A Walk Along the Beach(43)

Sean and I broke apart as if caught in the middle of a bank robbery. “You weren’t.”

“You could have fooled me,” Harper said with a wide grin. She was dressed for hiking, ready to meet her friends for the practice climb up Mount Rainier.

“Did you want to take your protein drink with you?” I asked, assuming that was the reason she’d stopped by.

    She looked to Sean and a sly smile came over her before she said, “I was hoping to have a word.”

Sean stepped away from me. “No, please, I was about to go.”

“No need,” Harper insisted, stopping him as he started to walk away. “This will only take a minute.”

I was glad he didn’t leave. I wanted to talk to my sister, and anything she had to say could be said in front of Sean.





CHAPTER 17





Sean


Harper turned her gaze to me. I had reason to stay but felt it would be awkward when it was clear Willa and her sister needed to talk. Nearly all our conversation that night had revolved around Willa’s relationship with her sister. We laughed and joked, but then the topic would drift back to Harper and what was going on between the two sisters.

“I’ll go. It’s not a problem,” I reiterated. “I can connect with Willa later.” I hated the thought, but I didn’t want to intrude.

“No, please stay.” Harper stretched out her arm as if to block me from leaving. “I’ve come to apologize to Willa…and seeing that you are part of the reason, you should hear this, too.” Her gaze flickered away from Willa to land on me.

“Did I do something?” I asked, uncertain what she could possibly mean.

    Harper’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “In a way, you’re to blame for my decision.”

Me? It was hard to know what role I’d played in the drama between the two of them.

“Not in a bad way,” she rushed to explain. “Seeing that you and Willa are together now, I realized she wouldn’t be nearly as upset if I decided to get my own apartment. If anything, I should thank you.” Turning her attention away from me, she looked to Willa. “I’m sorry, Willa.”

“Harper, it’s fine. I—”

“It isn’t fine.” She walked over to Willa and hugged her. “I behaved like a five-year-old brat who didn’t get her own way and I apologize.”

Willa’s arms squeezed her sister. She didn’t need to say anything for Harper to know her little temper tantrum had long since been forgiven and forgotten.

Exhaling, Willa eased away, her hands gripping the sides of Harper’s shoulders. “I know you’ve wanted your own apartment for some time now. Only it took me a while to figure it out. You should have said something sooner.”

Harper lowered her eyes and appeared speechless. She didn’t deny or disclaim Willa.

“If you’re looking for my permission, you have it. You don’t need it, Harper. You’re over twenty-one and it’s time for you to spread your wings and fly on your own. You don’t need me; you’ve always been your own person.”

Harper shuffled her feet. “You can be such a mother, you know.”

Seeing that that was the role Willa had been cast into after their mother’s death, it wasn’t a surprise that Harper said that. Her cancer had cemented it.

“I didn’t mean to smother you…”

“You didn’t always; mostly, it’s been the last three years,” Harper said quickly. “It’s like you’re waiting for something else bad to happen. I feel that once I have my own place, you can be my sister instead of acting like a mother.” Harper sucked in a breath. “That didn’t come out quite right.”

    Although I could see how hard it was for Willa to hear this, she managed a weak smile. “I get what you’re saying. You’re right. It got bad after your cancer, didn’t it? I got even worse.”

“It isn’t all your fault. The family desperately needed you after Mom. Dad fell apart, and Lucas, being Lucas, was more comfortable pretending all was well and good. And for him, it was. Little changed. He had three square meals a day. His laundry was done. He was able to participate in sports and continue on as if her death was a minor blip in his life.”

“That’s not true,” Willa argued, defending her brother. “He missed Mom, too, just not in the same way as you and I did.”

“Yes, I suppose. With Lucas, though, it was easier to pretend everything was fine when it felt for us as if our entire world had gone into a tailspin.”

Willa didn’t argue, and I suspected she knew Harper was probably right. I’d never met Lucas, so it was hard for me to understand her brother. From what little Willa had told me about him, he seemed to have his head on straight. In one of our conversations about her family I remembered Willa telling me that the military had done her brother a world of good. He’d come out disciplined, clearheaded, mature beyond his years, with the resolve to make his own life.

“He made up for it later,” Harper said. “When I was sick, he was a great support.”

“To both of us,” Willa chimed in, stiffening her shoulders, as if reluctant to return to their earlier conversation. “Getting back to our tiff,” she continued, “I realized as I walked the field this morning that this need to get your own place with Leesa has been brewing for some time.”