Pretend You're Mine: A Small Town Love Story

by Score, Lucy

  Gloria’s voice sounded softly from the dining room. “Aldo must have called her,” Sophie whispered.

  Harper nodded. “It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if Aldo stopped by. Sophie, will you let the dogs in the back and lock the door? I’ll get the front door. Hannah, can you check the windows on the first floor. I’m sure it’s just a precaution. But I think we should be prepared just in case.”

  She picked up her phone and dialed Mrs. Agosta just in case the kids were out late catching lightning bugs and made her promise to keep everyone inside and lock up tight.

  “It’s probably nothing. We’re just taking precautions,” she told her

  It was probably nothing, Harper told herself when she hung up. They were probably just overreacting. The odds were that Glenn had just gotten good and drunk and was passed out somewhere far away from here.

  Her fingers shook as she twisted the deadbolt on the front door. Lola trotted down the hallway towards her, a rumbly growl in her throat. “It’s okay, sweetie,” Harper bent down to pat Lola’s silver body. “We’re safe.”

  The dark outside the windows made her nervous so she reached over to flick on the porch lights.

  And there he was.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Glenn Diller peered at her through the cut glass of the side light window. The night shadows made his face look even more sinister. Harper’s heart jumped into her throat.

  Before she could shout a warning to her friends, he hefted the fern in the terra cotta pot and heaved it through the dining room window.

  “Everybody out! Go to Mrs. Agosta’s.” Harper screamed, as his thick leg swung over the sill. Glass crunched under his boots.

  Lola growled low at her side, her fur bristling into a mohawk down her back.

  “Well, look who’s home.” His eyes were unusually bright.

  Harper backed up a step and prayed that the girls made it out through the backyard.

  “Gloria’s gone. She’s safe and calling the cops right now.”

  “I’m not here for her.” He reached behind him and pulled out a hunting knife. The light from the kitchen glinted off of the four-inch blade. Glenn took another step toward her, and Lola’s growl became a snarl.

  “Aren’t you gonna run?” He licked his lips, and Harper’s stomach churned.

  “If I run, my dog is going to rip your face off, and I really like this rug.”

  As if in slow motion, Harper watched Glenn lunge forward. He grabbed her arm in his meaty fist as Lola coiled and sprang, closing her jaws around the forearm of his knife wielding hand.

  He shrieked and the knife clattered to the floor. Glenn flung Lola off of him into the wall. She landed with a sick thud and a yelp. Harper screamed and launched herself at him. Her fingernails raked his face.

  He grabbed for her again, catching her by the ponytail and they crashed to the floor. Harper scrambled forward on her hands and knees reaching for the knife, but he caught her by the ankle and yanked her back. His body ranged over hers, crushing her to the floor, and she saw his hand close around the handle of the knife.

  She heard more screams and barely recognized that they were coming from her own throat. She wasn’t scared. She was enraged.

  Harper threw an elbow over her shoulder that connected with his face, but he didn’t drop the knife.

  Suddenly it seemed like every light in the house came on and Sophie and Hannah barreled in from the hallway. Sophie was wielding a baseball bat. Harper couldn’t see where the first blow landed, but the satisfying crunch told her it was somewhere crucial.

  Glenn howled like a feral animal and brought the knife to Harper’s face. She froze. The tip of the blade trailed down her cheek. It scratched a shallow path in her jaw before coming to rest against the delicate skin of her throat.

  She felt her blood pumping through her system. Saw Lola try to right herself. Heard Glenn’s snarl in her ear. Felt the blade prick her skin. This couldn’t be how it ended.

  Then bare feet were sailing over the hardwood past her and there was a clanging crunch. Glenn’s weight went limp on top of her.

  Everyone was screaming at once.

  “Get him off me!” Harper groaned. “He’s crushing me.”

  Lola crawled over to Harper and licked her nose. “My sweet girl,” Harper whispered. Lola’s rear end wiggled.

  Gloria and Hannah shoved Glenn’s dead weight off of her and Harper could breathe again. She rolled over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling as Lola nuzzled her ear.

  “Tape him up!” Sophie ordered. Hannah straddled Glenn and wrapped camo duct tape around his wrists.

  “Get it up higher into his arm hair,” Gloria suggested, her breath coming in short gasps.

  Harper rolled to face her. Gloria was leaning against the staircase in her plaid pajama shorts clutching Luke’s cast iron skillet.

  The first giggle slipped out and there was no stopping it.

  It was contagious. Her friends slid to the floor in a loose pile, shaking with laughter and adrenaline.

  Lola limped over, pausing to lick each one, reassuring herself that they were all okay.

  The front door exploded off of its hinges and crashed to the floor, narrowly missing Sophie. Ty and Aldo tumbled through the opening. Ty’s gun was drawn and Aldo had blood in his eye.

  “You could have come in through the window,” Harper said.

  It was silent for exactly two seconds before the girls exploded in peals of hysterics again.

  ***

  The pizza arrived at the same time the cops did. Harper took the food and sent the delivery guy back for four more pizzas to feed all the extra company.

  Between the cops, the pizza, and the neighbors, Harper knew the news was all over town by now.

  Glenn was once again cuffed and carted off to the hospital for what held the promise of a massive concussion.

  No one wanted to leave Harper alone for the night so Aldo and Ty decided to join the sleepover, and an hour later, Hannah’s husband, Finn arrived with his sleeping bag and fishing gear.

  “I can’t leave you girls alone for an hour without someone getting arrested,” he teased, wrapping them both in a bear hug.

  Ty called an emergency vet from the next town over, and one of the veterinarians made a house call in her pajamas to check on Lola, who was deemed the hero of the night.

  “She’s going to be sore for a couple of days, but there’s no breaks. She’s a tough little girl, aren’t you sweetie?”

  Lola ate it up and rolled onto her back to bare her belly while Max danced in circles around them. The vet gave Harper a bottle of pain meds and told her to keep Lola away from any strenuous activity for a few days.

  As the police were wrapping up their interviews, Frank and a full crew of Garrison guys showed up with plywood to cover the door and broken window.

  “We’ll be back in the morning to get measurements and order new glass,” Frank said, wiping his hands on a napkin. “Thanks for the pizza. Try not to let any more maniacs in the house.”

  Everyone made the necessary calls to the appropriate relatives letting them know they were all safe. Harper could imagine the story spreading like wildfire through Benevolence. Tomorrow there would probably be paparazzi from the high school paper on the lawn.

  They traded versions of the break in.

  When Harper had hung up with Ty, he had sped over to Gloria’s apartment. Finding nothing, he sent an officer to Gloria’s mother’s house and headed straight to Harper’s. He and Aldo had pulled in the driveway at the same time and bolted for the door when they heard the screams.

  When Harper yelled for everyone to get out, Hannah had ushered little Max into the basement while Sophie and Gloria ran for weapons.

  They converged in the hallway for the ultimate beat down. Gloria had hit Glenn once in the face, knocking him out instantaneously.

  “It was so weird. It was like he didn’t even see me,” she said. “He was so intent on you and that kn
ife, Harper.” She shivered and Aldo pulled her into his chest.

  “I hate to say it, but Harper, you know what you have to do,” Ty said.

  “I don’t want to,” she shook her head. “He’s going to think it’s my fault and be very upset.”

  “I don’t want to hear it. Dial. Now.” Ty handed Harper her cellphone.

  “It’s 2 a.m. here,” she tried again.

  “Nice try. They’re eight hours ahead of us. Do it or I will, and you know that’ll piss him off even more.”

  Grumbling, she took the phone and opened her video chat app. He’d want to see everything rather than just take her word for it. So she might as well get it over with.

  Luke answered immediately.

  “Baby, what’s wrong?”

  “How do you know something’s wrong.”

  “It’s 2 a.m.”

  Ty crossed his arms and Harper frowned at him. She stalked out of the living room and into the dining room.

  “Harper, why are there people in the house at 2 a.m. and what the hell happened to our window? Are you okay? Why do you have a bandage on your chin?”

  Harper brought her fingers to her jaw. “Okay, so everyone is fine. No one got hurt. But there was a little incident here. Glenn got out of jail and broke in here tonight and smashed some stuff up until Lola bit him and then Gloria cold-cocked him with your cast iron pan.”

  Luke’s face went white and she saw him take a deep, steadying breath.

  “Everyone’s okay. Lola was checked out by a vet and none of the rest of us have more than a scratch.”

  He was holding the laptop with both hands and Harper was worried he was about to snap the monitor off.

  “Ty,” she yelled over her shoulder. “I think you need to talk him down.”

  Ty, cop face on, took the phone from her.

  “Everyone’s fine —” he started.

  “What the fuck happened there?”

  Harper ducked into the hallway and let Ty deal with it.

  Once Luke stopped yelling she only caught snippets of the conversation, including “knife” and “duct tape.”

  Their conversation lasted several minutes, and when Harper saw Ty panning over the damage to the window and front door, she hoped Luke was calm enough to talk.

  She poked her head back in the dining room. “Is he okay to talk to me?” she whispered.

  Ty nodded. “I’m gonna turn you back to Harper now. Please don’t freak out on her. She’s had a rough enough night.”

  Harper took the phone back.

  Luke took a deep breath. “Hi.”

  “Hi. I’m really sorry, Luke.”

  “Baby, you didn’t do anything to be sorry about. You did everything right. I’m just having a hard time with all the what-ifs right now.”

  “Lola and Gloria were incredible.”

  “Ty said that fucker put a knife to your throat.” His voice was controlled rage.

  “It’s kind of a blur.”

  “I could have lost you.” Pain and helplessness made his throat tight, his tone harsh.

  “It wasn’t that close. I think he was just trying to scare me.”

  Luke scrubbed his hands over his face. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to go upstairs and take every piece of clothing off so I can see for myself if you’re hurt. Then we’re going to talk about how many armed guards I’m posting in the house until I come home.”

  Harper laughed. “God I miss you.”

  “Yeah, you think I’m joking. Get your ass upstairs.”

  ***

  The next morning, Harper couldn’t feel her legs when she woke up. Briefly fearing paralysis, she opened her eyes and discovered the culprit was two sleeping dogs draped across her lower body. The crick in her neck told her it had been a really bad idea to sleep on the floor.

  She sat up and surveyed the room. Aldo and Gloria were sound asleep spooning on the couch. Ty and Sophie were jammed onto the loveseat, recliners extended. On her right, Hannah and Finn snuggled under Finn’s sleeping bag. James was sprawled at her feet, half on Lola’s dog bed.

  He had arrived at 3 a.m., presumably after his mother called him to tell him about the breakin.

  Everyone was safe. The danger of the night was behind them. Harper shivered as she remembered the glint on the blade against her skin.

  She was safe now. With her extended, hand-picked family.

  Harper wriggled out from under Max and Lola, who grumbled in their sleep, and tiptoed into the kitchen.

  It was 8 a.m., the perfect time to start a gigantic breakfast.

  She pulled the packs of bacon from the freezer and tossed them in the microwave for a quick defrost. Thanks to Claire’s chickens, she had two-dozen eggs in the fridge.

  She started a full pot of coffee.

  She was glad Ty had made her call Luke. Just seeing his face, hearing that familiar voice made her feel safer. Luke had surveyed her bruises and scrapes and — satisfied she wasn’t hiding a life-threatening injury — made her swear she wouldn’t get so much as a hangnail for the rest of the summer. Harper was happy to promise.

  By the time the first stirrings came from the living room, the bacon was crisping — in a pan that had not been used to brain a criminal — and the coffee was ready.

  It was a new day.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  September, October, November…

  “I’m impressed, Harpsichord,” Aldo whistled through his teeth as they rounded a corner on the path. “A few months ago, you couldn’t run the length of a football field, and now look at you.”

  Harper rolled her eyes at the nickname and tossed a smug look over her shoulder. “I could say the same about you,” she teased, enjoying the pace he set.

  “Yeah, but I’m a perfect physical specimen. I’m designed to run no matter how many legs I have. You were a late-sleeping desk potato.”

  She gasped, her breath forming a cloud in the brisk morning air. “Desk potato?”

  “Someone who doesn’t watch a lot of TV but spends all their time sitting at a desk.”

  “Where do you come up with this stuff?”

  He tapped his finger to his temple. “It’s all up here. All the secrets of the universe.”

  “Let’s see if those secrets of the universe help you move a little faster.” She picked up the pace. Aldo was right. A few months ago, the thought of a five-mile run before 7 a.m. would have had her pulling pillows over her head. And now, here she was, feeling her legs come to life beneath her as her feet skimmed the surface of the jogging path.

  She and Aldo hit the park once a week together for a longer run. The man was a freaking machine. His physical therapists were thrilled with his progress and her heart warmed at the fact that she no longer saw frustration lining his handsome face. Love was the ultimate motivator.

  Gloria and her genuine sweetness had worked wonders on the depression that had threatened to envelope him. The woman had probably single-handedly saved him from murdering or being murdered by Mrs. Moretta.

  “Now you’re just showing off,” Harper laughed as Aldo sped by. “Don’t let your leg fall off,” she called after him.

  “Gotta get there before sunrise!”

  Harper lengthened her stride and caught him on the down slope. In a mile, the wooded path opened to the lake and the perfect view of the sunrise. It was her favorite part of the day, when she got to see those colors bleeding across the sky into the waters of the lake. She felt like the sunrise was a gift from her parents, telling her everything was going to be okay. That life was beautiful and it would be crazy to waste a moment of it.

  “So, you ready for Luke to come home? Next week, right?” Aldo asked, conversationally. The sprint had taken nothing out of him.

  “I’m trying not to think about it too much, so only every half second or so,” she sighed. “We didn’t have much time before he left, but I still feel like I’ve been missing a limb — no offense — for the last six months. I’m excited and terri
fied and everything in between.”

  “Terrified?”

  “Our relationship has lasted seven months. Six of those, he was on the other side of the world. What if he doesn’t like me anymore? What if everything is different? What if I can’t handle the reason he didn’t tell me about Karen?”

  Aldo stopped and put a hand on her arm.

  “What’s wrong? You need a break?”

  He smirked. “Do I look like I need a break?”

  His olive complexion glowed with healthy exertion. His hooded National Guard sweatshirt and track pants covered all the hard plains of his body, every inch earned with hard work and dedication.

  “No. You look like you could breeze through a half marathon if you wanted to.”

  “Damn right. And stop worrying. You two have what it takes to make it.

  “I love you, Aldo.”

  Surprise lit his eyes.

  “Not like that.” Harper rolled her eyes. “You’re the closest thing to a brother that I’ve ever had and I love you.”

  “Well, shit. I love you, too, Harpsichord,” he said, gruffly.

  “Don’t say it because I said it!” She punched him in the arm.

  Aldo put her in a headlock and ruffled her hair. “I didn’t, dummy. You’re the little sister I never wanted.”

  They started forward, slowly working their way back up to speed. “So, you planning to surprise Luke when he comes home?”

  Harper snorted. “Can you think of anything he’d hate more? No. In fact, he told me he doesn’t even want me to meet the bus. He wants to meet me at the house.”

  “You know why he wants it that way.”

  Harper sighed. “I do. But it still hurts my heart to think of him coming home with no one there to greet him. It’s been so long. I don’t want to waste the time it would take him to drive home. Ever since he told me that he’s coming home, every second feels like half an hour. I just want him here. I want to look into his eyes and …”

  They broke through the woods just as the sun began its climb over the trees. A lone figure in fatigues stood facing them, his back to the spectacular sunrise.

  “No,” Harper whispered, shaking her head. Shock flooded her system. “I…”