More of You

Chapter 25

Their flight arrived in Atlanta in the late afternoon, and it was a silent agreement that they would not be staying at Gran's house. They would head straight home. When Luke dropped her off at her apartment he had thanked her for going and said he would see her at work on Monday. It had been four days since they had had it out, and she had refused to consider a relationship between them. Luke had been right, their friendship was not what it had been. There was an unspoken stress between the two of them. They acted like it wasn't there, but they both knew it was.

They had revealed to one another that they loved each other. Harper had said she didn't want him, and he had accepted it and not mentioned it again, but she couldn't go back. She was aware of his every move, his every breath, whenever they were together.

Harper had expected some kind of comment or lecture from Gran, but she had been completely mute on the subject, and Harper had wondered what Luke had said to her to make her give-up her matchmaking attempts.

After her arrival home, the rest of the weekend passed slowly, and she was glad when Monday rolled around, and she was able to go back to work. What she needed was her routine. The sooner life could go back to the way it had been the sooner she could forget about Luke's kisses.

As she entered the office she was greeted by everyone with a cheerful welcome and informed that there was a meeting in half an hour. As soon as she sat down at her desk and fired up her computer her father entered her office and closed her door. He never closed the door when he talked to her.

"How was your trip?" he asked as he walked to the window that looked out over the parking lot.

"It was fun, I was able to spend time with the family while I was there," she assured him.

He nodded. "You'll come to dinner soon and tell us all about it?"

"Sure," she said, thinking it odd that he didn't want to hear more about it now. "Is everything alright?" she asked at his continued silence.

"Richard Davies," he said, finally turning to look at her.

Harper froze, what had Mindy done now? "What about him?"

Her father looked at her with disappointment. "I had high hopes for you and Luke, the entire family did. And, even knowing that it might not ever work out between the two of you, we still hoped you would find someone..."

Harper's heart sank as she realized that Mindy had done exactly what Luke had said she would, despite Harper telling her that there was no way she would ever cover for her.

"Dad, I think there's been a misunderstanding."

"No, there's no misunderstanding," his voice had risen. "Your sister has explained everything, and I will not allow it!" His face was turning red as his blood pressure rose.

"What exactly had Mindy explained?" Harper asked, trying tying to keep her voice as calm as possible.

"That you went behind the family's backs and decided to have a relationship with that scum." He was full out yelling now.

"She said that?" Harper sunk into her chair looking at her irate father as he looked at her with such disappointment. It was the same disappointment she had expected to see if she and Luke had decided to have a relationship. What had he just said, they had had high hopes for her and Luke? She couldn't win, she was always bound to disappoint even when she did nothing wrong. It was her oldest fear, and this wasn't the first time she had seen the same look of disappointment on her father's face that she was now seeing.

"She told me everything," Troy looked at her, waiting for her to say something.

"And if I told you it was all a lie, that Mindy made up and that none of it was true?"