Where We Belong

What Happens Under The Mistletoe

Harper walks up to the front door of the bar and can already hear the party going on inside. She steps in and is surprised to see that the place is decorated very festively. There are lights and tinsel hanging from the rafters, the top of the bar, around the doorways , and there are sprigs of holly and mistletoe hanging randomly throughout the entire dining area as well. She thinks to herself that she should probably avoid those particular spots just so she is not caught in any uncomfortable situations with any of strangers or bar regulars.

Harper sees that Declan is behind the bar doing what he does best, chatting with some of the party guests while pouring out two martinis. She looks around for Gillian but does not see her anywhere. When she walks towards the bar, she is suddenly spotted by Rebecca.

"Harper! We were wondering when you were going to show up." Rebecca calls out to her. "Dominic is in the kitchen helping Gillian with the appetizers but he's been waiting for you to get here so he can redeem himself on the pool table."

Harper chuckles before replying, "He really just needs to just let that go because I'm just going to beat him again." Harper says with a cheeky grin. "And this place looks great by the way. How'd you ever talk Gillian into all these decorations?"

"It was more difficult than we thought it would be, that's for sure. But thank goodness she has a soft spot for the boys. Once Declan and Dominic started batting those eyelashes, she couldn't resist. Oh! And Declan told me that you helped him to convince Gill to let us throw the party. Thank you so much for that."

Harper laughs. "You're so right about that soft spot she has for the guys so I don't think that I was the one that really convinced her in the end." Harper adds with a smile.

Rebecca laughs because of how clueless Harper is when it comes to Gillian's affections for her. Even though she wants to hint at it, she decides against it and instead slips her arm into Harper's. "C'mon, let me introduce you to some of our other friends from high school."

Harper agrees happily and walks around the bar with Rebecca as she introduces her to all of their friends from high school that are at the party. She finds it funny that almost everyone she talks to about Gillian tells her they never would have imagined that Gillian would be the owner of a bar. They all, including Dominic and Rebecca, had expected Gillian to go into law like she had always talked about as a teenager, and some even said that back then they had her pegged as someone that would eventually go into politics. They share stories of the Gillian they knew in high school and laugh about how she always allocated all of her time to studying and rarely to hanging out and having a good time.

Harper smiles as she tries to imagine Gillian as this other person that everyone is painting her to be but she just seems to fall short. She admits she really likes the version of Gillian that she knows now and just cannot imagine her to be anyone different.

The thought of Gillian makes Harper look around again for her and she still does not see the other woman anywhere. She does however see Janie and Joe at a table by themselves so she excuses herself from Rebecca and the group so she can walk in their direction to say hi. "Hey there, you two." Harper says before she even reaches the table.

"Harper!" Janie exclaims as she leans over to give Harper a hug.

"How are you, Sport?" Joe asks.

"Oh, you know, just living the dream." Harper smiles at the couple.

They chat about the condo and then about what they have been up to lately. They tell Harper that they recently took a cruise to Alaska and shows her some pictures that they took on Joe's phone. They talk for awhile but when Harper's phone rings, she excuses herself so that she can take the call outside. She glances down at her phone once she is walking towards the door to see that it is her mom calling.