Page 83 of Cougar

I quickly fold the paper and shove it in my back pocket, then make my way over to knock on the bathroom door. “Harper,” I call out. “Are you okay?”

When Harper opens the door, her pale skin is flush and her eyes are red.

“This looks personal.” I hold out the black book and see a brief flash of fear in her eyes. “I wasn’t sure where you’d want me to put it.”

“Thanks.” She grabs the book and rushes to the nightstand, slipping it inside the drawer.

Jay walks out of the closet and scans the room. “I think we got most of it put away.”

Harper smiles affectionately at Jay. “No worries.” She waves us off. “I can deal with the rest later.” She stretches her arms over her head and lets out a yawn.

“It’s late,” I inform them. “You two need to get to bed. We can finish up tomorrow.”

Harper nods through another yawn. “Thank you both so much.”

“You’re welcome. Good night,” Jay says through a yawn of her own before she turns to leave the room.

“Good night, Harper.” I pull the door closed behind me and walk down to Jay’s room.

I find my daughter sitting on her bed with her hands in her lap. Pushing the door closed, I move to stand in front of her with my arms crossed over my chest.

“I’m sorry,” she says.

I raise a brow. “What are you sorry for?”

“For lying to you about Harper’s situation.”

“This is your one chance to rectify that.” I sit beside her on the bed.

Jay sighs as she falls back across her bed. “Everything I told you about her mom and her sister is true. And everything I told you about her dad, I really thought that was true. I knew she had a boyfriend, and that he was older, but Harper was so secretive about him. After dance class, Lexi and I went to Mac’s. Levi was right behind us. Harper was outside talking to some woman. I thought they were just talking at first, but something was off, and then she slapped Harper across the face.” Jay pauses a beat, then continues. “Lexi started yelling at the woman. Thankfully, Levi stepped in because that woman was about to get her ass kicked.”

“Jay—”

“Sorry.” She snickers. “Levi told the woman to leave, but before she did, she pointed in Harper’s face and yelled at her to ‘stay away from her husband.’ At that point, I didn’t give Harper any other choice but to tell me the truth because she had nowhere else to go.”

“So her dad isn’t in her life at all?”

“No. She was living with her married boyfriend, Josh.”

“Did she know he was married?”

“No. She told Lexi and me that she thought he’d been cheating on her, but she had no idea he was married.”

None of this explains what she was doing with Cole’s patient information sheet from two years ago.

Emerson

“Hi, I’m Emerson Mackenzie,” I say to the salon coordinator at the front desk. “I have an appointment with Lisa.”

“You can go on back.” She smiles. “She’s in room one.”

“Thanks.”

Grabbing the handle, I tap lightly on the frosted glass door before turning the knob and stepping inside to find Lisa smiling down at her phone.

I grin, thinking it’s likely Bass who’s putting that smile on her face. He’s been spending a lot of time with Lisa and staying with her almost every night after Jay goes to bed.

“Hey,” I say, closing the door behind me.

---