Page 98 of Fake It Till We Fall
I returned his nod and moved through the crowd to greet Harper.
“Hey there, beautiful.”
Before she had a chance to slip out of her coat, I kissed her deeply. It had only been a few hours since I’d seen her, but it had been too long as far as I was concerned.
“You look excited.” She grinned up at me, a little breathless, like she, too, had something to tell me.
“I am.” I took her hand and led her through the room, looking for a quiet spot to talk. I gave Ethan, who was behind the bar, a glance, and he nodded, gesturing me into the back room.
The moment we were alone, we turned to each other.
“I have something to tell you.”
“I have news.”
We spoke at the same time.
I laughed. “You first.”
“Are you sure?”
I could sense the same glow of excitement I was feeling coming off her. I nodded. “Go ahead.”
Her eyes shimmered as she reached into her coat and pulled out an envelope. “Grandma gave me the restaurant.”
“What?”
Harper nodded. “Officially. She wants me to rebrand it and make it mine.” Her breath caught, but her smile didn’t waver. “I have so many ideas and…” She exhaled hard. “It’s overwhelming in the best way.”
“It’s incredible.” I cupped her cheeks and kissed her deeply. “You’re going to be amazing, my love.”
Harper pulled back a little, concern on her face. I knew her well enough to know exactly what she was thinking. No doubt she was trying to temper her excitement for my benefit. We’d only briefly discussed the situation of the hardware store the night before. Long enough for me to tell her that I’d been too late in making my offer to Ollie.
“Grayson, I know that?—”
“Let me tell you my news.” I stopped her.
She nodded and waited, leaning in closer.
“I’m going to buy the store,” I blurted. “I found Ollie this morning and told him that while I couldn’t offer him the same kind of money, I could offer his store a solid future in this town and the type of service that Homeworks could never provide.”
Her mouth fell open. “Really?”
“Yup,” I told her. “Trickle Creek deserves more than a white-washed big-box store, and he agreed.”
“He did?”
“Yup,” I said again. “We’re going to meet tomorrow and finalize things, but it’s mine, Harper.” I had to blink hard to keep the tears at bay. “It’s all happening.”
“It really is.” She still looked stunned as she reached for me and wrapped her arms around me. “And I couldn’t be any happier.”
I kissed her again. Longer and deeper this time before realizing Brody, and no doubt the rest of the family, were all waiting for us.
“Wait,” I said, thinking of one more thing we hadn’t discussed. “What about Willa? Your grandma…is she giving you the restaurant because…” I let the sentence trail away, unwilling to say the words out loud. I knew how worried Harper was about her.
“No.” Harper shook her head as she understood what I was saying. “It’s not like that at all. In fact, she’s going to travel.”
“Travel?”
