Page 15 of Secret of His Soulmate

“Clara Bear, how are you? Ethan treating you like a princess?” Her fiancé Ethan is a good man and the whole family loves him, even if he does frequently take our little sister to the other side of the planet.

“No, he treats me like a woman, which is even better,” Clara laughs.

“That’s enough of that. I know we all agreed to treat you like a grown-up, but I don’t want to hear what you and Ethan get up to.” Which is ironic, since I called to get help with my love life from my little sister, but she lives for this sort of thing and shehelped our two oldest brothers when they were having problems with their wives.

“Okay, what’s up? Isn’t it like the middle of the night at home? Everyone’s okay, right?”

“Everyone’s fine. I had a great talk with Jovie yesterday. She listened to my problems and gave some great advice.”

“The baby gave you great advice. I’m sorry that I left and that’s what you’ve resorted to, but what did you need advice about?”

“Well, it was Ivy who gave me advice, but Jovie was listening. Also, our niece is a very smart and wise baby and I’m going to tell her that Aunt Clara thinks she can’t give good advice,” I’m stalling. Clara is going to start yelling at me if I don’t get to the point. She isn’t known for her patience when it comes to us boys.

“Miles, you need to tell me why you called. I could be doing something fabulously naughty with my fiancé instead of talking to you.”

“Okay, gross. I’m calling because I need some help. Harper’s house flooded and she’s staying here.”

“Oh no, is she okay? She can stay at my house if it’s going to take a while to fix hers. I can call her and tell her it’s okay if I need to.”

“No!” I say too firmly. “No, her staying here is okay. Lots of people have offered her places to stay.”

“I don’t understand. What do you need advice about?”

“You know how I feel about Harper, right? Um, well, something happened between us.”

“Oh my God, I’m so happy for you Miles. You’ve been in love with her forever. It was honestly a little pathetic, but I would never have said that to you. What happened between the two of you? Are you a couple now? Are you gonna get married?” Clara talks a mile a minute.

“Ouch. Pathetic, Clara? Things happened between us —we don’t need to go into detail— but I think it meant something different to her than it did to me. I wouldn’t say we are a couple and marriage is so far out of sight.”

“Sorry, Miles. How do you know you guys aren’t on the same page? I’m assuming you had sex and then she bolted. That was always going to happen with Harper. You know she has issues with her mom. She needs to be handled gently and loved completely. If you guys just jumped into bed without talking feelings first it was always going to blow up in your face.”

Clara, of course, is right. I should have told her how I felt before we had sex. I still haven’t told her, not even after unloading about my virginity and wanting her since college. I’m an idiot.

“You’re right, like always. I miss you, Clara Bear.”

“I miss you guys too. I think we’re gonna come home for a little visit in a couple of weeks. Don’t tell Mom or anyone else, because we haven’t made any definite plans.”

“It would be great to see you both.”

“Hopefully you and Harper will have figured everything out and you’ll have exciting news to share when we come.”

We talk a little bit longer about what each of our other brothers are up to and where Clara and Ethan are planning to visit next. After we hang up, I feel a little bit better, but I know that it isn’t going to be an easy path to happily ever after for Harper and me.

Chapter 15

Harper

I shouldn’t have left,but I couldn’t stay. It’s been four days since I left in the middle of the night, and I haven’t seen Miles in all that time. I went by his house when I knew he was working on mine and picked up the things I needed for this week. I’m staying at Bridget’s house. Miles has sent me a few texts, but they’ve just been cursory check-ins.

I don’t know what to do. If I tell him I just want to go back to being friends and he agrees, then am I condemning us both to an unhappy life? On the flip side, if we pursue a relationship and it doesn’t work, do we lose each other forever?

“But what if it does work and you live happily ever after?” Celia asks. It’s our weekly book club meeting at Cosmic Books and the five of us are gathered around a table talking about my love life instead of our latest read. “That’s what I’d bet my money on. I kind of think you’re being a wimp.”

“Celia, stop it. Our own feelings are hard to understand— we shouldn’t judge someone else’s.” Bridget looks at me with a sweet smile. “But I agree that you and Miles belong together.”

“You know that you guys aremyfriends and are supposed to be onmyside in all of this. I don’t know what I want yet, so you guys should help me figure it out, not just be all Team Miles.”

They all sit and stare at me. My voice rose with every word and now the whole bookstore is listening. And, lucky me, Miles’s mother and sister-in-law Ivy are standing at the register. I love both of them, but this is not the right time for me to see them or have them overhear my tirade.

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