“I hate her,” Harper snapped, anger building up in her. “She had no right to do this to me. I wasn’t hurting anyone.”
“I know. I hate her, too. If it makes you feel any better, people like that are generally very insecure and have serious personal issues.”
Harper looked up through her lashes at her sister. “It does make me feel a little better. But not as much as figuring out what one of those serious personal issues is and sharing it with the world would.”
Frankie smiled, which made Harper smile. Frankie took Harper’s hand. “You know I love you. And that’s not going to change, no matter what happens.”
“Thanks.” She sniffed. “I appreciate you reaching out to Lucas. Getting a statement out would be good. But then I’m really going to have to figure out what I’m going to do with my life. My career is gone. It can’t survive this kind of scandal. No one’s going to trust me again, and I don’t blame them.”
“You know…” Frankie’s mouth turned up at one end, a mischievous little smile if ever there was one. “You could always write a book. I bet there’d be a bidding war.”
Harper shook her head. “I can’t do that. I’ve signed an NDA with every client I’ve ever taken on.”
“Not a tell-all. A work of fiction, loosely based on what you know. Think Old School Joan Collins.”
“You mean Jackie Collins, her sister.”
“Same difference. But yes. And see? You’ve always been a huge reader. You know what’s entertaining when it comes to books.” Frankie poked Harper in the shoulder. “You could totally do that. You could make this scandal pay off for you. Maybe Mitch could even help you.”
Harper cut her eyes at Frankie. “I doubt Mitch is even still speaking to me.”
Frankie’s smile faded, but the sound of the doorbell interrupted whatever she’d been about to say. “That’s Lucas.” She patted Harper’s leg. “Come on out and talk to him. Let’s work on this statement.”
Harper exhaled. “Let me splash some water on my face. I’ll be out in a bit.”
“Okay.” Frankie left.
Harper went into the bathroom. Her eyes were red and puffy. A splash of water wasn’t going to help much. She did it anyway, doing her best to rise above what she was feeling. Wasn’t easy. But moping and being miserable wasn’t a long-term solution.
Getting a statement out was at least something.
She dried her face, applied a few dabs of concealer, brushed her teeth, put on a fresh T-shirt, then went out to face Lucas, praying he really could help.
He was in the kitchen with Frankie and Willa. Both of them were looking at him with stars in their eyes, although Frankie’s stars were mingled with hearts. He was a great-looking guy. She could see why they were crazy about him.
Archie and Scout were sniffing each other enthusiastically in the living room.
Lucas looked in her direction. “Nice to see you, Harper.”
“Thanks for coming over. I appreciate it. Frankie said you might be able to help me.”
He nodded. “I’ve reached out to a few influencers that I’m friends with, briefed them on what’s going on and they said they’d be happy to help, too.”
“Really? Meaning what?” She sat at the counter.
“Meaning they’ll help by sharing the statement you put out. Collectively, they have a reach of about twenty-five million followers.”
She blinked. “Twenty-fivemillion? And they’re willing to help me?”
He nodded. “It’s a great community. And they all know what it’s like to become the prey in this kind of hunt. Bullying is wrong, no matter what age it happens at. Now, what do you say we get writing?”
Harper sat up a little straighter as a light seemed to shine at the end of the tunnel. “I’d like that a lot.”
ChapterForty-Nine
Mitch finished his day with a grand total of thirty-seven hundred and twelve words. He’d had better days, but he’d had a lot worse, too. And most of those worse days had been in the last few years. Was he back in the writing groove? He wasn’t sure he was ready to go that far. But today certainly felt good.
He had Harper to thank. Funny that. The few good days he’d had recently could all be attributed to her in some way.
