It Was Always You (Harpers Ridge Book 1)

by Ann Carver

  He pushed himself off the couch and went into the kitchen, thinking food would keep his mind off things. When he pulled open the refrigerator, he saw a waffle on a plate and sighed, knowing it was Harper’s favorite.

  Then he looked at the stove and winced. He wasn’t going anywhere near that think for a long time…if ever. Since there was nothing else, he went to his bed and crashed onto it. When he rolled over, he inhaled her scent from her pillow.

  He picked up her pillow and inhaled the scent again, right before chucking it across the room. Then he stripped his bed of everything and put new linens on, hoping it wouldn’t smell like Harper anymore.

  It took several hours of tossing and turning before he fell asleep.

  Harper fell onto Tristan’s sleeping bag. “I don’t want to take your sleeping bag,” she said quietly.

  Tristan pointed to the corner of the tent. “I have another one,” he said as he pulled his shirt off and revealed his very fit body.

  Harper turned away. “Let me know when you’re done. I promise not to peak.”

  Laughter filled the tent. “I’m not getting naked,” he replied.

  She turned back around and watched him unfold and lay out another sleeping bag on the other side of the tent. “Oh, good.”

  Tristan wiggled into the sleeping bag and hit his pillow a couple of times. It reminded her of Joey. She missed him terribly. So much that she wished it was Joey in the tent with her instead of Tristan.

  “Things good with you and Joe?” Tristan asked, bringing her out of her thoughts.

  Things were great with her and Joe. She couldn’t believe it took so long for her to realize she loved him all along. There was never another man that made her feel the way Joey did. She immediately felt guilty for her behavior in high school. If only she’d known then what she knew now.

  A smile filled her face. “Yeah, things are really good,” she answered him.

  “Good. Joe deserves a good woman,” he said before turning over and fluffing his pillow again. “Night.”

  She scrunched her face up. She didn’t think she was a good woman, but her and Joey fit. They understood each other and no matter what, Joey always had her back. She wasn’t sure she’d always had his, but she tried.

  “Good night,” she told Tristan and fell flat on her back, staring at the roof of the tent. She couldn’t wait to get back to Harpers Ridge to tell Joey that she was pretty sure she loved him. Tomorrow was going to be a long day without being able to see Joey.

  When Joe woke up, he didn’t feel rested at all. His eyes were red and his mouth was dry. The hot shower did little to relieve his aching, tired muscles. He tried very hard not to think of what happened in that tent last night, but he knew Harper and his brother. Tristan liked the ladies and the ladies certainly liked him.

  After getting dressed, Joe figured he’d spend the morning at the hardware store. He knew his grandpa didn’t want him there, but he needed to do something to keep his mind off things. As he grabbed his keys to leave, his phone rang.

  “What’s up, Vinny,” Joe said when he saw who was calling.

  “Hey, want to finish up Harper’s roof today? I have a bit of free time this morning and with your help, we can have it all done,” Vinny said enthusiastically.

  That was the last thing Joe wanted to do. He didn’t care if her house ever got finished.

  Actually, he did care because the sooner it got done, the sooner she could be out of his apartment. “No, I can’t today,” Joe said through gritted teeth, but trying not to take it out on Vinny.

  “All right, man, I’m still going to work on it, might take me into tomorrow to finish, but I think Harper will be happy.”

  Joe could practically see Vinny smiling. He always liked finished a project and seeing the people happy. Joe sighed and clenched his teeth, tightly. Practically grinding them to dust. Then he said, “Never mind, I’ll make it,” he said a lot calmer.

  “Cool,” Vinny said. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

  “I’ll see you in a bit,” he said and then disconnected. He stared at the phone in disbelief. No matter how hurt he was, he still couldn’t wish bad things on Harper. He would finish the job with Vinny so she could move into her house and out of his life. And it was a bitch to swallow that bit of reality.

  He met Vinny at the block house and kept busy. He tried to act as if nothing happened and it must have worked because Vinny never suspected anything. They worked hard. Joe had a hard time keeping up with Vinny. When the end of a project was near, Vinny went into overdrive.

  Hours later, the roof was done. Vinny expressed his happiness and claimed he couldn’t wait to see Harper’s face when she saw it. Joe imagined her being ecstatic and hugging both of them tightly. He smiled when he thought about it. Then scowled when he thought of her betrayal.

  Joe helped Vinny cleanup and then went home, took a shower, and took a nap before having to go to work that night.

  Work was equally good and bad. The night was busy with one call after another, which was good because it kept his mind off Harper. However, when they weren’t in the middle of a run, the time was filled with thoughts of Harper.

  Rebecca finally picked up on the fact that something was wrong. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked when we were on our way back to the station.

  He looked out the window, not wanting to make eye contact so she’d know he was lying. “Nothing.”

  She laughed. “I call bullshit. So, just start talking or I’ll make your night a living hell.”

  Joe groaned. “As if bringing you lunch, letting you drive, and doing all the inventory shit, isn’t living hell?”

  “You know I can make it worse,” she said matter-of-factly.

  Shit. He knew all too well that she could make it worse. So, he gave in and flatly said, “Harper slept with Tristan last night.”

  Rebecca gulped. “Are you sure?” she asked in a much softer tone.

  “Yeah,” he said as he closed his eyes and clenched his jaw.

  “How do you know?” she asked, questioning him as if she didn’t believe him.

  Joe’s teeth grinded together in his mouth. He snapped his head around and stated, “Because I went to the campground last night, just in time to see my brother carry her into his tent.”

  Rebecca shook her head. “You don’t know for sure-” she started to say.

  Joe interrupted her. “I do know. Even you practically drooled all over him when you first met him,” he said angrily.

  Why did Tristan have to be so good looking? Why did he have to sleep with Harper? Not once but twice. Hell, for all Joe knew, it might have been more. He’d never know. Just the thought of it made his stomach clench, tightly.

  “Okay, that was only once,” she said lightly, trying to change the mood. “You said yourself that Harper changed. I wouldn’t go assuming things. You know what they say about assume…makes an ass out of you and me.”

  “That’s a dumb saying,” Joe snapped. “It doesn’t make an ass out of me. It makes an ass out of them for leading people the wrong way.”

  Rebecca didn’t say anything else and Joe felt like a jerk. After all, she was trying to help. But nothing could help the situation. He loved Harper and she cheated on him. And at that moment, he knew he had to avoid her like the plague. Her house was move-in-ready and he’d make himself disappear until she was moved out of his apartment.

  Harper woke when she heard Tristan unzip the tent and go out. She could see the sun was just coming up, which meant she needed to get up as well. They had the first rafting trip of the day. And knowing that little tid-bit, she wondered if she could get someone to drive her home that night to be with Joey. But, she wouldn’t ask because she didn’t want to ruin anyone’s weekend.

  When Harper exited the tent, others were gulping down coffee as if it were their life saver. However, she was drawn to the fire where someone was cooking bacon and pancakes. Though it wasn’t waffles, pancakes were the next best thing.
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br />   The guy cooking the wonderful smelling food offered her a plate and she, excitedly, took it. That was the great thing about all the rafting trips they’d taken. It was a free for all until things ran out…which generally didn’t happen.

  Before eating, she pulled out the assortment of muffins and bagels she brought for breakfast for anyone to enjoy. Then, she found a quiet spot and ate.

  “Is it good?” Tristan asked as he took a seat next to her with a plate, fully loaded with just about everything that was offered.

  “Oh my gosh, more than you know,” Harper said before shoving a syrup, dripping pancake bite into her mouth.

  “I think you like that more than you like Joe,” he said pointing to her pancake with a laugh.

  She smiled, happily. “Almost,” she giggled.

  Tristan laughed with her. “How did you sleep?” he asked as he dove into his food.

  “Okay, the ground is hard,” she complained.

  He nodded. “Yeah, it’s rough on this old body.”

  Harper gave him a look. “As if you’re old,” she said snidely.

  “Older than you, that’s all that matters,” he said and then shoved another fork full of food into his mouth. After chewing and swallowing, he added, “I don’t know if I can spend another night on the ground.”

  “You and me, both,” she said, thinking about the cabin last night. “I’m sure the cabin is going to be…busy again, tonight.”

  Tristan looked over at her and smiled. “How about we blow this place after rafting? We’ll be done by three and can be home by six,” he said excitedly.

  “What about Andy?”

  He laughed. “Andy didn’t really want to come anyways. He’ll say yes before I even finish the sentence.”

  Harper thought about it for a moment. It’d be nice to see Joey earlier than anticipated. And, it’d be great not to sleep on the ground, but that took second next to seeing Joey. “Yeah, let’s do it. Let’s get out of this place!”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  After his shift, Joe went home and crashed. It wasn’t hard to fall asleep after the lack of sleep he’d been getting, along with the torture of Harper and Tristan going on in his head. He didn’t even have time to think about what he was going to do when she came home. Nope, as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out.

  All the exhaustion that had built up inside of Joe allowed him to sleep until five in the evening the next night. He’d gotten over nine hours of sleep, which never happened. He stretched out in his bed and when his arm didn’t rub against Harper, he remembered why he’d gotten so much sleep.

  He reached over and grabbed his phone. There was a message from Harper.

  Harper: On our way back early. Be there by six.

  Joe looked at the clock and swore to himself. He had less than an hour to get out of there. He’d think about where he would go once he was out the door. Which needed to be soon because there’s always room for error when it comes to time.

  Moving around the apartment in lightning speed, he gathered everything he’d need for a day or two and left after writing a quick note for Harper and leaving it on the kitchen table. He wrestled with himself whether he should leave it or not, but in the end, he left it.

  Harper, I can’t do this anymore. Joe

  It was simple and to the point. No point in dragging out and putting a lot of feelings into it. Nope, those feelings got crushed, yet, again.

  Joe took off in his truck and decided he’d stay at the station for a couple of days. That would give her enough time to move her stuff out of the apartment. At least he hoped. Now that the roof was completed, she could stay there. She could have stayed there earlier, she just wouldn’t have been able to use her bedroom.

  When he arrived at the station, Dylan gave him a questioning look. “What are you doing here so early?” he asked.

  He knew it was inevitable, that he’d eventually have to tell him, so he just let it all out.

  Dylan didn’t believe it. He thought there must be something he was missing. But Joe didn’t think he was missing anything. He knows what he saw and that was that.

  Harper was growing impatient on the way home. “Are we almost there? I don’t know why Joey hasn’t responded to my texts or calls,” she said impatiently.

  Tristan and Andy laughed. “About twenty more minutes,” Tristan said.

  Time seemed to stand still even though she could see the world, physically, move by. She wondered why he wasn’t answering. Perhaps he was at work or busy at the hardware store. But she’d been trying for two hours. Surely there wasn’t something that had him occupied for that long.

  When they finally reached the apartment, Tristan and Andy teased her about not wanting to go in because they knew what she and Joe would be doing. Harper was relieved and not embarrassed at all that they knew exactly what she wanted to do with Joe. It’d been a long time and she couldn’t wait another minute.

  After racing up the stairs, she was puzzled that the door wasn’t unlocked. She thought he’d be home waiting for her. And, she hadn’t thought to look if his truck was parked out back or not. She pulled out her key and let herself in, running to the bedroom.

  “Joey, I’m home,” she said breathlessly with anticipation.

  But when she pushed open the door, he wasn’t there. Her heart sank and so did the smile on her face. She turned and headed toward the kitchen with phone in hand to call him again.

  She saw the note on the table, picked it up, and read it. “No,” she whispered in a gasp and collapsed to the floor.

  Joe hit the treadmill at the station until his legs almost gave out underneath him. Practically crawling to the shower, he didn’t know how he was going to recover from his heartbreak. Maybe he was destined not to find happiness.

  After letting the hot water run cool, he forced himself out and got dressed. When he walked into the office, Rebecca and Dylan were talking. By the way they were both looking at him, he suspected it was about him.

  He ignored them and went into his office and looked at the pile of paperwork that was sitting there. He groaned, wondering if anyone ever did the work or they just left it for him.

  When Rebecca and Dylan walked around the corner, he cursed under his breath. He wasn’t in the mood for their intervention. So, he ignored them and pretended to work by moving papers from one pile to another.

  Rebecca spoke first. “Have you even talked to her?” she asked as if she was mad at him.

  Why the hell would she be mad at him? Harper was the one that messed up, but Rebecca is being pissy with him. “No, and I don’t plan on it, either. Case closed,” he said as he angrily put a paper on one of the piles he made.

  “Told you,” Dylan said to Rebecca.

  Rebecca put her hands on the edge of the desk and leaned over. “Don’t be an ass. Call her.”

  Joe shoved the piles of papers away and leaned back in his chair. “Look, I don’t need your intervention bullshit. Harper and I are done and it’s none of your business.”

  Rebecca’s eyes flamed.

  “Oh, shit,” Dylan said as he took a step back.

  She pointed a finger toward him. “Look here you overgrown, man-child. You don’t know the whole story. You at least need to hear her side of the story. You owe her that,” she said angrily.

  Joe crossed his hands behind his head and grinned. Not that it was a funny situation, but because if he didn’t laugh, he’d punch someone, and he didn’t want to do that. Well, maybe Tristan.

  “I don’t owe her, or you two, anything,” he said.

  Rebecca leaned over the desk further. “Don’t play your stupid shit with me. You forget that I know you better than that. You got hurt…so you think…and you want to run. Dammit, just talk to her.”

  Joe dropped his hands and gripped the sides of his chair, making his knuckles turn white. “So, I’m just supposed to ask her if she slept with my brother in his tent?” he asked in a growl.

  “Dude, calm down. We’re tryin
g to help,” Dylan chimed in.

  “I don’t need help. What I do need, is for you two, to stay out of it,” he said through gritted teeth.

  “I think you’re wrong,” Rebecca said more calmly. “Just do us all a favor and talk to her.”

  “Yeah, it can’t hurt, right?” Dylan added.

  Can’t hurt? It hurt like hell. “You know how she is, Dylan,” he said, remembering how she was in high school.

  “What do you mean?” Dylan asked.

  “Come on, she slept with every guy in high school. Obviously things haven’t changed,” he said angrily.

  There was a gasp. Joe looked up as Rebecca and Dylan turned around to see Harper. Her eyes were wide and hurt. She’d lifted her hand to her mouth in surprise. As a tear slid down her cheek, she clutched the top of her sweater with her other hand, turned around, and ran out.

  Chapter Thirty

  Joe had let those words come out in hurt. He’d never shamed Harper for sleeping with other guys. There was no taking it back now. She’d heard the horrible thing he said about her and now the only shame was on him. He knew Rebecca and Dylan were ashamed of him, but it was nothing compared for the shame he had for himself.

  “You’re an asshole,” Rebecca said, disgusted with him.

  He dropped his head. “I know,” he said quietly.

  “Well, don’t just stand there, go after her,” she said as if his ass should have already been moving.

  “What’s the point?” he asked, feeling sorry for himself, but more for Harper. “That was awful.”

  “Yeah, so go tell her you’re sorry,” Rebecca said as she placed her hands on her hip. “Unless you’re not.”

  Joe snapped his head up toward her. “Of course I am. I didn’t mean it.”

  Rebecca pointed toward the door. “Then go after her.”

  Joe nodded and ran to the door. He flung it open just as Harper peeled out of the parking lot. Damn, he was such an asshole. He slowly turned on his heels and walked back into his office. He looked at his two friends and shook his head.