Page 67 of Emergency Exit
“You didn’t say you were coming,” Harper said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“You weren’t paying attention,” he snapped. “I said I was coming to Seattle.”
“You didn’t say the day. You didn’t say you were cominghere.”
The man pushed his blonde-tipped hair back from his forehead. “It was implied. Normal people would have gotten it.”
“Harper?” said Ash, and Harper jerked as if she’d been electrocuted. The man turned around and gave Ash a once over and a sour expression.
“She’s busy,” said the guy, and turned his back to Ash, trying to block access to Harper.
“Yes, with me,” said Ash. “And I know this because, unlike some people, I sent a calendar invite.”
The guy turned around and glared at Ash angrily. As far as snappy comebacks went, it lacked heft. Ash waited, certain that there would be more but expecting that the basic frat bro would take a minute for his quip center to boot up.
“I don’t care what’s on her calendar,” he said, giving a smug smile. “I’m her boyfriend.”
Ash looked past the insane man to Harper. She looked on the point of tears, but at this announcement, she straightened up.
“Not anymore,” she said firmly. “And I have a lunch date with Ash. Excuse me, Cooper.” She went around the guy and grabbed Ash’s hand, towing him toward the door.
“See you around, Cooper,” said Ash, giving a jaunty wave that somehow turned into a one-fingered salute.
Ash followed Harper as she angry-walked down the block. Her hand was clamped around his in a death grip, but he didn’tmake a move to adjust it.
They arrived at a crosswalk, and Harper stopped, glaring at the red hand on the signal and breathing heavily. Ash took the opportunity to unclench her hand and put it into a more relaxed position. The neighborhood was nice, and there were cute shops along the street. The Christmas decorations were out, and tinsel candy canes decorated the light poles. The signal turned to the walking man, but Harper didn’t move.
“OK,” said Ash, starting them walking, “we’re going to do some deep breathing, and then maybe we’ll look in the windows of those shops.”
Harper nodded, and Ash began to loudly do some breathing exercises that Harper copied. By the end of the block, she looked more like herself. Ash let them drift to stop and moved them toward the curb and out of the path of midday shoppers.
“OK, can we talk about what the hell just happened?” he asked cautiously.
“Nope,” said Harper, staring at the top button on his coat. “We’re good.”
“Harper,” said Ash softly, but she refused to look up at him, “What’s going on?” Harper’s eyes flicked up to his, and he saw they were filled with tears. “Smoak, talk to me. Who was that guy?”
“Cooper Martin.”
“OK. And why does Cooper think he’s your boyfriend?”
“I dated Cooper for two years,” she whispered. He liked that she put it in the past tense, but he wasn’t sure why she was still so upset about him.
“OK, but you broke up?” Ash asked hopefully, and she nodded miserably. He wasn’t sure where to go next.
“After he proposed,” said Harper, still fixating on his button.
“You said no?”
“Not exactly,” she said with a watery sniff.
“I don’t know what that means.”
She looked up at him and straightened her shoulders as if facing a firing squad.
“We were at a baseball game. It was a work event for him. It never even occurred to me that Cooper would do something like that at a work event. And someone hit a home run, and I stood up to cheer, and when I turned around, he was on the ground and holding a ring, and I said…” Harper gulped. “Oh, no, did someone lose a ring? And I started asking everyone if they’d lost a ring, and then I told him to get up because he would get his pants dirty. There was a lot of beer and popcorn down there. Stadiums are filthy.”
Ash bit down hard on his tongue, trying not to laugh.
