by Jamie Magee
Right now, she didn’t know what to expect when she answered. If it was more of the same, making plans for the plays in the game of life she and Collin had no choice but to play in, or if it was bad news, news she didn’t want to hear alone.
“Hey,” she said in a weak voice.
“You all right?” Collin asked in a stunned tone.
Harley took a breath. “Mother called just before. I thought maybe something had happened.”
Collin was silent for a second; he had to stop himself from telling her not to worry about that because he knew one day that call would come. “She called me, looking for you.”
“Where does she think I am?”
Harley had answered every recent email her mother had sent, but there was no emotion or anything personal in them, just what size are you, what jewelry do you have, little nonsense things that made Harley feel like she was nothing more than an item on a menu that her mother was checking to make sure was represented correctly.
“I assume she thinks you are at your father’s house. I never told them any different about your detour, and I don’t think our fathers have either.”
“Our fathers…did your dad meet Quinn? Did you talk to my dad?” Most times, Harley had a pretty good gauge on what communication Collin had with either of their parents, but the closer this party came to be, the more of it there seemed to be - meaning this impending drama was building faster than Harley would ever want it to.
“He keeps cancelling on me, and when he reschedules Quinn is back in Boston.”
“Denial?”
“I don’t know.”
“He has to have a clue, though. You’ve had lunch with him every other week for the last two months.”
“Right, but that is all about business or school. He cuts me off every time I even try to bring you or Quinn up.”
That wasn’t really enough to raise a red flag. Conrad was a lot like Harley’s father, always knew what drama was going on in his family but rarely engaged, and when he did engage it, he had the last say in how any matter would be handled.
“What did my mother want?”
“She said that they were staying a few days past when they were to travel back and needs you to basically play her role, make sure the party was set to perfection. She said she was forwarding you the coordinator’s contact information and everything you needed to check for the party.”
“Does she not realize that is what coordinators are for?”
Collin laughed when he heard the snap in Harley’s tone. He’d heard it in the past, but only after Harley had been pushed way past any limit one could be asked to withstand.
“Right, but she needs you to breathe down their neck the way she always does.”
“No, she needs someone to blame if something goes wrong.”
“If we pull this deal off, how the flower arrangements are set will doubtfully be noticed.”
“And what is the plan with that? You’re engaged, Quinn has your grandmother’s ring, and our mothers have all but given you cue cards on how to propose to me. You’ve tried giving your dad a heads up ten times over, and he’s ignoring you.”
And Wyatt doesn’t know a damn thing about this, she thought to herself.
“I halfway think that is why my dad keeps pushing me back; it’s like he’s looking forward to the uproar. I’ve tried giving him a heads up, thought maybe he would want to make this a quieter affair, but it’s almost like he’s agreeing with me—the only way our mothers or the world is going to let us get out of this is by announcing it on this platform; that’s the only way we can control the drama.”
“By making drama? You’re not serious.”
“I am. Now the only time he can meet Quinn is the morning of the party for breakfast, maybe dinner the night before.”
“This is stupid.”
“No, it’s not. He and your dad are supposed to play golf the day before. I’m going to meet them on the course, talk to my dad, then yours. The next day, we will have breakfast, and then have a party.”
“And you’re going to leave it to your dad to tell your mother?”
“No, there is supposed to be an inner circle toasting. A select bottle of wine from your father’s collection is going to be shared, then a mingling deal before the big party, or as the other guests arrive. That is when I’m supposed to say whatever, when I’m going to tell them the growing apart story, how I fell for Quinn. Apologize to you and our family all at once.”
“Collin...”
“It’s going to be perfect. I swear to you. Your dad is going to know it’s coming; it’s not going to shock him. He can ensure whoever he doesn’t want to hear my speech is not in the room. It will just be our mothers caught off guard, which is what we want.”
“I just don’t care what they think anymore.”
“You care what your father thinks; I know you do.” He paused for a second. “I just sent the flights. I’m going to be in Wellington just before this, having dinner with Quinn’s parents. I’m going to fly to you so we can fly in together. Quinn is going on to Boston to pack her apartment.”
“I need to pack your apartment.”
“Oh yeah?” he said in his most carefree tone. She could see the smile on his face.
“I don’t really need any of that, but Quinn needs the space.”
“I have an awesome shipping company lined up that could take your things to Willowhaven…” he said.
“The only thing I would want up there would be my horses and a few things from the barn, the rest…I don’t know.”
“Look, I’m not Wyatt. I don’t know how he thinks, but I will tell you, until I get Quinn’s things and my things in one place, it will still feel too distant. Call me a selfish bastard, but I don’t want her to have a home away from me.”
“You’re more like Wyatt than you think. It’s different for me, though. This was always home; everything there was just a costume my mother put me in.”
“Then burn it. You’re in love with a fireman; I’m sure he can make sure it’s a controlled bonfire.”
Harley laughed, not only because he wanted her to, but also because she felt like it and could clearly imagine the bonfire of a lifetime occurring in her future.
“I can’t wait to meet him,” Collin said.
“You’re coming here?”
“Is that not allowed? I have a layover, might as well use it to come and get you, even see Danny Boy.”
“No, it’s fine. I just…Wyatt knows about this part we’ve played for years, but his family doesn’t, at least I didn’t tell them…I don’t know how his mother would take me bringing my fake boyfriend to her farm.”
“Well then, I guess you’ll have to call me your friend from New York. I’ll be there in ten minutes. I may not even see the woman; I can even stay in the car. I just want a glance of this paradise you’ve found.”
“K,” she breathed.
“I’ll see you in a few days, forward what your mom sends you. I’ll follow up with the coordinator before I leave for Wellington and when we fly in.”
The next few days as the clients packed to go to a horse show a few hours away, a show Harley was missing, a show that Wyatt was missing because he had shifts at the fire department, Harley sank a little further into herself. She wanted to get past that weekend as fast as she could, but she didn’t want it to come either.
She knew she had developed some kind of phobia about leaving this farm and tried to tell herself that, tried to tell herself that Camille’s random remarks, the way she would talk about the horses, their integrity, loyalty, anything like that, meant nothing. That she was not all but telling Harley that the road she was about to go down was the wrong one.
“You’re quiet,” she said to Wyatt as she started to pack her bag. Collin was going to be there first thing in the morning to meet her, to meet all of them, then fly home with her.
She thought Wyatt was avoiding her. They kept passing each other the last few days. He was helping pack
the trailers just the same as she was, getting all the students ready, but every time they had a chance to duck away, even steal a kiss, something seemed to stop them.
Even tonight, he brought her home after dinner, only to have to take things back to his mother. She’d heard him come in, but he hadn’t said a word as he leaned in the doorway to the room they shared.
“Just watching.”
“Why did your mom want your suits?” She thought that was what she heard Camille ask for.
“She didn’t say; might have wanted to see if one would work for Truman at this banquet coming up.”
“Are you going to be able to go to the one after this?” she asked.
“Are you?”
Harley looked back in question; he knew she had two students that were showing in that schooling show, that she was more nervous than they were about that. “Yeah…”
“I’ll be there, with a suit to take you to dinner,” he said with a shy smile.
“Riding pants or jeans will do,” she said with a glance over him. As much as she saw him, after all they had shared, she was sure she should not feel her heart kick up, or even her breath hitch, when his eyes would look a little deeper into hers, but it always did, in some way. The boy knew how to stir her deep in her soul with only a glance.
“And my mother would kill me if I showed up at the banquet attached to that show dressed that way,” he said with a wink.
“Isn’t there a bigger event attached to this one? The one you couldn’t get shifts covered for?”
“I could get them covered.”
Harley furrowed her brow.
Wyatt never answered the question on her face; it would give her doubt, or even let her see the dark side that he always kept from her. When it became clear that Harley was going home and he wasn’t invited, Memphis and Easton began to stay hip-to-hip with Wyatt. No doubt they thought that Wyatt would chase Harley, make some scene like he did before.
None of them knew about Harley’s fake relationship. No one asked about the rich boy Harley was with before she crashed back into Wyatt’s life. They assumed that he just stole Harley back, but they all hated her mother just the same, knew the woman had always had some kind of control over Harley, at least made Harley feel that some things were important that weren’t.
All he’d said when his friends or family mentioned this weekend was that Harley was going home for her father’s birthday party, which was the truth. Harley didn’t tell him until three days before that Collin was coming to his farm to pick her up.
She told him that in passing one night, like it was just a random update on her travel schedule. But he saw her tense, her skin flush, her preparing for a fight. He hated it when she felt like that, he hated knowing her mother had made her like that. All he said was, “Did your mother invite him?”
She nodded; her eyes even welled. She started to say something to him then, but he decided to mask it; he pulled her into his arms and devoured the sensation of her touch, which was fierce that night, demanding and claiming.
He was trusting Harley, trusting her to go home and tell her father they were together and come back to him. He even halfway convinced himself that if she left and came back, they would both be better for it, that this rigid fear of an end or separation they both had deep inside would vanish.
He assumed Harley wanted to tell her dad about them face to face. Without a doubt, Garrison Tatum was a man that expected you to look him in the eye when you revealed life-altering news to him - and without a doubt, Harley being with Wyatt was life-altering.
Right now, Harley wasn’t even sure if she wanted to finish her degree, but she’d already gone to the campus, just under an hour from Willowhaven, with Ava to review courses that would get her to that point. Harley was deciding to move permanently away from her father, states away. In the past, she’d been away from him months at a time, but apparently even when she lived with Collin, she was always at his home on a steady basis.
They hadn’t talked about it, but Wyatt had already moved sections of time around at both the fire department and the farm to get her home at least once a month to see her dad for a weekend. He planned to travel with her then, assumed after she told her dad about them that that would be the respectable thing to do.
More than anything, what was burning him about this trip was how nervous she was, how jittery she had been. No one should ever fear their family that much in his mind. He wanted to protect her, stand at her side, but clearly she wanted to face this alone.
He was going to meet Collin, kiss his woman goodbye in front of God and everyone, and then figure out how to stay busy as hell until she came back. He’d stalled a few chores around the barn to fill up that first day. The days after, he would be with his boys at the fire hall; they’d keep his mind off it. Even with his mental pep talks, his well-laid plans, he was still on edge and having a hard time hiding that from Harley.
Wyatt walked over to Harley and pulled her to him; he was going to love her so intensely, with so much passion, that it would make it impossible to forget him while she was gone. He needed her to love him the same, give him enough to bridge that gap - and he did. They did. No sleep came the night before Harley left, at least not for more than a few lingering minutes.
She had to rush to finish packing. Wyatt only half-heartedly helped her do so, all the while trying to ask her if she would always have two lives, two worlds so far apart. He knew it would lead to a fight, though, and he didn’t want to fight, not even one of the silent fights they had as kids.
When they drove up the main barn that morning, there was a Lincoln Town Car out front. Wyatt stepped out of his truck, grabbed Harley’s bag, and handed it to the driver.
Collin walked out of the barn a moment later, wearing one of his characteristic power suits. “Wyatt, Collin. Good to meet you,” Collin said with his effortless smile and tone.
Wyatt took his hand, looked over him like he was from a foreign land, then raised his chin a bit, offered a wry smile. “How did you make it out of that barn without any dirt on you?”
“Carefully. I just wanted to get a glimpse of Danny Boy.”
“A glimpse?” Wyatt said. “He’s so eager to get out of that stall, he nearly charges whoever comes near him - especially in the A.M. when his breakfast is served.”
“Not for me, stayed in the back of his stall. Must think I want to take him somewhere.” Collin said with a smirk, that was just his personality, pointing out obvious dispositions.
Danny Boy had never been a huge fan of anyone beyond Harley as long as Collin had known him, but he’d tolerated Collin, at least let him pet him. Just before, Danny Boy had pinned his ears back, kicked the panels in his stall, huffed a breath out and all but grunted as he stared down Collin. All Collin did was smile and say, ‘your home boy, take care of our girl.’ Danny boy unpinned his ears and bothered to turn his neck to face Collin but that was as far as he went. Which amused Collin, more than he could say.
Wyatt’s smile left that instant. He glanced to the barn entrance, seeing his mother and father lingering near there, acting as if they were doing anything but watching this man in a suit.
“I told him I liked his home, that was about it,” Collin said with a laugh. He reached to hug Harley, but kept it brief. “God, you look good.”
Collin’s phone in his breast pocket started to ring. “Quinn,” he said as he looked at it. “I’ll let you say goodbye so we can get on with this fake breakup and live happily every after. Good to meet you, Wyatt,” Collin said as he reached to shake Wyatt’s hand once more before answering his phone and climbing in the car behind the driver.
“What did he mean by that? They still think you’re with him?” Wyatt asked with a hard gaze down at Harley.
She looked up from the bag she was double-checking to make sure it had all of her IDs and money inside. Even though they never spoke about this deal with Collin, she assumed he knew what was going on, how intertwined and complicated this social sce
ne they were in was. Granted, he didn’t know that Collin was supposed to propose at this deal, but she thought for sure he knew they were announcing that they were separated. That was lie she had told herself at least. She knew he didn’t, and right now she felt like she was going to vomit.
Her skin blushed, her heart thundered in her chest.
“We’re going to break up at this party.”
Wyatt was seeing red. His body was ridged. He felt like a fool. Like he had been played. Like some toy Harley had just put down. She wasn’t going home to tell her father face to face about them, she was going home to end this mascaraed, or so she said. He didn’t know what to believe at that moment. Rational thought was hopeless.
“You’re flying to your father’s birthday party, with Collin, to break up with Collin in front of him?” He stated coldly.
He got that she and Collin had led family and friends to believe they were a couple, had almost convinced himself that the act had kept Harley safe, but he thought it was over. He thought surely her father had figured out he and Harley were a couple; now nothing was adding up, except for the fact that he knew why he was not invited now.
She wasn’t going home to tell her father she was with him. No, she was going home to end her little deal with Mr. Suit in the Lincoln Town Car—and what did that make Wyatt? Some rebound? Some boy that she hooked up with on the side? He seriously doubted she thought of him or them that way, but the fact that she was going to lead people that didn’t even matter to believe that infuriated him.
“We’re not staging a fight in front of him or anything.”
“Exactly what are you doing?” he said as he stepped forward and glared down.
“We’re going to tell them that we had been growing apart spending time away from each other, and in that time apart he fell for Quinn, that he’s going to marry her.” She almost said ‘instead’ at the tail end of that sentence but thought better of it at the last second.
“And this world of yours will think that’s just normal? To be with someone for years, then take a break and say, ‘Never mind, I’m marrying her’?”
