Page 109 of Freefall

I think for a second before my fingers find a familiar chord progression. Recognition instantly flashes across her face.

“Tom Petty,” she whispers. “You remembered.”

“Of course I did.” How could I forget the song that was playing in my car the day we met? The day everything changed. She starts singing as I continue to strum the notes. She’s hopelessly off-key and completely unapologetic about it. By the time we get to the chorus, we’re both laughing. When the final note fades, neither of us says anything.

I didn’t realize it then, but now it all makes sense. Life has a way of setting things in motion long before you understand where it’s leading you.

At the time, she was just a girl getting into my car. A stranger I couldn’t stop looking at. I didn’t know that, somewhere between her quiet confidence, her smart mouth, and the way she made me feel more comfortable in my own skin than anyone else ever had, I was already falling in love with her.

The moment she climbed into my car, my fate was sealed. The ground beneath my feet had disappeared, and by the time I realized what was happening, there was no going back.

I was already tearing through the sky in a free fall.

27

HARPER

River insists on coming inside to say goodbye when Nate drops my car off the next morning. Technically, River drove it, and Nate followed behind him in his Range Rover.

“Gotta admit I wasn’t expecting a Wrangler,” he says from where Daisy is knotting thread around his fingers. “That’s badass.”

My daughter’s eyebrows shoot up. “I mean badbutt,” he corrects himself. Daisy is showing him how to finger knit, a new hobby she picked up at her sleepover with my parents last night. My mother supplied her with several skeins of brightly colored yarn, and when River introduced himself, she immediately sat him down to show him how to do it.

I thought it might be weird seeing him again after what happened last night, but River has been cool about the whole thing. He’s acting like we all just had dinner and then he went for a swim.

Nate, on the other hand, is looking at his cousin like strangulation would be too quick a death. He might be even more jealous of River spending time with Daisy than when he was flirting with me.

“Okay,” he finally says, tugging on River’s shirt to get him to stand. “River has to get back to Maine now.”

“Aww,” Daisy protests. “But we were just getting to the part where I show him the loops.”

“No worries, kid. I’ll be back soon, and then you can show me all the super cool designs you’ve made. Deal?”

Daisy grins so wide that it almost reaches her ears. “Deal.”

I’m not sure if Nate explicitly told River that Daisy is his daughter, but while River may be a lot of things, he’s not an idiot. I’m sure he put the pieces together.

Nate pushes him toward the door, and I follow the two of them. “I’m going to bring him back, and then I want to take you and Daisy somewhere.”

“Oh?”

Nate flashes a rare smile. “It’s nothing too exciting. Just someone I want you to meet.”

I nod easily. “Sounds good.”

Nate looks over to where Daisy is occupied with her yarn and presses a kiss to my forehead. It’s not exactly the kind of kiss I want from him, but it will do for now.

He walks over to his car, but River lags behind. “I left my number next to the pink yarn,” he says. “Call me if he gives you any trouble.”

I smile, and he turns to leave, but I grab his arm. “Thank you for not making it awkward.”

“Not making what awkward?” He throws me a smile that I’m sure has melted panties sturdier than mine.

I slap his shoulder lightly. “You’re gonna make some girl really happy one day, River Caldwell.”

“I don’t know.” His voice is lower than usual, and for the first time since I met the guy, the playful glimmer is gone from his eyes. “I think that ship has sailed.”

“Yeah,” I say as I look over in the direction of Nate’s SUV. “That’s what I thought too.”