It was just too damn bad she was gone and she left us with the task of her mission.
Fucking sisters were a pain in the ass.
9
Hudson
The date I promised Brandon with Harper was a bust from the outset. Harper was attractive, something I noticed as soon as I helped her out of her Uber ride. Auburn hair that bounced on her shoulders and glistening light blue eyes. She was the exact kind of woman I’d normally be interested in.
Intelligent with a serene personality, I forced myself to try to enjoy the drink we ordered at the Italian restaurant that had a casual bar area with little background noise and fewer distractions. That had been my first error.
Fifteen minutes into the date, our conversation was already forced through pleasantries and mostly spent talking about Jenna and Brandon’s upcoming wedding.
It was that moment, halfway through our first glasses of wine, I realized what a complete asshole I was being. I had an obsession, an unhealthy one all due to a feisty blonde with more attitude and spice than anyone I’d met in a long time. I couldn’t kick her out of my head.
I also had no motivation to do the kicking.
“Listen, Harper…”
“Oh no.” She laughed awkwardly and took a sip of her wine. “I haven’t even bored you yet with my talk of work but that doesn’t sound good.”
I cringed. I was taught to respect women. Always. Hell, I was raised to respect people—man or woman, boy or girl, race or sexual or gender orientation. “It’s not you, I swear.”
She set down her glass of wine, eyes narrowing on me. Slowly her soft features hardened into a more cunning expression. “Brandon and Jenna said you aren’t seeing anyone.”
“I’m not.”
“But you’re interested in someone.”
I brushed my thumb up and down the length of the stem of my wine glass. There was no way to describe what was happening to me. “It’s complicated. And I’m really sorry. I hoped tonight would go different.”
“Me too.” She slid off her chair and grabbed her jacket. She had it on before I could assist her. “I’ll call an Uber.”
She took off out of the restaurant, and I slapped down more money than necessary for the two wines. At least I’d make our server happy tonight with the ridiculously high tip, but I was more concerned with Harper outside. Alone. At night. And clearly pissed off from the way she’d so quickly fled. Not that I could blame her.
I hurried to find her and finally saw her fifteen feet from the entrance, tapping on her phone.
I walked to her and shoved my hands into my pockets. “I should have been more forceful with Brandon. This whole night is my fault.”
It was too bad it didn’t occur to me before all this that if things went south, she’d go straight to Jenna. Who would now know I was interested in someone. Who would tell Brandon. Who would never back off. I wasn’t prepared for that conversation at all. Not yet.
“It is.” She gripped her phone in one hand and tightened the belt on her coat. “Jenna promised you were a good guy, or that you’d at least be fun. I wasn’t expecting anything, except for a drink or two and some entertaining conversation, Hudson, but this is shitty.”
“I know.” I had no defense. Empty platitudes weren’t my thing, neither were explanations that really weren’t any of her business. Despite the fact I’d screwed up, I had no intention of giving her either. “I’m sorry to have wasted your night.”
“You can go. Uber will be here in a couple minutes and I’m good alone.”
“I’m sure you are.” I rested my shoulders against the brick wall and stayed put. She was probably fiercely independent and plenty capable of looking out for herself and we didn’t have to talk if she didn’t want, not that I could blame her, but I’d stay until I saw her get in the car safely.
Which is exactly what happened. Three minutes that felt like thirty went by when a car pulled up with an Uber sticker on display. She peeked at her phone and then glanced at the license plate.
“This you?” I asked, as she stepped away from me.
“Yes.”
She walked quickly to get to the car before it stopped and opened the door. I gripped the top of it so she couldn’t slam it in my face and listened as she verified her name and her Uber driver before getting in.
Finally she slid in, yanking on her seat belt.
“I truly am sorry, Harper, about all of this.”
“I know, I know. It’s not me, it’s you.” She said it with a slick arrogance and yeah… I knew now. Even without Lilly invading my thoughts, this woman wasn’t the one for me.
“Right. Get home safe,” I said, more in warning to the driver.
She dismissed me with a flip of her hand, already on her phone, probably telling her friends I was a giant jackass. My only defense? The date was more for Brandon than myself, so whatever. But when the Uber was gone and the night was still young, I was in no hurry to return home, to pace my living room, debate figuring out how to get a hold of Lilly and ask what she was thinking. How she was doing.
If she was safe.
If she needed money. Needed help. With anything.
Goddamn, you’re a pathetic sap.
Hearing about her and seeing her pictures was bad. After having met her, and hunted her down a second time, it was worse.
This craving pissed me off… these emotions I didn’t even want.
“Screw it.” I shoved my keys into the pocket of my gray dress pants and headed down the street in the opposite direction of my car. I needed a walk. A few miles or hours to clear my head before returning home to silence.
I walked for what felt like forever, my arches and heels starting to ache in my dress shoes when I noticed a church up ahead. Outdoor lights illuminated the gothic architecture, the dozens of stone steps leading to the entrance with gleaming, at least twelve-foot-high wood doors. At least a half-dozen self-standing signs were lined up right outside the doors, but it was the church as a whole that called to me.
In my youth, I’d spent hours every week at church. Between Bible studies and Sunday morning worship times and Vacation Bible Schools in the summer, I couldn’t remember a time when I hadn’t enjoyed sitting inside the walls of a church, or the peace it brought when I needed a place to reflect on what was going on in my life. As I grew older and then after Mom died, both Dad and I stopped going for the most part. I think we both felt we could show love to others, serve them and care for them, if we spent that time outside the walls of corporate worship than inside, but it’d always been a place that brought me peace.
Tonight, it called to me for a different reason. A place to take a break, relax, and get my head settled after the disaster of my time with Harper. I also needed to figure out what I was going to tell Dad if Lilly never called and decided she didn’t want help.
He hated failing.
“Shit.” I dropped my face to my hands and my elbows to my knees.
I had no idea how long I sat there, lost and confused and pissed off and twisted on those cooling cement steps but the sun had long since set when there was movement around me. I stared straight ahead, hands falling to my lap. At least a dozen people walked by, not so much as sparing me a glance sitting there. Someone walked by me, dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, and paused with their back to me. I looked back down at my feet. It was probably time to get home and forget this day when a shoe came into view and then the tip of that shoe tapped my foot.