"I promise that I'll never fall in love with you. Cross my heart, hope to die."
"Here's to hoping."
Harper Young was sure that moving in with her aunt would be an improvement. It wasn't. This was all due to three tiny little problems.
1) Embry Call...
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Operation Smartass
"Hey, dad," Harper sighed out, trying to keep her voice steady. She didn't want to cry. Not for him. Not now. Crying wasn't a weakness to Harper, but he would see it as exactly that and she didn't want to be weak. Not to him.
She pulled the receiver away from her ear and pressed it against her chest, holding her head high and chin up so nothing could leak from her eyes before bringing it back after composing herself. "It's Harper." The girl bit her lip, unsure of what to do or say. She had never been good at talking to her dad. "I was wondering if I'd be going back to Neah Bay for the summer or..." she paused again, shaking her head and letting out an unsteady breath. 'No weakness, Harper,' she thought to herself. 'No weakness.' She pursed her lips to keep them from letting out a sob before wiping the tears that had escaped. She didn't know why she was crying.
"How are Maya and Claire? You all haven't visited in a while and I- I... I miss you." Harper bit at her lip while her fingers drew patterns on the wooden floor of her bedroom. She shook her head, deciding that if he didn't want to talk she wasn't going to. "Call me back when you get a chance. We need to talk about something. Bye, dad."
She had tried calling him earlier only to be met with his answering machine. Just like this time. She tried calling him earlier in the week too, only to be met with his secretary. Harper wanted to throw her phone at the wall. To watch it crumble apart. To imagine that it was her dad. Harper shook her head and instead tried to call her grandpa. Her Grandpa, unlike her father, came by often. Usually at random times throughout the week whenever he could. Sometimes on Sundays, more often on Wednesday or Monday. He liked talking with her, enjoyed her presence. He definitely saw her as more than a nuisance that he could shove away to a relative's home. He, unlike Harper, loved the... pack.
Harper was bitter and angry.
"How's my favorite girl?" Her grandpa asked jovially when he answered the ringing. It caused a smile to crack on Harper's warm face. Her cheeks were somewhat tear-streaked.
Before Harper could even respond to the question her mouth began to ask what she really wanted to. "Who's Aminah Murray?"
It wasn't silent on the other line. She could hear him sucking in his breath and she could picture him rubbing at his wrinkled eyes. The static between the two was growing higher as the silence continued until it was the only thing she could hear. White noise.
"Pumpkin," her grandpa began with a sigh, "it's not my place to tell you."
She wanted to curse at him. But that would be wrong, she wasn't angry at him per se, just angry at her dad, and Maya and Claire who drank up all of his attention- No. No, it was wrong to be angry with them. Maya had called and talked to her at least twice a month just to ask what she was doing and how she was doing. Apparently she talked to Emily as well. And well, Claire was a monster baby and nothing more. Her dad, however, might just be the devil. No, that was wrong too. There had to be a reason, there had-
