Page 87 of Frisco

I hit accept, and he kept on as if there’d been no break after his text.

“I called and informed her what was going down, and do you know what she did?”

I tensed, waiting for the bomb to drop.

“She asked to talk to him!” His voice went up. “Not to chew him out, or I don’t know—warn him not to hurt her baby. Nope. She wanted to see how he was doing since the breakup. I can’t believe it. My own mother. And then when he gave the phone back, she warned me not to hurt him!”

Yep. My guess was confirmed. “Harper.”

He sniffled. “What?”

“Did Justin give you an ultimatum? Marry him or break up with him?”

He was quiet for a moment. “No.”

“Do you miss him?”

“Yes…”

“You’re scared of getting married. I think that’s reasonable, considering your parents’ crazy life, but I’m pretty sure Justin will understand. Have you talked since that night?”

“No. He proposed, and I left.”

Holy—I bolted upright in bed. “What?”

“He got down on one knee, brought the ring out, and I left. My own house. I left my own house.”

“Was he there when you came back?”

“No.”

I frowned, something in the way he said that… “How long were you gone?”

“Three days.”

“Oh my God, Harper! Of course he was gone when you came back. That’s—that’s humiliating.”

“My best friend.” His voice was shrill again. “Mine. Not his—”

I heaved another breath, and he heard this one, quieting.

“I’m being irrational, aren’t I?”

“A bit.”

I waited, knowing Harper. We’d gone through this since high school. We might age, we might wise up, we could grow internal and external scars, but some things never changed—our hearts. Harper was petrified, and only he could do what he needed to do.

“When are you coming back, Kali? I could do with a Kali cuddle.”

“I’m not sure. I’m waiting to find out myself.”

“I miss you. It’s fun being out here with Aly, but we did come to be with you, you know.”

“I know.” I lay back down, settling into the pillow once again. “I don’t think my sister is coming back with us.”

“Are you coming back with us?”

I couldn’t answer that either. “What are you going to do about Justin?” I asked instead.

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