by Brenda Novak
“No! Of course not.”
“You’d better not, because who I date—it’s none of your business. Just like it would be wrong of me to go poking around in the life of any woman you might date.”
“It is my business,” he argued. “As long as we have children together.”
“No. That’s crossing the line. You need to trust that I won’t let anyone who wouldn’t be good for our children be around them. And I have to trust the same thing.”
“If we stayed together, we wouldn’t have to worry about that,” he pointed out.
“That was my reasoning when this all started, remember?” she said. “But everything’s changed, Axel. You need to go back to your tour. Your bandmates are waiting for you. You can’t let them down.”
“They’re fine. Let me stay and drive you and the girls home. We can get a marriage counselor once we get there to help us rebuild. That could make all the difference.”
“I’m not ready to leave Silver Springs,” she said. “Not yet.”
“Because of some guy with more muscles than brains?”
“How dare you!” she snapped. “Just because Tobias is fit doesn’t mean he isn’t smart, too.”
“Then maybe it’s your brain I need to worry about.”
“Because I won’t come back to you? I feel something genuine for him, and I’m going to pursue it.”
Silence. Then he said, “You really want him.”
She squeezed her eyes closed. Did she dare cast away from the familiar? Take a risk on someone new?
When she looked at it that way, she was scared enough to say no.
But when she thought about Tobias, about how she felt when he touched her, she knew if she left now, she’d crave Tobias the whole time she was in Colorado. How could she go back into a relationship with Axel when she felt the way she did? It had been difficult enough when she was completely committed. “Yes.”
“Forget it, then,” Axel shouted. “I wouldn’t get back with you now if you begged me to.”
Harper could feel her heart pounding against her chest as he disconnected. She’d held fast to her decision.
She just hoped to God it was the right one for everyone concerned.
* * *
Harper was pacing the floor thirty minutes later when she received a text from Tobias.
Merry Christmas.
“Can I trust you?” she whispered, staring at those words. “Or will you let me down, too?”
She got another message from him right away, before she could text him back. It’s probably awkward for you to text me with Axel there. No need to respond. I just wanted to say...I’m thinking of you.
Axel’s gone, no worries, she wrote. What’d you do today?
Went on a short hike this morning. Had dinner at Maddox and Jada’s. Drove to LA to drop off my mom. Played chess with my landlord.
Did Carl join you?
Fortunately, he didn’t.
Who won?
He did.
Really?
Sort of.
So you let him?
It is Christmas, after all. But Uriah’s becoming more of a challenge. He’ll beat me legitimately soon.
He took such good care of those he loved—at least it seemed that way. So you had a good day?
A great one. The best Christmas I’ve ever had. You?
My Christmas was fine.
Something wrong?
She frowned. She didn’t want to drag him through everything she was going through. No.
When’s Axel going back to Europe?
Tomorrow.
Are you okay with that?
As she considered the freedom Axel’s leaving would give her to see Tobias, her anxiety began to ease. Yeah, I’m okay with it, she wrote. What are you doing tomorrow?
I was going to go on another hike in the morning. Would you like to go with me? The weather’s supposed to be good. And I have a trail in mind I think you’d enjoy.
I’d like that, she wrote. I’ll see if Karoline will mind if the girls hang out here with them until I get back.
28
The following morning, Axel was eager to get out of town. What had seemed like such a short trip now seemed far too long. Why he’d wasted so much time, effort and money coming to Silver Springs in the middle of his European tour, when it was ending in two weeks anyway, he had no idea. Learning that Harper was moving on had made him panic.
A lot of divorced people probably felt the same when their exes found someone else, he told himself. But if she was going to be a bitch after everything he’d tried to do for her—was going to turn away everything he’d offered, which was far more than most men could offer, including Tobias Richardson—she didn’t deserve him. As far as he was concerned, the breakup of their marriage was now on her. He wasn’t going to take responsibility for it, and he wasn’t going to feel bad about it. There were too many other women in the world for him to cry over someone he’d struggled to get along with for the past few years.
He checked his watch. Ten o’clock. He had some time to grab a coffee before he was scheduled to see Piper and Everly at eleven thirty. He was driving the Range Rover. The limo that would take him to LA would pick him up at Karoline’s at two so that he could make his seven-thirty flight.
At least his bandmates and his manager were starting to calm down now that he was going to return. They’d acted like such crybabies about canceling the rest of the tour. Chase McDonald, the president of the record company he was affiliated with, had called him this morning to say he’d better get his ass back to the UK or the band would be dropped from the label. And Axel had been able to tell that Mr. McDonald wasn’t messing around. He’d said gone were the days when celebrities could get away with shit like going AWOL at the last second. But that wasn’t all he’d said. He’d also been pissed about the video he’d seen on BuzzFeed showing Axel exchanging angry words with Tobias at Fatboy Burgers. Someone who’d witnessed the exchange had sold him out even after all he’d done to make sure that wouldn’t happen.
“You’ve caused a PR nightmare,” Mr. McDonald had said. “You were acting like a jealous idiot and that will cost the band when it comes to image.”
Axel wished he could’ve told Mr. McDonald to go to hell. Bands were notorious for acting badly. What was the big deal? But he hadn’t dared go that far, not on the heels of Harper’s defection. As much as he hated to admit it, losing the one person who’d always believed in him most had rattled him.
He’d get over it. She’d be sorry at some point.
He slid his sunglasses higher on the bridge of his nose and pulled the ball cap he’d donned low as he got out of the SUV and walked into The Daily Grind. He had no doubt there’d be a few people who’d recognize him, but after what’d happened with BuzzFeed he’d offer no autographs. He had the right to buy himself a cup of coffee without being bothered—which was why he was particularly irritated when a couple of guys sitting at a small table not far from where he was waiting kept looking over at him.
“That’s him,” he heard one say.
“You sure?” the other replied.
“Why else would he be wearing sunglasses? It’s not even sunny, you idiot.”
They were both probably ten years older than he was and one, in particular, could use a shower.
“Yeah. Guess you’re right. But he seems a lot smaller in person.”
The guy with the greasy hair started to get up, but the other caught hold of his jacket.
“Carl, man, sit down. What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m going to warn him! He can’t mess around with Tobias the way he did at Fatboy Burgers and expect to get away with it.”
“No doubt he already knows Tobias is dangerous. That’s why he was warning him to stay away from his ex-wife.”
“How wou
ld he know?” the man called Carl said. “He’s not from around here. I bet he has no clue. Harper probably doesn’t even know, or she wouldn’t be sneaking over at night. Somebody should tell her, Derrick. Somebody should tell them both.”
“But...what if Tobias finds out it was you?”
“He’ll never know it was me,” Carl said. “Lots of people from around here know about Tobias’s record. The man he shot still lives in town, for crying out loud.”
Axel’s irritation had turned to curiosity. Tobias’s name was unique enough that he knew who they were talking about. But surely he had to have heard wrong. Had they really said that Tobias had shot someone?
The cute gal behind the counter called out the name Dexter—the name he’d given when he ordered because Axel was too distinctive—but he ignored her and stepped closer to Carl and his buddy. “Do you two have something to say to me?” he asked.
The two men exchanged glances before Carl cleared his throat. “Yeah. I just... I wanted to tell you that you might not want to cross Tobias Richardson like...like you did at Fatboy Burgers.”
“Because...”
“Because he just got out of prison five months ago—and from what I’ve heard around town, even the dudes he served time with knew to leave him alone.”
Axel felt his jaw drop. “What’d you say?”
“See, he didn’t know,” Carl said to Derrick. Then he got up and lowered his voice. “It’s true. He served thirteen years.”
“For...”
“Shot an eleven-year-old boy when he was seventeen,” he said. “Crippled him for life.”
* * *
When Tobias picked Harper up at eleven, she had her hair in a ponytail and was wearing leggings, sneakers and the same parka she’d had on the night he first saw her. Glad he no longer had to park down the street, he smiled as she closed the door and turned to face him. “Look what I remembered,” he said and pulled her necklace from a small pocket on his coat.
“Oh, thanks for thinking of it,” she said and ran it into the house before emerging again only a couple of minutes later. “All set?”
“All set,” he said. “Unless... Do you think your girls might want to go with us?”
“Not today,” she replied. “Their father will be here soon to spend a few hours with them before he has to go back to Europe.”
He reached out to take her hand so that he could lead her to his truck, but she threw her arms around him and pressed her face into his neck instead, and he felt his heart skip a beat. He’d invited the girls to be nice but also because he was looking for a good excuse to procrastinate the task he’d set for himself today. He had to tell Harper about his past. Things were getting too serious between them to put it off any longer.
“It’s so good to see you,” she said, her words muffled by his coat.
As he kissed her head, he prayed she’d be able to understand and forgive him, but he knew she might not feel as friendly toward him when they returned as she did now. “It’s good to see you, too.”
She grinned up at him when she released him. Then she took his hand. “Where are we going?”
He saw the curtain move and realized that Piper and Everly were watching them through the window.
He waved and both girls ducked out of sight.
“What is it?” Harper asked when he chuckled.
“Nothing,” he said as they walked down the small path from Karoline’s front door. “We’re going to the Los Padres National Forest. To the Piedra Blanca Formations Trail. It features a river, a little bouldering, some bird-watching. You’re going to like it.”
“How hard of a hike is it?” she asked, her expression a tad leery. “You’re pretty serious about this stuff, look like you could hike for days.”
“Don’t worry—it’s easy. You won’t have any trouble. It’s only two and a half miles in. And we can turn around whenever.”
He’d just helped her into the cab and was walking around to get into the driver’s seat when her Range Rover came racing around the corner so fast, it swerved and nearly smashed into a parked car.
“What the hell!” Tobias said as Axel brought the vehicle to a screeching halt right in front of his truck.
“Don’t you dare go anywhere with Harper, you son of a bitch!” he shouted as soon as he got out.
A rush of adrenaline swept through Tobias when he saw that Axel was carrying a baseball bat—one he must’ve just purchased because it still had the sticker on it. “You need to calm down,” Tobias said.
“Calm down?” Axel cried. “Calm down?”
Harper scrambled out of the cab and hurried to Tobias’s side. “Axel, what are you doing? Whatever it is, you need to stop.”
“Stay back.” Tobias shoved her behind him so that she couldn’t be hurt.
“You think you’re the one who’s going to protect her?” Axel said. “No, I’m doing that. Get away from him, Harper. He isn’t safe.”
The noise had brought Karoline and Terrance to the door—as well as Everly, Piper, Amanda and Miranda.
“What’s going on?” Karoline marched out of the house before her husband could pull her back, and the rest of the family trailed behind her.
“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” Harper said.
Tobias kept hold of Harper. He didn’t want her to get hit if he had to disarm her ex.
“I’ll tell you what’s going on.” Axel used his bat to point at Tobias. “This bastard has a prison record. Did you know that? Did any of you know that you’ve been associating with a dangerous felon? A man who’s served time for attempted murder?”
“Axel, stop! That can’t be true.” Harper pulled away but shut up as soon as she looked at Tobias. His face revealed the truth. He couldn’t refute what Axel had said.
“No...” Karoline’s eyebrows knit in concern as she turned toward her sister.
“Yes,” Axel insisted. “Ask him. He’ll tell you. He shot a boy, crippled him for life. And that’s not all. He nearly killed another man while he was in prison.”
Tobias couldn’t bear the look on Harper’s face.
“Is that true?” she asked, turning to him.
“I was going to tell you,” he said.
“When?” she cried. “We’ve...we’ve already...” Tears welled up as she turned to see her children watching them. “I trusted you,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “Trusted you with them.”
“I know. But it’s not the way he’s making it sound.”
“How can there be any way to make a shooting sound good?” Axel challenged.
Tobias tried to ignore him. He had to get Harper to listen. “The shooting was—” He struggled to remember the words he’d rehearsed in his mind so that she might understand. But Axel had painted the past in its worst possible light, and his accusing face and pointing finger made Tobias feel hopeless to even attempt to explain. “Sort of an accident,” he finished.
“Sort of an accident?” she repeated, obviously at a complete loss.
“And the man in prison knifed me first.” Tobias remembered that much of what he’d planned to say. It was true, after all. He didn’t feel bad about the thug who’d attacked him in prison. He’d fought back only in self-defense, and he’d nearly lost his life.
“Oh, my God!” She covered her mouth. “This can’t be happening.”
“I never meant to mislead you,” he said. “I was going to tell you today—I swear it.”
“I let you around my kids,” she said, going back to that. “I—I thought you were the most wonderful man I’d ever met!”
Tobias wished he could shut everyone out, get her to look at him, to believe him. But he couldn’t get her to listen. Her family was rallying around her, trying to protect her and creating so much insulation that nothing he said could get through.
“Just go.” Karo
line, whose husband was standing next to her for support, had already grabbed hold of Harper and pulled her under the shelter of one arm. “Leave. What’s happened is bad enough. Please, don’t make it any worse.”
He looked at Harper, tried one last time to get her to listen, but Axel was waving the bat, and Tobias knew he’d only look worse if he took it away from him. “I was going to tell you,” he repeated lamely.
Harper didn’t get a chance to respond before Axel yelled, “Do you really think a guy like you could ever make someone like her happy? Look at her, man. She’s so far out of your league it isn’t even funny. And there’s no way in hell I will ever allow you to be around my children.”
Tobias had thought Harper was too good for him all along. How had he convinced himself that he might have a chance with her?
“Do you think, after what you’ve done, you could ever deserve someone like her?” Axel persisted.
Finally, Tobias grabbed the bat, wrenched it away and tossed it aside, just so that they would all know the threat of it had nothing to do with his leaving. “You’ve made your point,” he said, got in his truck and drove off.
In his rearview mirror, he saw Harper bury her face in her sister’s shoulder and start to sob.
* * *
Harper’s eyes were still blurry with sleep when she stumbled into the kitchen to get a glass of water. “What’s this?” she asked when she saw something silver sitting on the island.
Terrance, who was the only other person up, turned from where he was scrambling eggs at the stove to see what Harper was talking about. “A watch of some sort,” he replied. “I found it behind the pillar on the front porch this morning when I went out to get the paper. I was surprised. Looks expensive.”
As soon as Harper picked it up she realized it was the watch she’d given Tobias. He must’ve brought it back and put it behind the pillar to keep it safe until she could stumble across it. Except she hadn’t left the house. For the past three days she’d been pretending to be sick so that Karoline, Terrance and the girls wouldn’t question why she could scarcely drag herself out of bed. Karoline and Terrance probably guessed the truth, but at least they hadn’t pressed her.