safe. Besides, he needs the calories.”
“True. My plan was to have him eat the casserole before we started on the rolls. I saw a video online that takes the regular cinnamon rolls in a can and adds a shit ton more butter and sugar to make them even gooier and tastier.”
“Yum!” Harper said with a smile. The thought of Linc seeing a recipe online and saving it to make something with Kash made her heart flip-flop in her chest. “When in the world do you have time to scroll through the internet, looking for recipes?”
If she wasn’t mistaken, she thought Linc looked a little embarrassed at her question.
“Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” she added quickly.
“Sometimes I have trouble sleeping, and I end up going online to try to pass the time and to make myself tired enough to fall back asleep,” Linc admitted.
“I don’t know what that’s like,” Harper joked. “I don’t have that problem. I can usually always sleep. Well, recently. Not so much when we were in our car, but here? Now that I know my boy is warm, safe, and happy? I’m out like a light.”
Linc didn’t even twitch. “I’m glad I could help give that to you.”
“Me too.” Swallowing hard, butterflies in her belly, Harper forced herself to change the subject.
The more she got to know Linc, the more she wanted to get to know him.
She’d had no idea that he had trouble sleeping.
She wanted to help him, but of course there wasn’t much she could do about it.
“So . . . is there anything I can pick up from the store for tomorrow?”
“Nope. I guess Mom’s been in a cooking frenzy. She’s totally in her element and very excited for tomorrow,” Linc said.
“Yeah, Britt added me to a group text with her and Marit, and she’s been keeping us updated on the crazy that is your mother,” Harper said with a smile. “She says she’s been like an Army general, ordering everyone around, worrying about making everything perfect.”
Linc chuckled. “Sounds like Mom. She was always like that. A ball of energy, when all us kids ever wanted was to sleep in on our days off. She’d make us get up early to have ‘family time.’ Your dad is still coming, right?”
“As far as I know. He tried to claim he didn’t want to come, that he wouldn’t be welcome, but your mom drove over to his place, told him to his face that he’d better be there or else, then drove back to Lobster Cove.”
“I wish I could’ve seen that,” Linc said, grinning.
“I have the video,” Harper said.
“What? You do?”
“Yup. He got a camera for the front door when Kash and I moved back home. He said he wanted us to feel safe. I downloaded the video from my phone and saved it. It’s priceless.
Here, I’ll show you.” Harper slipped her phone out of her back pocket and walked over to where Linc stood in the kitchen.
She pulled up the video and leaned toward him so they could watch it at the same time.
It wasn’t until Evelyn’s voice was echoing through the room that Harper realized just how close she and Linc were standing.
He’d put his arm around her waist, seemingly without thought, and she was leaning into him.
Since they were the same height, their cheeks were practically touching as they watched his mom point her finger in Victor’s face and order him to show up to Thanksgiving, “or else.”
She also told him they were neighbors, and it was way past time they started acting like it. Adding that she felt Kash was as much her grandson as he was Victor’s, and she didn’t want the boy feeling torn about which grandparent to spend the holiday with.
She said some other stuff, which was as funny as it was endearing, but Harper stopped paying attention.
She couldn’t think about anything other than how .
. . right it felt to basically be in Linc’s arms. He was warm, muscular, and smelled so darn good.
Harper wanted to turn her head and bury her nose in his neck.
She refrained . . . barely. This was the first time she’d been this close to the man, and it was taking every ounce of strength she had not to sag into him.
She felt more at home in his arms than she had in any other man’s embrace.
Ever. And that thought scared the shit out of her.
This was Lincoln Young. The man she’d tormented.
The guy who’d selflessly invited her and Kash to stay with him so she wouldn’t feel the need to sleep in her minivan to get away from her overbearing father.
The man she was discovering she liked. A lot. Like . . . a lot a lot.
“My mom,” Linc said with a small chuckle that seemed to reverberate through Harper.
Harper stepped away from him more abruptly than she’d intended.
Ignoring the confused look on Linc’s face, she managed to return his smile.
She hoped it looked more natural than it felt.
“Yeah, so as far as I know, Dad’s still coming over tomorrow.
If he doesn’t show, I’ll go over there and get him. Or maybe I’ll send Kash.”
“If he doesn’t show, I’ll go over there and drag his ass to Lobster Cove. My mom’s worked her butt off for this Thanksgiving, and she’s looking forward to him being there as much as she is the rest of us.”
Harper was still feeling a bit off kilter from her sort-of embrace with Linc, and she desperately wanted to change the subject to something safer . . . for her own peace of mind. “Have you talked to Kash about school in the last couple days? Every time I ask about it, all I get is ‘It’s fine.’”