Crowned (Girls of Wonder Lane Book 2)

by Christina Coryell

  “No,” Annie stated, placing her hand on Harley’s arm. “I would have stayed anyway, because it’s good to see you. Do you want to go to church with me tonight?”

  “Can’t,” Harley answered with a sigh, smiling while she looked at Annie’s purple braid that reached just to the top of her shoulder. “I’m having dinner with Kelsey and her parents.”

  “Not Ryan?”

  “Nope. Kelsey called me at the station today, so how could I say no? Anyway, Ryan’s always working, so I’m sure he won’t be there.”

  “You must have a real rapport with this girl,” Annie decided, rising to her feet and taking Harley’s hand. Careful to protect her sore abdomen, Harley rose and grabbed her purse.

  “She’s awesome,” Harley agreed. “I just wish there was something I could do to help her.”

  “Hmm…that’s quite the statement.” Annie’s eyes twinkled, and Harley placed her left hand on her hip.

  “I sense something behind your words, Annie the purple.”

  “Sure. I mean, what could you possibly do to help her? How could Harley Laine possibly help anybody, right? It’s not like you have a giant platform or anything.”

  Harley pulled her BMW into the driveway of the small brown ranch-style home and double-checked the address, making certain she was in the correct place. She guessed the house to be less than half the size of her own, although in living area the family surely used more than the three rooms Harley inhabited in her own home. One of the first things she noticed were the twinkling multicolored lights through the window on the Christmas tree, and she allowed a smile to cross her face.

  If anyone needs a little Christmas, it’s Kelsey, she thought as she opened the car door. She had considered driving straight over a little early when she finished visiting with Annie, but decided instead to make a run home and change into a more casual outfit. Her jeans and boat neck sweater made her feel a bit more comfortable, and she hugged her coat tightly around her as she walked to the door.

  Knocking quietly, she waited on the simple porch and shoved her hands into her coat pockets. Merely a few seconds later, Regina swung the door wide and gave her a smile.

  “Hi, Harley,” she said, stepping forward to offer a hug. Harley accepted it cautiously and was ushered inside, where she shrugged out of her coat. Regina draped it across the back of the couch and pointed toward the kitchen, where a rather small table rested with four curved-back wooden chairs.

  “Harley’s here!” Kelsey said excitedly when she saw her guest, not rising from her seat at the table.

  “Hey!” Harley settled next to Kelsey and reached over to take her hand. “How are you feeling today?”

  “I’ve been better,” she began with a smile, “but I’ve also been worse.”

  “She’s feeling pretty well today, which is why she wanted to ask you to come by,” Regina said, placing a glass pan on the table. “I hope you like meatloaf, Harley.”

  “I usually eat ramen noodles, so meatloaf sounds like heaven to me,” Harley assured her. Kelsey chose that moment to push her hair over her shoulder, and it reminded Harley of Annie. Stifling a giggle, she attempted to look away.

  “What’s funny?” Kelsey prodded, looking at her mischievously.

  “I was just thinking about my friend Annie. I saw her after work, and she usually has fiery red curls. Tonight her hair was straight and purple.”

  “Purple?”

  “Yes, purple. Sometimes I don’t know what goes through that girl’s head.”

  “Sounds like she’d fit right in with those musician friends Ryan has,” Regina added, calling for Sam to join them at the table. He appeared from the hallway, looking freshly showered and wearing a blue flannel shirt with faded jeans.

  Regina pulled her chair up to the table, with Sam settling next to her. The group was perfectly staggered about the round table in the four chairs, and Harley politely bowed her head as Sam began to pray over their food. The simple action reminded her of the dinner she shared at Tiny’s with Duke, and she fought a blush at her still-fresh embarrassment over her mistake.

  “I saw you already have your Christmas tree in the window,” Harley stated after everyone began passing food.

  Regina nodded as she smiled at Harley. “We love the holidays. We’d leave the tree up all year if we could.”

  “I liked the story you did about the Thanksgiving meal at the shelter,” Kelsey stated as she helped herself to some meatloaf. “I watched it yesterday.”

  “Yesterday?” Harley asked in surprise. “Did they replay it or something?”

  “I don’t think so.” Kelsey passed the glass dish to Harley, who took a slice of the meatloaf for herself. “Ryan records the news every night, so they were loaded on the DVR.”

  “He must like to watch the weather,” Harley muttered, glancing at Regina as she handed off the main course.

  “He definitely likes something about the news,” Sam stated, wrinkling his brow and trying to hide a smile. “It’s only Channel Six, though—strangest thing.”

  “It’s Denton and Summer,” Harley quickly assessed, giving Kelsey a sly grin. “They’re enigmatic, you know.”

  “You should have tried to use enigmatic during Scrabble the other night, instead of in and it and to.” Kelsey giggled and quickly looked at her plate, spooning some mashed potatoes into the corner.

  “I must say, Kelsey, you’re quite the Scrabble snob.” Harley softened her statement with a wink as she accepted the mashed potatoes. “It’s been a long time since I had home-cooked food. Other than when I eat at Tiny’s, but that’s not really the same.”

  “Mom’s a great cook,” Kelsey piped up, giving her mom a smile.

  Regina seemed uncomfortable with the praise, and smiled very quickly as she turned her gaze to Harley. “Do your parents still live where you grew up, Harley?”

  “Yeah, still the same place. They don’t change much.”

  “You see them very often?” Sam wanted to know.

  “No. I saw them a couple years ago before I took the job at Channel Six, but we don’t really keep in touch.”

  “Did they know you were in the hospital?” Kelsey asked, ignoring the green beans to the point that her mom placed some on her plate before passing the dish to Harley.

  “No,” Harley answered quickly. She considered explaining, but decided it was too embarrassing and complicated. “There’s really no good way for me to keep in touch with them, because they don’t have a phone.”

  “How does anyone not have a phone?” Kelsey wondered.

  “You sound like a teenage version of Harley.” She took a helping of green beans and then stared at her plate momentarily, hoping they would change the subject.

  “Sam works at the phone company,” Regina informed her, which inexplicably caused Harley to giggle. Kelsey quickly caught on, and after a couple seconds they were all chuckling quietly.

  A loud noise deep within the house caused Harley to jump slightly, and Kelsey smiled. “Ryan always sneaks in the back door and takes a shower, just in case he has any germs. He doesn’t want to make me sick.” She paused and giggled again. “He’s going to be a little surprised. He had no idea you were coming over for dinner.”

  “Ryan usually doesn’t come home for dinner,” Regina added. “He normally has something else lined up as soon as he’s finished working.”

  Harley was conflicted, between her sadness that Ryan had to work so hard and the excitement running through her veins at the thought that he was in the house. On the odd chance that she was getting ready to blurt something ridiculous, or make the butterflies in her stomach obvious, she concentrated on shoving her fork into her meatloaf.

  “This meatloaf is really phenomenal,” she stated, realizing about halfway through her sentence that she probably shouldn’t talk with her mouth full. Would they recognize her blatant attempt to put the focus on something other than Ryan? Was that even worse than talking about him, so obviously trying to change the subject?
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br />   “Thanks,” Regina said, leaving it at that. Harley decided Ryan’s mother definitely sensed her hesitation, and that made her even more uncomfortable.

  “So, Harley, what do you like to do for fun?” Kelsey stabbed a couple green beans and held them aloft on her fork. “I bet you go to all kinds of cool places with your reporter friends every night.”

  “Um, no,” Harley countered with a short laugh. “I usually stay at work too late, then go home and sit on my bed reading chick lit novels while I watch horrible reality television. Except on Fridays—on Fridays I go to Tiny’s.”

  “By yourself?”

  It never occurred to Harley that her life sounded so pathetic until the seventeen-year-old was looking at her with pity.

  “Well, not really. Tiny’s there, and my friend Duke.”

  Sam began to laugh, and Harley swung her head in his direction.

  “Sorry,” he offered, wiping his mouth with his napkin. “The way you said that, it just sounded like you were going to a saloon with John Wayne.”

  “Duke actually does like John Wayne,” Harley said, and then furrowed her brow a tad. “I think? He’s nicknamed after him, anyway, and I’m sure he must like him or he wouldn’t allow people to call him that.”

  Although people call me Harley…and I’m not particularly a fan.

  “Hey, meatloaf night and nobody bothered to mention it?” Ryan called down the hall as he appeared to Harley’s right, sporting wet hair and a green t-shirt. He had a hooded sweatshirt in his fist, which he tossed over the couch as he stepped to the table.

  “Harley’s here.” Kelsey decided to state the obvious.

  “Yeah, I thought I heard angels singing,” Ryan teasingly shot at Harley, who shook her head and averted her eyes from his. He grabbed a chair from the desk along the wall in the living room and carried it over to the table, plopping it down between Kelsey and Harley. He didn’t have to bother getting himself a plate, because Regina had already taken it upon herself to go to the kitchen and retrieve everything he needed.

  As he sat down in the chair, his arm brushed Harley’s and he let his eyes linger on her face for a moment.

  “Hi,” she stated quietly.

  “Hi yourself,” he repeated. “What are you doing here?”

  Rather than implicate Kelsey by talking about the dinner invitation, Harley shrugged and looked at her plate, lifting her fork in his direction.

  “Green beans.” It was a simple answer, but the instant it crossed her lips, it took on more meaning than she intended.

  “Sweet,” he answered, a slight smile tugging on one corner of his lips. “Kels, pass me the green beans.”

  “Green beans?” she answered skeptically. “You hardly ever eat green beans.”

  “I am all about the green beans tonight,” he stated, not removing his eyes from Harley’s face. “In fact, I may never eat anything but green beans ever again.”

  At that, she began snickering and turned her face to stop his intense gaze.

  “You get out of working tonight?” Sam directed at Ryan, who quickly piled his plate with potatoes and meatloaf.

  “Nope. Just had a few minutes and I wanted to pick up your car. It’s gonna be really cold tonight to ride home on the bike.”

  “What are you doing tonight?” Kelsey wanted to know.

  “Valet for a party at a hotel,” he answered between mouthfuls of potatoes. “Hopefully it won’t last too long so I can get some sleep before my shift in the morning.”

  Harley placed her fork on her plate and took a long drink of her water, trying to slow her pulse a smidge. She removed her hand from the glass and placed it in her lap, pressing against her jeans with her palm.

  “Do you always eat this fast?” Harley muttered, a bit shocked at the rate at which he was shoveling in his dinner.

  “No, but when you only have five minutes, you do what you gotta do.” He looked at her and winked, and she gave him a slight smile. Her breath lodged in her chest as she felt warm fingers sliding across the back of her hand under the table, intertwining with hers as Ryan’s hand completely encapsulated her own. His thumb brushed gently across the top of her hand while he continued thrusting his fork into his meatloaf and green beans with his right hand.

  “Everything okay, Harley?” Regina asked, glancing at Harley’s uneaten food and her fork resting on the plate.

  “Oh, of course,” she stammered, hoping the embarrassment wasn’t registering on her face. Attempting to pick up her fork with her left hand, she clumsily began sampling her food again.

  “So, are you and Ryan…?” Kelsey began, looking imploringly at Harley.

  “What?” She knew she looked guilty, and she allowed the skin between her eyebrows to fold together in consternation.

  “You know, dating?”

  She dared to glance at Ryan, and even as he squeezed her hand under the table, he shook his head slowly. For whatever reason, his refusal felt almost like a dare.

  “Yes,” Harley said succinctly. “I mean, maybe, if he ever sits still long enough.”

  “And I have to go,” he announced, rising from his seat and allowing his hand to slide away from Harley’s. As he took his chair back to the desk, she already felt his absence like the warmth next to her was fading away. “See you in the morning, okay? I’ll gas your car up before I come home.”

  “Don’t work too hard,” Regina said sadly.

  “Hey, Harley, can you bring me my sweatshirt?” Ryan called from the hall. “I threw it on the couch.”

  Shaking her head at Kelsey’s knowing grin, Harley rose and walked to the couch, taking the shirt in her hand and moving a few steps into the hallway.

  “This is the epitome of laziness,” she muttered as she neared him.

  Without even grabbing for the shirt, he took her hand and held one finger up to his lips to implore her to be quiet. Narrowing her eyes, she watched as he drew her hand palm-up and traced the outline of a heart, never taking his eyes off hers. When he was finished, he closed his fist around her fingers and pulled her hand up against his chest, leaning closer until his mouth was near her ear.

  “Green beans are my new favorite,” he whispered, leaning back and offering a smile. “’Night, Harley.” Sweeping the sweatshirt over his head, he offered a quick smile before he disappeared from her view.

  Returning to the table, Harley lowered herself onto her chair and avoided Kelsey’s eyes as she returned to eating her dinner, not certain she could hide the feelings that were almost certainly crossing her features.

  “So…” Kelsey began, pausing as though she couldn’t see the others at the table around the elephant in the room. “Ryan seems to like you.”

  “Oh, Kelsey, leave her alone,” Regina muttered, shaking her head quickly as though she were trying to remove the thought from her mind. Harley watched in mortification as her face contorted a bit and tears filled her eyes.

  “I’m very sorry if I’ve upset you,” Harley stated hesitantly.

  “No, of course not,” Regina was quick to answer, reaching out and placing her hand on top of Harley’s on the table. “Ryan works so hard, and it’s just nice seeing his face light up, that’s all. He’s in the prime of his life, and he should be out making his way in the world and chasing girls, but instead he works himself to death. I suppose it makes me a little sad.”

  “He obviously cares very deeply about all of you,” Harley responded, not sure how to react to the tears. “And Kelsey is certainly fortunate to have a brother who would go to such lengths to protect her.”

  “You’re pretty eloquent when you’re not playing Scrabble,” Kelsey said, causing Harley to giggle again. The somber mood effectively broken, everyone went back to eating their meatloaf.

  After dinner, Kelsey ushered Harley into her bedroom, where she showed her a couple spelling trophies that suddenly helped the Scrabble make perfect sense. After Harley gave her a sufficient tongue lashing about being a con artist, the two sat on the bed and Kelsey pulled
her legs up near her chin.

  “So, do you really like Ryan?” The younger girl asked the question quietly as though it could soften the edges of her words.

  Smiling at her companion’s directness, Harley slowly nodded her head. “Yeah, there’s something about him, you know?”

  “No, he’s my brother,” Kelsey answered succinctly, rewarding Harley with a smile of her own. Afterwards, she took a deep breath as though she was preparing to say something unpleasant, and Harley waited patiently. “Please don’t hurt him, Harley.”

  The words sliced into Harley like a knife, and she swallowed past a lump in her throat.

  “Why would you say that?”

  “Because I can tell he likes you.” Leaning her head back against the wall behind her, Kelsey looked down at her bedspread. “I don’t think he wants to, though. I think he wants to help us so much, he thinks if he’s distracted that he’s doing us a disservice. I think that’s why he won’t say he’s dating you, and he doesn’t talk about you to us.”

  “I absolutely don’t want to hurt any of you.”

  “I know.”

  “So you think I should stop talking to Ryan?” Harley wondered, slightly confused.

  “No, that would crush him.”

  Harley laid back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

  “I remember when my only worries were what shoes I was going to wear and how many people I would impress that day.”

  “When you were in high school?” Kelsey asked, causing Harley to emit a sharp laugh.

  “No! Last week.”

  Kelsey lowered herself beside Harley and stared across the bed. “When you talk to Ryan tonight, please don’t tell him anything I said.”

  “What makes you think Ryan will call me tonight?”

  Giggling, Kelsey pointed to the other side of the room.

  “I can hear through the wall, Green Beans.”

  C hapter Fifteen

  Staring absently at her computer screen, Harley told herself to focus. She had been typing and deleting the same words into an email over and over, pondering the best way to approach the topic. Annie was right—she had a huge platform, and she desperately wanted to help Kelsey. Unfortunately, the how was giving her a measure of trouble.