A surge of feeling swept through him, swirling up and warming him from the inside out. Everything she’d done for the last two days had been for him. He couldn’t describe how that made him feel.
Beside him, Harper slid the emerald ring off her finger. “Here.” She held it out to him. “Take this so I’m not tempted to throw it at you in the heat of the moment.”
He laughed, but took the ring, slipping it into his pocket. Harper would never let him keep it, and he wouldn’t want to, except it felt like he had a piece of her. He’d love to get a chain and put the ring around his neck where it could hang close to his heart.
They met his dad at the fireplace. Wyatt thought to have a few private words first, but his dad held a glass aloft and tapped it with a spoon.
“I’d like everyone’s attention for just a few moments,” his dad said loudly.
The hum of conversation faded away.
The fire crackled behind them. His dad surveyed the room.
“Friends. Family. Neighbors. Guests. Thank you so much for coming tonight to celebrate the engagement of my son.” He stopped speaking and looked at Wyatt, giving him almost a proud look. “Most of you have seen him grow up.”
Wyatt didn’t allow his smile to slip. People seeing him grow up was a bit of an exaggeration. Wyatt had visited from time to time, but it wasn’t like he’d lived here growing up.
“So we thought it only fitting to invite you here tonight so you can celebrate with us.” His dad turned to him. “Have you decided on a date?”
“Not yet.” Wyatt kept his forced smile as he looked at his dad, then out over the crowd, giving a little shrug.
“Then I propose Saturday, August 31st. Here, in this very spot. Anyone here who would like to come is welcome. And, rest assured, Wyatt is planning on living here with his new bride. They will both be working at the resort and continuing the family operation.”
“Wait,” Harper said. She turned to Wyatt with big eyes. “We’re living here?”
A little smile threatened to ruin the impression she gave as she crossed her arms over her chest. It signaled to Wyatt that this was their “fight.” She flattened her lips in apparent displeasure and the tilt to her lips disappeared.
He dropped his hand from around her waist. “Of course. We’re both needed here at the resort.”
A murmur went through the crowd.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his dad glower.
Harper threw one hand out. “I’ve got a life in Pennsylvania. I can’t just drop it.”
“You’re not dropping it. That date is two months away. Plenty of time for you to wrap up loose ends.” A titter came from the crowd. He gave what he hoped was an appeasing smile.
His dad crossed his arms over his chest.
Harper stomped a foot and widened her eyes. “I don’t want to wrap up anything! I’ve got a research position waiting for me, and tenure at the university.” She turned to face him, moving her back to the crowd.
The room faded away. Wyatt concentrated on Harper. “Oh, no. We’re not talking about the university again? All you do is talk about tenure and research.”
“So?”
Wyatt racked his brain for fighting words. “So, you know what happened with the garbage can, the hard apple cider, and the mini bulldozer.”
Her eyes clearly said she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Neither did he to be honest, since he was totally making it up. But she gamely played along.
“Don’t you even bring that up again. Especially not in front of all these people because I really don’t think that you want them to hear the story of you and the shaving cream and the dinosaur model.” She folded her arms across her chest. Her look said, “Top that.”
“Well, at least I didn’t steal your underwear for a school project.”
Her lips twitched. She spoke louder. “Are you still bitter about that? You never wore them anyway.”
Oh, yeah. He was much better at this than he was at trying to insult Harper. He just had to remember to keep a straight face. “How do you know? And, hello, I have every right to be bitter since you put them on a pumpkin.”
“It was the best dressed pumpkin at the Homecoming bazaar. I won first place.” Harper tapped her foot, her mouth twitched in time with it.
Wyatt bit the insides of his cheeks. “Everyone in the crowd knew they were my underwear.”
“No, they didn’t.”
“You put my name on them in black permanent marker.” He pointed a finger at her. “You should have used your own underwear.”
Harper put her pert little nose in the air. “They were perfect—with those little smiling jack-o-lanterns. Really, you should be thanking me.”
“Because my underwear made the front page of the local paper?”
“They were above the fold. In color.” Harper could contain herself no longer and she laughed. Which made Wyatt laugh. She laid her head on his chest and wiped at her eyes. He stroked down her hair, like he’d wanted to do all night and pulled her closer.
Their guests, most of them with big smiles on their faces, some outright laughing, and his dad, had been watching with curiosity. Now, the murmur of conversation started back up.
His dad turned and addressed the crowd, saying something about “talking with the lovebirds.” But Wyatt didn’t pay attention.
He spoke low to Harper. “I’m sorry.”
“No. I’m sorry,” she said softly when she finally caught her breath.
“It’s my fault. I didn’t follow the script,” he whispered in her ear.
She shook her head. “There was no script.”
“True, but I kind of veered off topic with the whole underwear thing.”
“I think I brought it up,” Harper said with a lifted brow as though she were asking if he wanted to try another fight.
“I’ll just have to bite the bullet.” He glanced up to see his dad had finished talking and had his arms across his chest, scowling at them. “Now would probably be a good time.”
“I’ll stay here beside you.”
Wyatt flattened his lips. “That’s tempting. But I got myself into this without your help. I’d better fix it the same way.”
Harper shook her head. “I’ll stay.”
Confidence surged through him. They smiled at each other. Then Wyatt bent and gently pressed his lips to hers.
A cheer went up from the crowd. Wyatt lifted his head. Harper’s cheeks brightened.
“Kinda forgot about our audience,” Wyatt said.
“Me too.” Harper squeezed his hand.
The crowd dissipated. Wyatt waited until the hum of conversation had grown loud again before he glanced toward his dad who still glowered at him. With dread weighing his feet, he stepped toward his dad. Harper held tightly to his hand.
“Sorry about that.” Wyatt said.
His dad’s face didn’t change. “I’m not sure what that was.”
Wyatt pulled himself up to his full height. “That was me being a coward.”
Lines appeared in his dad’s forehead. He titled his head. “What are you saying?”
Wyatt swallowed. He needed to face this the same way he’d face a challenging ski course. Or a difficult mountain to climb. Head on.
He stuck his chin out. “I lied about being engaged.”
A gasp sounded beside him. He looked over. Sophia and Kayla stood slightly beside and behind him. Sophia had her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide. Kayla’s were narrowed. She looked almost angry.
“You lied?” his dad repeated, low and slow.
“Yeah.”
“Why?” Sophia cried softly as she came up beside him.
“You can’t tell me that you and Harper aren’t a couple.” Kayla took a step closer, her hands on her hips. Her eyes shifted between Harper and him.
“We weren’t.” Wyatt didn’t want to have to explain that on top of everything else. He tried to move the topic back. “I knew dad wanted me here.”
“This is where you belong,” his dad said.
“I know,” he said, only partly to appease his dad. Mostly because he knew it to be true. “But Uncle Fink has been recovering from a bad bacterial infection.”
A muscle in his dad’s jaw worked in and out. It throbbed in time with the vein that stood out on his forehead.
Wyatt spoke to Sophia. “Dad always gets upset when he thinks I’m spending too much time on the farm in Pennsylvania, and I knew that if I told him that Uncle Fink needed me for the summer, he’d be angry. I thought it’d be easier to say that I was engaged and I wanted to stay home to be with my girl.”
“You were afraid,” his dad growled.
“I wanted to help Uncle Fink. And I wanted to keep the peace.”
“I don’t know why you’d think that you should help on that farm. It’s not yours. Not like this resort.” His dad threw his arm out, indicating everything around them.
Wyatt leveled his gaze at his dad. He opened his mouth and words that he’d wanted to say, but hadn’t, for ten years fell out. “Uncle Fink took me in when you didn’t want bothered with me.”
His dad’s jaw set. “I was busy building our future.”
“I’m sorry for needing a father at an inconvenient time.”
His dad had the grace to look slightly abashed. Wyatt’s heart softened. No one could change the past, but the future was wide open. Still, now wasn’t the time to fight about it. Not with a houseful of people. And his dad might never change. That was a part of love—accepting the person his dad was, imperfections and all. Because, deep down, he was sure his father loved him. He just expressed that love through money. That’s all some people were capable of. It wasn’t Wyatt’s place to change him. It was only his place to love him.
“That still doesn’t explain you and Harper. You two are in love.” Sophia stepped to David’s side and slipped an arm around him. She smiled gently at Harper. Wyatt wanted to look at Harper’s face to see what she thought of that statement, but he resisted.
“We’re not engaged. She’s a friend—”
“What I’m trying to find out,” Sophia interrupted, “is what the status of your relationship is. Maybe there is an actual possibility of Harper coming here? Of you two getting married?”
Wyatt wished there were. If only, if only, if only. But wishing didn’t make it so.
“No.”
Sophia’s lips pressed together, but she didn’t argue.
“I’m coming down here.”
Harper finally spoke. “I have a job in Pennsylvania. A research position. The university is voting on my tenure later this summer.”
Wyatt nodded. Hearing it from her lips was harder than he’d thought. “It would be the height of selfishness for me to ask her to give that all up.” If only she would. As little as he knew about relationships, he realized that if she were to come to Chile, she had to do it because she wanted to. Not because he asked. He was afraid that noble idea wouldn’t keep him from asking, begging, really.
“But look at what you have here.” His dad spread his arm out again. Like the resort was the only thing that mattered. “Look at what she’d gain by choosing you.”
Wyatt shrugged. It would have to be her choice. “For some people it’s not about the money and the bling.” Harper squeezed his hand. And a glimmer of why the farm in Pennsylvania felt like home tickled through his brain. There wasn’t a lot of money there. But there was a lot of love. Some things were worth more than money. More than success in business.
“So, basically you’re saying that you aren’t engaged, and Harper won’t be coming down here with you?” Sophia glanced at Kayla, who had her arms crossed over her chest and her lips pressed together in a flat line.
“Yeah. Basically.”
“So this is no longer an engagement party?” his dad asked.
Guilt pinched Wyatt’s chest. He put his hands in his pockets and shuffled his feet. “No. I’m sorry I lied. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth to begin with. I hope I never do anything like that again.”
Sophia nudged David.
He looked away before saying, “It’s okay, son.”
That must be his dad’s way of saying he was forgiven. He was surprised it was that easy, but Sophia’s presence had a way of mellowing his dad’s rough edges.
Wyatt figured he’d better be completely honest. “I do want to wait until Uncle Fink comes home, just to make sure he’s okay. Then I’ll be down. Two weeks, maybe.”
His dad ground his teeth together.
Sophia elbowed him again. “You have to be okay with that, David. It’s fear of your reaction that caused him to lie in the first place.”
“No. It was a lack of character on my part that caused me to lie. I can’t guarantee that I’ve magically grown character overnight, but I hope I’ve at least started the process. No matter what Dad’s reaction is, I need to be man enough to tell the truth.”
“That’s impressive, son.” He glanced at Sophia as though checking to be sure he was saying the right thing. “I’m still expecting you to come here permanently as soon as Fink is better.”
“I’m expecting that, too.”
Sophia spoke low, looking from one to the other. “Maybe you and Harper could continue to be engaged—after all this is an engagement party—until after you leave Monday.”
Wyatt didn’t say anything. He was tired of the lies.
Sophia smiled appealingly at him. “It will allow your dad to save face tonight. We’ll just let the news of your breakup trickle out naturally when you come down to stay.”
“I think that’s a good idea, Wyatt.” Harper nudged him with her shoulder.
His dad cleared his throat. “Great. Now, there’s a lot of people here to talk to. Even if you’re not engaged. And there’s a lot of food to eat. We’ve got a party going on. Let’s go enjoy it.”
Wyatt nodded, then looked around for Harper. He felt like a bowling ball had been removed from his body. The decorations looked brighter, the people around him happier. And, for himself, he was eager to move on. With Harper.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Harper rolled over and squinted out the small window of her comforting bedroom.
Back on the farm. She closed her eyes and sank down into her pillow and comforter. Yesterday had gone by in a blur. Their flight had been delayed, they missed their connection in Huston, and a serious case of, if not jet lag at least climate readjustment, had left her still feeling drained. She couldn’t even remember what time it was when they finally stumbled home. Four a.m.
Wyatt and she had seen plenty of unhappy, tired, and grumpy people yesterday. That even described them. But after their failed fight at the pseudo-engagement party, Wyatt’s personality and hers seemed to be synchronized.
Whatever it was, they hadn’t fought, despite the travel nightmares. They hadn’t talked, either. At least not about their relationship, its status, or how it would end.
Harper opened an eye and peeked at the clock. Noon. She threw the blankets off and took another look at the beautiful day already half over outside her window.
She couldn’t believe a weekend was all she’d been gone. So much had happened.
A hard, rhythmic rap sounded on her front door. Wyatt always knocked the same way.
“Come in,” she shouted while shuffling to the dresser to at least run a brush through her hair. Nerves shot through her at the thought of him seeing her with a bed head.
“Why isn’t this door locked?” he said from the living room.
“I never lock it.” She snapped the ponytail band in place. Wyatt had seen her a million times in her ratty sweatshirt and jammie pants, but as she glanced at the bedroom door that hung open she wished she had made him wait out on the porch while she changed.
His head popped in the crack. “Anyone could walk in on you.”
“They’d have to find the farm first.” She tugged at her shirt and walked to her door. “Why would they want to, anyway?”
>
“There are serial killers walking around all over the place.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“It’s true.”
“It’s not.” She tilted her head. “Have we reversed roles?” She was the one that was usually uptight. He was not supposed to care whether the doors were locked or not. Her eyes roved over his muscle shirt and work jeans, and a little flame burst to life in her breast. Wyatt could possibly be a responsible parent.
One side of his mouth tugged up in the lopsided grin she loved. “Guess so.” A bit of uncertainty clouded his features. “We were both barely awake last night when we got home. I don’t think I kissed you goodnight.”
Pushing away the uncertainty of their relationship, she smiled, and it felt like flirting. “Kiss me now.”
His grin widened and he closed the space between them. She couldn’t think while he kissed her, but after their lips parted and she lay her head on his chest, she whispered, “What are we going to do?”
He grunted. “About what? Us? Your job? My dad?” A half-laugh escaped from his lips. “There’s so much stuff between us, I don’t even know where to start.”
Her job. Harper jerked back. Crap.
“I forgot!” She couldn’t decide what to do first. A shower. Clothes. Food. Scratch food. “I was supposed to meet Jeff for lunch today. He said he had news about this fall.”
She put her hands on her head. “I’m never going to make it on time.” Biting her lips and refusing to cry, she flew by Wyatt. Stopping short, she backed up and wrapped her arms around him in a quick hug. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go off like a firecracker.”
“That is kinda what you looked like.” His large hands stroked down her back, infusing calm. “I’ll start your car and bring it to the door. You get ready.” He took her chin in his fingers and tilted it up. “Okay?”
She nodded. “I’m sorry to leave you with all the catch-up farm work.”
“Don’t worry about it. Whatever I don’t get done today will be waiting tomorrow.”
The panic that had burst inside her chest faded. Rational thought returned. She needed her phone to text Jeff that she was running late. Then she needed to get ready, and Wyatt would take care of the farm work for today.
Better Together Page 19