Page 53 of Redeeming Harmony

Not waiting to see if he followed her, she left his office.

Chapter 13

“Here you go, one americano extra hot and with an extra shot of espresso.” Harper set the coffee on the counter and grinned at Gideon. “If Gracie finds out you’re loading up on this much caffeine, she’s gonna get you in trouble.”

Gideon picked up his coffee and took a sip. “Which is why this is going to be our delicious secret.”

Harper laughed. “I never thought working at a coffee shop would make me the keeper of so many secrets. You would not believe the stuff we overhear.”

“Nature of the job,” her boss Hazel said as she joined them. She smiled at Gideon. “Hello, Sheriff.”

“Hi, Hazel. How are you?”

“Good. You?”

“Good, thanks. Those kids still smoking weed behind your building?”

“No, apparently, whatever Deputy Lennox said to them the other night scared them straight.”

“Yes and no,” Gideon said. “They’re back behind the Walgreens again. Sean is livid about it.”

“I bet,” Hazel said with a laugh. “Harper, go ahead and take your break.”

“Thanks.” Harper waved goodbye to Gideon and pushed through the employee's only door. She hung her apron in her locker, grabbed an apple from her lunch bag, and her sketchpad from her bag.

Instead of sitting on the couch in the break room, she headed toward the front of the store. It wasn’t crazy busy in the coffee shop. Hazel wouldn’t mind if she took up a seat by a window where the light was best so she could work on her sketch. She grabbed herself a coffee - one thing Harper loved about working at Grind My Beans was the employee's free coffee policy - and snagged a table next to the window overlooking Main Street.

She ate her apple while she stared out the window. Main Street was busy for a Friday afternoon, and she tried to distract herself by people watching. It didn’t work. Thoughts of Nathan and his perfect lips kept slipping into her head, just like they had all week. She’d avoided the clinic and Nathan since Tuesday, but it didn’t seem to matter. One make-out session with Nathan Henshaw, and she was suddenly obsessed. And maybe a little pissed off that she’d never get to see how big his dick was.

It had felt big… gloriously big, in fact, and the idea that another woman in Harmony Falls would get to see it when she didn’t, sent a shot of jealousy through her that she had no business feeling. She and Nathan weren’t a couple. Hell, they weren’t even fuck buddies. She had no claim over hisplease be as thick as it feltcock.

“Harper! I heard you were back in town.”

The familiar voice scraped across Harper’s nerve endings. Suddenly regretting not taking her break in the staff room, she stared up at the dark-haired woman standing next to her table. “Hello, Phoebe.”

“Hi there.” Phoebe’s hair was in the perfect twist, her makeup flawless, and she wore a designer brand dress that probably cost more than a month’s salary for Harper. If anyone in Harmony Falls could rival Addison’s impeccable style, it was Phoebe. But unlike Addie, Phoebe was a total bitch who delighted in other people’s misery. She’d been the quintessential mean girl in high school and had never grown out of it. She was also one of the worst gossips in town.

She looked Harper up and down, her gaze lingering on Harper’s hair. “Oh, isn’t your hair just the cutest. I could never pull off pink hair. Of course, my coworkers at the engineering firm would lose their minds if I showed up with such… colourful hair. Pink hair doesn’t scream professional, does it?”

“Are you an engineer? I had no idea,” Harper said, laying on the sarcasm so thick she was surprised it didn’t drown Phoebe.

Phoebe’s smile turned sharklike, and she sank into the chair across from her. “It’s such a shame that things didn’t work out for you in New York. We were all rooting for your little art dream to come true.” She glanced at the sketchpad on the table. “Of course, you can’t be that surprised, right? I mean, your art is good, but on the simple side. It doesn’t have the sophistication that real New York artists have, does it?”

Harper kept her smile on her face with sheer willpower. Phoebe might still be a mean girl, but high school was well behind them, and Harper wouldn’t play her stupid little game. And she definitely wouldn’t give Phoebe the satisfaction of knowing she was getting under Harper’s skin.

Keeping her voice pleasant, Harper said, “How are your parents doing? Dad said your mother had bypass surgery a few months ago.”

“She’s doing well,” Phoebe said. “It must be so difficult on your father right now.”

“What do you mean?” Harper asked.

“How terribly his clinic is doing. He worked so hard for so many years, and now an outsider has come along and destroyed it. This Dr. Henshaw has turned your father’s clinic into a joke. He’s an awful vet, and no one in town can understand why your father even sold the clinic to him.”

Harper struggled to control her temper. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Nathan is an excellent vet, and it’s gossips like you who -”

“Oh, Blake is here. I must go.” Phoebe stood and waved at the blonde woman who’d just walked into the shop. “So nice to see you again, Harper.”

She walked away to join Blake at the counter. Harper took a deep breath, controlling the urge to stomp across the shop and smack Phoebe in the back of the head.

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