“Really, you’re going to get upset with me for asking what I think is probably a fairly common question, after the bomb that you just dropped?”
“The bomb that I just dropped?”
“Yes. What did you expect, Harper? For me to be overjoyed at the fact that I might’ve gotten you knocked up?” His voice rose, carrying across the wind, and quite possibly to the people on the other side of the balcony.
She took a step back from him, her stomach so tied up in knots at this point that she was pretty sure the ginger ale wasn’t going to stay down for much longer. “There is no might’ve, Liam, and I’m not going to stand here while you imply that I’m a whore.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“I told you before, you’re the only person I’ve been with since my ex, whether you choose to believe that or not. This baby is yours. If you want to be a part of his or her life, that’s up to you.” She took another step back, taking up again with chafing her palms against her arms. Fresh tears welled in her eyes, but they were more from anger than anything else. “You figure that out and let me know. Abby can get ahold of me.”
She turned, heading back for the ballroom, but had barely taken three steps when he called out after her.
“So you’re just going to run again?”
She looked back at him over her shoulder, focusing on the hard stubborn line of his mouth that was so foreign to her. “I don’t see you trying to stop me.” She turned from him and walked away.
Chapter Nine
No Going Back. No Starting Over.
Liam stared down into his glass of bourbon, his third since sitting at the bar in the lobby of the Brogan-Meyers Hotel. The glass just couldn’t seem to stay filled and the ice cubes looked lonely.
He obviously hadn’t gone very far after leaving the balcony. Alcohol or not, driving sure as shit hadn’t been an option. His head was spinning, still reeling from everything that had happened that night.
He’d found Harper…or had she found him? Oh, who the hell cared? He’d already been confused beyond reason before she’d gone and told him she was pregnant.
With his child.
And every time he closed his eyes he saw her crying. He hated seeing women cry. Hated it. But this was something different. Something that tore at every inch of him. And he’d done nothing to comfort her. Nothing because he couldn’t get over his own anger. Nothing because he was apparently the biggest dick on the face of the planet.
“So this is where you disappeared to. See, I told you we should’ve checked the bar first,” a female voice said behind his back.
“Yes, yes. You were right. Again. Happy?” a deep male voice answered.
Liam didn’t stop staring into his empty glass. He didn’t need to look over to see that his brother and sister were standing next to him.
“I’m always right,” Adele said. “And just as soon as the two of you start accepting it, things might go a lot smoother.” She leaned into Liam’s shoulder, grabbing the glass in front of him. “How many of these have you had?”
“Since sitting down?” He looked up and glanced over at them. “Three.”
“Shit,” Logan whispered. “Are you chugging them? It’s only been forty minutes since you followed Harper out onto the balcony.”
Really? It had only been forty minutes? It felt like it had been an eternity since he’d watched her walk away.
Somehow that was almost as painful as when he’d woken up without her.
Almost. At least this time he knew where to find her.
“Can we get three more of these?” Adele asked when the bartender came to their end of the bar. “We’ll be over there.” She pointed to the empty circular booth in the corner before she wrapped her hand around Liam’s arm and forcibly pulled him from the bar stool he was sitting on.
As he didn’t want his sister dragging him across the room like a little boy, he didn’t resist. They all settled into the booth, Adele in the middle with Logan on the left and Liam on the right. They were positioned in such a way that he could see both of them.
“Start talking,” Adele demanded pretty much the second their butts were in the seats. “And feel free to just jump right on in with what happened tonight, because Logan already filled me in on the Nashville stuff.”
Well, that was good, because diving back into that would make his head an even bigger mess. Who was he kidding? It was a disaster as it was. So really what was a little more chaos at this point?
He looked down, his palms flat on the table. The old saying, I know it like the back of my hand, repeated in his brain. But as he studied his own hands, hands that were scared and calloused over the years, hands that were his livelihood, hands that he thought he knew, he realized he knew absolutely nothing.
He started talking, his words coming out like he was telling a story that wasn’t his. But it was his story. This was the new reality.
A waiter came over about halfway through, sliding the drinks onto the table. Liam grabbed his but didn’t take a sip. He wrapped his fingers around the cool glass, focusing on that as he got to the climax of his conversation with Harper.
“So she’s pregnant,” he said before he finally allowed himself to take a sip.
Neither Logan nor Adele said anything for a good couple of seconds. Liam put the glass down on the table as his eyes came up, focusing on his brother and sister.
“And it’s yours?” Logan asked, his brow furrowed and his mouth flattening out to a grim line.
“Yeah.” He nodded. Because despite his words to Harper earlier, he did believe her. And he wasn’t sure if that just made him an even bigger fool.
“Wow.” Adele breathed the word on a sigh, grabbing her own glass and downing a good amount of it. “This just keeps getting more and more complicated.”
“You can say that again.”
“And you believe that she was going to tell you? Even if she hadn’t run into you tonight?” The look on his brother’s face was getting more and more severe by the second, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why.
Logan had cherished being a father, no doubt more than anything else in his life. He’d loved his daughter from the very start and had always wanted her. Madison had never been a burden. Never been anything he’d ever regretted. And even though Madison’s days had been short, she’d been treasured for every second of them.
Liam looked down to the tumbler in his hand, tilting it to the side, the ice clinking against the glass. “I think she would’ve told me…” But what did he really know?
“Okay…so we’ve established the fact that this woman, who you’re in love with—”
“Thought. Thought I was in love with.” Liam corrected his brother.
“Right,” Adele scoffed at that, and both men turned to look at her. “Come on, you saw what happened when she walked up. You were about to come unglued. No one in that circle can deny your reaction.” She looked at Liam, her eyes brokering no argument. As per usual she’d missed nothing. “Or her reaction to you for that matter. And you better believe that Mom was entirely aware something was up, because the second the two of you stepped away, she oh-so-very-not-so-casually started asking questions about Harper to everyone in that circle who knew her.”
“Fantastic,” Liam grumbled, though it wasn’t all that shocking. That was Edie James for ya. “You guys probably know more about her than I do at this point.”
“I don’t think so.” Logan leaned back in the booth, stretching his legs out in front of him. “They stayed pretty tight lipped. I have no doubt Mel knows exactly what is going on, and she didn’t reveal more than she had to about her friend.”
“What did Abby say?” Adele asked as she ran her finger around the rim of her glass. “She’s known Harper for years. We want some insight, we should talk to Abby.”
But for whatever reason, that prospect wasn’t all that appealing to Liam.
“No.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to learn about Harper from anyone besi
des Harper.” Because the thing was, he still wanted to learn everything about her. Wanted to know all he could about her. That hadn’t changed, and he didn’t think it ever would.
He put the tumbler down on the table, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. His fingers were cold from touching the glass, and they felt good on his overheated skin.
“I just keep wondering what would’ve happened if she hadn’t left. Happened with her, you know?” He dropped his hand, his eyes opening as he looked across the table at his siblings. “But then again it changes nothing with the baby. That would’ve happened regardless, and I’m not walking away from my kid.”
My kid.
Something warm settled in his chest at those words. Something that had nothing to do with the alcohol. He was going to be a father.
“Well, obviously,” Adele said immediately.
“I didn’t doubt that for a second.” Logan shifted in his seat, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table. “But how are you going to proceed with Harper?”
Wasn’t that the question of the hour?
“I have no idea.”
“Well, you aren’t in this alone, Liam.” Logan lifted his glass, clinking it to Liam’s before he polished off the last of the liquid in it.
“And we’re going to be here no matter what to help you through it all.” Adele reached across the table and put her hand over Liam’s. “Because we’re family.”
Family…yeah, a family that was only going to get bigger.
* * *
The air conditioner on the opposite side of the hotel room kicked on, blasting cold air into the space. Harper snuggled down deeper into the mattress, pulling the comforter tightly around her shoulders.
She had absolutely no desire to get up. The moments of sleep throughout the night had been few and far between. All together she’d say she probably got about four hours, and she was going to pay for it dearly today.
After the balcony incident the night before, Harper hadn’t even attempted to rejoin the party. She’d made a beeline for the elevator and headed straight down to her hotel room. It had been the longest five minutes, fighting with the tears that had been simmering at the surface. Though a few escaped, trailing down her cheeks, she’d wiped them away the instant they’d fallen.
But the second her hotel room door snapped shut behind her there’d been no holding back. As was expected, she got sick first. Of course she would, heaven forbid she go ten hours without throwing up. The medicine she’d been taking had been working, but it wasn’t a match for her stress level in that moment.
And then she’d taken a shower, the heat in no way getting rid of the chill she just couldn’t seem to shake, even though it was June in Florida. Though she was pretty sure the shaking had more to do with her sobbing than anything involving temperature.
When she’d managed to gain an ounce of composure, she got out of the shower to find Mel sitting on the bed, already changed into her pajamas. Though Harper wasn’t sharing with anyone, Mel had a key card for the room to come and go as she pleased. Just one look from those concern-filled amber eyes, and Harper had lost it. Again.
That was how they’d spent most of the night, Mel not leaving to go be with her husband no matter how much Harper insisted. And to be honest, the prospect of spending the night by herself was not a pleasant one, especially as sleep had been an elusive bitch.
All she could think about was Liam. That pained look in his eyes. His frustration. His anger. His words.
What did you expect, Harper? For me to be overjoyed at the fact that I might’ve gotten you knocked up?
Overjoyed wasn’t the word she would’ve used, but neither was knocked up. It had just sounded so harsh coming from his mouth. Like this baby was unwanted.
Her hand automatically went to her belly, her palm pushing up her shirt and landing on her skin. The baby was obviously too small to be felt in any capacity—unless she counted her morning sickness, which she might be inclined to—but he or she was still in there. Growing.
Harper wanted this baby, and she would love this child no matter what. That was a love she didn’t doubt in the slightest.
Unlike another love.
Liam filled her vision, but it wasn’t the man in the blue suit with the hard eyes from the night before. No, it was the man from the bar all those weeks ago. The man with the quick smile and the gentle hands. But she couldn’t deny the fact that when he’d touched her last night, those hands of his had still been gentle. Still made fire burn inside her. Still made her ache in the sweetest, most painful way.
That oh-so-familiar tightening started up at the back of her throat, but she refused to give into it again. She wasn’t going to cry today.
Was. Not. Going. To.
She pulled the comforter from her body and slowly sat up, her head tender from the night before and her stomach uneasy. For whatever reason, the nausea was usually tolerable in the morning and got worse throughout the day. Apparently Harper liked to be an anomaly.
But the twinges this morning seemed to be even less than they normally were. It was just a slight rolling of the stomach and she was able to push it back with a few steady breaths. Maybe the medicine was working. Or maybe it was finally getting the massive weight off her chest that was the anxiety of talking to Liam.
Yeah, maybe it was that.
Harper got out of bed and walked over to her suitcase, searching for a change of clothes. The only light coming in the room was a tiny sliver from a crack in the heavy drapes. She was careful as she looked around among the chaos, trying not to make any noise to wake Mel. She finally found an outfit and headed to the bathroom.
She shut the door behind her before she flipped the light on, glancing at her reflection in the mirror as she set her clothes on the counter. It wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. Sleeping on wet hair was never the best option, but she’d be able to pull it back no problem.
As for her eyes? Well, thank goodness she had sunglasses, ’cause those bad boys weren’t going down anytime soon. She turned away from the mirror, no use worrying about her appearance at the moment. She had absolutely no one to impress. She was long gone from that.
She made quick work, using the bathroom before changing into jean shorts and a sherbet orange shirt that was made of a thin cotton material. It hung loose past her waist and probably wasn’t the most flattering, but it was comfortable and as she was going to be spending a few hours in the car it would do just fine.
She pulled her hair up into a ponytail before she washed her face and brushed her teeth. Her pajamas were lying on the floor and she snatched them up before walking out of the bathroom.
Natural sunlight was streaming into the room now, the curtains pulled back from the window showing downtown Jacksonville in all of its morning glory.
Mel was sitting in the middle of the bed, her curls a wild halo around her head as she looked down at the phone typing out a text. She hit Send before she looked up, rubbing at her eyes sleepily. “How you feeling?”
“About the same.” Harper crossed the room to her suitcase, shoving her pajamas in among the other clothing wreckage. “What about you? You’re the one who had to deal with a crying mess all night.” She looked up, attempting a smile and hoping it would detract from the two beyond-puffy eyes she was sporting.
“Pshh, that’s nothing.” Mel waved her hand in the air. “Once I get some coffee, I’ll be just fine.”
“Coffee, oh, how I miss thee.”
“That sounded a little Shakespearean.”
“Stick around and I just might start spouting sonnets. It will be about how much I want a full fat, full sugar, fully caffeinated, piping-hot gift from the java gods with whipped cream on top…and a caramel drizzle,” Harper said wistfully.
“Yeah, I think you’re a few months away from one of those.” Mel said the last word around a yawn as her phone chimed. “I told Bennett to grab you a cranberry juice. He’s at the café now.”
“You
’ve trained him well.”
“I have.” Mel nodded as she got out of bed. “I’m going to head across the hall and get dressed. Checkout is in an hour; that enough time?”
“I’ll be down there.” Harper pulled the zipper closed on her bag; she was already done with half her packing as it was.
She was also beyond ready to get home. She would’ve driven back the night before if she’d had her own car…or if she’d been in any state to drive. But as neither had been the case she’d just wallowed in her own misery in the hotel room.
God, she was pathetic.
“Hey.” Mel stopped in front of Harper and grabbed her arm. “It’s going to work itself out. It might be hard, but it won’t be insurmountable, no matter what happens. And like Grace and I established earlier, you won’t be alone through it.”
Harper took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. “I know. I just wish…I just wish I hadn’t messed up so epically with Liam.”
“You can’t change anything that’s happened, babe. All you can do is learn from it and move on from here. At least he knows now.”
“Yeah, at least he knows now,” Harper repeated.
She just wanted to know what he was going to do with the information.
* * *
The June sun was high in the sky and shining brilliantly when Harper walked out of the doors of the Brogan-Meyers Hotel. The Florida humidity wrapped around her like an oppressive blanket. Not only was she immediately pleased with her wardrobe selection, but she was happy she had pulled her hair up. There was nothing quite as uncomfortable as her hair sticking to the back of her neck.
The outside entrance of the hotel sat under a massive awning. Golden brown pavers covered the area, creating a circle that could easily fit four cars all the way around. In the center sat an enormous fountain with four mermaids playing in the water.
Even under the shade of the expansive awning, the sun was too bright for Harper’s sensitive eyes. She pushed her glasses down from the top of her head and settled them on her nose. Bennett had already grabbed her bags from the room and was currently at the back of the SUV parked at the curb. He was loading the bags while Mel went inside to finish checking them out. Harper would’ve waited inside with her friend, but she needed some fresh air before they loaded up in the car. Plus, the line of people had made her antsy.
Unsung Page 12
