Pretend You're Mine(35)
There was a small room with a door, probably some kind of storage closet, on the other side of the stairs. She wondered if it was full of Luke’s high school yearbooks and childhood memorabilia. Harper tried the doorknob and found it locked.
The knob was new and keyed. Maybe that’s where he kept firearms. She hadn’t noticed any guns around the house. It was more than likely that he stored them safely under lock and key.
Harper spent the rest of her morning bustling around the house. She opened windows to let in the fresh spring breeze while she swept the hardwood floors and dusted the woodwork. She folded and put away two loads of laundry and remade the bed.
She was sweeping last year’s leaves off of Luke’s front porch, fantasizing about the cold roast beef sandwich she was going to make for lunch, when someone called her name.
A tiny brunette stood on the walkway halfway between the sidewalk and the porch. Her hands were clasped tightly in front of her. A colorful floral scarf was tied around her neck.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but Ty told me where I could find you.”
Harper leaned the broom against the railing. “Gloria, right?”
The woman nodded. “I wasn’t sure you’d recognize me. We weren’t ...”
“Formally introduced?” Harper supplied.
Gloria gave her a small smile. “Exactly. I hope you don’t mind me stopping by.”
“Not at all! You’re giving me the perfect excuse to quit cleaning.” Harper stepped off the porch. “Do you have time to come inside?”
“Um, sure. If you’re sure you don’t mind?”
“I would love some company. Especially if you tell me you haven’t had lunch yet, because I’m starving.”
“Oh, um. I don’t know if I should ...”
“Please? I’d love to have some company,” she repeated. Harper had seen this before. When a person’s right to make decisions had been systematically stripped from them for so long, it was hard to start making choices when the freedom to do so was returned. She turned and started for the porch. “Come on in.”
Harper led the way back to the kitchen. She grabbed two plates from the cabinet and put them on the island. “Can you grab the bread for me?” Harper gestured to the loaf on the counter and busied herself unpacking sandwich ingredients from the refrigerator.
She handed Gloria a cutting board and ripe tomato. “Would you mind slicing this?”
While Gloria carefully sliced, Harper started to build the sandwiches. “Roast beef okay with you?”
“Sure. But you really don’t have to go to all this trouble.”
Harper coated slices of bread with mayonnaise. “Well you’re helping. So what brings you to Luke’s unfurnished abode?”
Gloria’s soft laugh floated through the kitchen “It is kind of spartan.”
“I don’t know if he’s a minimalist or what.”
“Commitment phobic?”
“Even when it comes to furniture, it seems,” Harper agreed. She handed Gloria a plate with a sandwich and pickle spear. “Water or soda?”
“Water, please.”
Harper filled two glasses with ice water and joined Gloria at the island. They ate side by side in companionable silence for a few minutes.
“Harper, I just wanted to thank you,” Gloria said suddenly.
“You’re welcome, but it’s just a sandwich.”
“Not just for the sandwich, which is really good, by the way. For helping me with Glenn at Remo’s. It’s been going on for so long, or at least, I’ve let it go on so long that I felt like everyone had stopped seeing me. It took me seeing the situation I helped create hurt someone else to realize that it had to stop. And I’m sorry for that.”
Harper traced a finger over the fading bruises on her face. “It was worth it if it helps you build a life you want. How are you?”
“I’m okay,” Gloria pushed her pickle around the plate. “I’m staying with my mother for now. And I pressed charges.”
She picked up her sandwich and took another bite.
“That’s very brave of you.”
“It would have been braver had I done it years ago.”
“Life moves pretty fast. There’s not a lot of room for coulda, shoulda, woulda,” Harper said, patting her hand.
“Sometimes that’s all I can think about. How different my life would be if I had gone to college or never started dating him.”
Harper nodded, “Maybe now you have that chance. To see what your life would be without him in it.”
“It’s hard. I don’t really have any friends left. I guess it’s not easy to be friends with someone who keeps making the wrong decision over and over again. Eventually everyone has to decide whether or not it’s worth it to keep trying.”