The Road Home

Chapter 13

Ben stood at her door. He still wasn't over the previous day's events. It had been close to three the first time he had called to check on Harper and with each call that followed, his concern mounted. The dinner plans he had with Lisa came to mind around seven-thirty but those were the least of his worries.

Mel hadn't helped matters and had quickly become one of his least favorite people. It took her an hour to make the calls he insisted she make. No one had any idea where Harper was and Mel's blasé attitude about the entire situation had made him livid. He remembered her smirking, "She's probably on a drinking binge and could be anywhere in the world. Literally anywhere."

"Hey," Harper smiled, interrupting his thoughts.

"Morning." Ben walked past her and tried not to make eye contact for too long. The sight of her helped ease some of the tension. She was beautiful. However, he thought about counting to ten. Who was he kidding? With her, counting to a thousand probably wouldn't help.

She moaned and followed him to the couch.

Ben tossed a script on the table. "Are you ready?"

"Ben, I--.

"We need to get started." He wasn't ready to talk about this right now. "Start on page sixteen. See how far you can get."

She sighed but turned to the correct page, handed the script back to him, and began reciting her lines from memory.

Surprised, Ben quickly opened the script and tried to keep up with her. He turned to the next page as she continued to deliver her lines perfectly, making it halfway through page seventeen before she had trouble with a word.

"Alright." He raised his hand a bit, signaling for her to stop. Impressive.

Harper took the opportunity. "I'm sorry about yesterday."

He wanted to rant. As upset as she had been on Monday not to mention the nightmare and then not being able to get a hold of her or knowing where she was or if she was alright. Calm down, he silently told himself. It's not your business.

"Ben."

He couldn't contain himself. "Where were you?'

"I drove to the hills; got something to eat," she said with a shrug.

"Until nearly nine last night? Mel said you weren't here when she got home and that was before noon," he asked as she looked away. The fact that it wasn't any of his business had gotten lost in his worry. "What's going on?"

"Nothing is going on."

He could see this was a façade. He asked himself if he really wanted to know where she was or what she had been doing. Why did it even matter? She wasn't any of his concern and he definitely didn't need the drama.

"Okay, I drove to the Black Hills, got something to eat in this little rinky-dink town and the next thing I know," she paused and looked at Ben who stared intently at her. "I was in Hill City helping this sweet lady pull weeds from her flower garden," she paused. "Then I had dinner with her and her husband and I'm going back Monday to help her plant azalea bushes."

Ben narrowed his brow. This wasn't what he was expecting which was usually the case where she was concerned. "You planted flowers all afternoon?"

"Yes."

"In Hill City?"

"Hill City," she agreed. "When I got there and got out of the car, I didn't even think about my phone and then the day flew by," she took a breath. "I'm sorry you were worried," she paused again and seemed to be choosing her words carefully. "I would never do anything to intentionally upset you. You're the only friend I have."