She Loves Me (Harmony Pointe #3) - Melissa Foster Page 0,13

was just one of the many reasons he had a hard time with Marshall turning his back on their family the way he had.

But that was a thought for another day, when his brain wasn’t foggy and Piper wasn’t sitting beside him waiting for an answer. It would be easy to minimize how he’d felt when he’d gotten the call about his father having cancer since he hadn’t talked about it with anyone but Delaney. But he wanted to be honest with Piper.

“I was pretty terrified,” he admitted. “One online search told me how aggressive pancreatic cancer was, and they’d caught it late. I remember thinking about how unfair it was to him, to my mom, my siblings, his grandkids. I went numb, I think, going through the motions to make sure everyone was holding up okay, which they weren’t, of course. And after he died, I went from numb to sad, and then I got angry, but you remember how awful I was then.”

“You weren’t awful. You were a son grieving his father.” Piper put her hand over his, lacing their fingers together, and said, “It was unfair to you, too.”

“What?” He met her gaze, and the empathy in her eyes was inescapable.

“You mentioned everyone else, but not yourself. I’m just saying it was unfair to you, too.”

“I guess . . .” He gritted his teeth against the pain burning in his chest.

“You must miss him so much. When I was little, I used to love seeing your dad at the Strawberry Festival or some other event. He’d swoop me off my feet, hold me over his head, and say something like, ‘Put some meat on those bones, Builder Girl, or a bird’s going to pick you up and carry you away.’”

Harley laughed. “I forgot how he used to call you that. And he’d call your sister Talia Bookie. He loved his nicknames.” He turned his hand over to hold Piper’s, but she pulled away and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Anyway,” she said abruptly, and put the carton of ice cream in his hand.

She stuck her spoon into the carton, and then she put space between them, turning to face him on the couch. She fidgeted with the seam along the back of the couch. Was she nervous? He’d never seen Piper nervous. Maybe the meds were playing tricks on him.

She squared her shoulders and put her hand in her lap. “Maybe that’s what Jolie is feeling. She lost her grandfather soon after finding out he was sick, and even though she’s been told her mom is out of danger, she’s still probably terrified of losing her.”

Harley’s brain was moving slowly, and he was still trying to decide if Piper had been nervous. He blinked a few times to clear his head and said, “I think you’re right.”

“If she’s scared, she’s probably also angry. I bet she feels like the world is pretty unfair right now, just like you did.”

“I agree.” He scooped some ice cream and let Jiggs lick it off his spoon. “I didn’t mention her mood to Delaney. I don’t want to worry her.”

“That might be smart, or maybe she knows what Jolie needs better than anyone. I don’t know what’s right in this situation since Delaney just had surgery, and her crisis includes the girls’ well-being. You know she’s got to be as worried about them as they are about her. My gut tells me Jolie needs someone to talk to, and Soph might, too, even though she seems okay. Some kids keep everything bottled up, and you can’t tell what they’re really feeling. But I think Jolie definitely needs to get whatever it is out of her system. I love my family, but at her age, I wouldn’t have been thrilled to talk with them about personal stuff, or something that I considered bad or confusing. I think she should talk to someone who’s not family. Someone she feels safe with. Does she have a teacher or a counselor at school that she trusts? A friend’s mom, maybe?”

“I honestly don’t know. I can ask Delaney.” He rested his head back again and closed his eyes. That horrible feeling in his chest was now accompanied with an extra ache for Jolie. How had he pushed aside how very desperate he’d felt when his father had gotten sick? He should be the one suggesting these things for Jolie. Piper might not be the pampering type, but she cared about everyone. The question was,