Page 77 of A Vineyard for Two
‘That was Constable Graves,’ Brookes said, coming back into the kitchen. Then he glanced at Rover. ‘You’re spoiling him.’
‘Just a bit of bacon,’ she said, leaning back against the kitchen counter. ‘What did he have to say?’
‘They caught a few teenagers in a stolen truck. They were going around unclipping batteries from people’s cars.’
She knew it wasn’t a teenager who did that to her car. A teenager wouldn’t be hiding around the side of the house, staring at her with the threatening gaze she’d seen. A teenager wouldn’t have been fast enough to run into the bush and to their car faster than Rover. The teenagers were nothing but a coincidence, a big one but a coincidence, nonetheless. If it had been the first time, she might have believed it.
‘It wasn’t a teenager here last night,’ Harper said.
‘I know,’ he said. ‘That’s what I told Constable Graves. There’s not much that he can do, but they’ll keep a lookout. It’s a shame there are no cameras here.’
‘All this started when I came back into town, Brookes. It’s time I leave again.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Someone doesn’t want me here.’
‘Harper, I want you here.’
‘It’s getting out of hand. At the moment, it’s just the car, but what’s next? What would have happened if you hadn’t shown up when you did last night?’ God, she didn’t even want to think about it. Those piercing eyes. She could still see them when she closed her eyes. A few minutes and the night could have turned out very differently.
‘I showed up. I will always show up.’ He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. He wanted to be there, always, but that didn’t mean he would be there. It was impossible. And she couldn’t put him in that sort of danger. It wasn’t fair. He deserved better.
‘I should go,’ she said.
‘No.’ The stern tone was something she hadn’t heard in a long time. ‘You can’t just run away from the hard things, Harper. It doesn’t change them, it just makes you and everyone around you feel like shit. We talk. We discuss. We come up with a solution, together,’ he said, putting his hands on her cheeks and looking her straight in the eyes. ‘Don’t push me away. I’m here for you, you know that.’
A tear trickled down her cheek, and he wiped it away.
‘Harper, what is it that you’re not telling me?’
There was a lot she wanted to tell him, but that would mean opening up and putting her heart out to get broken. She didn’t want to risk that. ‘I’m okay. But we still have a lot of work that needs to get done and two days left.’
Her phone beeped. She checked her messages.
‘Zoe will be here in fifteen minutes. I better get cleaned up. We’ve got a lot of work to do today.’
‘Harper, you can’t avoid this conversation forever.’
‘I’m not. Just for the next two days.’
Zoe arrived half an hour later. She’d stopped over to grab some coffees and Harper was glad for it. The fresh aroma of caffeine hit her senses, and she smiled. The tension in the room didn’t go unobserved, though. She noticed the smirk on Zoe’s face, but to her relief, her sister didn’t mention anything.
‘I am so excited about this, Harper. I sent out the invitations three days ago and we are already over capacity. Is there any way that we can get an extra two seats at the table?’
‘At capacity? That’s insane.’
‘I know. But everyone wants to be a part of this. It’s like history in the making, again.’
Harper laughed. ‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.’
‘It’s eight days in and you are doing the impossible. There were people saying it couldn’t be done and now everyone wants to see it for themselves. It was first in first served.’
‘We have to cap it at 20.’
‘We can always do another one.’
Harper shook her head. ‘As soon as we open up to do more than it opens the door for an entire month of events. Hugh’s Christmas in July was a one-off event. One night a year. That’s what made it so coveted.’