Joni nodded. She sat down on the edge of the bed. “You’re a sweet girl, Harper. Everything is going to work out in the end.”
Harper bit her lip to fight back the impending flood of tears. She sniffled weakly instead and squeezed Joni’s hand.
Joni glanced around the room. “You’re not the only girl who’s cried over Luke Garrison in this room.” A ghost of a smile played at her lips.
“Karen cried over him? But they were so perfect for each other.”
“Honey, no one is perfect for anyone at eighteen.”
“Did they fight?”
“They broke up.” Joni nodded at Harper’s wide eyes. “Luke broke up with Karen a few weeks before graduation. He was joining the Guard and he wanted Karen to go to college, but she wanted to get married. He thought she was throwing her future away and ended things.”
“How did they get back together?”
“Karen enrolled in school and went out on a date with Lincoln Reed. She and Luke were back together by the next afternoon.”
“Is that why he doesn’t like Linc?”
“Oh, there’s always been a rivalry there.”
Harper remembered Luke’s reaction to Linc hauling her out of the lake and what happened later that night. Would she ever feel like that again? Desired? Craved?
Now she only felt discarded.
“So your phone, as you young people would say, has been ‘blowing up’ out there since this morning.”
Harper’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry. I should have turned it off.”
“It’s no trouble. But there may be some people worried about you.”
Harper shook her head and cleared her throat. “I just can’t. Not yet.”
“Is there anyone you want me to contact? Just to tell they you’re all right?”
Harper started to shake her head. “I don’t know. I feel like everyone here belongs to him and I don’t want to complicate that for him. I don’t want him to think that I’m trying to ...”
“Turn everyone against him for being an idiot?” Joni supplied helpfully.
“Yeah, that. Pretty much exactly that.” Harper managed a shaky laugh. “I don’t want anyone to feel obligated to choose because this is his home and I’m just ... passing through.” She couldn’t stop the tears this time.
Joni took the tea from her and handed her a fresh box of tissues. “Don’t ever think of the relationships you’ve built here as just ‘passing through.’ Benevolence belongs to you just as much as anyone else, and we’re all lucky to have you here.”
“I just love him so much,” Harper sniffled.
“I know you do, sweetie.”
“And I’m so sorry for bringing all of this into your house. It can’t be easy on you dealing with me, when it’s Karen who loved him first. And the only reason I’m here is because she isn’t.” She buried her face in her crumpled tissue.
Joni’s eyebrows shot up. “Harper Wilde. I’m surprised at you. Don’t you see it? Karen brought you here for Luke. You are exactly what he needs to get him to start living life again.” She fingered the fine stitches on a bright blue quilt patch. “If there’s anything that would infuriate my daughter, it would be watching the people she loved refusing to live and love again. I was doing the same thing. Hiding behind blame and guilt just trying to hold on to what was. And in doing so, I missed too many years of what is. But that’s all changing now. I’m not going to hide anymore. And eventually, neither will Luke.”
Harper nodded, but she knew she would be long gone before then. She would be in another job in another town far away. She would have another casual circle of friends who never could quite fill the hole in her heart where family should be.
Maybe it was her destiny to always be a little bit lonely. To always be hungry for love.
“You’re exhausted, you poor thing. You just rest and sleep and we’ll talk again in the morning.”
Harper nodded, her shoulders slumped.
