Going out tonight, want to come?
Putting her cup down, Harper stared at her phone for a minute.All those people to avoid in a public place.But she’d be with Trent.He’d look out for her, right?Time for the big-girl pants.
Would love to.Dress code?
Something sexy ;-)
If only she owned something that matched that description.“I need your help!”Harper said into the phone five minutes later.Having pulled every item out of her closet before dismissing them, she was out of options.
“What?No ‘hello Drea, how are you?’We just getting straight down to business?”Drea sounded sleepy.How could she still be sleepy at eleven o’clock in the morning?Harper had already completed a six-mile run along the beach before collecting her groceries.
“You should do stand-up comedy with lines like that.I’m serious.I have a problem.”
“I have one too.You’re bugging me on my day off, girlfriend.”Crap.She sounded like she was only half kidding.Harper wrapped her ponytail around her hand and pulled slightly.“Did war break out?Did you find the cure for cancer?World hunger?”
Okay, in the spirit of wars and famine in foreign countries, it wasn’tthatbig of a deal, first-world problems and all that.
“Trent just texted to invite me to join him at that fancy upscale bar that opened last month.Valeur, or whatever it’s called.”
“And?Did you call me because you can’t remember how to spell the word yes?”
“Drea, seriously.What the heck can I wear?”She picked at the frayed hem on a pair of faded jeans.Man, she really had been letting herself go.Ratty T-shirts and frumpy long-sleeved shirts in every color imaginable.Blending in didn’t mean she had to look like a schlump.
“Fine,” Drea said.“Meet me outside Zara in the Lincoln Road Mall in thirty.”
It was more like sixty minutes later when Drea finally showed up, but she got quickly to work, filling both their arms with things for Harper to try on.
“Holy shit,” she said, when Harper took off her shirt in the tiny changing room they were sharing.“When you said you were getting a tattoo, you weren’t kidding.”
Harper faced her.“You don’t like it?”
Harper looked over her shoulder, catching glimpses of her back in the mirror.The sword was tall and proud along her spine, the blade now completely shaded, though the handle was still an outline.The granite rocks into which it was cleft sparkled, as if reflecting the lights in the changing room.The blended reds, yellows, and oranges of the flames crawled up her right ribs; the left side, lines of faded orange ink showed where the fiery detail would appear eventually.
“No, it just caught me off guard.I mean, I saw the outline when you first got it done.And thank the Lord you didn’t need me to do that cream thing again because it was gross.It looks…” There was a long silence.
“You don’t need to like it, Drea.I get it.”
“It’s not that.I just—they mean something very different to me.I think it’s going to be sexy as hell on you, though.”
Harper studied the beautiful cut of an ivory sleeveless blouse in the three-way mirror.It was like nothing she’d ever worn before, and she was certain Trent would appreciate it.
“Joanie told me how you’ve been helping her with her classes.”
“Yeah, she’s doing great.”
“Listen, Harper, I’m not going to ask why you aren’t out doing something more with that brain of yours.If I had to guess, I’d say it has something to do with your ex and what happened.Joanie says she’s doing so much better with your support, and I wondered if you could help me?”
Harper felt guilty withholding so much information about her past from her best friend.Part of her ached to explain the truth of who she really was.
“We just found out my little cousin Milo is dyslexic, and my aunt is going out of her mind with worry.She’s thinking of getting him a tutor.I wondered if you were qualified and, you know, willing to help.”
“Of course I’ll help.I’d love to.Why don’t you get your aunt to give me a call or come see me at the shop?”
“I will.I…” Drea snapped her mouth shut and pretended to be looking for something in the pile of clothes she’d brought in.
“What?Just say what’s on your mind.”Drea had always been straight with her.
“Well, I hope you know I have your back.”Harper smiled and pulled her best friend into the first hug they’d ever shared.
