Breaking Clear (Full Hearts Series Book 3) (3 page)

“That’s not what I meant. Everyone here works hard, Cybill. We get the job done.”

Cybill shrugged. “I suppose. I don’t know. I’m getting bored with your work lately.”

Harper stared at her, feeling confused. Though she hadn’t seen the spreads, she knew the shoot had been perfect. Then she realized what this was about. The month before, at a departmental meeting, she and Cybill had had a very public disagreement about which mood to set for a fall casual-wear shoot. Harper had let her temper get the better of her, and instead of holding her tongue, she had told Cybill she was way off base on this one. The room had fallen silent, everyone waiting to see how Cybill would react. She had smirked, asking “Am I, now? Well, as long as my nameplate says editor-in-chief under it, I’d like you to remember that I am the base.”

They’d gone ahead with Cybill’s plans for the shoot, only to have to redo it once Hartless had seen the results. She had stormed into Harper’s office to yell at her, accusing her of screwing it up on purpose. The episode had cost the magazine thousands of dollars that it couldn’t afford to spend. Harper now realized that Cybill had been waiting for the perfect moment to pounce on her about it, and the moment had arrived.

She sat quietly, hating the fact that she needed to ask for time off to care for her dad. She knew that Cybill could very well refuse, forcing her to make a very difficult decision.

Trying to remove any hint of anger from her voice, Harper replied, “Well, if you’re finding my work boring, maybe what I’m about to ask you for will actually be to your liking.” She paused, seeing she had Cybill’s undivided attention now. “I need to take some time off to look after my father while he recovers. He has no one else, and my brothers and I can’t afford full-time care for him without wiping out our savings. I wouldn’t have to leave until he’s let out of the hospital, which is a couple of months away. I have five weeks of unused vacation time, and I can work from there so you won’t have to do without me entirely. I’d be back every other month when my brother is home from his job. Blaire said she can direct any photo shoots I miss.”

Cybill’s right eyebrow shot up, never a good sign. She leaned back in her seat with the tiniest trace of a smirk on her lips. The look in her eyes was that of a cat with one claw dug so deep into its prey that there would be no escape. “You want to take a few months off? Why, of course, Harper. It’s no problem, really. I’ll just call an emergency board meeting and let them know we won’t be putting out any issues this winter. Then I’ll order Accounting to give back all the money we’ve gotten from our advertisers. I’m sure no one will mind.”

She sat up, smoothing back her perfectly coiffed blond hair with one hand before pressing the intercom button on her phone. “Victoria, grab your notebook and come in. Harper has decided we don’t need to put out the magazine for a few months. I’ll need you to notify everyone immediately.”

“Um, okay, ma’am. I’ll be right in,” Victoria responded quickly.

Harper glared at her boss now, finding it impossible to hide her loathing for another second. “People have family emergencies, Cybill. It happens. They need time off at some point in their lives, and then they return. It’s part of life. It’s unrealistic to think this kind of thing will never happen.”

Victoria hurried into the room, flashing a look of concern in Harper’s direction. She stood silently, waiting to be addressed by her boss, pen at the ready.

“Victoria, apparently I’m unrealistic. Can you pencil in some time for a reality check for me?”

Victoria nodded, writing and muttering, “Schedule reality check.”

Harper dug her nails into her palms. She hadn’t realized her career had been circling the bowl, but she knew now that Cybill’s bony finger had been firmly positioned on the handle and she was about to flush.

“I’ve been here for over twelve years, Cybill. All-nighters, weekends, cancelled vacations, whatever you needed, whenever you needed it. Twelve years. Now I’m asking you to let me work from Colorado for a few months, using my vacation time and getting someone to cover for me. You won’t notice that I’m gone. I promise.”

“Victoria, schedule Harper into that same reality check as me. I think we’re suffering from the same illness.”

The sun beat down on the cab of the Rent-Haul truck as Harper drove west for the third straight day. She slammed her fist on the dash, hoping that the air conditioning would magically start working. Of course it didn’t. Taking a swig of her now sickeningly warm water, she glanced down at the navigation screen on her cellphone. It showed that she still had four hundred miles of driving ahead of her. But that was without any delays. At the moment, she was stuck in a line of fed-up motorists that was so long she couldn’t see the front of it. Construction had the traffic moving slower than she could walk.

Her phone rang. It was Megan Sullivan, her best friend in the world.

Harper pressed the hands-free icon on her cell phone. “Hey, Megs.”

“Hey, you. Where are you at?”

“Still in Nebraska. Fucking construction everywhere. It’s going to be at least six hours before I’m home. Maybe ten, for all I know.”

“Well, come here first when you get to town. Luc’s just at the market with Elliott and he plans to spend the afternoon in the kitchen, so there will be one amazing welcome-home dinner waiting for you.”

“Thanks, hon. If I’m there even close to supper, I’ll come by. But I’m warning you, I’m a revolting, sweaty mess. I’m going to have to throw out this D&G T-shirt I wore today. It’s about two hundred degrees in this truck right now, and there is no way I can salvage this thing.”

“Oh God, the air conditioning broke?”

“Of course it did. Somewhere in the middle of Ohio. Right when we’re at the end of the hottest June on record. But it’s fine. I need to lose ten pounds, so I’m trying to pretend I’m in a steam room at some swanky country club.”

Megan laughed. “Ten pounds? More like ten ounces, tops. How are you doing?”

Harper sighed heavily. “I’m at about a level eight on the ‘my life is poo’ chart. I think I’m still in shock. I can’t seem to wrap my head around the fact that I’m unemployed. I did not see that coming.
Style
is my whole life.”

“I can’t believe it either. It’s insane. You’ll land on your feet, though. You’re so connected in the industry, you’ll find something even better when you’re able to go back to work.”

“I wish I was as sure of that as you are. Cybill is probably doing a lot of damage to my reputation as I sweat. She can make it very difficult for anyone to ever want to be seen with me again, let alone hire me. Fucking witch.”

“She is a witch. I’m just glad you managed to get in a few shots before you left.”

“It did feel good at the time, but now I’m thinking I probably shouldn’t have asked if she’d had Botox injected into her heart to stop her from having feelings or if she’d just had her face frozen into place so no one would know she was having an emotion. That may not have been the smartest choice.”

Megan burst into laughter. “I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t laugh, but she so badly deserved it. I hope she falls off the earth and is never heard from again.” Harper could hear a little cooing sound in the background. “Amelie agrees. Cybill’s a total shit.”

Harper laughed. “Tell her thank you from Auntie Harper. I’m glad she knows a shit when she hears about one. Smart little monkey. What’s she doing?”

“Having lunch.”

“How’s that going, by the way?”

“Good. She’s nursing a lot better now and she’s not as fussy as she was for a while there.”

“I’m glad.”

“Us, too. It’s getting much easier. It was a rough couple of months at the beginning. Part of me was expecting Luc to get on a plane and head back to France for good once he realized how tough it is with a newborn in the house.”

“No chance. Luc’s not going anywhere, Megan. In all the years I’ve known him, he’s never sounded happier.”

Just as she finished her sentence, Amelie started making some fussing sounds. “Oh good Lord, you should smell what just erupted from my daughter’s bottom. I think I’m going to puke.”

“Eeew, I’m going to puke just hearing about it,” Harper replied. “I’ll let you go deal with that.”

“I better. My eyes are watering. Sorry, Harper. Call me later to let me know if you aren’t coming. Otherwise, just show up.”

“Sounds good. Thanks, Megs. Tell Luc thank you from me.”

As Harper hung up, traffic started moving again and a hot breeze blew through the truck’s cab. It didn’t so much cool her down as relieve her from the suffocating heat she had been sitting in for the past twenty minutes. She groaned loudly to herself. Each mile was bringing her closer to a past she had left behind, one she’d been running from her entire adult life. She was about to come face to face with all of it, with all those people who knew about her mother and the shame she’d brought on their family. Each time Harper had gone home before, the glamour of her career had allowed her to hold her head high, to brush off those old feelings of humiliation. But now she had no career to hold up as a shield. And she wasn’t going to be able to make her usual quick appearance, then dash off. She would be there for the long haul.

Boulder, Colorado

Nine hours later, Harper pulled up in front of her childhood home, turning off the engine with a sense of doom. “I don’t want to do this,” she told herself as she rubbed her burning eyes, then searched through her purse for her house keys. It was late in the evening and she had missed dinner at Luc and Megan’s, stopping for a deeply unsatisfying chicken burger and fries along the way. She could still taste the grease coating the inside of her mouth as she collected the garbage scattered around the seat and scrunched up the bag that had held her supper.

Sitting in front of her old house, reality started to set in. She was here to stay as her father made his painful recovery. The three days she had spent in the truck were nothing compared to what was coming. Opening her door, she slid down, dragging her bag along with her as she exited the truck. She would leave unpacking for tomorrow. Right now all she wanted was a cold beer, a long shower and to drop into bed for about twenty hours straight.

After letting herself into the house, Harper undressed and turned the tap to full to heat the water for her shower. Nothing happened. Not one drop of water came out. “What the . . .” she muttered to herself, walking over to the sink and trying it, only to get the same result.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” she inquired of the sink.

Hurrying to the kitchen in the nude, she grabbed her cell and dialed her brother’s number. He would know what was wrong. No answer.

She texted him.

Craig. I’m at Dad’s and the effing water isn’t working. I smell worse than Wes after he plays hockey. I NEED a shower. Do you know how to get the water working?

Looking out the kitchen window, she glanced at the Morleys’ house across the street. “Never.”

She noticed the light of the TV in the living room of the bungalow next to theirs. Mr. Patterson was home. He would know what to do! He had been a plumber before he retired. In Harper’s mind, he was also one of the few people in the world who wouldn’t be horrified by her current disgusting state. Donning her dad’s old blue bathrobe and his flip-flops, she scurried across the street, hoping the dark sky would cloak her. The door opened after her first knock and a teenage girl gave her a surprised look. “Yes?”

“Oh, sorry. Does Mr. Patterson not live here anymore?”

“No. I think he went to Florida, maybe? We moved in a couple of months ago,” she responded, looking Harper up and down with wide eyes. “Can I help you with something?”

“Not unless you’re a plumber, by chance. My dad lives across the street.” She pointed at the house. “I just got to town and the water’s not working. I’ve been driving all day and I’m desperate for a shower.”

“Um, well, I don’t think my parents would want me to let a strange lady in to use our shower. Sorry,” she answered, starting to close the door.

“No, no. That’s not what I meant. Sorry to have bothered you—” she said as the door shut. “Please forget this ever happened,” Harper said as she turned to leave, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

She crossed the street, only to discover that she had locked herself out of the house. “Oh yeah, this might as well happen,” she snarled. She would have to climb the fence. The spare key was hidden near the back door and the gate latch was inaccessible from outside the fence. Her father had a lot of expensive equipment in his workshop and was careful about securing it. Finding a break in the shrubs along the wooden fence, she put one foot on a low branch to steady herself as she hoisted herself up with both hands. Managing to boost herself to the top of the fence, she got one leg over, praying no one would see her. Her robe was doing little now to hide the fact that she was nude under it. Once on top of the wood, she realized what a long drop it was to the other side. Jumping down had suddenly become a frightening proposition.

“Oh, Harper, why did you do this?” she groaned, as the old fence teetered under her weight.

“I was just wondering the same thing,” came a voice from behind her.

The voice was low and amused and it was one she would recognize anywhere. It made her heart skip a beat, just like it had done since she was fourteen years old. It was the voice of Evan Donovan, the one she had secretly lusted after almost her whole life, the one all the girls lusted after. He had played football and hockey, and was gorgeous and cocky as hell, but with the game to back up his attitude. He had been three years ahead of her in school, a classmate and close friend of her brother Wes. Even though they’d lived next door to each other until Evan went off to college, he had never noticed her. Until now. When she was perched on top of a fence. In nothing but a ratty bathrobe. And was all sweaty, with smudged makeup and her hair piled on top of her head with a metal clip.

Please have a comb-over and a huge paunch
, she begged silently. Turning her head, her face and neck now burned with humiliation. Harper reluctantly took in the sight of the muscular frame his blue T-shirt and jeans were displaying on his behalf. As her eyes travelled up his body, a sexy grin spread across his face, causing those dimples in his cheeks to pop.
Nope. Still insanely hot.