“Sorry, spooky queen, I’ve got things to do,” I told her. To Harley, I added, “I need to finish up a few things in the barn, but then I’ll be done. Do you want me to email everything over to you? Would that be easier?”
“Please,” Harley said. “As long as you don’t mind.”
“Not in the least.”
“Will you go inside and let me talk to Mr. Fox for a few minutes?” He set Aria on the ground, giving her a little jostle to make her giggle. “When I come in, we’re having a talk about you running out of the house.”
“Fine!” She let out a dramatic and exasperated sigh as she stomped her way up the stairs.
“The sass in that one is real,” I commented under my breath. Hands in my pockets, I wandered closer to him.
“You have no idea,” he said. His gaze never left her until the front door was shut behind her. “I’m sorry she showed up.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal.”
“Yeah, but my daughter isn’t your responsibility.”
“I know, but don’t beat yourself up about it, Harley.” I wanted to soothe the worry in him—a notion that was both dangerous and unexpected.
“All I can think of is what if she walked off the property?” he whispered. “And I know it’s parenting and all of that, but she’s never lived in a place like this. She spent her whole life in a condo, where all the neighbors loved her.”
“I can see that.”She was easy to like.“On the upside: today nothing happened. She’s safe, she’s happy, and she never made it off the property. I think a lot of kids wander out of the house at some point.”
He nodded slowly, and I could tell he wasn’t entirely convinced. I couldn’t blame him for that. The what-ifs ranged from frustrating to devastating.
“If it helps,” I continued, pushing my luck because this wasn’t my conversation to have with him, “one of my customers has a kid that sleepwalks out of the house. She had me install a few of those hook-locks on her doors to keep him from getting out. It might be a way to keep her in the house while you work on boundaries. I could bring them over next time and install them for you if you’d like.”
“Is that too much? Is that overbearing?” Harley asked quietly. I knew where his mind was going with that question. It wasn’t hard to figure out that he was worried about becoming his mother.
Gently, I bumped my shoulder into his, making him glance at me.
“You’re a good dad, Harley,” I reassured him. “You’re nothing like her.”
“She threw glitter at you.”
“That was pixie dust,” I scoffed. He laughed—the sound was easier and smoother than it had ever been. “And I got a goddamn wish out of it.”
The same wish that was supposed to be whatever my heart needed.
And as I stood next to Harley laughing, the irony of that wasn’t lost on me.
CHAPTER 87
maverick
Idelegated—much to Roxy’s surprise. Instead of burying my time under a pile of jobs and trying to keep up with everything on my own, I passed a good chunk of them off to Devon and Zach. It made sense, really. They were more than capable, and it freed me up to focus on the work out at Harley’s farm.
Which, if I were being honest with myself, I’d started spending more and more time at. Even when Harley wasn’t in the barn—and that was most days—I didn’t mind the quiet. I didn’t mind itbecause I knew I was doing something to help him. And on the days he did happen to show up, I found myself lingering longer than necessary. I stretched out conversations that probably didn’t need to last as long as they did.And it wasn’t like he was quick to disengage me either.
I savored those moments more than I should have, all things considered, but I refused to overthink that part. I was happy. That was the simplest truth of it. There was no storm of emotions brewing under the surface, no old wounds reopening themselves.
Harley was a puzzle to figure out—one made of old pieces that were familiar and of new pieces. Every time we talked, it felt like I was discovering another part of the person he’d become. It was an exciting adventure that broke up my daily routine. I liked it.
“All right,” Roxy said loudly as she waltzed into my office. Duke’s head popped up from his spot on his dog bed—yeah, I kept one in the corner for him—while I didn’t bother to glance up. “I need to know about this farm job.”
She stood in the doorway, keeping an eye on the front door in case we had a walk-in. No matter how many times I told her that she didn’t need to, she always did.
“What do you want to know?” I asked.I knew exactly what she wanted to know, but I was humoring her.
