Harvest Moon - By Robyn Carr Page 0,108

it—most of the time when I wasn’t so nice, I knew it. I’m not even sure why, but I knew it. I can be a lot nicer. Seriously.”

“Why are you doing this now?” Kelly asked.

“I didn’t think you’d really go,” she said. “Seriously, I thought there’d be at least one more warning.”

Kelly hugged her quick and hard. Then she pulled away, looked into Courtney’s pretty eyes and said, “Listen, I won’t be far. And I’ll be back at least every month, maybe a couple of times a month.”

“But no,” she said. “Don’t go.”

“Courtney, I’m sorry, but Luca’s counting on me. He offered me a good job and I made a commitment to him. He needs me. But I’ll visit, I promise.”

“But my dad needs you,” she said, her eyes welling with tears.

Kelly felt a hand on her shoulder, too big and heavy to be Jill’s. Colin’s hand. Shoring her up.

Kelly looked at Lief. His posture was unchanged, but he made a slight shrug, barely discernable.

“Courtney, your dad can call me every day. We’ll talk. We’ll see each other now and then. This isn’t a surprise. We talked about it.”

“You can’t just walk out on him,” she said. “You have to give it a little more time.”

“I’m not, honey. I’m not walking out on your dad and he understands that. Lief,” she said. “Lief, tell her that I’m not abandoning you.”

“She’s not, Court. She needs to be someplace where she feels she really belongs, where she’s counted on and feels useful and appreciated. I understand that.”

“This isn’t goodbye,” Kelly said. “I’ll see you soon.” She gave her another hug and stepped down the porch steps.

“Okay!” Courtney yelled. “I need you! Sparky needs you! Don’t go! Just please, don’t go!”

Kelly stopped in her tracks, met Lief’s warm and dark brown eyes and his slight smile. She slowly turned back to Courtney, who had her fist covering her mouth and tears slipping out of her eyes.

“Okay, so I really want you to stay,” she said softly, then hiccupped. She lifted her chin. “He won’t mind, believe me. But it’s me, okay?”

Kelly frowned. “Why?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged with a half sob. “Because you just take me as I am, pretty much. Because you’re not mean. Because you help.” She sniffed and wiped her hand across her nose. “Because you said my dad was going to ground me forever and wouldn’t cover for me to get on my good side, but still slept in my bed with me because I was crying. Come on.” She pulled the necklace Kelly had given her for Christmas out from the inside of her shirt to show it to her. “Give us a break. Huh?”

Kelly shot a glance at Lief. He just cocked his head to one side as if to say it had nothing to do with him.

She looked back at Courtney.

“You just have to give us one more chance. Me,” Courtney said. “You just have to give me another chance, because really I never wanted you to leave, I just… I just worried about not being important around here, like I wasn’t important at Stu’s house.”

“Maybe we should take a breather,” Kelly said. “See where we are in a few months…”

“Don’t go,” she said. “My dad loves you. He told me at Christmas—he loves you. And I didn’t really want to, but after Sparky blew his tail off, I knew you were the real deal and I started to love you, too.”

“Wow,” Kelly said. “You sure made me work for it!”

Courtney laughed through her tears. “Seriously,” she said.

“You need to know something, little chick. If I pack my car again, ever, I’m moving.”

“I get that,” Courtney said.

“Hey,” Colin protested from behind her. After all, he was the one who’d packed the car. She shot him a glare to shut him up.

“So you’re staying?”

“I’ll give this a try,” Kelly said. “If you really think we’re in the same canoe.”

“I do,” Courtney said. “I do. You do love my dad, right?”

“I love him a lot,” she said. “And you’re really growing on me.”

Courtney laughed at her. “You should probably kiss him, then. He’s been awful to live with lately.”

Kelly approached Lief warily. When she was about a foot away, she asked, “Was this your idea?”

“I had absolutely nothing to do with it. Nothing. Now come here. She’s right. You should kiss me.”

She allowed herself to be pulled into his arms, met his lips and behind her she heard, “Ewww. Gross.” Kelly jumped back and looked over