“Yeah… so, here’s the thing.” Evie cocked her head to the side, turning her focus from Simon to Harlow as she placed the undone twist tie aside. “I, um, came here because Shep and I are like, a thing, right?”
Harlow didn’t like where this was going. “Yes?”
“So… we want to go out.” Evie pushed her lips to the side, turning on the charm. “Please,pleasecan we go out on a date? I’ll wear a ball cap and baggy clothes and smear on makeup like a swamp witch if that’s what you want, but we just… we’d really like to. It’s our first time meeting in person, you know? And it’d be really sad if we’re trapped in this apartment the whole time.”
“You’re asking me?” Simon looked to Harlow for guidance, and that alone was enough to tighten Harlow’s stomach a discernible degree. Excitement and inspiration hit in waves, washing through him in the same way it would have had he just bench pressed a new plate. “I’m not really the guy you need to be asking. I have no idea. If you’re asking ifShepcan go out, then… yeah. But I can’t tell you whether you can or not. That’s up for your dad to decide.”
“You want to head out?” Harlow asked. “Doesn’t that defeat the idea of running away?”
“I mean…” Evie looked away, putting on her best sad puppy-dog look. Even before she’d hit it big, she’d always been good at evoking reaction from her gestures and her words. Harlow was wrapped around her little finger. “I know that it’s not agreatidea, but you called off the search, right, Dad?”
“I called off the official search,” Harlow reminded her. “I one hundred percent guarantee that Aurora is a hotbed for paparazzi right now, though, and you know how they are.”
Evie scrunched her nose. “I’m surprised I didn’t find one hiding behind the fridge this morning.”
“We fumigate the apartment regularly,” Simon announced casually. “Haven’t seen one in probably close to a year.”
There was silence. Evie, blinking, tilted her head to the opposite side and took him in. Harlow’s brain, unprepared to hear Simon do something as laid back as crack a joke, took a long while to process what he’d said. When, at last, it hit, he snorted, which triggered Evie in turn. The snort turned into full-on laughter, and soon enough, Simon was laughing, too—airy, wheezy, totally amused little noises that warmed Harlow’s heart.
There he is,Harlow thought.There’s the man who defended Shep yesterday—the one who isn’t afraid to be himself.
“Well… how about this.” Harlow turned away from the conversation for a minute to stir the cooking scrambled eggs. “If you get the box with the air mattress in it off the kitchen table, then help with dishes, we can find somewhere outside town we can take you to. No public places, no places where people gather, no restaurants.”
Quicker than he’d ever seen her move before, Evie popped two pieces of bread into the toaster, set it to heat, then zipped across the kitchen and grabbed the box from the table. “I can live with those terms,” she said from behind unwieldy cardboard. “I’ll go find a place for it in the living room, and then we’ll talk about what places are safe to go, okay?”
“You got it, kiddo.” Harlow watched her go, then shifted his gaze to Simon. “We’re going to need help figuring out where to go. Do you think you’ll be able to help us?”
“Sure.” Simon’s smile grew. “I’ve lived in Aurora my whole life, and my parents used to take us out to do all kinds of nature activities when Shep and I were little. I might actually have somewhere in mind already.”
“Great.” Harlow’s gaze lingered. He matched Simon’s smile. “If we’re going to do this, I’m going to need someone else with me to help me chaperone… are you interested?”
The smile on Simon’s face wobbled, but it didn’t decay. A blush spread across his cheeks. “M-My nose is broken. I look awful.”
“I don’t mind what you look like.”
The blush grew. “Well, if you… if you don’t mind.”
Evie returned to the kitchen before Harlow had time to tell Simon that he didn’t mind at all.
While Shep and Jayne slept, the three of them ate breakfast together at the small kitchen table, and while he was aware that Simon could very well have been culpable for helping his daughter run away, his smile and the glances he sneaked Harlow’s way told a different story. There was bliss here—unspoken, jubilant bliss—that seeped from Harlow’s tightened stomach and throbbing heart to infuse the marrow of his bones. Someone like Simon couldn’t lie to him, could he? Couldn’t say one thing, then turn his cheek and say another?
Not now. Not at their small breakfast table, while Evie regaled them with tales about how she’d discovered the perfect technique to burning bacon, and how, one time, she’d escaped from a particularly bothersome paparazzi by hiding inside a clothing rack.
Not when every time Simon laughed, Harlow’s heart laughed, too.
For the first time in a long time, it felt like they’d found a new member of their team… and if life tore that bond from him one more time, Harlow wasn’t sure he’d ever be willing to revisit it again.
