he’d worked twelve hours and had to crash for the rest of the day, and he’d call her today. She tried not to read anything into the brevity of the text. What did she expect, some overly effusive missive when the guy had spent half a day patching up people? She’d almost asked him about the hospital job that had come her way but knew the last thing he needed at the end of a long shift was to trade texts, so she’d bided her time until today.
He must be having one hell of a sleep, because he hadn’t called by midday, and she knew this would be another downside of dating a doctor besides being ditched for emergencies: not being able to call him for fear of waking him. A selfish, irrational thought, considering the work he did and how he devoted his time to her when they were together. Manny made her feel special in a way she never had, like she was the only girl in the world. She needed to remember that the next time she felt a little sulky.
Her mom had invited her over for lunch, and Harper hoped Lydia had taken her advice and sorted things with her dad. Seeing those gift baskets the other day had made Harper sad in a way she hadn’t expected. Her dad truly loved her mom, his devotion absolute. So what the hell had happened to keep them apart for so long? If there was the slightest chance they could reconcile their differences, Harper would be all for it.
The first thing she noticed when she parked in front of her childhood home was a new car in the driveway. A black compact hybrid. Her mom’s small SUV was parked in front of it, so it wasn’t an impulsive buy by Lydia, and she hoped her dad hadn’t gone overboard and upped the ante from his gift baskets. Or worse, it signaled her mom was about to introduce her to a new man.
The door opened as she reached the porch, and Harper struggled not to gape. Her immaculately presented mother who never had a hair out of place, always wore makeup, and wouldn’t be seen dead in a leisure suit, wore her hair loose and tousled around her shoulders, not a bit of makeup on her face, and black yoga pants topped with a gray hoodie.
But Lydia’s eyes sparkled in a way Harper hadn’t seen in a long time, and her smile . . . she’d never seen her mother this happy.
“Who are you and what have you done with my mom?”
“Come in,” Lydia said, waiting until Harper had stepped inside and closed the door before flinging her arms around her.
“Mom, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”
The moment she asked the question, she knew.
The strange car in the driveway.
Her mom’s disheveled appearance.
Lydia definitely had a new man, and they’d barely made it out of the bedroom.
Harper shuddered and Lydia released her.
“I’ve got a surprise for you,” her mom said, leading her by the hand toward the kitchen.
The first thing Harper glimpsed as they passed the dining room was no gift baskets. Yep, it was looking more likely by the minute that her mom had a new man.
The second thing she saw as she entered the kitchen was her dad, wearing a tailored suit of all things, with a tie and expensive Italian loafers.
When her father smiled, his proud gaze swinging between her and Lydia, Harper knew what the surprise was, and she let out a whoop. Her feet flew across the kitchen, and she flung herself into her dad’s open arms, bursting into tears as he hugged her tight.
“I guess this means she’s happy about our decision,” Lydia said, completing their family hug by pressing against Harper’s back like she used to when Harper was little and it was the three of them against the world.
There were sniffles all round before they disengaged and Harper stood between her parents, her head swiveling.
“You two owe me an explanation.”
“We love you, darling, but we don’t owe you anything,” Lydia said, standing beside Alec, her hand in his. “But we want to tell you what’s happened, because we know you’ve been worried about us.”
“That’s an understatement,” Harper said, pulling up a chair at the table.
She couldn’t be happier that her parents had reunited, but a small part of her wished she could reboot her vitiligo as easily. They could return to normal, but she never could.
“You’re looking awfully slick, Dad.”
Alec shrugged, bashful.