Page 52 of Freefall

15

HARPER

My phone chimes as I close the door to Emerald City, as Daisy recently named my brother’s Jeep. She decided we had been driving it for far too long without giving it a name. I fish my phone out of my purse and am surprised to see Emory’s name on the screen.

Emory

Hey! Sorry about the other day. I would really like to meet you. Any chance you’re available Saturday night for a girls night?

My initial thought is to politely decline. The last thing I need right now is anything else tying me to Nate. It’s only been a few days since our outing at the park, but I’m still reeling from the whiplash. One moment, he’s giving Daisy a blank book for her stories, teaching her how to do a cartwheel, buying us ice cream, and then the next, he’s telling me our kitchen tryst was a mistake. He’s right, of course. If I’m being honest with myself, letting my estranged ex-slash-baby-daddy finger me to orgasm against a wall was most certainly an epic mistake. So why did it feel right in the moment?

It doesn’t matter. The bottom line is that Daisy brought out a sweetness in Nate that I’ve only seen a handful of times. He was amazing with her—better than I could have hoped for. I can’t fault him for wanting to be in her life, but it doesn’t mean I have to let him into mine.

I look down at the text again. It would be nice to finally meet Emory in person, and it’s not her fault that Nate is her brother. Also, it’s been ages since I’ve had an adult night out. Without waiting to talk myself out of it, I type a text.

Actually, that sounds great.

We discuss the details, and then I tell her I’ll be there as long as my mom can babysit.

Throwing my phone back into my purse, I make my way through the parking lot to the entrance of Emberfield Elementary. Back-to-school night is one of my favorite school events. I love seeing what Daisy’s working on and what her desk looks like. I could have kicked myself the other day when I let it slip to Nate, but he didn’t say anything, and I'm grateful.

I walk into the red-brick building and hold the door open for the person behind me. “Long time, no see,” a deep voice drawls.

I turn around to see TJ, sans his usual backward baseball cap, his wavy blonde hair styled for once. He’s wearing a fitted hunter-green henley and light-brown khakis that match his eyes.

“You clean up pretty nice,” I tease. “I almost didn’t recognize you without the frat boy hat.”

“You’re not so bad yourself. Almost didn’t recognize you without the overalls and Chucks.”

“Ha-ha,” I quip.

Lightly bumping his hip with mine, he says, “Want to meet up during lunch? I’ll even buy you a cookie.”

“I thought the cookies were free.”

TJ gave me the lowdown on back-to-school night a few weeks ago. It’s set up to show us a typical day for the students, so we start with a presentation from their main teachers, go to the cafeteria for ‘lunch,’ which apparently consists of refreshments baked by the PTA, then hit up all the specialists.

“You’re always one step ahead of me, Harp,” he says with a wink, then adds, “I’ll see you in the cafeteria.”

I give him a little wave and head down the hall to Daisy’s classroom. I’ve only been inside once, during the meet-the-teacher day before school started.

Pulling out my phone again, I flip the ringer to silent, but when I glance back up, I freeze. There he is. Right outside the classroom—tall and imposing in gray slacks and a white button-up. No tie. Midnight hair perfectly styled, not a strand out of place. Jaw set tight. He’s impossible to miss, and yet somehow he still catches me off guard.

Drawing in a slow breath, I steel myself. “What the hell are you doing here?”

He closes the distance with a single step. “If you have to ask that, then you haven’t been paying attention.”

I rear back. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that I’m all in, Harper. As much as you tried to keep this from me…” He swallows. “Keep her…”

I wince.

Keep her from me.

But he spares me from having to hear the rest of the words spoken out loud.

“I want to be in her life,” he says.