Him coming back was all it took to turn her world upside down.
Harper Collins is perfectly content with where her life is at. Is it perfect? No. But she's content. Now a guidance counselor at her old elementary school, a volunteer safety officer...
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EVERYONE IS QUIET. I look at the front door where Harp vanished from my eyes. I'm angry, but more than that I'm suffering because Harp is suffering. I want to disembowel the guy who said she wasn't a looker, who called her damaged goods. Anyone who sees Harp has to see how beautiful she is.
Everything I've said, done and waited for comes boiling down to this moment. I get up and Matt grips my arm but before I can say anything Am beats me to it. "Let him go."
Matt looks over at her and she stares at him with an unwavering confidence. Elise walks in cradling her son and gives Matt a sympathetic look. "He's who she needs."
He stares me down, nods then let's go. I look at both Am and Elise in gratitude. I stop at the woman I've called my second mother more times than I can count. My mind flashes with memories of how much Momma Collins had adored her little girl, how she would take Harp to every softball game and cheer her head off, how she would read Harp her favorite stories, and how she beamed with pride while holding out Harp for me to cradle when she was a newborn.
Why did she become like this? What happened?
I crouch down next to her chair with my eyes stuck to the floor. "I'm insanely in love with your daughter."
The woman with the shocking, heartbroken eyes stares down at me and swallows as her tears freefall. "What?"
My eyes slowly connect with hers. "I love Harp and I won't tolerate anyone, not even her own mother, saying those things to her. I need you to understand that right now because if you don't I'll make sure we don't come for these dinners anymore."
I get up and turn to her a little. "I know if Harp catches wind of this that she'll very possibly end up castrating me but still I'd rather have that than her have to sit through something like this again. I'll make sure she's too distracted to even realize we missed them."
Matt chokes on his food and start coughing like a mad man.
Yep I said that to my future mother-in-law.
Her eyes widen. and I see fear, true fear. But I don't have time to feel bad.
I leave.
Knowing exactly where Harp will be, I jog towards the old baseball field her dad used to play with her at. I see that flaming copper hair blazing in the night as she smashes balls to the outfield. When I get closer I see her leg is trembling. I run up and stop the bat's swing before it makes contact, letting the ball thud against the hard dirt.
"Easy there, Firecracker. You've pushed your leg passed its limit."
She tries yanking the bat out of my grasp. "What do you want Owen?" My grip is steady and she barely moves it making her frustrations grow. "I came out here to be alone."
"You can't possibly believe what that moron or your mom said." My voice is stern and she takes a harsh swallow.
