“But nothing. You should talk to him. Feel him out. Maybe even just tell him the truth. Wouldn’t that be better?”
Harper looked at her sister. “I’m not so sure about that. What if I’m not the answer to any of those questions? If I’m living next door to him and he rejects me, what do I do then? How do I keep working for him? Would he even want me to?”
Frankie inhaled, then exhaled before answering. “That’s the tricky part. What if…what if I talked to him for you? I don’t mean I tell him how you’re feeling. But maybe just feel him out about where he’s at with all of that? Kind of take his temperature on the whole relationship situation. I might even get the chance tonight at dinner.”
“I don’t know about that.” Harper shook her head. “I’d love to know. But I’m also kind of afraid.”
“Afraid of what?” Willa asked as she joined them on the deck, coffee in hand.
“Nothing you need to know about,” Frankie said. “Sister stuff. How’d you sleep?”
Willa gave her mother a skeptical look. “Sister stuff? That’s what you’re going with?”
“Yes,” Frankie said. “We’ll tell you if it turns into anything.”
Willa sat. “Is it about Buck?”
“Yes,” Harper said just as Frankie said, “No.”
Willa made a noise with her tongue. “Fine. Don’t tell me. What are we doing today?”
This time the sisters got it right. “Working,” they both said.
Harper smiled. “I hope to do some of that working by the pool. After all, if I’m going to be living here, I might as well get my new routine going.”
Willa gasped. “You mean it? You’re going to move here?”
Harper nodded. “I mean it.” There was still so much uncertainty about Mitch, but they were adults. What was the worst that could happen?
Well, she might be out of a job, for one. Would Mitch really fire her over something like that? No, probably not.
But would she be able to keep working for him with unrequited feelings?
No. Probably not.
Chapter Forty-One
Frankie couldn’t work outside. It was too bright, even in the shade, to do the kind of fine, detailed work her illustrations required. Not only that, she needed fewer distractions. Not more. Sitting in view of the pool? Big distraction. She set up in the office again and got down to business.
After dealing with a few more emails, she switched to her tablet and stylus for drawing.
She had four of the eight required illustrations done for the book, so she was halfway there. One of those eight would become the cover, which would mean a few more tweaks, but she wasn’t responsible for the typography. They had someone in-house for that. Fine by her.
She could have charged more if they’d let her do the title and author name. But this was better. This way was quicker.
It made her think about the future, though. Maybe she should mock up a few book and album covers or even a poster to show what she could do with typography. Wasn’t a bad idea. The more things she had in her portfolio, the better.
Of course, there were the mugs and T-shirts that she’d designed in her shop. Maybe she should put those designs in herportfolio, too. She sighed. There was so much to think about. So much to do.
She jotted a note to herself about that before putting on headphones and going back to work.
The headphones were something new she was trying. She’d found them in the desk drawer. They were the high-end, noise-cancelling, Bluetooth variety, which she knew because she’d looked them up on Amazon.
They synced easily with her laptop. She played her favorite working tunes, which wasn’t music so much as soft tones that helped her focus.
Before long, she was in the zone and had finished the first of the last four illustrations needed. She went straight into the next one. She really wanted to take a break. Actually, what she wanted was to be down at that pool, enjoying the beautiful day with Willa and Harper.
But if she was going to do this as a business, as her sole business, she needed real discipline. So as much as she’d rather be by the pool with her family, this work needed to get done.
