Miss. Matchmaker |✓

Chapter 24

"Oh before I forget," Harper propped herself up onto her elbows, "what dessert are you making for Christmas?" Suddenly my hands begin sweating profusely and I'm having difficulty making eye contact.

"You mean at Mom's house?" My eyebrow arches in question, she huffs out a breathe and begins fumbling with a loose string.

"I know you two don't have the best track record," she doesn't finish, instead, allows me to interrupt.

"You expect me to jump at the opportunity to spend time with a woman who would even bat an eye if she saw my name in the obituary section of a newspaper?" I phrase it as a question although we both know it's not.

"Come on now, Rae, don't be ridiculous." She defends her, mouth slightly agape.

"I've already made plans anyway." I flop onto my back and cross my arms over my chest in a childish manner, I know Harper is burning a hole into the top of my head.

"Rae, don't tell me it's with that Dustin boy and his kid sister." She's spitting his name out like it's a sin to say it.

"And what if it is?"

"I don't think you should be with him." Harper starts to shake her head like she's reprimanding me for sticking my hand in the cookie jar before dinner.

"Why Harper? Because he makes me happy? Or, or maybe it's because you can't face the fact that i might get married before you!" I swing my feet over the loveseat and feel Speck's underneath my feet, careful not to step on him I move so that I'm not hovering above him.

"Because he's probably just gonna leave you Rae! He's not from here, his family isn't here, I know how this goes! Remember Duncan?" She's now standing and towering over me, Speck's is on all fours and barking at her as she frantically waves her arms. "Duncan, the sexy, British boy I thought loved and cared about me but guess what Rae!?" I've lowered my gaze, not wanting to look into her eyes which are welling up with tears.

"What?" I whisper, but I already know how this story ends.

"He left me! And do you know why he left Rae?" Her voice is beginning to crack and I'm focused on a ring that's been coiled into the word 'happy' on my right, pinky finger. "Because he had a family and an entire life already made for him in England." She finishes, her voice is full of passion and sadness.

We're sitting in silence and Harper collapses onto the recliner, her chest heaving up and down as she sniffles endlessly.

"That's a completely different country, Harper." My voice is low and my words come out slower than a jar of crystallized honey.

"That's not my point," She's fighting back tears but I hear in her voice that it's taking everything in her to break out into sobs. "My point is that he's gonna wanna go back to his roots and you're gonna up and leave to follow him and I'm gonna be left here with no family." She finally admits and I know this takes everything out of her as she breathes out a sigh.

My heart softens as I finally turn to look at her, tear stains look as if they etched permanent rivers on her face, her lips are fuller than usually and a bright pink color from her biting on the bottom one. "Harper, I could never leave you behind like that." I'm getting up from my spot and making my way over to her, she turns violently so that I don't see her face.

Bending down beside her, I begin rubbing circles on her back and humming softly I recall a song we used to sing when we were younger. "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine," her back is moving recklessly as she can't stop her crying, 'this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine." I'm trying to harmonize but my voice keeps getting caught in my throat and I've never been known for my singing voice.

"Let it shine, let it shine." She's calmed down the slightest bit and begins to roll over onto her back and her face falls over to look at me, her waterfall of red hair cascading into the wetness on her cheeks; I move it with my hand.

"Let it shine," her voice is soft and raw as she says this and I know her mind has kicked into overdrive.

Duncan was her first relationship and it was only a summer fling, when she was going into her senior year of high school, but it still gets to her.

"I'm sorry, Harper, but I truly do love him." A smile naturally covers my lips as the words flow from my lips.

"I know, I just don't want you to get hurt." She wears a smile of her own, it's forced but I'll take it considering the circumstances. Her hazel eyes stand out brilliantly against the redness of her eyes.

"Thank you," I want to ease the tension through the air, and suddenly a fun fact pops into my mind, "just so you know his favorite color is green."