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“Heard you guys had the flu,” Nate says as he flops down in the chair across from my desk. “How are you doing now?”
“I’ve been better. Please let Violet know how much we appreciate the care package.”
Nate smiles. “Most of the people coming into the clinic over the last week have been dealing with dehydration. Apparently, a bad stomach bug is going around. The daycare got hit first. She figured that sending along some more of those popsicles would do the trick.” He leans back and props his foot on his knee. “How’s Harper doing?”
“She’s better, but started throwing up a few days ago. She got it worse than the rest of us. I figure she will be back in the next few days.”
“Good to hear. You up for a meeting this morning? Chris is coming in to discuss a few things and then we are heading over to survey the lot.”
“Yup. What time?”
Nate looks at his watch. “Now?”
“Jesus! Cutting it a little close?” I ask, grabbing my things before heading out of the office. I left Honey curled up with Harper in my bed this morning. It is odd to have Nate at my heels rather than her.
“Sorry, I didn’t want to put too much on your plate just in case you weren’t feeling up to it.” Nate catches the door behind me as I enter the stairwell. We take the flight up to the fifth floor and then down the hall to the conference room between Aubrey’s and Nate’s offices.
Walking in, I find Wolf and Aubrey already sitting down chatting with Chris and a few other team members wrapped up in their own conversations. I nod my hellos and take a seat.
Harper never said what happened when she went out for breakfast, but she is not answering Chris’s messages anymore. It takes all my strength not to climb over the table, grab him by the throat, and push him against the wall.
Does he deserve it? I have no idea.
Do I really care? Nope.
“Jack! Good to see you. How are you feeling?” Rusty asks.
“Does everyone know I was sick?” I look around the table at the sympathetic faces. “Alright. No more pity looks. I’ve been able to keep my food down for the last few days, okay?”
“Happy to hear it, Jack.” Wolf turns his attention to Chris. “So, Chris, this is it. The final signing day and then we will send the crew to the lot for the last survey.”
“Thank you all for making this happen. From my garage to twenty gyms in the next two years. I can’t complain.”
“We are happy to be part of making your dream into a reality.” Wolf slides over the folder and a pen. Chris reviews the final document and signs.
“A celebration’s in order. Drinks at Waterside?” Chris asks. The thought of alcohol causes my stomach to flip. Maybe I’m not quite over it.
“I’m going to pass, but congratulations, Chris.” I shake his hand and watch as he works his way around the table. Everyone else declines his invitation, most likely because it is one o’clock in the afternoon.
“We’ll certainly get together, Chris. Perhaps Friday?” Wolf suggests.
“It’s a deal,” Chris says as he shakes his hand.
With the meeting over, we all make our way to the door, but Chris stops me before I walk out. “Jack, would you mind hanging back for a second? There’s something I want to run by you.”
“Sure.” I nod to Nate and Wolf as they share quizzical looks between them before entering the hall. “What’s up?”
“Thanks for looking after Harper while I’ve been out of town.”
What the fuck is he talking about? She isn’t his.
“I’m not sure how to put this, so I’m going to be blunt. Should I be concerned about Harper?”
“Nah, she’s feeling better. I’m sure she will be back in the office in the next few days.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“I’m not sure what you are getting at, Chris.”
“I like her, Jack. I know your history and I want to make my intensions clear.”
The hair on the back of my neck bristles at his words. What fucking intentions? “Go on,” I say through clenched teeth.
Chris stalks up to me, his muscular form crowding me in some kind of bullshit intimidation tactic. “You missed your chance, Jack. You fell into the friend zone. What she needs a man like me.”
I straighten my spine, bringing myself to full height, a few inches taller than him. I look down at him with a menacing smile, and his stance falters.
“Well Chris, it’s my bed she sleeps in every night. Not yours.”
Ignoring whatever asinine response that is about to come out of his mouth, I storm out of the conference room and head to the parking lot. It might be one o’clock, but my workday is done.
*
Arriving home, after picking up Silas at daycare, and find Honey curled up on Harper’s legs as she naps in my bed. Exactly where she should be.
My bed.
The conversation with Chris continued to rattle around in my head and left me in a foul mood. Seeing her here, the heavy mood that hung over me like a dark cloud begins to disperse.
How do you tell your best friend you love her? That you are in love with her?
Over the years, I have worked to break down those walls around her heart. When you lose your parents at ten, and your brother sends you off to a boarding school, letting people in is fucking hard. I can’t blame Eben, although I want to. But how many twenty-year-olds could raise a little girl?
Her red hair splays over the pillow behind her. After days of being so sick, she needs this rest. I gently bring my wrist to her head to check her temperature. Though she is closer to a normal temperature, her eyes are still puffy. I pull the blanket up to cover her body and notice she is wearing different clothes than when I left this morning.
“Is Mommy sleeping?” Silas’s little voice carries softly in from the hall.
“She is. Let’s go play quietly until she wakes up.”
Silas nods before tiptoeing to his room to play while I head to the kitchen to prep for supper.
The chicken noodle soup is done and freshly baked biscuits are cooling on the rack next to the fridge. Normally Honey would be under my feet when I am cooking, hoping to get a little treat, but she never came.
Tearing open a biscuit, the steam comes out in a puff of vapor. Blowing on it, I toss a piece in my mouth when a text comes in from Rusty about the Sunrise Point project. Fuck! It appears that we did not pass the inspection and our permit is revoked. Work will be at a standstill until we get the violations up to code and get the inspector back out. I send a response to Rusty and toss my phone on the counter. It slides further than I expect and hits the backsplash with a clunk.
First Chris sets me off this afternoon, and now this.
“What a fucking day,” I mutter to myself.
“What’s going on?” Harper says quietly as she slinks into the kitchen. Her hair, a delightful, tangled mess and her cardigan snugly wrapped around her. Her pale skin finally has a little color on the apples of her cheeks.
I reach out to her and pull her in, wrapping my arms gently around her and bury my face in her hair. Breathing in deeply, she wraps her arms around me and asks, “What is it, Jack?”
“I don’t want to get into it just yet. Soon, okay?”
“Okay,” she says against my chest.
“You feeling better? You got dressed today, at least. That has to be an improvement.”
She laughs and pushes back from me, but I keep my arms around her. With her by my side, my nerves settle and the chaos of the day fades into the background.
“I went to see Violet today.”
“Violet?”
“She had walk-in hours at the clinic today.”
“Oh, I see. What did she say? More popsicles?” Turning to the fridge, I open the freezer door to see what we have left. “We got orange, grape, banana.”
“Jack.”
“This might be blueberry. I was hoping to find some lime, but no luck.” I pull out the box and search for more flavors.
“Jack!” Putting the popsicles back in the freezer, she closes the door and turns back to me. “I don’t need more popsicles.”
“Oh.”
She pulls something out of her sweater pocket and places it in my hand. Her eyes well up with unshed tears as she folds my fingers around the familiar object. I can’t tear my eyes away from hers, struggling to decipher her expression. Happy? Sad?
My heart beats against my ribcage as a gentle smile crosses her face. The tears are happy ones.
My eyes drop to the item in my hand, and I feel a sudden twist in my stomach. History is repeating itself, but this time we are strong. This time I will make it right.
Her smile fades and her head drops. Fuck, I took too long to say something. My finger lifts her chin and I catch a single tear on her cheek.
“Don’t cry, Sweets. When are you due?”