“It’s not scary, sorry, just, uh, buckle up.”
I tell her everything that’s happened since I sent her a text that saidI think someone might be making an offer to save the town.Basically the show down at the council meeting, St. Patrick’s day, The Maple Tap, the Mud Bog, the Easter market, the secret karaoke and the amped up trivia night…and Stuart and Dad and my neighbor and the car and now the fence and finally…
“Shut the front door!”
“I know,” I say.
“Shut the front doorin my faceright now, Harper Louise! First, you are in suchsuchdeep shit that you didn’t tell me how bad things are. You still have Stuart? Seriously? And Dad’s cutting himself open in the middle of the night? And I want to circleback to the ice penis and, seriously, later I am going to be sosomad at you, but look at that man’s bicep, Harper!”
“I’m looking,” I say, nodding along with everything she’s saying.
“He bought you a new fence?”
“I mean, he has money,” I hitch a shoulder, “That’s nothing to him.”
“A selfie with your dog is not nothing,” she says.
I nod, “I agree with you there. Even if he’s not quite my dog.”
“I’m still mad at you about the dog! And Dad, is he okay?”
“Same as before, good days and bad days, up and down on a downward trend overalls.”
“Overall. Okay. Before we get into that, what do you think of him?”
“Dad?”
“No, not dad, the hot billionaire who wants in your pants!”
I wince, “He…he doesn’t want that. But he’s…I thought he was a bully. He still kind of is, and you know the policy on bullies.”
“He’skind ofa bully?”
“He’s blunt,” I say. She raises her eyebrows, using my signature move on me, “Too blunt. Direct and abrasive. Like a grumpy bull in a porcelain shop.” I catch myself, “China! China shop.”
“But do youlikehim?”
“No,” I say. She waits again. “I don’t think so. Not enough to…I mean you know. I’m not up for all of it.”
“What if ‘all of it’ is just dating? Just having a little fun?”
“It’s never just a little fun, someone catches feelings, usually me, and then someone leaves, usuallynotme,” I say. I know the last part will probably make her feel bad but it’s the truth. She is a someone who left, too.
She raises her hands in my screen, “Okay, I trust your judgment. I pushed you to try a real relationship with Lewis and look how that turned out.”
“Yeah,” I say.
“No, I mean look at that dog trapped in that bicep! I can’t look away!”
We both laugh. We talk honestly about Dad, even though it’s hard. We talk about the shop and the possibility that it will be gone in just a few months. No more dream store for dad, no more baking for me. Also hard. Eventually I decide to steer the conversation to an easy topic, Lily’s job, which she loves.
“Eh, it’s busy. So, what are you going to do about him?” I pause, studying her. She’s never reacted that way about work, ever. “What will you do about Aiden?”
“Continue to avoid him as best as I can before he leaves,” I say, propping her up on my bathroom counter so I can start my nighttime routine.
She asks, “That’s really what you want?”
“Yes, I’m just…I don’t want to deal with…everything.”
