“Well, and what about your personal life?”
“My personal life?”
“Have you been on any dates recently? It feels like forever since we’ve sat and talked about guys.”
Harper laughed, but she felt a twinge in the pit of her stomach. “Nothing to report on that front, I’m afraid. Still terminally single.”
“Oh, come on. There must be someone who at least has your eye.”
“Not really.”
“Harper, you’re blushing! Thereissomeone, isn’t there! Why won’t you tell me?” Tara frowned. “I thought you and I told each other everything. You know, all my married friends have told methat they fell out of contact with their single friends once they tied the knot, but I don’t want that to happen to you and me.”
“It won’t,” Harper assured her. “Nothing like that could ever happen to us, Tara. You know that.”
“Then why aren’t you telling me about your boyfriend?”
“Because I haven’tgota boyfriend. It really isn’t like that. You’re picking up on nothing. I… went on a date with a guy.” That was the simplest way to characterize it.
“You went out with someone and you didn’t tell me? I can’t believe you, Harper!”
Harper had to laugh. “There wasn’t anything to tell! It was one date. There isn’t going to be a second one.” Her stomach twisted, as it always did when she reminded herself of that fact, but she did her best to ignore it.
“Why no second date?” Tara demanded. “Was he bad in bed?”
“Tara!”
“You would not be blushing like that if you hadn’t gone to bed with him. I know you too well, Harper. Spill.”
“All right, fine, but lower your voice! I didn’t come here to tell the whole coffee shop about my private life.” She shook her head and leaned in so that they could speak more quietly. “Yes, we slept together.”
“So hewasbad!”
“No, he wasn’t at all. God, Tara, you’ve got a one-track mind sometimes. I can’t believe you’re about to be a married woman.”
“But if the sex wasn’t bad…”
“You really can’t think of any other reasons a person might not want a second date with someone, can you?” She smiled and shook her head. “You’re hilarious, Tara.”
“Well, tell me what the reason was, then,” Tara countered. “Was he a jerk or something? But he couldn’t have been, because if he was, how did he get you into his bed in the first place?”
“He wasn’t a jerk. He was a little emotionally unavailable, but he was a nice guy.” She hesitated, knowing she couldn’t say too much. She didn’t want to slip up and reveal that Theo was the person she was talking about. For one thing, she had no idea how her friend might feel if she realized that Harper had slept with her future brother-in-law. She might not mind at all, of course, but there was no way to be sure, and Harper didn’t want to risk making Tara angry with her.
And then there was the matter of the wedding. Even if Tara didn’t mind at all — even if she was in favor of a fling between Harper and Theo — it might steal attention away from the wedding, and that was the last thing Harper wanted to do. She had been asked to help make beautiful memories for her friend, not to steal the bride’s thunder. And she wouldn’t let that happen.
Tara was watching her expectantly. “So?” she pushed. “Who was this nice guy who was great in bed that you don’t want to see again for some reason?”
“Just a guy I met on a dating app,” Harper said. “We had better chemistry online than in person, that’s all.”
“But still enough chemistry that?—”
“Oh, my God. Stop! Yes, I went to bed with him. You’re the last person who should be judging.” Before she had settled down with Max, Tara had been a world-class player.
Tara laughed. “I’m not judging,” she said. “I think it’s great. I mean, if I’m judging at all, it’s only because I wish you would let yourself have a little more fun sometimes, you know? You take life way too seriously, Harper. You should see this guy again! Let yourself have a little fun, even if you know it isn’t going to amount to anything more serious. Hell,especiallyif you know that it isn’t. You deserve it.”
“You’re sweet,” Harper said. “Maybe at another time in my life I would have thought about it. Or maybe at some point in the future. But right now, I just have too much else going on. I need to focus on my career.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun from time to time,” Tara said.
