Page 108 of A Brush with Love
“Why are you so violent?” Harper said. Thu gave her a bored look.
Defeat and curiosity getting the better of her, Harper took her phone, clicking open the voice mail. She chewed at her nails as she waited for it to start.
“Hi, Harper. It’s Dan.” She wanted to melt at the sound of his voice, drown in it. She closed her eyes, tears already slipping down her cheeks.
“I know—well, obviously you don’t want to hear from me, and I get that, I guess. But I want to tell you something. Actually, there are a million things I want to tell you. An hour doesn’t go by without something reminding me of you, making me reach for the phone to call you.” He took a deep breath. “I know you don’t want a relationship with me. I won’t try to change your mind.”
Was that what she still wanted? Because the past three months had been so unbearably painful, she kicked herself daily for being an idiot.
“But I hope you know,” Dan continued as Harper’s thoughts swirled and the emotions built in her chest. “I didn’t leave because of you. I’ve never wanted to leaveyou. I left because I had to. I was playing pretend at someone I was never meant to be. But what you need to know…” Harper sucked in a breath, nearly choking on a sob. She heard Dan take a deep breath too, and she wanted to lean her ear against his chest, hear the air filling his lungs.
“Just because I left doesn’t mean I stopped loving you.” There was a brief pause. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving you.”
Another moment of silence filled the line, and Harper wanted to hear his voice again more than anything. She wanted to dissolve in the music of it, claw the words from her phone.
“But I’ll leave you alone. Bye, Harper. I’m so proud of you.”
And the line went dead.
Harper sucked in a shaky gasp of air, her whole world fracturing around her.
He still loved her.
He. Still. Loved. Her.
He loved her.
She dropped the phone to her lap, scrubbing at her tears. She had to do something. Anything. She didn’t want him to leave her alone. She didn’t want to hear goodbye.
Because their friend group lacked anything that even remotely resembled boundaries or privacy, Lizzie snatched up Harper’sphone. Indira and Thu crushed their faces close to Lizzie’s as they strained to listen to the message.
By the time it was finished, they all had tears pricking at their eyes as they stared at Harper—all except Alex, who was blissed out in his own drunken stupor.
“What do I do?” Harper cried, lost in how to navigate the complex map of everything she felt. All the love pulsing through her body.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Thu said, running a brisk hand across her cheeks to wipe away the tears. “We go to New York.”
CHAPTER 39
HARPER
Harper blinked at Thu. “What? No. I… When?”
“Now,” Thu said, standing from her seat and gathering her things. She tapped away at her phone for a few seconds before turning the screen to Harper. “A Megabus leaves in fifteen minutes. We can make it if we run.”
“What!” Harper said, gripping the edges of her chair like it would anchor her in the swell of the confusion. “Tonight? You think I should go tonight?”
“Weare going tonight,” Thu corrected, helping Lizzie organize herself. “I just bought us five tickets. Now hurry up.”
“Why would you come?” Harper asked. Everything was happening too fast. She needed a day. Or five. Maybe a week. Just a little bit of time to process everything that was being said. Dan loved her. He was activelyin lovewith her. And she loved him. Holy shit, did she love him.
“We’re coming because you can’t be trusted to follow through on something you absolutely need to do. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, Harper, but you tend to overthink things and talk yourself out of stuff,” Thu said, shooting her a wink.
“I don’t even know where he lives,” Harper said weakly, taking Indira’s proffered hand as she pulled her up to standing.
Thu shot Harper a smug look. “Don’t worry about that,” she said, swooping her gaze to Alex, who was smiling and bobbing his head to the music, completely oblivious.
“Alex, honey?” Thu said sweetly, walking up to him.
