“Don’t you even think about it, little diva,” he warned. “March up those stairs right now, without a peep.”
Maddie stood up and started walking out of the room with her head down, Dad following close behind her in case she dared to escape. “Daddy, did I ever tell you you’re the most handsome-ist Dad in the whole entire solar system? It’s big you know; my teacher told me, and you’re the most beautiful of them all.”
Dad chuckled. “Get up there, rat bag. Don’t you try and sway me over with your big, brown eyes and sweet words.”
I heard them march up the stairs and disappear into Maddie’s room.
Perfect. So Mum, Dad and Maddie were set to leave. I’d sent a text to Blake earlier in the day and begged him to hang out with his friends tonight. For twenty dollars, a lift home, and some clues as to what I was up to, he agreed.
I raced back out to my car and grabbed the few things I’d picked up from the store earlier before rushing into my room. I looked at my alarm clock on the bedside table, which read 4:30 PM; I had two and a half hours to get everything ready. I was going to be pushing for time, but I knew I could do it. It would all be worth it in the end.
I added the finishing touches to my messy braid, pinning it in place so it went across the top of my head while small pieces of hair fell to the side of my face. Funnily enough, it had been my sister, Sierra, who taught Quinn and me how to braid hair. That was a very long time ago, back when we actually tolerated one another.
I was both excited and nervous for what Jackson had planned. I’d never had anything like this done for me before, and it gave me goose bumps just thinking about it. I’d heard him come home but decided to stay in my room, not wanting to ruin anything in case he hadn’t wanted me to see him until seven.
There was a knock at my door as I finished screwing the lid to my mascara.
“Come in?” I asked hesitantly. I expected it to be Jackson, coming to tell me he could no longer do tonight, but instead, Aunt Juliana popped her head into the room.
“Oh, sweetheart, don’t you look gorgeous.” She smiled, stepping inside. “You look just like a Grecian goddess.”
I raised an eyebrow and looked down at the outfit I’d bought earlier. Sure, the long, dark-blue, high-waist, chiffon skirt was flowy, and my hair was up in a braid, but a Grecian goddess? My white top was tight and revealed a small amount of midriff, while my arms were covered in tattoos. I couldn’t imagine any Grecian goddess looking like me. As if my aunty could read me, she let out a light laugh. “Don’t be silly, you look stunning. So, who’s the lucky guy?” My eyes widened. “If it’s one of the boys from the footy team, I just hope Jacko’s picked you a good one. And don’t worry; I won’t say anything to your mother. It can be our little secret.” She gave a wink.
“You look very pretty yourself,” I said, pointing to her mauve-colored gown.
“Thank you, darling. Now, have a good night. We’ll be back around midnight, I’m sure. By the way, you don’t happen to know what happened to your door, do you?”
Oh, shit! I’d almost forgotten about that! “I had trouble opening it the other day, Jackson had to force it open. Sorry.”
She seemed to believe me. “I’ll get Hugo to look at it in the morning. Oh, and one last thing,” she added. “You haven’t seen my eldest son, have you?”
I shook my head.
“Never mind, I’ll give him a call.” She stood there and watched me for a moment before finally turning with a smile and leaving me alone in the room.
Fear began to wash over me. If his mother couldn’t find him, then that meant Jackson wasn’t home. It was six forty-five, and he wasn’t home. Any minute now, I was going to get a call to say he was canceling.
Just after seven o’clock, I made my way slowly down the stairs toward the living room. I hadn’t heard anything from Jackson, so my plan was I’d wait a few minutes and if he didn’t turn up, I’d just go back upstairs and forget it ever happened. And lay into him the minute he arrives.
The house was silent; the family had already left, leaving the house to myself. I tiptoed down the carpeted stairs; it was easy since I hadn’t bothered to put my shoes on, and turned down the hall, only to literally bump into the very person I was looking for.
“Harper… you look… incredible.”
I looked down to avoid Jackson seeing me blush. “I thought you said to meet in the living room?” I asked, daring to look up at him.
He had a smirk on his face. “I did. But it’s ten past seven; I was coming up to check on you.”
I pulled a face. It had taken me ten minutes to walk down those damn stairs?
“Your mom was looking for you.” I decided to change the subject.
“Yeah, she called. When she came up to see me, she looked shocked to see me dressed up and asked if you and I were going on some sort of double date.” He chuckled, rolling his eyes.
Hearing him laugh comforted me and caused me to smile.
“Ready to see your surprise?”
I nodded eagerly as he took my hand and led me back up the stairs. Were we not leaving the house?
As I followed, I took the time to admire him from behind. His dark hair was spiked up, with the longer pieces in the middle falling forward over his face, giving it an intentional, messy touch. He wore beige chinos slightly rolled up, with a short sleeve, well-fitted, white and dark blue thin-checkered button up. I glanced down at his feet and couldn’t help but smile; it seemed I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t bothered wearing shoes.
“Wait here, I just have to get my coat from my room; you might want to get one for yourself.”
After racing into my room to grab myself a coat, I met back up with him and we continued until we made it to the rooftop door. Is this where we are going?
He reached for the handle then halted. Turning to face me, with an uneasy look on his face, he said, “Err… close your eyes.”
I frowned, which brought the smile back on his face. “I told you it’s a surprise. And plus, you might hate it, so it gives me time to sneak off before you open them.”
I nudged him with my elbow. “I’m not going to hate it. And in case you think about running off, I’m taking hold of your hand.” I took his hand and entwined it with mine before taking a deep breath and closing my eyes. “Ready.”
I heard the door open and the cool night air hit my bare skin, automatically causing me to shiver. The temperature had dropped considerably over the past week. It was due to the rain, and also the fact that it was going into winter in this part of the world. I pictured the sunny beaches and the warm skies in Miami. Oh, to be back.
“Okay, you can open them.”
Still clutching Jackson’s hand, my eyes flung open at the sound of his voice.
WOW.
I had to blink several times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming the whole thing up. The entire rooftop had been transformed into a twilight wonderland. Hundreds of clear fairy lights, and small, white, paper lanterns decorated the walls, the potted plants, the balcony, and even dangled on ropes, which were tied from the house to poles on the other end of the balcony above. On my left, an outdoor seating area was set for two, with a tea-light candle inside a mason jar sitting in the center. In front of me, all the original furniture had been put away, replaced with a large, outdoor day bed, scattered with various-sized cushions and a thick blanket cover. It was directly in the center of a huge, white projector screen that was held up on a stand. The whole thing looked magical, like I’d stepped into a fairy realm.
“Jackson…” Even saying his name was a struggle. I felt him squeeze my hand while I continued staring at my surroundings in complete awe.
“Is it okay?”
That snapped me out. I turned to him. “Are you serious? This is more than okay. It’s… I don’t deserve this.”
“No, you don’t. You deserve much more. But I only had a couple of hours, so this is going to have to do.”
I tilted my head and smirked at him. �
��It’s amazing, Jackson. So, this is where you were this afternoon.”
He tugged at my hand, instructing me to follow him over to the table where a white square plate with silver cutlery, sitting on top of a white napkin to the side, lay before each of the chairs. “It was where I was when Mum called, and I had to rush inside before she came looking for me.”
He directed me to sit down and pushed my chair in, taking my coat from my hands and throwing it over my shoulders. “It must have taken you ages. How long did it take you, really?”
He shrugged, walking around to his side of the table. With both hands, he grabbed hold of the back of the chair and leaned against it instead of sitting down. “As soon as I got home until six-thirty. But I have to confess, I snuck up during the week to put up the fairy lights.”
My eyes lit up; he’d had the whole thing planned from the beginning. “What if I’d come up?”
He grinned devilishly. “Well, I kept you busy in the evenings, and during the day when I was at footy training and classes, I managed to convince Blake to help keep you away from the rooftop…” That explained why Blake kept asking to ‘hang out’. “During my ‘studying’ time is when I snuck—”
His cell phone began beeping. Straightening himself, he reached into his pocket and answered the call. “Yes. I’ll be right there,” he spoke to the person on the other end, and then hung up. “Don’t move. I’ll be back in a moment,” he said to me before slipping the phone back into his pocket and jogging toward the door.
While he was gone, I scanned the lit-up balcony; it truly was surreal. I couldn’t believe Jackson had gone through all the trouble in doing this for me. Something I still wasn’t sure I deserved.
Seeing Harper dressed the way she was at the moment totally blew my mind. Yes, I’d seen pictures of her in magazines walking red carpet events in designer gowns, and I’d seen snapshots of her in hot little concert outfits, but having her standing in front of me instead of looking at a picture were two completely different ends of the spectrum. Since Harper had arrived in Sydney, her favorite items of clothing were ripped jeans, baggy tops with cutouts under her arms and different kinds of boots; occasionally, I’d see her in a dress that looked more like an over-sized tee. She rocked the edgy, trendy look, but to see her dressed the way she was tonight, in a flowy long skirt, cute mini-top, the loose braid in her hair, and her light subtle make-up, made her look like a delicate flower. The bohemian-chic look, I was told that was what it was called, looked good on her. But then again, I knew everything would.
I opened the front door and handed money over to the delivery guy. I sure hoped Harper liked Mexican food. Panic set in; what if she didn’t? Why hadn’t I bothered to ask her what she liked to eat?
I tipped the delivery guy before closing the door and slowly making my way back up to Harper. I was filled with self-doubt now. I’d gotten too excited making sure the evening was perfect and had forgotten one of the most important tasks. By the time I reached Harper, my mouth was dry and my body craved only one thing. Alcohol. I hadn’t touched the stuff for a week now, but then again, I’d never needed to until this moment. Alcohol was my escape from reality; it was my way to numb the negative emotions spiraling inside me.
“Are you all right?” My eyes flicked to her, she was looking up at me with a face full of concern.
I nodded and stepped up to the table before she had the chance to stand and check on me. You can do this, Jackson. I put the two bags up on the table and began sorting out the take-away containers. “It’s Mexican. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Jackson! I love Mexican!” she answered gleefully.
A spark of joy filled my chest, and immediately I was put in a better mood. “Thank God! I was worried that I hadn’t asked you.”
“Is that why you looked upset when you came back up?”
My face dropped. There was no point hiding it from her; she had a way with reading people. “I just should have checked with you, that’s all.”
I caught her rolling her eyes. “Oh, my God. You have nothing to be worried about.” She stood up and took a step toward me, wrapping her arms around my waist. “Jackson, all of this is perfect. I still can’t believe you did this. I’ve never been treated like this before, and to know you’d done it just for me makes me feel things I can’t even begin to understand. Thank you. It’s beautiful, all of it. And Mexican for dinner was an excellent choice, as I have been craving it for days!”
That made me smile. I wrapped my arms around her and leaned in to kiss the top of her nose. “You always know the right thing to say.”
“Can we eat? I wasn’t kidding about my cravings.” She grinned cheekily.
I let out a laugh, releasing her so we could both sit down to dinner.
Dinner was superb. Mexican rice, chicken and beef fajitas, with corn chips, sour cream and guacamole as a starter. I was certain I’d eaten half my body weight with the corn chips alone. The fajitas were messy, but that only made it more fun; that is, until we both ended up staining our clothes.
After dinner, we reminisced about stories of when we were younger, while we drank juice-flavored sparkling water. I was determined to help him through his drinking problem, just as he was helping me with my problems, and if that meant spending the night drinking flavored sparkling water then that’s what I was going to do.
The stories he shared made me laugh. He admitted to not being able to stand Hawke, Quinn and me, and said he’d go to his mom as soon as he heard we were visiting and tell her he had a contagious illness and it’d be better if my family stayed away. Of course, his mother never believed him. I told him I always hated the way he would ruin the fun, and that the day his favorite stuffed teddy disappeared was because Quinn and I had buried it in the garden as payback for telling the adults we’d drawn on the walls inside the house.
“I loved that teddy! I can’t believe you girls did that!” He laughed. “I cried for weeks until Mum finally let me get a new one.”
“Well, you shouldn’t have ratted us out,” I pointed out.
“I was ten! And you guys shouldn’t have been drawing on the walls.”
“Hey! It was a work of art, from what I remember.”
“I remember it being more like scribbles and uneven stick people.” I threw him a mock evil glare, which he laughed at. “You think if we dug Little Ted up, he’d still be in one piece?”
“Little Ted?” I raised a brow. “How creative of you. And no, I don’t. I think it’s best we leave Little Ted where he is. He’s happy there.”
“You’re a cruel, cruel woman, Harper Hudson,” he said, shaking his head. I flashed a grin, fluttering my eyelashes at him innocently.
We eventually made our way over to the day bed. I jumped on top before burying myself underneath the warm blankets.
“Let me just get the popcorn and turn some of these lights off, and I’ll be back. Save me a spot!”
We lay huddled together watching Step Brothers, a movie we’d both seen many times and could still watch many more, eating popcorn and trying hard to keep our hands off each other.
As the movie rolled through the end credits, Jackson’s cell went off again.
“That’ll be Blake. Right on time,” he muttered.
“He’s checking up on you?” I asked, shifting around so I faced him.
“Nope. Asking for a lift,” he answered, squinting to read the message in the bright light of his phone. “It was one of the conditions of him giving us the house to ourselves.”
I smiled and shook my head; Blake was a lot smarter than I gave him credit for.
“Well, I better go get him. You want to come for a ride, or you want to stay put?”
I thought about it for a moment. “No, I’ll wait here, if that’s okay. I’d rather not be in the car when Blake asks questions about our night.”
Jackson snorted as he proceeded to stand. Bending back down, he gently grabbed my chin in his hand and said, “I’ll be back soon. You can leave everythin
g; I’ll clean up in the morning.”
He stood back up and began making his way to the door. “Hey!” I called out, rising into a seated position. “Thank you for tonight. It’s something I will remember and treasure always.”
He smiled, and unable to help myself, I mirrored it.
I decided to drag, with great difficulty, the day bed under the safe cover of the roof and took the rubbish and dishes down with me. It was the least I could do for a magical evening Jackson had worked so hard preparing.
I had a quick shower and changed into my pajamas before sneaking into Jackson’s room. It was my turn to repay the favor.
As I lay in his bed, under a dimmed light, I spotted something I hadn’t noticed before. On the very top of his bookshelf sat an antique wooden box of medium size. It could’ve been nothing, but my curiosity won out in the end and I stood up on the bed to reach up and grab it. It was locked, but after shaking it, I knew there was something definitely inside. Presuming it was probably just some stupid antique collector’s item that Jackson enjoyed, I put the box back on the shelf and went to switch off the light. I struggled to sleep that night, even once Jackson returned and we’d made love in his bed, all I could think about was opening that box.
I slipped out of bed, not wanting to wake Harper. She deserved a sleep in after I had woken her up at four thirty the past few mornings. I took a moment to admire her, lying there asleep. She looked so innocent, so young… A smile spread across my face as one of the conversations last night popped into my head. Sure, she looked innocent as a child, but underneath those striking colored eyes, those long dark eyelashes, and that sweet smile was a demon spawn. Both her and her sister! If you got on their bad side, there was hell to pay and they’d made sure of it.
I pressed a light kiss to her cheek before quietly slipping out of the room.
I had a game tonight, and I hadn’t had the chance to tell Harper. It would have been nice to have her watching me from the grandstands while I played on the field, and the next three weeks the team played away, including one to New Zealand. Never mind, I told myself; there was always time to text her later in the day.
All That Matters Page 18