Fifteen

I had one thing to say for Hope Mason. She had damn good decorating sense. The house was absolutely gorgeous and everything seemed to fit together, even if it didn’t look like it went together. There were subtle touches that I noticed. Things that looked like they might have come from yard sales, like a wooden rocking horse and old silver tins and glass perfume bottles. 

There were also accommodations for Harper everywhere, from ramps, to the elevator, or a special sink in her bathroom. There were also strange things hanging from the ceiling in her bedroom.

“So she can get herself in and out of her chair without help,” Hunter had said. “When she gets older, they’ll get more stuff so she can do a lot more, but since she’s still so little, it’s easier to carry her.”

I couldn’t imagine. Harper didn’t seem bothered by it at all. She maneuvered her chair like she was born with a joystick in her hand. 

When we’d gotten back from the massive tour, Joe was apparently gone, seeing as there was one less car in the driveway when I caught a glimpse out of a huge picture window in the den. I was no closer to solving the Joe mystery.

Harper insisted on sitting next to me at lunch, and I had Hunter on my other side.

Everyone dug into the chicken, while I devoured an avocado, mozzarella, spinach, and tomato salad.

“This is amazing, thank you so much,” I said, taking another forkful. I’d had one panicked moment when she’d called us for lunch, envisioning multiple forks, and picking the wrong one. 

Thankfully, it was a nice day so we ate out on the back porch, which was much more like a terrace that looked out on the apple trees. The smell of the sweet leaves washed over me and made me think of fall and pies and hayrides and pumpkin carving. I loved fall.

“Remind me to give you the recipe for that dressing,” Hope said, returning my attention to the present moment.

“I will.”

“Momma, can I have some more watermelon, please?” Harper asked.

“Yes, Harper, you may. Thank you for asking so nicely.”

“You want some, Dare?” Mase said.

“Sure, thanks.” Darah seemed to be as nervous as I was. She’d already dropped her fork twice and had knocked over her water glass.

“So, Taylor, Hunter told us you’re a women’s studies major. That must be interesting,” she said, dishing some watermelon cubes onto Harper’s plate.

“I want to work at a crisis center or somewhere that helps women recover from trauma,” I said, wondering if that was TMI. I didn’t want to seem like the damaged girl, but it was hard not to.

“That’s very admirable. What made you choose that as a career path?” I’d been asked that a million times, so I had an answer.

“I want to help people, and that seemed like a good way to do it.”

“Well, aren’t you just the sweetest? I’m glad you brought her, Hunter. She’s much better than that other one. What was her name?”

“Chastity,” he said, not looking at me. I remembered seeing her name in his phone.

“What an awful name. It’s been my experience that when you name a girl like that, she’s more likely to embrace the opposing virtue,” Hope said, giving me a knowing look. I’d also had that experience with a girl named Charity, who had been anything but charitable.

I was in the perfect position to kick Hunter under the table, so I did. Who the hell was Chastity? I knew next to nothing about his dating history, except that it was long and there were a lot of names in that little black book. To be totally honest, I didn’t really want to know much. Ignorance was bliss in this situation.

Hope brought out strawberry shortcake, and we all stuffed our faces. The conversation lulled as we chewed. The sun was high in the sky, and it was turning out to be a warm, lazy Saturday.

“So, JJ, I was thinking you and Hunter could give me a hand with that tractor after we’re done here.” I assumed JJ stood for John Jr.

“Excuse me, Daddy, but we’re going to sing,” Harper said while Hope wiped whipped cream from her face.

“Yes, Angel, we’ll do that first.”

“Okay,” Harper said, nodding her head.

We finished lunch, and Hunter grabbed his guitar. Darah and Mase went to help Hope with the dishes, and I offered, but Hope refused, so John, Hunter and I sat with Harper.

“Our Song!” Harper chanted.

Oh there was no way that Hunter knew that. He seemed to read my mind as he gave me a wink and started the song without further ado. It was clear within three seconds that he had played this song more than a few times. 

His normally rough voice blended with Harper’s in the most adorable way. He knew all the words. I hummed along, tapping my foot.

He finished the song and Harper clapped.

“Can we do Love Story?”

“Sure, Seven. Why don’t you ask Taylor to sing with us?”

“Will you sing, please?” Her little voice, combined with her clasped hands was irresistible. This child was the key to world peace. All she’d have to do was bat those eyelashes and smile that dimpled smile and world leaders would be falling over themselves to sign a peace treaty.

“Sure.” Hunter started the song, and I was a little nervous about singing in public, but this wasn’t really public.

I joined in, my voice blending with the other two. My voice was a little too deep to be like Taylor Swift’s, but I did love singing her songs. I hated the fact that Hunter knew I sang in the shower. I should probably put a lid on that.

John got a call on his cell phone midway through the song, and excused himself.

Hunter ended the song, and our voices faded out.

“You have a pretty voice,” Harper said.

“Thank you, Harper.” She was just the sweetest.

“Do you wanna see the apple trees?”

“Lead the way,” I said, getting to my feet. Ugh, I‘d eaten too much.

 She zoomed down the little ramp that was attached to the porch as Hunter and I followed.

“Joe didn’t want to join us?”

“He had other things to attend to.”

“He’s not a hit man, is he?”

 Hunter laughed. 

“No.”

“Then why all the secrecy? Unless you’re doing something illegal?”

Harper was singing as she tooled along ahead of us.

“It’s just personal business. Once again, I ask you: Why do you care?”

I pressed my lips together and walked ahead of him, threading my way through the fragrant trees. 

Hunter was watching me. I always knew when he was watching me. As if he was calling my name inside my head.

“This is my favorite,” Harper called from two rows over. The trees all had little green pre-apples on them. “I call him Monty.”

“Harper names all the trees,” Hunter said with a straight face. “That’s Walter, and that’s Shirley and that’s Cinderella…” He kept going, naming at least ten more trees. 

“Do you have their names in your phone?” I said without thinking.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

He shook his head and turned me around so we weren’t facing Harper, who was talking to Monty the tree.

“The only way you would know what numbers I have in my phone would be if you looked in my phone, which would be an invasion of my privacy.” 

“Oh, like going in my purse and finding my keys isn’t? Like taking my e-reader isn’t? Like trying to catch me naked isn’t? You filthy hypocrite,” I hissed at him, glancing to make sure that Harper was still chatting with the tree.

“Don’t touch my phone,” he said, stepping close to me.

“Don’t touch my ass then.”

“The problem with that, Missy, is that you want me to touch your ass. If Harper wasn’t here right now, you’d want to be pushed up against one of those trees with the leaves in your hair and my hands all over you. I do not want you to touch my phone.”

“You are such an asshole.”

“Watch your language in front of Harper. She’s very impressionable.” He stepped away and crouched next to Harper’s chair.

Normally, Hunter was a douche, but a nice one — if there was such a thing. But it seemed like something had flipped a switch. Hunter had never been mean to me before. Not like that. I had the distinct feeling that it had something to do with Joe and the mysterious meeting. 

“Will you come back and help me pick them?” Harper said after she’d introduced me to several more trees.

“Of course I will,” I said, leaning down next to her chair. She held her arms out for a hug, and I gave her one.

“You promise?”

“Pinky swear.”

*****

While Hunter and Mase worked on the tractor — I very much doubted the existence of said tractor — and Darah played with Harper, Hope and I had a little chat. I’d heard from Darah that she’d already had the Hope interrogation that morning and it wasn’t that bad.

“You are such a pretty little thing. What are you doing with a boy like Hunter?”

I nearly choked on my third glass of iced tea. That stuff was good. 

“I honestly don’t know.”

She gave me a look. 

“He can be a sweet boy when he wants, but sometimes I worry about him. I don’t even want to know what he gets up to.”

No good, that was what. Lots and lots of no good. I bit my tongue.

“He does have that bad boy charm about him though,” she said with a smile. Damn that woman could win the World Smiling Championships. “John was like that, too. Trouble written all over him.”

Darah and Harper were playing Go Fish and from what I could tell, Harper was kicking ass.

“I wasn’t very happy when he started inking up his body, I’ll tell you that much. If his mother, God rest her soul, knew she would have had a litter of kittens.”  

I really, really wanted to ask about the mother, but I didn’t want to seem like I was trying to pry. 

I also wasn’t going to tell her that I thought his tattoos were beyond sexy.

“As long as he doesn’t get a motorcycle, I think my heart will be able to take it. Thank the stars that John Jr. never got into that sort of thing. I would have had his hide.” I laughed. 

“You have a great laugh. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“Hunter,” I said without thinking.

“He would.” She turned away from watching Harper and stared at me. Like really stared. Like she was trying to see deep down into my soul. I tried not to flinch while she completed her examination.

“I think of Hunter as my son, and as his mother it is my job to vet any potential females he may be interested in. This is nothing personal, it’s my job.”

“And?” I asked hesitantly. This woman clearly had a set of fangs behind those pearly whites. Noted.

“I don’t want him to hurt you. I don’t want you to hurt him.”

“Me neither. We’re not involved… that way anyway.” I didn’t know what way we were involved. I was pretty sure there wasn’t a definition for it yet.

Hope gave me another once-over with her laser eyes. It was worse than airport security.

“Yet. You’re not involved yet, but honey, I’ve never seen that boy as smitten with anyone as he is with you. You’d have to be blind not to see it.”

Yeah, yeah. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. She didn’t understand how complicated it was.

“Love is simple. You fall and that’s it. You’ll work the other stuff out. You just gotta let yourself fall and have faith that someone will be there to catch you.”

I didn’t want to do any falling. Falling usually led to meeting a hard surface in an unpleasant way.

“All right, that’s enough of the third degree. Now tell me some more about yourself. That top is just darling on you.”

I didn’t tell her that Hunter picked it out. We continued our small talk, but I could tell that she was watching me.