SLOW PLAY (7-Stud Club #4) - Christie Ridgway Page 0,67
made quick work of packing her bags. Time to go. No time to think.
No time to regret there wouldn’t be another passion-filled night.
Though last night…
Harper’s flushed, naked body twisted under Mad’s big hands, and she moaned as he caressed her everywhere.
“Ah!” She put her hands to either side of her head and then threw out her arms, attempting to dislodge the memories. “Moving on.”
Which meant making herself a quick lunch and then tracking down her mother. After her sandwich, Harper snatched up the item she’d bought at the pharmacy, stuck it in the back pocket of her jeans, and trotted out of the house.
One of the lower fields had been mowed and her mother was standing beside a large pile of pumpkins, her hands on her hips. “What do you think?” she asked, looking over at Harper. “Are some of these too big for Pumpkin Day?”
“Pumpkin Day,” Harper echoed. She’d forgotten it was two days off, when she’d be back in Las Vegas making watered-down Manhattans and Long Island iced teas if her boss wanted her to return to work early. For some reason the golf bachelors and divorce-moon women always ordered drinks named after East Coast hot spots. “I’m going to miss Pumpkin Day.”
Funny, how sad that made her feel.
“You can help set up, though,” her mom offered. “I’d appreciate an extra set of hands.”
Rather than having children traipse through the hilly and uneven pumpkin patch, they set out orange squashes of the right size for little hands on an easy-to-navigate space. For years, the school that both Rebecca and Harper had attended, a popular K-3 named Sunshine & Unicorns and known for its alternative-style of education, visited in September as their lead-in to the fall season.
At least I’ll have this, Harper thought, and began moving the pumpkins.
“I like your company,” her mom said a while later as they stood shoulder to shoulder, debating whether they should reorganize the display. Rebecca customarily ordered them by size, but wondered if this year it should be by shape instead. “I’m going to have to lure you back here sooner than later.”
Harper’s hand went to her back pocket. “Speaking of that…” She whipped out the mascara and presented it with a flourish.
Rebecca stared at the narrow tube, then shifted her gaze to Harper. “What does that have to do with luring you back here sooner or later?”
“Well, nothing.” But she’d needed a way to start this conversation. And it had to be checked off her to-do list before she could leave for Las Vegas. “I just think it would be nice if you started wearing mascara.”
“Oh?” Her mother took the proffered makeup and held it like it was a foreign tool.
“I also think it would be nice to agree to that fix up Mad’s mom is suggesting. You know, go out on a date.”
“You’ve heard about that?” Rebecca’s brow furrowed. “Where is this coming from?”
“Mom, you’ve been wallowing in heartache for far too long.”
Her mother looked away. “I’m not interested in romance.”
“No,” Harper said. “You’re interested in romance, but only the one with my father which ended twenty-seven years ago.”
“Harper…”
She hauled in a breath and then let the admission rush out. “Mom, I have a confession. I read your diaries. Journals. Whatever you call them.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry. I invaded your privacy. It was years ago and it started out innocently enough…” She put up a hand. “No, it wasn’t really that innocent. I saw mention of my father and I, well, couldn’t resist.”
Her mother made a face. “I suppose that curiosity is understandable, Harper, though I wish you hadn’t.”
“I’ve felt guilty about it for years. But it gave me an insight I wouldn’t have otherwise.”
“That being…”
“Mom, you’ve got to get out of this unrequited love-rut.”
Rebecca shifted uneasily. “I don’t want to talk about this, Harper.”
“Mom—”
“Harper, I love you, but it’s none of your business.”
“Ah.” Frustrated, she threw up her hands. “How I wish he’d come back to town.”
Her mother’s expression softened. “Oh, honey. I’m so sorry for that big hole that was left in your life.”
Harper shook her head. “For you, Mom, so you’d see how he isn’t the fantasy man in your head. I wouldn’t wish him back for me.”
“What?”
“I have no hole, Mom, honest. Between you and Grandpop and Grandmom I am all filled up. But I wish he’d come back so you wouldn’t be able to idealize that long-ago so-called ‘relationship’ any longer.”
Harper had done that. She’d spent years idealizing what she’d had with Mad before she’d left to teach