That set me off. “YOU WERE HER DREAM. YOU ARE HER DREAM.” I took a deep breath, willing myself to calm down. “From the night she met you at the bonfire, all shewanted was you. She hid the truth from us to protect the relationship you two had, so it could only be yours. Maybe she wanted you to tell her not to go. To tell her you needed her here with you. She wanted you more than she wanted Oregon, Dax.”
He didn’t say anything. He just stared towards the living room. I couldn’t tell if he was dissociating or thinking. We stood there in silence for what felt like forever before he finished tidying up with me. He made his way to the door, where he put on his jacket and shoes. Dax had one hand on the door when he turned to say, “You’re right. I should’ve told her what she meant to me.”
“And she should’ve told you what she needed. We love you, Dax, but you deserve to be happy too. You need to be willing to be fucking selfish for once in your life.”
He nodded. “Love you, kid.”
I sighed, rolling my eyes. “Love you, Dax.”
40
CAM
“Calm down, Shortcake. You will be fine. It’s just graduation.”
It was Harper’s graduation day, and she wanted to be anywhere but here. I gave her a small pep talk before sending her inside to join her class. It was a small ceremony that was held in her school’s auditorium. There were fewer than two hundred people here since her class was made up of only twenty-five students.
It was probably the quickest graduation ceremony I had ever been to. But this time was different. Sitting with my boyfriend, watching our girl cross the stage pulled at my heartstrings. Before we knew it, Harper Rayne Rhodes was called, and she was accepting her diploma. We were directed to hold our applause until the end, but of course, it was Tucker who broke that rule.
He placed two fingers in his mouth and let out a shrill whistle, grabbing her attention. As she walked back to her seat, she spotted us, waving like crazy and pointing at her diploma. We were close enough to see her mouth, “I did it!”
Because the graduates were called in alphabeticalorder, she was so far down the list that it wasn't long before we were back together.
“Here, stand next to Harper,” Tucker said, pushing us together in front of a red-bricked wall.
She looked at him, eyes narrowed in confusion. “What’s going on?”
He walked away from us, pulling his phone from his back pocket. “What did you think we were going to leave here without pictures, Sugar?”
I smiled at the kind gesture, but Harper was absolutely beaming. “Okay!” She was thrilled.
We never really took pictures besides the occasional selfie, so this was nice. She put her graduation cap back on her head. I wrapped an arm around her waist as she held up her diploma.
After we took a few pictures in different poses, I gently placed a finger under her chin, turning and lifting her head to face mine. God, she looked so happy like this. I removed her cap before placing a quick kiss on her full lips. I rested my forehead against hers, searching for what I wanted to say. “I love you, Harper. I am so fucking proud of you, baby. You did it.” Tears welled in her eyes as I spoke. “You have changed my definition of love. Thank you for being you and helping me find myself.”
She lifted herself up on her toes to kiss me. “I love you, Cameron. I love that when I look at you, I feel at home. Everything about this is so right. I was made to be with you. With both of you.” She glanced over at Tucker and waved him over. There were still quite a few people here in the large lobby taking pictures and chatting, but it felt like it was just the three of us. Tucker pressed a kiss to both of our heads and handed me his phone.
“Your turn to play camera man, loverboy.” So, I did as I was told and took pictures of the two of them for a bit.
Once Harper was tired of being photographed, we headed into the cold and back to my car.
“Do you want to tell her or should I?” I asked Tucker with a smile on my face.
“Or should we just show her?” He suggested. I honestly was so into the mustache look on him. My handsome cowboy. God, how did I ever get so lucky with these two?
“Hi, I am sitting right here? What the fuck are you guys talking about?” Harper’s tone was sassier than normal. Good. I knew this surprise would be worth working her up.
Tucker looked over at me from the passenger seat, placing a hand on my thigh and giving it a gentle squeeze. “Let’s just show her. How does that sound, Sugar?”
She rolled her eyes in mock annoyance. “Obviously, sounds great.” The smile that crept onto her face as she went back to looking out of the window showed she was anything but.
Winter in Sawyers Cove was so beautiful. Christmas lights on businesses and houses always went up in mid-November, so by the time December rolled around, every place was lit up. The way the snow was falling made it look like we were inside a fairytale snow globe. I couldn’t wait until Harper saw what we did to her house. A perk of her having a job and recently rehearsing for graduation was that Tuck and I could come over and do what we needed.
The drive from the ceremony back to Harper's house was about twenty-five minutes in good weather, but in this, it took an extra fifteen. Tucker and Harper were great at making the time pass, though. Never a dull moment with these two. Today's argument was on how early a Christmas tree should be put up.
“Well, if it were up to me, I think it should stay up forever. Just redecorate it for every holiday.”
“Harper, that's insane. It’s called a Christmas tree for a reason.” Tucker argued.
