Page 125 of Redeeming Harmony

“No. Do you want to see other people?”

She hesitated, folding her arms across her torso in a nervous gesture before shaking her head. “I don’t.”

“Me neither. Because we want to be with each other.”

“I can’t date you, Nathan.”

“You already are,” he said.

She stared up at him, and he slid his arms around her waist and rested his forehead against hers. “Give us a chance, Harper, please.”

She softened against him, and he kissed her lightly. She tried to take the kiss deeper, and despite how badly he wanted her, he pulled his head back and ran his fingers across her cheekbone. “What do you say, honey?”

For one brief moment, he held out hope as she stared up at him, her gaze conveying the same longing and intensity for him that he had for her. Until she shook her head and looked away, staring at a spot on his chest. “Please, Nathan. Can’t we just keep doing what we’re doing? No commitment, no pressure?”

Regret sucked all the hope and the joy out of his body, and he stepped back, tugging free of her grip when she tried to keep him close. “I can’t.”

“You could try,” she said.

“So could you,” he said.

“Where does this leave us?” She wrapped her arms around her torso again, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

He scrubbed a hand through his hair, the swallow of wine trying to work its way back up his gullet as his stomach tossed and turned like a boat caught in a squall.

“Nathan?” she whispered.

“I want more than just sex, and you don’t. Since neither of us can give the other what they want, I guess that means we’re finished,” he said.

The tears spilled out of her eyes and down her cheeks. The back of Nathan’s eyelids stung, and the room wavered as Harper gathered her jacket and her bag.

She hesitated in the doorway, and the agony and loss on her face was almost his undoing. “Nathan, I…”

He looked away, his hands clenching into fists, the lump in his throat making it nearly impossible to choke out any words. “Goodbye, Harper.”

He heard her trembling breath and the hitch in her voice when she said, “Goodbye, Nathan.”

* * *

Harper slippedinto the house and quietly eased the door shut. Her dad had dinner plans with friends tonight, and she’d hoped he’d still be out when she returned home from Addie’s, but his SUV was in the driveway.

She could hear him in the living room talking to Winston as he packed up the bookshelves that lined the one wall. She took off her shoes and stepped gingerly over the floorboard with the squeak as she crept closer to the living room doorway.

She’d successfully avoided her dad since Wednesday night, not an easy feat when they lived in the same house, and she definitely needed to get to her room before he saw her now. She was in no shape to answer his questions about why her eyes and nose were swollen from crying.

She’d hidden away in her room all day Thursday until Addie finished work. Harper had driven to Addie’s apartment, told her everything, and spent the entire evening crying on Addie’s couch before sneaking home long after her father had gone to bed.

She’d spent most of today at work desperately trying not to cry like an overtired toddler. She’d succeeded, mostly, until she was sitting in the staff room on her last break. Hazel had sat down across from her and asked what was wrong, and, to Harper’s horror, she’d burst into tears and told Hazel everything. Hazel had been nothing but sympathetic, but Harper’s embarrassment at making a fool of herself in front of her boss sent her straight back to Addie’s after work to once again cry on her shoulder.

Holding her breath, she inched past the doorway, releasing the air in her lungs in a soft exhale when she made it past. She’d taken only two steps toward the stairway when her father said, “Harper, come in here for a minute, please.”

“Fuck,” she said on a quiet sigh before clearing her throat. “Hi, Dad. I’m exhausted, and I have a terrible headache. Can we talk in the morning?”

“This will only take a minute,” Warren said.

She stayed where she was until her dad said, “Harper Mae.”

Her shoulders slumped, and she turned around and walked into the living room, forcing a cheerful smile on her face. “What’s up?”

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