She Loves Me (Harmony Pointe #3) - Melissa Foster Page 0,10

Harley watching her as she added the soccer game to her list. He wouldn’t be able to drive until he could put pressure on his ankle, which the doctor had told him could take anywhere from a week to several weeks, depending on how much he stayed off it. When he’d taken off the wrap to ice his ankle before dinner, his entire foot was so swollen, it looked fluid filled. He’d taken off the splint and had refused to put it back on after he’d iced his foot. He’d claimed it bothered him too much to wear it. She was determined to keep him off that foot and help him heal.

“Sophie, are you in any sports or other extracurricular activities?” Piper asked.

Sophie bit into her slice of pizza and shook her head. “I don’t like sports.”

“Then after Jolie’s game, you and I can do something fun.” Piper wrote Sophie? next to Jolie’s soccer sleepover.

“Pipe, if you need to work, I’m sure I can bribe one of the guys to help me out with the girls this weekend,” Harley said.

Harley hadn’t asked for help the whole time he’d been taking care of Jolie and Sophie, and he was always willing to help everyone else. Piper didn’t mind helping the man who never asked for a damn thing. In fact, she wanted to.

“It’s okay. Kase can handle things Saturday.” She scanned the list, seeing her work hours dwindle with each item. She knew her crew could handle the project, but as much as she loved the girls, she might lose her mind if she had too much downtime. She was used to working with her hands, swinging hammers and using power tools. It looked like she’d have to find another outlet for a while.

“Thanks, Piper,” Harley said, grabbing another slice of pizza.

“It’s okay. Let me know if anything else comes up that I should put on the schedule.” They’d spoken to Delaney before dinner, but they hadn’t said anything about a visit. “When am I taking the girls to see Delaney?”

“Friday after school,” Sophie answered.

Harley nodded. “That’s right.”

“Got it.” Piper scrawled Girls to Delaney beneath their school pickup. It looked like she’d have Sunday free. She’d catch up on work then. The girls went to school in Harmony Pointe. Even though it was a short drive from Sweetwater, it would take forty-five minutes or longer each way because of the lines in the school parking lot. At least she was working in Harmony Pointe. She wondered how Harley had taken care of all these things with the girls and still managed to run Dutch’s without asking for help.

Jolie finished her pizza and fed the crust to Jiggs, who was sitting between her and Sophie on the floor in front of the couch. Jiggs would eat anything. When Harley first adopted him, he’d eaten an entire jigsaw puzzle that Harley had left on the coffee table.

Jolie put her paper plate on the table and headed for the stairs.

“Hold on, Jo,” Harley said. “Plate in the trash, please.”

Jolie’s shoulders sagged again, but she came back and grabbed her plate.

“Get started on your homework,” Harley said as she headed into the kitchen.

“I know,” she said with an air of frustration.

“Hey!” Harley hollered loudly, but not unkindly.

Jolie threw out her plate and looked over.

“Love you, Jo.” Harley blew her a kiss.

Jolie rolled her eyes and hurried up the stairs, but not before Piper saw the smile appear on her pretty face.

Harley reached down with both hands and gently tipped Sophie’s face up. He leaned over her and said, “Love you, too, kiddo.”

“Love you, Uncle Harley.”

Jiggs put both paws up on the couch beside Harley and whimpered. Harley kissed Sophie’s forehead, then petted Jiggs. He sat back and winked at Piper. “We’ve got a lot of love in this house.”

It was strange to feel like he was including her in this, especially when she was still flipping out over seeing her pictures on his refrigerator. Sure, she had framed the same picture of them playing basketball and put it up in her living room, but she had lots of other pictures of family and friends there. The only other things hanging on Harley’s fridge were the girls’ school pictures, a picture of Delaney and their mother, one of Harley and his father, and a Polaroid of Harley sleeping with his arm around Jiggs in what she assumed was Harley’s bed. She hadn’t even known they made Polaroid cameras anymore, and she didn’t want to think about