He glanced over at Doyle as they bumped over the grass.“The...what?”
“I had lunch with Conrad on my way in from the airport.He said that Harper’s got some new gig in Nashville.Editor of a magazine or something?”
His mouth opened.Closed.Really.
“Bro?”
“Yeah.I guess we’re doing the long-distance thing.”
Calm down.
He dropped Doyle off, then returned the UTV to the garage.He sat in the darkness, then grabbed the keys, hung them up on the key ring, and walked out under the stars.On shore, the fire still burned, guests now roasting s’mores.
Calmdown.
He stared out at the trail between the two houses, and the ember inside just burned.What?
He was halfway to her house before he thought it again, and this time took a breath of the cool early-autumn air, rich with the fragrance of the lake, slowed his step.
It couldn’t be true.
Even before he emerged from the forest, he spotted the twinkle lights around the patio and a person sitting in an Adirondack chair, wrapped in a blanket.
Oops,not Harper, but her mother.Petite and blonde, just like Harper, except Phillipa possessed a straightforwardness about her that simply didn’t feel Minnesotan.
She looked up from the tablet in her lap and smiled.“Jack.How are you?”
He shouldn’t answer that.“Is Harper here?”
“Of course.She’s inside packing.”
Packing.
He blinked at Phillipa for a moment, and being the professional therapist that she was, maybe she read him.
She sighed.“It’s a great opportunity, Jack.And I know that you’ll both miss this place, but...things change, you know?And people need to find their own happiness.”
Jack frowned.“I thought?—”
She held up her hand.“I know.Me too.But sometimes things just happen, and you can’t predict them or change the way you feel.And Harper knows this.”She gave him a smile.“I’m sure you can understand, what with your love for adventure and the open road.”
He stared at her.Is that what Harper thought?“I don’t...I love...helping people.”
“Of course you do.And it’s so admirable.I know it’s something that Harper loves about you.”She picked up her tablet.“You two will get used to it.I know you will land on your feet.And of course, Duck Lake will always be home, right?”
Not without Harper.He looked at the house, back at Phillipa.And the urge to turn, to stalk back to the King’s Inn and...
Nope.He wasn’t that man anymore.And he loved Harper.
So yes, long-distance it was.Or maybe he’d follow her.
If she wanted him to.
His gut clenched as he walked up to the door, hesitated for a moment, and then...went in.
No Harper, but she was probably upstairs in her mother’s office, a.k.a.the guest bedroom.“Harp?”
Music drifted from above.“I’ve had the time of my life.”
