I’d cried myself to sleep because I longed to be with him. Not that I regretted a single second of my time out here living on this beach. I had let the ocean water wash away the pain of losing my child, and love that was no longer. The truth was that what Finn and I’d had died a long time ago. When he lied to me it sealed our fate and that any chance of us being together was more than dead—it was buried. But I’d also made peace with him. In doing so, I began to love him in a new, deeper way than I had ten years ago.
What helped me wake up every morning was the rising of the sun. It reminded me that each day was a new chance to start over. Opening my eyes I blew out my candle. I was about to take a bite out of my cupcake when someone knocked on the front door. I looked around thinking maybe Reece or Grant had left something, but I couldn’t see anything belonging to them. Another knock came at the door.
“I’m coming!” I said loudly.
When I pulled the door open I wasn’t expecting the person I found on the other side.
“Bitch, you better not be answering the door while you’re coming. That’s something you don’t share with others.” She smiled widely at me.
“Oh my god Harper!” I pushed the screen door open and flung myself at her.
We hugged and held each other tightly. I cried and sobbed, and she did the same.
“What are you doing here?” I said sniffling and pulling back to look at her.
“You didn’t actually think I was going to let you spend your birthday alone did you?”
I cried a bit more, hugging her again. “I’ve missed you so much! Oh god, I’m being rude. Come in!”
I let her go and we both walked inside.
“Wow, look at this place. No wonder you haven’t come home!”
I smiled at her. “Yeah, it’s pretty nice. You want to sit down?”
“I do, but only if you quit being so formal with me.”
“Done.”
She smirked. “Are you going to offer me anything to drink?”
“Get it yourself, kitchens behind you.”
Harper burst out laughing. She got up and grabbed a glass of water and came to sit back down.
“So, how’s my birthday girl?”
“Good. I went for a jog this morning down the beach, read a book earlier, and just had a cookout with some friends.” I replied.
“Any of these friends male?”
“As a matter of fact both of them are, but it isn’t like that at all.”
She raised her eyebrow. “Em, have I taught you nothing? If they have a penis and they are good to you it is more than certainly like that.”
I shook my head grinning. “Not unless one other is old enough to be your Dad, and the other is his son.”
Her face dropped. “Who in the hell have you been hanging out with Em?”
This made me giggle. “They’re good people. Reece owns the house, and Grant is his son.”
She nodded.
“So how are you?” I asked her.
“Pretty good. Business is booming right now since summer is around the corner. Everybody wants to sell their house.”
“That’s great! But what about Ky? Are you able to spend any time with him?”
“Ky’s been distracted with work and he’s been flying back and forth a lot. Even when he’s actually in Idaho, I don’t get to see him much.” She said.
I was confused. “Why is he flying back and forth?”
She looked down at her hands. “That’s part of the reason I came out here Em. Finn’s selling the house. He moved back to California.”
My stomach sank. “I guess that’s a good thing.” I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s not like I could expect him to stay in that little town waiting for me for figure my shit out. He has a life to live too.”
I put on a brave face but deep down I was hurt. If he had moved back to California, did that mean he’d given up on me? I was being selfish. I didn’t want him to wait for me, but I didn’t want him to move on either.
“He’s miserable Em. He’s been miserable since the day you left, and we tried everything to get him to snap out of it. Ky figured that not being in that house and some California sun might cheer him up. The guy even grew a beard and he started to smell funky.” She made a face. “Anyway, he left town a few