Page 69 of Wilde Secrets

The familiar sense of impending doom washed over her like a bucket of cold water and she shivered. She really should be writing right now.

“Everything alright?”

Harper nodded, turning her head to smile reassuringly at Amy. “Just thinking.”

“Not about that boy of mine, I hope?”

Harper frowned. “Why do you say that?”

Amy laughed. “Because the expression on your face was pure terror.”

Was it? Surely not?

Harper shook her head, numb. “Just thinking about… my family.”

Amy smiled and patted Harper’s hand where it lay on the table next to a glass of white wine. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Harper’s eyes opened wide as she shook her head. She wished she had a mother to call who could listen and give advice, who would tell her everything was going to be fine. She wished she could talk to this warm-hearted woman about her problems, but it was bad enough that they were out in the open for everyone to hear about.

She glanced around the bar, looking for an excuse to change the subject. It was packed despite the early evening time, with lots of people filling the tables on the outdoor deck area. “Is it always this busy here?”

Cassie turned from where she was chatting to a pretty woman with light brown skin. Harper struggled to remember her name, Suzie or Stacy? She wasn’t sure. All Harper remembered was that she was a teacher at the local middle school, or was it elementary? She shrugged. She seemed nice, and hadn’t recognized Harper, for which she was grateful.

“Are you going to sing?”

Harper blinked at her. “What?”

Cassie tilted her head to one side. “Sing. Are you going to sing? I assumed you sang because of the guitar and, you know…”

Harper darted a glance to the other women at the table, but they weren’t listening.

“No. I don’t sing.”

Cassie’s eyebrows shot into her hair. “Not at all?”

Harper swallowed past a lump in her throat. “Not really.”

A familiar, warm hand landed on her shoulder and Logan slid into the empty chair next to Harper. “Leave off, Cass,” he said, a note of warning in his voice.

Harper instinctively turned toward him and leaned against his side slightly, seeking comfort and strength. Her shoulders relaxed and she gave him a tentative smile.

“But it’s karaoke night,” Cassie said. “Everyone sings. That’s the rule.”

There was a hint of the baby of the family getting her own way in that. Funny how she’d never had that herself. Maybe that had something to do with the close ages of her and Isla, or maybe because she wasn’t the youngest of six and the others all boys.

“Call the karaoke police then, Cassidy. If she says she’s not singing, she doesn’t have to sing.”

The two siblings were leaning toward the table, a similar fierce expression on their faces.

Harper had the immediate thought of them as children, fighting over anything and everything just because they could.

She laughed and Logan shot her a look, one eyebrow raised quizzically.

“Nobody can force me into anything, Logan. I’m not singing, but I’d like to stay and listen.”

“Are you sure?” He turned toward her and settled in so closely that their noses almost touched. Anyone who saw them like this would know they were lovers. It was too obvious, and yet she couldn’t pull away.

She didn’t want to pull away.

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