Fixed Up (18 page)

‘Yeah, I remember him being pretty single-minded,' said Luke, with a smile. As family legend told it, his dad had come from nothing, with no resources and just a whole lot of determination to succeed.

Like Harper
.

Bang. There it was.

Luke bolted from the room sparing time for only a brief apology. Head down, he avoided eye contact and focused on making his way out of the office building to the refuge of his truck. He climbed in, his hands holding the steering wheel as he stared blindly through the windscreen, needing the silence to recall that all-important, fleeting flash of insight. Eyes closed he dug into his brain, feeling the cogs ticking over, the thoughts taking form; little cells of thoughts, doubling rapidly, growing.

He'd already recognised Harper reminded him of his father, but at the time it had been more of a minus than a plus. But now, thanks to an old man's comment, his mother's honesty and a small epiphany, he saw the similarity in a new light.

He saw two people with a determination to make their way in business, two people prepared to put in the hard yards, refusing to be deterred by the others standing in their way. Two people defending their destinies and loving the path they'd chosen.

His father had hit the success jackpot but not lived long enough to reap the rewards. Harper was still trying to achieve success, doggedly believing it was within her power to do so.

And Luke believed it too. If anyone could do it, Harper could.

She still needed help, but he understood what she was up against now and why she wanted to do things her own way. He knew that she
would
make a success doing things her own way.

Bang! He loved her for it. And he wouldn't want her to change.

He turned the key in the ignition and the truck roared to life. He couldn't wait to tell her, to explain what an idiot he'd been. But the elation radiating through him cooled and instead of backing out he flicked the key off. His hands gripped the steering wheel, white-knuckled as he fought an inner battle.

He'd done enough chasing Harper around. He'd pushed her to her limits, maybe even beyond, to protect her. She didn't want those things from him and in pushing her so hard he'd pushed her away and broken her trust.

I can't stop you making mistakes, but I can be there for you. Always.

The time had come for him to back off. All he could do now was hope she'd come to him when she was ready. Until then he could only sit and wait.

But for how long?

‘I googled it once you know.' Annie lay on Harper's back lawn, a teasing expression playing across her face, while Harper took a break from lugging the remains of her lean-to to a heap at the bottom of her garden.

‘What?' Harper looked up from the daisy chain she'd strung together.

‘Cutting off your nose to spite your face. I googled it. Hundreds of years ago pious women dramatically disfigured themselves to protect their virginity,' said Annie. ‘Better them than me. They made themselves so ugly even bands of marauding Vikings set on raping and pillaging were disgusted with them.'

‘So it served its purpose, then. The Vikings left them alone.'

‘Nah. They burned the women to death anyway.' Annie shrugged.

‘What are you trying to say?' Harper wrapped the daisy chain around her neck and lay back on the grass, her hands folded across her chest, her eyes closed.

‘That spiting your face sucks. Don't do it. You've got the interview with the King of the Castle, now go and show him you're not just a dirty rascal. Otherwise everything you've worked for is a waste of time.'

‘I know … but there's more to it than just the interview.' Harper sat up in a shower of daisies.

‘What else is there?'

‘I kind of didn't tell you
everything
about Luke.' Harper cleared her throat, her heart starting to beat just from saying his name out loud. She stumbled over her words as she told Annie the full story, even the embarrassing bits.

‘Oh my God,' Annie said, not without a little glee. ‘You think I'm a total write-off? You should get a whiff of yourself!'

‘I know.' Harper flicked a ladybird back onto the grass.

‘Mum created two monsters, but surely there's hope for us yet. What are you going to do?'

It was Sunday and the arranged appointment with Cliff King was in two days' time.

‘I've decided to go.' Not because of Luke's words, or because she'd never hear the end of it from Annie if she didn't, but because it was the right decision.

Commercially, it was one hundred per cent the right decision. It was what she'd wanted for DIY Divas all along, to align Divas with a large organisation that could help develop her business, giving her the chance to build a brand. She'd lost sight of that. She'd lost sight of her goal the minute Luke had tangled himself up in it and her sheets. Her professional life had merged with her personal life, which had thrown her off course. Temporarily, anyway. She'd managed to find a bit of perspective in the last few days.

To the outside world, even to Annie who knew her as well as anyone, everything in Harper's life looked the same as it had at the start of the summer. Harper had her classes, the promise of an appointment with Cliff King, her house project, her crappy car and her dream for DIY Divas.

Samey, same, same.

Except that Harper was different now. She'd met Luke and he'd done something no one else had done. He'd loved her.

‘Luke tried to give you what he thought you wanted. He cared enough about you to help. I think that's really romantic.' Annie's eyes gleamed and she rubbed her hands together.

Harper raised her eyebrows, more sceptical than her over-eager sister. ‘Help slash interfere. I couldn't see any difference to start with. But at the end of the day, he pulled strings for me to organise the meeting with Cliff King and I should appreciate it. However misguided he might've been, he thought he was doing the right thing and I chucked it back in his face like a spoiled brat,' she said to Annie.

‘He still wasn't very nice when his mother fell off the ladder.'

‘I know, but that was panic. I've never seen him like that before.'

‘And I bet he's forgiven you now. It's not as if you shoved her off the ladder yourself. Up till that point he'd been so reasonable with you, despite …'

‘Go on, say it.'

Annie smiled. ‘Okay, he put up with you, despite how awful you were. Most guys I know wouldn't have a bar of that. But Luke, he said he loved you.'

‘Loved, past tense?' Harper's fingers dug into the lawn, shredding grass and daisies alike.

‘Don't ask me. I always get the love stuff wrong. Ask yourself, from what you know about Luke.'

Harper looked at her little sister, still so young. Even with dirt on her face and her oldest clothes, she looked gorgeous. Her honey-gold ponytail cascaded over one shoulder and long, slim legs stretched out before her as she tapped her feet. The feet men fell at on a daily basis. Harper studied her, conscious of an ache in her chest. She pressed the heel of her hand hard against her breastbone. ‘When did you suddenly get so astute?'

***

A week later, Harper looked around her classroom at her new batch of students. Another first day—or rather first night—presented a mix of old and new faces. She smiled at them, a special smile in place for Shelia who perched on the edge of her stool, two good hands on her workbench, raring to go.

‘I'd like to introduce my assistant, Annie,' Harper said to the class. ‘Please ask her anything you want, but keep in mind she's still in training.'

‘I'll do my best to help you as much as I can,' Annie said, with a shy smile at no one in particular.

‘And from time to time we're going to have guests in our class, specialists to help us with specific projects,' said Harper, her eyes on the women, trying not to look at the spot at the back of the room where Luke had once sat. It looked sad and empty up there, without big galumphing feet and Luke's steely-blue gaze catching hers. Still, maybe …

She couldn't help but look at the clock above the door and cross her fingers that he'd be in later to pick up Shelia.

The minutes ticked by as she and Annie worked their way through the lesson plan. Annie had a lot to learn, but she was taking her new job extremely seriously. It had felt right to offer Annie a role in Divas and Annie had been thrilled. ‘Yay,' she'd said, ‘now we really are sisters doing it for ourselves.'

Two and a half hours later, Harper stood in the storeroom staring at her cell phone. The classroom was empty, the women gone and Annie was probably halfway home.

Luke hadn't come. Harper knew that because she'd followed Shelia to the carpark under the guise of carrying her bag. Shelia had hopped cheerfully into a small red Toyota, beeped the horn and driven away, leaving Harper standing alone, her heart splintering in her chest.

She'd been relying on Luke turning up as always after class. Relying on him not giving up on her—but she'd been wrong. Another sliver of her heart splintered away as she dragged her feet back to the classroom. She slowly packed up her things, turned out the lights and returned to the carpark. The night was cool, a faint yeasty smell wafting through the air from the local brewery. Summer was drawing to an end and she still hadn't made it to the beach. Where had time gone? Why had she let so many moments slip through her fingers?

She hitched her bag higher on her shoulder and dug into it for her car keys. ‘Get out of the way', she growled at all the crap as she shook her bag from side to side. But throttling her bag wouldn't get rid of the crap that prevented her from finding what she really wanted.

At the start of summer all she'd wanted was for DIY Divas to be a success. But much as she still wanted that, it wasn't enough anymore. Being alone wasn't enough anymore. She'd learned too late that accepting a favour didn't mean she'd turned into her mother. Do It Yourself didn't mean do it alone.

Slowly she climbed into her car, turned the keys in the ignition and backed out. She pulled out of the carpark, not turning left towards home but making a sharp right towards the motorway and the more affluent beach suburbs. Dismissing her niggling doubts she turned into an unfamiliar street, slowing her car to a crawl as her gaze flicked over one smart letter box after another until she found the number she wanted.

Her clammy hands gripped the leather-look steering wheel cover as she struggled with another moment of misgiving. She peered up the driveway, through the dusky twilight, then flicked the rear-vision mirror round and peered into that instead. Big, brown eyes awash with trepidation stared back at her out of a small, pale face drained of its usual healthy colour. She pinched her cheeks and smoothed back her hair. There was nothing to be done about her grim expression. She hadn't thought this through at all.

But it was now or never. She grabbed her phone out of her bag, took a deep breath and stepped into the street. The slam of the car door echoed through the quiet night, setting a dog off across the road. She kept her eye on her target and walked briskly up the drive, tapping into her phone as she walked. Message sent.

She stood below the steps outside the front door of the impressive single-level home and waited for a reply.

Moments later the porch light flicked on, the front door opened and Luke erupted out of the house, phone to his ear and keys jingling in his hand. Harper watched as he slammed the door behind him, took the steps at a flying leap to land only inches from where she stood.

He saw her and dropped his phone. ‘What the—?' Harper stooped to pick it up and gave him a minute to catch his breath before handing it over.

‘Hi,' she said.

‘Damn it, Harper. You just about gave me a heart attack.' He frowned at his phone again. ‘Is this your idea of a joke?' He held it so she could see her message—a single word. ‘HELP'.

‘No joke. I need help.' And now that she saw him again she did need help. The sight of him stole her breath and it was all she could do to not gasp loudly for air, unable to tear her eyes away. She'd forgotten what it felt like to be near him, how his presence made her ache with a longing she hadn't fully understood until too late.

‘Help with what?'

‘I can't sleep, I can't breathe and there's something wrong with my heart.'

Luke reached out and squeezed her hand. ‘Do you need me to take you to the hospital?' His tone was gentle and the look of concern on his face tied her tongue in knots. She squeezed his hand back, tears welling in her eyes.

‘Harper! What's wrong?' Luke pulled her into an embrace. ‘Talk to me.' He held her in his arms, running his hands gently up and down her back. She breathed him in, that gorgeous Luke-smell she'd never get enough of.

‘The day I met you, the way you smelled reminded me of summer,' she mumbled into his neck, leaning into him like a drunk. She tucked her nose closer and tightened her arms around his waist. ‘I've missed you so much.'

He gave her a gentle nudge back and stared down into her eyes. ‘I've missed you too. But what brought this on? What do you need from me?'

‘Everything. I need everything from you. I need a second chance. I stuffed up, big time. I didn't want to rely on anyone. I didn't want to rely on
you
because I knew it would hurt too much when you left.'

Luke's thumb caressed a tear from her cheek, the soft gesture eliciting a sob.

‘See—this is exactly what I was afraid of. You'll make me weak and pathetic and I'll forget how to be independent.' Harper's voice quaked in time with her shaking head. She sniffed, wiping her face on her sleeve. ‘I'll be all emotionally needy and you'll leave. I saw it happen over and over again with my mother. That's why I've tried so hard to never need a man.'