Page 40 of Harper

I roll my eyes at him.

“You really want me to leave you alone?” he asks.

No. I mean, it’s risky as hell to be kinda-sorta hanging out with Joe again, but the day will never come when I want less of Joe in my life and that’s the truth. Just being around him over the last few days has made me feel…different. Less alone. More myself.

But you can’t be together…you can never be together.

I grimace. “It’d be better if you did.”

“Still don’t understand why.” He cocks his head to the side. “How about this…you come on a date with me tonight. Proper. I’ll pick you up. We’ll have drinks, go out to dinner, maybe go dancing. The whole nine yards—”

“No.”

“Hold on, now. You haven’t heard the rest yet.”

“So, get to the point.”

“If you have a terrible time, you can break your promise to be civil to me and go back to ignoring me. I’ll be totally out of your hair.”

“Okay. But what if I have a good time?”

“Then you hang out with me from time to time. No biggie. No commitment. You just let me back into your life a little bit.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why not?” he asks.

Because I know I’ll have a good time. In fact, I’ll have a great time. I’ll have the best time I’ve had in years.

He grins. “You’re scared you’ll have a good time, aren’t you?”

Damn him for still knowing me so well. And damn him for having the most infectious smile ever.

“Fine,” I say, trying unsuccessfully not to smile back at him. “I’ll go out with you. But I’m not going to have fun.”

He chuckles, preening a little, pleased with himself. “Whatever you say, Harp.”

“Pick me up at six.”

“Works for me.”

He reaches up to touch the brim of his hat, then winks at me as he walks away. My stomach flutters again, and this time, I don’t have the heart to tell it to shut up.

***

I wrestle with myself all afternoon.

I know I should cancel on Joe, but the truth is that I am stuck in Skagway this weekend, and besides, I already said yes. That said, I don’t have to dress up or wear makeup. I don’t have to look especially nice. That wasn’t part of the deal.

I do the bare minimum to get ready: take a quick shower, pull my hair up into a messy bun, and throw on some cutoff jean shorts that don’t smell too ripe. Checking out my T-shirt drawer, I realize that laundry hasn’t been a priority lately. I’m down to two choices unless I want to get fancier and wear a blouse…and I’m definitely not getting fancier for Joe.

One T-shirt is a bright aqua and reads, “Juneau how to get to Alaska?” with a smiling humpback whale pointing north.

The other, in heather gray, sports a team of sled dogs rearing to race, and the words, “There’s no place like Nome. Iditarod, 2016.”

I choose the Nome shirt, mostly because the color doesn’t hurt my eyes, but also because it’s a V-neck and shows just a touch of cleavage at the tip of the V. I’m wearing old shorts, my hair’s messy, and I skipped makeup—with that winning combination distracting him, he’s not going to notice my boobs, right? Right.

I pull on wool socks and boots—you never know where a night in Skagway can take you—and grab my purse and a navy-blue windbreaker from the hook by the door just as I hear Joe’s SUV pull up outside my cabin. If I’m going to do this, I’d like to do it without my whole family looking on, and since they’re all at dinner in the lodge right now, I’d best hustle.

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