Pretend You're Mine(86)

“It’s going to be really disappointing if it’s just a bunch of old office paperwork.”

“No kidding.”

They hung up and Harper drummed her fingers on the counter. Where would it be? Someplace close, but not visible.

She perked up. On a hunch, she hustled up the stairs to the second floor. A walk-through of the three empty bedrooms revealed nothing new. There wasn’t a stitch of furniture in them.

Harper stood in the doorway of the master bedroom and let her eyes roam the room. The dresser was used nearly every day, as was the closet. The table under the window housed Luke’s electronics when they weren’t in use, and its narrow drawers were practically empty.

She turned and faced the bed. The drawer of her nightstand had slowly filled with books and magazines and a box of tissues. But his? She couldn’t remember Luke ever opening his.

Harper slid the drawer open. It appeared to be empty at first, but at the very back something caught her eye. A single silver key.

She snatched it out of the drawer and held it up. Could this be it?

Harper ran down two flights to the basement and slid the key into the lock. The knob turned easily in her hand and she pushed it open.

The room was long and skinny with two shelving systems pushed up against the wall. The boxes and totes were all unlabeled and looked as if they had been untouched for years. Her fingers itched to dig in, but where to start? She decided to be methodical and go from left to right, starting with the far shelf.

She pulled the first box off the top shelf and sat down on the floor with it. It held a few photo albums. The first one was labeled “Karen” in a scrawling cursive. Harper flipped through, watching a cherub-faced toddler turn into a gangly softball player who morphed into a pretty teenager. Class pictures from kindergarten through senior year were interspersed.

Was this the girl Luke had lost?

Harper dug out the next one, a skinny worn leather album. This was labeled in a girlish script “Luke & Karen.” Harper felt her heart stutter. She took a deep breath and opened it to the first page.

Luke,

This is the story of us. I wanted to give this to you before we head off in different directions so you’d always have a reminder of how much I love you. Someday maybe our grandchildren will page through this album to see where it all began.

Love, Karen

Harper turned the page. It was a photo of a very boyish Luke in a tux. His hair was longer, and the grin on his face made her smile. He had an arm around a tall, slim brunette in an emerald green formal dress. Karen. They were wearing crowns.

Homecoming king and queen.

They were a picture perfect couple, grinning like there wasn’t a care in the world. On the next page was a picture of Luke in his football uniform, his helmet under his arm. A careless grin on his face as he shared a laugh with high school football Aldo.

Harper smiled. The friendship and loyalty there ran deep.

There was a newspaper clipping with a picture of Luke throwing the game-winning touchdown and then a picture of Karen in full cheerleader gear cheering from the sidelines. Her blue eyes were focused on the field.

Another picture of Karen and Luke sharing an embrace after a game. Karen had Luke’s jacket draped over her shoulders.

Captain of the football team and head cheerleader.

They must have been like high school royalty. Harper sighed. Luke looked so young and so free. There was a lightness about him in the pictures that was so rarely present in him now. She loved seeing him like this. Energetic. Happy. Ready to take on the world.

There were more pictures. Prom, camping trips, cookouts, senior pictures. Karen with the Garrisons. Luke with Karen and her mother. They all looked so happy.

In the last picture, Luke and Karen stood front and center in their caps and gowns at graduation. They had eyes only for each other. Bright smiles at the future ahead of them.

Harper closed the album and held it to her chest. What she would have given to grow up like that. To be young and in love and excited about the future.

What happened to them? Where did it go wrong?

The next album was a heavy ivory book with gold lettering.

The Garrisons





CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR


Harper opened the heavy ivory album to a breathtaking picture of Karen in a confection of a gown. Off the shoulder sleeves in lace reached her forearms with sheer material covering the gown’s modest scoop neck. Her dark russet hair was pinned back in a classic twist with a long veil tucked under it. She carried lilies.

Harper brought a hand to her mouth.

Luke grinned at Claire as she pinned his boutonniere in place.

Another of Karen with Sophie and three other women in deep purple gowns, laughing as a flower girl twirled.

Luke at the altar, with Aldo by his side, his eyes focused calm and steadfast at the back of the church. Karen walking down the aisle, escorted by her mother. The ceremony. The kiss. The happy exit.