He kissed her. “This is the only place I want to be, Becca. I hope you know that.”
She nodded and leaned against him for a second, then sighed. “If this is what it feels like to be a grown-up, then it totally sucks.”
He chuckled. “You’re going to have to get used to it, kid. You can’t stop the process now.”
She got into her car and waved, but all she could think about was how Lucas always called her “kid,” and how much she was going to miss him. Unlike her dad, he’d totally been there, right until he’d turned into a lying weasel dog and hurt her mom.
* * *
“We have to talk,” Dean said as he took his seat in the desk that faced hers.
Harper didn’t think she had one hit left in her. Lucas’s betrayal had about taken her to the edge and Becca’s accident had pushed her over. Honestly all that was keeping her from plunging into the abyss was her grip on some spiny plant. The second she let go, she would fall and never be seen again.
“All right,” she said, hoping she sounded more confident and upbeat than she felt.
She told herself it would be fine. Becca wasn’t hurt, Jazz was healing and she was getting over Lucas. Okay, that last one was a lie, but as she was only talking to herself, who was going to call her out on it?
“I’ve been making some calls,” he told her, opening a folder. “There are at least a dozen real estate agents who have expressed interest in our services. I think we should hire someone to primarily work on doing that with both of us being backup.”
“Hire someone? That’s a big step.”
“It is. Now brace yourself, because I have something shocking to say.”
“I’m braced,” she lied, mentally seeing her grip on the spiny plant slip a couple of inches.
“I think we should expand. We already have more work than we can manage and we’re growing every week. Let’s go for it. I’d like to buy in as a partner. And I do mean buy in. With cash. We can rent a real office, hire a few more people, form a limited partnership and take the world by storm. What do you think?”
Her head started to spin. “Can we do that?”
“We can if we want to. I’ve done some research and a preliminary valuation on the business. You’ve worked hard, Harper, and your company has a lot of value. Plus, there’s that old building by Olives martini bar. I talked to the owner and he’s going to sell in maybe three years. Which is perfect for us. It’s cheap rent for now, because nobody wants that short a lease. Yes, we’ll have to move later, but later we’ll have more clients and more money, so we can afford something nice. Or we can buy the building ourselves. The partnership is easy and Lance knows a really good accountant. What do you think?”
Move Harper Helps to a real office building? Hire more people? Take Dean on as a partner?
“I’m stunned. Intrigued, but kind of in shock.”
“Intrigued is good, because there’s more.” His gaze intensified. “You’re working too hard. You pretty much deal with the business 24-7. You need a break and you need separation. Moving the business out of your house would help with that. If we do this, I’d want us to both agree how much we’re going to work from home. I’m hoping it’s only in a crisis because we both need to spend time with our families. I waited too long to find Lance and have kids to screw that up now and I know you want to be with Becca before she heads off to college.”
The tears weren’t as prevalent as they had been, but they were darned closed to the surface. Harper felt her eyes burn. He was right about all of it. She’d taken on too much and paid the price for it with her daughter. Dean’s plan solved both problems.
“If I say I love you, will you take it in the spirit I mean it?” she asked.
Dean smiled. “I will. We’re great together. We can do this. Expand the business, run an empire and still have time for what matters. We have synergy. Let’s take advantage of that.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. Her gaze fell on Jazz sleeping in her bed. “On the condition the office is dog friendly.”
Dean laughed. “I agree. Jazz is family, too. We can’t just leave her alone by herself.” His expression turned anxious. “So do you want to think about it?”
“No,” she told him with a laugh. “You’re right. This is what we should be doing. Let’s go for it.”
Dean grinned. “Yay! But I have to say, we need to have one firm rule.” He drew his eyebrows together and shook his finger at her. “No more sleeping with clients!”
Harper’s mouth dropped open, then she started to laugh. “I promise.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
BECCA LAY STRETCHED out on the floor next to Jazz. Ashton was on the sofa nearby.
“I took her back for her recheck and she’s fine,” she said, petting her dog. “We went over the X-rays again and it was so cool to see them.” She bit her lower lip, and then blurted, “I’ve been thinking about college and what I want to study. I’m thinking I want to either go to veterinary school or be a radiologist. I know, I know, it’s a lot of work and I’d have to stay in school for like the rest of my life, but when I was calm and we were talking about the X-rays, it was so interesting.”
She sat up and faced him. “I already made an appointment with my counselor. She’s there for another week before she goes on summer break and she’s fitting me in. It means I’d have to change my classes next semester and take another science class and I’d have to take calculus, which I wanted to put off, but it’s worth it.” She stopped before asking, “What do you think?”
“Hmm. I don’t know. My girlfriend’s brain.” He closed his eyes as if he were thinking, then looked at her. “I like it.”
She laughed and moved toward him. He leaned close and kissed her.
“You know,” he said, “there are a lot of great schools near MIT. You could apply to a couple of them.”
“I could. I might.”
“Good.”
He kissed her again, lingering this time. Her phone chirped and she glanced at the keyboard, then pushed it away.
“Lucas?”
“Whatever. He wants to take Thor for a walk and invited me along.”
“How often is he getting in touch with you?”
“Every day.” She rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t mean anything. He’s...”
“What? He’s faking wanting to spend time with you?”
“No, it’s just... He hurt my mom.”
“He did and he’s a dick for doing that, but what about you, Becca? I thought you guys were tight.”
“We were, but I can’t be friends with him now.”
“Is that what your mom said?”
“No. I didn’t ask her.” She hadn’t wanted to mention Lucas at all. Her mom was finally doing okay with the business expansion. She and Dean were packing boxes and had hired a full-time person. Things were good. Why bring up something from the past?
“Having someone care about you is a good thing,” Ashton told her. “You might want to think about that before you throw it away.”
“You think I should talk to him.”
“I think you should give him a chance. Yes, he hurt your mom, but he didn’t hurt you. He cares about you. I’m going to be gone at the end of summer. I’d feel better if I knew Lucas had your back.”
“You are so annoying.”
“Maybe, but I’m not wrong.”
She groaned, then reached for her phone. “Fine. I’ll talk to my mom and if she says it’s okay, I’ll go walk my dog with him, but I won’t like it.”
* * *
Harper taped the box shut and moved it to the growing stack. She and Dean were moving into their new office in less than two weeks. Starting a limited partnership took a lot of time and paperwork, but she knew in her gut, she was doing the right thing.
She couldn’t believe that by expanding the bu
siness, she was actually going to have more time for herself and her daughter, but that was how things were shaping up. She and Dean had drawn up an agreement, spelling out responsibilities for each of them, along with the hours they intended to work. Harper had promised him and herself she would stop working on Sundays and only bring home projects for Saturday morning. The evenings were to be spent on things other than calligraphy and making gift bags.
She was in a good place, at least for that part of her life. Yes, she still missed Lucas—far more than she’d thought she would. The damned man had stolen into her heart and no matter what, she couldn’t seem to dislodge him. But she was moving forward and telling herself everything was going to be fine.
“Mom, can I talk to you for a second?”
She looked up as Becca walked into the office. “Sure, honey, but I thought Ashton was here.”
“He went home. We’re getting together later.” Becca shifted her weight from foot to foot. “I didn’t tell you everything about the accident.”
Harper froze. “What didn’t you tell me?”
“That when I called the Mischief Bay police they got in touch with Lucas and he came to check on me.”
The response was both better and worse than she’d imagined. “Okay,” she said slowly. “And?”
“He wants to be friends with me. He says he cares about me and whatever happened between the two of you isn’t about him and me. Ashton says Lucas has always been there for me and I shouldn’t throw that away, but he hurt you, so I’m not talking to him, only he won’t go away and I don’t know what to do.”
Harper collapsed into her chair. Becca looked worried and hopeful and the most heart-wrenching combination of adult and child.
She knew what she wanted to say. She wanted to tell her daughter that under no circumstances was she to see, text or speak to Lucas. That he was the devil and with luck the next time he got shot, he would die. Only... Only...
Lucas had been a far better father than Terence had bothered to be, especially since the divorce. He’d taken care of Becca, taught her to drive, insisted she understand her car and demanded good grades for the privilege of her license. He’d been consistent, fair and unfailingly patient. All Harper’s complaints about him were personal.
“Ashton is right,” she said slowly. “Whatever is going on between Lucas and me has nothing to do with you. Go talk to him. Listen to what he says. If you don’t like it, then walk away.”
“You sure?”
Two words that told her what Becca really wanted, or maybe she’d always known. With Terence gone, Becca had a dad-sized hole in her life and she’d found someone to fill it.
“I’m sure.” Harper smiled. “I promise.”
“Thanks, Mom. I’m going to text him back right now.”
Her daughter danced out of the room. Harper returned her attention to her packing, then glanced up at the ceiling. “If you’re listening, God, I deserve a whole lot of credit for that one. Let’s all try to remember you owe me the next time some guy asks me out.”
* * *
Becca drove to the park. Jazz whined from the back seat, but Becca was firm.
“No. You’re going to ride back there. It’s safer. Do you know how lucky we are that the air bag didn’t go off? Not that it would have from a rear-end collision, but still. It could have, and then you would have been hurt. This is better.”
Jazz yipped.
“Don’t you take that tone with me, young lady,” Becca said with a laugh.
She pulled in the parking lot of the dog park and opened the door for Jazz. Her dog jumped down, sniffed, then began to whine. Becca figured her excitement was a lot more about Thor than Lucas, but knew that both were nearby. She turned and saw them approaching.
He was there, just like he said he would be. Just like he’d always been. She dropped the leash and ran toward him. He caught her and hugged her so hard, she couldn’t breathe, but that was okay.
After a couple of seconds, she looked up at him. “I’m still mad about my mom.”
“I know.”
“You were a dick. You still are.”
“I know.”
“I talked to her. Do you know how great she is? She said it was okay for me to hang out with you. That’s how much of a mom she is.”
He nodded without speaking.
“But you’ve been good to me, and there for me, so I’m here. I guess people are complicated.”
“I’ve never had kids,” he said, his voice gruff. “I thought I would for a while, but then I realized it wasn’t going to happen. I kind of wish things had been different, but they are what they are.” He cleared his throat. “What I’m trying to say is that I think of you as the daughter I never had. I love you, Becca. No matter what, I’ll be here for you. You can always call me, day or night. Whatever it is, I’ll be there. I’ll keep showing up. I give you my word.”
She knew what his word was worth, at least when it came to her. He wouldn’t be like her dad. He wouldn’t forget her or get too busy or even drop her when he broke up with her mom. She trusted him.
“Thank you,” she murmured, not ready to say the L word, but kind of feeling it on the inside. She turned and called for Jazz, who immediately walked to her side. Thor returned to Lucas and the four of them strolled along the boardwalk.
“I got an A in European History. My teacher was really impressed with my report.”
“See what happens when you do the work?”
She sighed. “Can you just say congratulations? Does every second have to be a life lesson?”
“Pretty much.”
“Fine. Yes, if I’d done the work, I wouldn’t have had to do the report. But I really enjoyed it and I learned a lot. War is awful. We shouldn’t do that anymore.”
“You’re right. We shouldn’t. Anything else?”
“I’m not sure how I’m supposed to know when it’s okay to have sex with Ashton.”
Lucas swore under his breath. “We are not having that conversation.”
“I have to talk to someone and we both know my mom would totally freak out. Although I guess I should talk to her. I should probably be on birth control. I mean I agree with Ashton that we should wait, but he’s pretty hot and what if I can’t control myself much longer?”
Lucas swore again. “You’re killing me, kid.”
“Good. That was my plan.”
* * *
People complained about being in a routine, but Stacey found comfort and happiness in the sameness of her days. When she got home from work, she spent a half hour with JW while Kit finished making dinner. If Ashton was home, he cleared the table and cleaned up the kitchen. When JW went down for her evening nap, Stacey and Kit hung out or watched TV or worked on a jigsaw puzzle. Stacey handled the eight o’clock feeding and the one at midnight, Kit took care of the rest.
She was happy—a state she’d experienced since meeting Kit but not one she’d expected after they had a baby. She’d been so afraid of what would happen, of being replaced, of not being enough. Although no one would accuse her of being the greatest mother on the planet, she could manage a few basic things. Feeding, changing diapers. Perhaps as JW grew, Stacey would feel inadequate in other areas of her mothering, but for now, she was doing okay.
She had so much—her job, her family, her husband, Ashton and JW—and so much of that was because of Kit. Yes, she would still have her great career without him, but if she was by herself, it would consume her and that wasn’t healthy. Without him, her mother would have made her even more unsure and she wouldn’t have met Ashton or had JW. Kit was, as always, the best part of her.
As he studied their half-finished thousand-piece puzzle, she felt her love for him grow inside of her until it was all she was. Just love for her husband. JW lay in her chair on the table, staring at the mobile turning above her head. This moment w
as so perfect, she wanted to thank him and show him how much he meant to her. Only he would say that having her and their baby was enough. He would say he already had everything he wanted in the world. That he was perfectly happy and leaving her with no way to express her feelings of—
“I need to check to see if Max emailed me,” she lied, coming to her feet. “Can you watch JW for a second?”
“Sure.” Kit smiled. “Tell Max hi from me.”
“I will.”
Stacey hurried to her desk and opened her iPad. She typed in her search question, then sent the list and the paperwork required to their shared printer. Papers in hand, she returned to the dining room.
Kit was still studying the puzzle. With his right hand, he picked up a small piece and set it in place. With his left hand, he rocked JW. His hair was too long, his T-shirt rumpled. He was kind and sexy and fun and the best man she had ever known.
“Kit?”
He looked at her. “What’s up?”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too. Very much.”
She sat next to him and set the papers on the table. “We decided it would be best to give JW your last name. Hyphenating it was going to be too much of a burden for her.”
“Did you change your mind? Stacey, I don’t care if you want to hyphenate her name. Whatever makes you happy.”
“I don’t want to do that. I want to hyphenate mine, at least at work because I’ve been in the field for so long. But in the rest of my life, I want to just be your wife. I’d like to take your name.”
“Are you sure? You don’t have to do this for me.”
“I want to. I want everyone to know I’m your wife.”
He smiled and kissed her. “I think of myself as your husband, but whatever makes you happy.”
“You do. Always.”
* * *
Harper had just loaded another box in her car when she heard a familiar sound. Her stomach clenched and the urge to bolt was incredibly powerful. Still, she stood her ground as Lucas pulled up in front of her house.
The top was down on his convertible and once again he had a passenger, only this time, instead of some twenty-year-old woman/girl, a tall, black-and-tan Doberman rode proudly in the passenger seat.
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