More of You

Chapter 13

"Is it just me, or was it a little too easy to convince our parents about the trip to Paris? I guessed that our mothers would be the first to come around, but I figured our fathers would take a little more time to convince," Harper said as she deposited another stack of dishes on the center island. Finding a place to put them was becoming more challenging.

"It's you. I didn't expect them to be against it once they discovered we were going." He turned on the water and opened the dishwasher, looking overwhelmed as he looked for a place to start.

"Why not? It will mean that we will away from work for over two weeks."

They heard Lucky bark, and she watched as Luke looked hopefully over his shoulder. She couldn't tell if he was relieved to have a distraction from doing the dishes or from answering her question.

"They've been in there for a while, why don't you go take care of them and I'll start here?" she suggested, taking pity on him.

He didn't wait for her to insist he go as he gladly left the kitchen and its mess to Harper.

A quick search turned up nothing in the way of an apron so she would have to risk it getting her clothes dirty. Clearing one side of the sink, she reached for dish washing liquid and filled it, while she wondered why he didn't believe that they would object, what was she missing?

He wasn't gone that long and when he returned he had a very happy looking Lucky and a trail of puppies following him. He led the way over to Lucky's bowl in the corner of the kitchen and dumped some food into it. When he was finished he looked from her to the dishes with a resigned look.

"There are still some out on the patio if you want to bring them in now. I've filled the dishwasher so you can start drying when your done with that," she instructed.

"You've always been bossy, ever since we were kids," he teased as he exited onto the patio.

"And you don't like bossy, is that what happened with you and Callie, was she bossy too?" Harper wanted to kick herself as soon as she asked the question. She wanted to know the answer, and she was surprised to realize just how badly she did. His and Callie's relationship had never bothered her before.

"No, Callie was never bossy," he said with a tender smile at the thought of her.

Harper stopped scrubbing and looked at him, was the smile because he missed Callie and still loved her, or was it because he was amused by a memory?

"Are you still in love with her?" Harper asked, once again knowing that she shouldn't but desperately wanting to know the answer.

He smiled again as he reached for a few towels from a drawer. "No, I love Callie but I'm not in love with her." He moved to stand next to Harper taking a dish that she handed him.

Harper tried to guess what that really meant. "So, you think of her like you think of me, as family?"

He shook his head as he reached for the next dish. "No, I don't think of her like I think of you."

His response confused Harper even more and she washed in silence as she did her best to understand. The only thing she could think was that he had been in love with Callie and that meant that there was a small part of him that always would be.

"So, you're not heartbroken then?" She tried one more time.

Luke set the towel down and reached over and turned off the water, crossed his arms, and leaned his hips against the counter. Harper stood still, her hands dripping sudsy water, as she waited for some great revelation.

"Go home Miss Priss, I'll finish the dishes."

That was it? Go home? He wasn't going to answer her question and she was once again shut out, just as she had always been. She was hurt and angry, turning on her heel she marched away from him as she reached in her pocket with her wet hand for her keys.