“Harper’s not going to be around anymore,” Luke said, briskly. “Let me make this call and then we’ll go out to the Adams site.” He turned back to the phone and started dialing, dismissing Frank and his dumbfounded expression.
***
Harper woke curled in a ball in a sunny bedroom. She was still dressed in last night’s clothes. There were no strong arms wrapped around her. No dogs at her feet.
She was alone.
She wrapped her fingers around the edge of the quilt and pulled it over her head. She wanted to block it all out. The sun. The hurt. The loneliness.
***
“What?” Luke didn’t mean to snap at Sophie, but he already knew why she was calling. It would figure that Sophie would be the first person Harper would go to.
“That’s a fine greeting for your favorite sister.”
He shifted the phone to his other ear. “Sorry. What do you need?”
“Just some reassurance. I was supposed to meet Harper for lunch and she didn’t show. She’s not answering her cell. And I tried the office and they said she didn’t come in today. I know I’m just being silly, but ...” Sophie trailed off.
Luke remembered another time when Sophie had tried to reach someone and couldn’t find her. All their lives had changed that day. It wasn’t just his.
“I guess Harper didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what? Did you send her to the spa for the day? Is she adopting another dog?”
“We broke up.”
He was ready to yank the phone away from his ear in the event of a deafening screech. But there was only silence.
“Soph? Are you there?”
More silence. And then finally a whispered response.
“I ... I don’t understand. You guys are so ...”
“It just wasn’t working out. We wanted different things.” The words clogged his throat.
“You just ... broke up? Where is she?”
“I don’t know. She left last night.”
“Is she okay? I mean ... Jesus, Luke. I feel like I got sucker punched. I didn’t see this coming. I can’t imagine how she feels.”
“It’s Harper. Of course she’s okay. She’s been through worse than a breakup. She always lands on her feet.”
Sophie was quiet for a moment. “Luke, she loved you with everything she had. She waited six months for you. She’s not just going to land on her feet. And if you’re not going to try to find her then I will.”
He wasn’t about to admit that he spent the forty-five minutes he had allotted for lunch driving around town looking for her car. He just wanted to know that she was safe. That’s all.
“I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”
“You’re worried. I can hear it in your tone.”
“I don’t have a tone.”
“What if something happened to her? We both know shit happens to good people. And we sure as hell know she’s a trouble magnet. What if she got kidnapped trying to check into a hotel?”
Luke would have laughed if he hadn’t already thought of that exact scenario. He’d called both motels in town that morning to see if Harper was registered.
