Open Your Heart (Kings Grove #4) - Delancey Stewart Page 0,56

down crosslegged just inside the closed fence, petting them and letting them climb all over me.

Their soft little bodies and curious cold noses were everywhere, and it was impossible to brood over the fog of confusion inside my head while they were in my arms, so I let myself escape for a few minutes as they crowded around me, my legs forming challenging mountains for them to climb, and my hands and Matilda’s nose always nearby when they got into trouble or toppled over, their fuzzy little butts wagging with excitement.

“You’ve got your hands full, I see,” Harper’s voice came from behind me, and I turned to see her approaching. We hadn’t spoken in weeks, though she and Tuck had come down to the fire pit occasionally. Always together. Part of me regretted bringing him up here, while part of me thought it would be for the best if something developed between them, as much as it hurt to imagine.

“They’re getting too big for me to keep.”

She sighed, smiling. “I wish I could take one.”

“You can,” I told her. “Take three.”

Her laugh was light and easy, and I realized how much I’d missed it these last weeks. “Not sure where I’ll be living or anything,” she said. “In Austin, I mean.”

I nodded, the thought of her leaving twisting inside me like a knife.

“I wanted to let you know I’m going to be gone a couple days,” she said, her eyes on mine, making me feel like words were being spoken that had nothing to do with the ones coming from her lips. “Tuck is taking me to the airport tonight.”

Of course he was.

“Okay,” I managed.

She watched me, and for a minute I thought she might say something else. I felt my heart reaching, hoping maybe she’d bring up whatever might be between us again, confirm that maybe there was still something there, though I didn’t know why I wanted that scar opened when we’d been successfully avoiding it for weeks now. Still, ignoring something didn’t make it go away, as it turned out, and as much as I knew it was for the best, I couldn’t help imagining us together again. I spent a lot of time imagining it actually, remembering it. I thought of the slip of her skin against mine, the softness of her lips, the strength in her legs—and the way she put me in my place when I’d initially tried to run. Maybe that was what I missed the most, the way she refused to give me up to my own demons.

“Okay,” she said finally, her voice flat. “Well, I guess I’ll see you when I get back. Tuck has the list of shots I need for the movie at the Inn. We can start shooting that part when I get back if you can go over the plans with him.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Bye,” she said, her voice barely a breath.

One of the dogs sank tiny teeth into my hand just then and I turned back to pull him off. When I looked back to say goodbye to Harper, she was already gone. I sat with the puppies for ten more minutes, but it was impossible to find any joy inside me now. Harper was leaving and I hated it.

Chapter 14

HARPER

I could have driven myself to the airport in Fresno, and had fully intended to, but Tuck wouldn’t hear of it.

“I need to get down there anyway,” he said. “Get some variety in my shopping possibilities.”

“From what I’ve seen you don’t cook anyway, so what are you looking for that you can’t get in Kings Grove?”

“Exactly,” Tuck said. “It’s a tradition, anyway.”

“What is?”

“You don’t drive yourself to the airport. Bad luck.”

“I’ve never heard of this…” I thought back over my recent travels—I’d always gotten a ride to the airport in New York. “What difference does it make?”

“You need someone to see you off, it’s good luck.”

I laughed. “Okay. Well, thanks.”

I did appreciate the ride. It gave me time to check in with my dad, who I’d seen just a couple times in the last month. He’d stopped pushing, and I was finding that if he was demanding my time, then I was more willing to give it.

“Hey Dad,” I said, when he picked up the phone.

“Hi Harper. How are you doing?”

“Fine. Hey, listen. I just wanted to let you know I’m going to be out of town for a couple days. I need to go to Austin and chat with Theo about the business, see the office, get