“It’s nobody’s business,” Calum growled, his brows furrowing.
“You know as well as I do that our business is our fans’ business,” I sighed, siding with Evan. “You don’t need to give all the gory details, but a ‘hey guys, this is what’s new and good in my life now’ will make them feel like they’re a part of this next step for us.”
Calum stared at me for several beats, his glacier eyes cool. “I don’t like it when you’re right.”
Evan snorted in agreement. “You could always see if you could do it in the bookshop.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Calum said thoughtfully, rolling the idea over in his mind as the front door swung open. “I’ll see if Harper’s cool with it.”
“Cool with what?” Harper asked, walking in with a few boxes of pizza and Asher at her heels. Calum stood, a smile coming to his lips as he walked over to them. He ruffled Asher’s hair in greeting, then wrapped his arm around his shoulders and looked back at Harper with a rueful grin.
“The label’s pushing for me to do an exclusive interview. They wanted to have the reporter and photographer come out to the house for it, but I was thinking…maybe we could do the interview at the bookstore. Seems kismet, given how I first asked you out in one.”
Harper bit her lower lip and nodded. “That’s an option,” she finally said, although she didn’t look entirely convinced.
“We’ll talk more about it later,” Cal promised, sensing her discomfort. He pressed a kiss to her forehead before turning his attention back to Asher. “How was school?” he asked.
“It was okay,” Asher shrugged, switching the topic immediately. “Can I see my room now?”
“Why don’t you go try to guess what one’s yours?” Calum replied with a grin. Asher took off like a bullet, racing up the stairs while we all smiled after him.
“Thank you, guys, for helping Calum with everything today. The place looks amazing!” Harper said, carrying the pizzas into the kitchen. “I bet you’re starving after all that heavy lifting.”
“Maybe a little,” Evan rubbed his stomach, a rueful smile on his lips. “Did you get Meatlovers?”
“Of course, and Hawaiian.” Harper grinned at me. Hawaiian was my favourite kind of pizza; I loved the sweet and tangy combination of pineapple and cheese.
We followed her into the kitchen, gathering around the island.
“It’s this one!” Asher exclaimed from somewhere upstairs. We could only just make out his excited voice. “Wow! It’s huge! I love it!”
Cal grinned, taking the stairs two at a time to join him, while Harper set the boxes of pizza down on the counter and started looking for plates. The cupboards were still empty—our primary focus had been getting the furniture in.
Boxes labeled “dishes” and “glassware” were stacked neatly on the counter by the stove. Harper opened the box, grabbing a stack of plates out.
“Are either of you free tomorrow, by chance?” she questioned, her brown eyes full of hope.
I hesitated; I had plans, plans on spending every moment I could with Connor. She’d told her family she was staying at Dalhousie for the weekend, and I’d booked a hotel room for us in Halifax.
We hadn’t had an entire weekend together alone ever, and I’d been looking forward to it.
“I’ve got some stuff lined up. Why?”
“Calum’s helping…my friend, Raina, and her son move into my house. I know you just spent the day moving us, but if you aren’t too busy…maybe you could help again tomorrow?”
“I don’t have anything planned; I could help,” Evan replied, his eyes going to me for my response.
“I do have plans out of town, but I could probably help before I leave.”
“Raina and Nik don’t have a lot of things. It shouldn’t take us long at all. We’re moving her from an apartment downtown across from the bookstore to my house.”
“Yeah, I can be there.” Evan nodded. I hesitated. I was planning on heading to Halifax as soon as I wrapped things up in Brockhouse.
“Okay, perfect! Thank you so much.” Harper’s smile was radiant. “We’ll probably be okay without your help, Dare, if you’ve got plans already. You’ve already helped so much; we really appreciate it.”
“Okay without Dare’s help for what?” Calum asked, coming back into the kitchen with Asher following beside him.
“Oh, I was just seeing if they could help us again tomorrow with Raina,” Harper told him, grabbing a plate and putting a few slices of Hawaiian on it before handing it to Asher.
