Page 70 of Never Been Worse

TWENTY-SEVEN

HARPER

“Hey, you ready to go?” Wes asks, standing in the doorway of my design room in a pair of dark jeans and a maroon-colored sweater. We’re going on a lunch date in Hudson City, fully planned by Wes.

“Yeah, sorry! I had an idea,” I say, sketch pad in hand, as I sit on the cushioned bench near the window. The idea came to me while I was getting ready, and I rushed through my makeup to run over here and get it down before I lost it. Ever since I told Wes, Ava, and Jules everything, my mind has been freed, that creative block gone, and I couldn’t be more grateful. “I’ll be done in a second.”

“No need. It can wait. Everything can wait for the creative genius,” he says, and I roll my eyes.

“I don’t know if I’d go that far.” I furrow my brows, confused by him standing in the doorway of the room still like he’s a vampire who needs to be invited in. “You can come in, you know.”

“This is your sanctuary, Harper. I won’t come in if you don’t want me to.”

“That’s silly,” I say, waving him in. “Come in. Sit. Keep me company. I’ll just be another minute, and then we can head out.”

He steps in as I finish the silhouette of a gown, and from the corner of my eye, I watch him taking in the small changes I’ve made to the space, a few photos here and there, supplies reorganized, and a few new additions to the cork inspiration board.

“Wow,” he breathes, seeing the finished design for what would have been the centerpiece of my first line, the only design Jeremy doesn’t have. I finally gave in the morning after I told Wes everything and started to sketch it out, needing to just get it out of my system and hoping it would help my creative block. It worked, inspiring a brand new line, the basics of which are pinned next to that first design. It’s outlined on a large piece of poster paper withNew Lineon top. Words are scribbled on it, textures and vibes, and emotions I want the wearer to feel. There are a few inspirational photos pasted there as well as a few swatches of colors.

I’m incredibly excited about it, and I’m sketching what Ithinkcould be the focal point of the collection. “I finally got past my creative block,” I tell him proudly.

“I see that,” he says, staring in awe at my work.

Warmth blooms in my chest at this incredibly talented man speaking like that about something I made, knowing in my heart he’s not just saying it to be nice. I’ve never had that before, and even though a small part of it makes me feel uncomfortable, like I shouldn’t be accepting his praise, another part realizes it’s just residual conditioning from Jeremy to make me question everything he said.

I add the last line to the base of my sketch, an off-the-shoulder gown with a snake-like pattern, before I stand and walk over to him.

“Can I put this on my socials?” he asks, pointing to my board and the original design. I can feel a blush roll down my cheeks and neck to my collarbone at the mere idea he’dwantto do that.

“You want to put that on your social media?”

Finally, he looks at me, his brows together in confusion. “Well, yeah. Harper, I want to scream about you from the mountaintops. And this? This is amazing. People should know how talented you are, Harper.”

“Oh. I, uh. Okay,” I say with a small smile on my lips.

He leans forward, pressing a kiss to my temple before sliding his phone out and taking a photo. “Okay, I’m done. You ready?”

I nod, letting him lead me to the car.

By the time we get to Hudson City, that post already has nearly half a million likes.

“Hey, we’re going to head out as planned, okay?” Wes tells the waiter at the high-end restaurant in Hudson City he brought me to.

A couple of paparazzi talked to us as we walked the four blocks from the parking garage to the front door. The entire walk, Wes held my hand and told me jokes, clearly trying to make me forget there were people around us, and it felt…easy. When we arrived, we stopped for a few photos and answered a few questions before heading in, as Leo instructed us to. Then we were ushered into a quiet, secluded room of the dark, romantic restaurant where we had the most amazing meal and even better conversation.

After we were served dessert, Wes looked at his watch, grabbed my hand and whispered that we had to go. Now he’s grabbing a few bills from his wallet and handing them over. “Remember, if anyone asks, we were here all afternoon, okay?”

She smiles wide and bites her lip. “Of course, Mr. Holden. Anything you need. The kitchen staff has been prepped, you can go out the back door. There are no cameras there.”

“Perfect,” he says with a smile. “We’ll be back soon.”

She shrugs as if it doesn’t matter to her, then Wes grabs my hand and leads me through the restaurant and to the staff door of the kitchen. He waves at an employee he somehow knows by name but doesn’t stop as we leave through a back entrance.

“Do you do this often?” I ask with a laugh as we walk through an alleyway behind buildings.

“Escape a restaurant when there are paparazzi? I mean, not too often, but when things were crazy with Stella and Riggs, yeah, we had to do it a bit. It’s a fine balance between Leo having us make appearances and living life. That’s why we live in small towns like Ashford and Evergreen Park. It makes it easy since no other big celebrities live there, so the paparazzi aren’t typically there twenty-four seven.”

“Got it,” I say, and even though I have about a million more questions, I shut my mouth as we walk in the brisk cold, clearly on a mission.

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