My phone buzzed again.
Harper.
Of course.
I stared at the screen like it had insulted me.
Cassian’s gaze dipped to it, then back to my face. “Answer.”
“I’m not asking your permission.”
“I know,” he repeated.
I stepped away, anyway, because that’s what I did now.
“Tell me you’re in Charleston,” Harper said the second I picked up. “Because your location just popped on my phone and I swear to God if you came home and didn’t tell me?—”
“I’m in Charleston,” I said.
A beat. Then, suspicious: “Alone?”
I closed my eyes.
“No,” I said carefully.
Silence.
Then, “Lia.”
“Don’t do that.”
“I’m not doing anything,” she said, which meant she was absolutely doing something. “Where are you?”
“Downtown.”
“With him.”
“With him,” I admitted.
Another beat.
“You’re serious?”
“Yes.”
Harper let out a slow breath. “Okay. I’m not going to yell. Yet.”
“That’s generous.”
“And your mother?” she asked suddenly. “Did you see her while you were in New York?”
My stomach tightened.
“No, but she’s flying in tomorrow.”
“What?” Harper asked flatly. “Why?”
“She has … a situation.”
