Page 43 of To Bring You Back
Gannon rubbed his temple. There had been a man in his home when he’d let Harper stay there specifically to keep her from making more mistakes. “So it was someone else? You’re not going to see him again, are you? He doesn’t have a way to get to you?”
Harper tsked. “This is going nowhere. I told you, I fell on the stairs, and just because I might’ve had company doesn’t mean that’s not still the truth.”
Sitting behind the soundboard, John drummed his fingers against his thigh in a fast rhythm. He did that whenever he was lost in thought, and Gannon wished he could put Harper on hold to ask what his friend made of her claim.
“Fine. You fell on the stairs. If that’s what happened, you’ve got to tell the press. This is a PR nightmare.”
Harper let out an exasperated sigh. “The truth doesn’t matter. Only what people believe matters, and that changes every week. Like all the times they say I’m pregnant. If they won’t believe me about what’s going on in my own uterus, how am I supposed to clear up anything else?”
“You’ve got to try. By saying nothing, you’re allowing them to run with whatever story they make up.”
“Right. Talk to the press when even you don’t believe me? I don’t think so.”
John tapped a driving rhythm that mirrored Gannon’s mounting frustration
Harper hadn’t quit talking. “… business and everyone else should too. It’s not like I issued a press release. It’s not like I asked for this.”
“Press coverage? You did ask for it, and I did too. These are the jobs we chose. No one forced us to live in the spotlight, but we do, and the choices we make don’t go unnoticed. In your case, that could be a life saver. If someone’s hurting you—”
Harper scoffed. “See? Even you. Call me back when you figure out how to trust.” She disconnected.
He narrowly resisted throwing the phone at the wall. “I should’ve told her we’ll find out from the security tapes soon enough. She might have spilled the whole story.”
“Not if she’s enjoying the attention.”
Gannon froze. “You think this is a stunt?”
John stood, his right hand still moving to a silent beat. “She was all over the place.Ifshe was attacked, you can only help if she cooperates.”
“If I keep offering, eventually she will.”
“Like she cooperated by staying at your place?”
The question hit its mark, and Gannon couldn’t argue. Harper’s efforts to clear his name would help immensely. Even if she were protecting an abuser—Colton? Someone else?—she didn’t have to let Gannon take the fall.
“Distance yourself from her.” John crossed to the door, a line on his forehead indicating worry. “Otherwise, she’ll take from you, but not the help you’re offering.” He let himself out.
But what did it look like to distance himself from Harper now?
She might need him, and she might even be ready to admit she also needed Jesus if he stuck this out.
The truth would set them all free, like he’d written in that post.
No one was in a better place to tell the truth of what happened that night than Harper.
He texted her one last plea to tell the press the truth, slumped back down against the door, and started praying.
When Adeline letherself into the living room after her evening shift at Superior Dogs, Bruce greeted her, then plopped back down in front of the couch where Tegan sat, watching a movie. Adeline had planned to sand the next portion of the exterior wall but joined them instead.
“You might regret that.” Tegan didn’t take her eyes away from the screen as she scooched over to give Adeline room. “I’m just waiting for this thing to end. It’s one of those big misunderstanding movies where, if they all just sat down and had a conversation, everyone would be happy, and it’d be over.”
Adeline nodded, numb. Was that what she was doing with her past with Gannon? Making it into a bigger and bigger deal by not confessing it?
A paparazzo had shown up at the food trailer today. As his camera lens snapped nonstop, he’d asked what it felt like to be Gannon Vaughn’s new lady and whether she was sad he would be traveling this weekend for a show.
Asher had scared him off, but with the increasing attention and Gannon showing no signs of leaving any time soon—at least, not for more than a weekend—odds were getting better that someone, sometime would dig up the story of Fitz.
Gannon said that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
