Page 56 of Mercy (The Sins Trilogy 3)
“Yeah. She hasn’t forgiven him. I don’t think she ever will.” He rubs his forehead. “I don’t get it, you know? She loved him the best out of us boys. How can love like that switch to hate so fast?”
“Maybe that’s the limit of her love. If you aren’t perfect the way she wants you to be, she won’t love you.”
Harry looks away.
I reach out and squeeze his hand. “I’m sorry, Harry, for making you relive all that.”
He gives me a faint smile. “It’s okay. You have a right to know. So you know what a mess we are. It’s fortunate Tony doesn’t come with the baggage of the family. I was supposed to make things at home better and help fix them, but it wasn’t enough.”
I’ve never seen Harry look so sad and lost. I didn’t realize he carried a dark shadow of the past as well.
“Do you want a box for your lunch?” I ask.
He hasn’t touched anything since we started talking about Katherine. I’m not sure if he has an appetite anymore.
“Yeah, sure. Don’t want to waste food.”
I signal our server for boxes, then start to hand him my credit card.
“No!” Harry puts a hand on mine. “Don’t do that.”
Before I can blink, he whips out a crumpled fifty from his pocket so fast that it’s like the bill’s about to burst into flame. He presses it into the waiter’s hand.
“What? Why not?” I ask.
“I might be a college student, but I have money.”
“So? I invited you. It’s my treat—”
“Tony would shave me bald for mooching off you. Nobody gets to take advantage like that. And I better not ask you to buy me something.”
This is warped. He’s serious. “But you’re not taking advantage of me, and you didn’t ask me to buy you anything. I’m perfectly happy to—”
“No, no, no. Women don’t buy me lunch. You should know that.”
I cross my arms. I expected better of Harry. “Are you being a chauvinist?”
“What if I am?” He shoots me one of his utterly charming, carefree smiles. “If you want to be nice to me, just tell Tony I’m a great brother to have around. That’s it.”
I roll my eyes. “Right. That’s all you want.”
“It is. And you know why? Because being nice to you earns me points. And the more points I have, the more I get to fly on his jet.”
I press my lips together tightly so I don’t start laughing. “So if I give Tony a compliment for you, regardless of whether or not it’s true, you get points?”
“Exactly! Think of it as a frequent liar program.”
This time I do laugh. We leave the restaurant together, each of us carrying a doggie bag and Bobbi following.
“Thanks again, Harry,” I say as we part. “Really.” I know today’s talk wasn’t easy for him.
“No problem. Look, if you ever want to know more about anything, I’m here.”
“Thanks. That’s very sweet of you.”
Bobbi and I return to the office. She eyes my lunch.
“You not eating that?”
