Page 125 of Nothing to Tell

Bastian

THE KEYES EVENT had been part of his life since before his memory began.He remembered unloading hampers of food for the kids when he was a kid himself.Charities from all around brought those they cared for, sick kids, those in poverty, survivors of abuse, the list went on.The full breadth of kids in need got pampered and spoiled on this one day of the year.

Yet this time, it was different.Harper was there, with them, with him.She manned the Hunt stall like she’d been one of them forever.Anyone seeing her with his mom or Keely would certainly think she was one of them.

She should be one of them.

After his family’s home invasion, the prep and cooking took over and they finished late the previous night.Despite being exhausted when she retired to bed, Harper woke fresh as a daisy.Her enthusiasm for packing up and unloading at their stall encouraged optimism in everyone.How did she do it?Brighten everyone’s day like that?

Event over, it was no surprise that after loading up a truck from a local shelter with leftovers, Harper slunk away.

He gave her a few minutes to decompress before going after her.Just around a corner, there she was, sitting on the fountain wall, feet dangling in the water.

Joining her, he sat, facing the other way.

“You okay?”he asked.

She leaned on him, resting her head against his arm.“I’m fine.”

“You wandered away.”

“Had some thinking to do.”

“Thinking about what?”

“My business mostly.”

“Business?”

“Yeah,” she said.“I mostly do corporate events because that’s where the money is.I need to support myself.”

“Sure.”

“Except there’s no heart in it.I don’t love it… I’ve spent so much time fighting for big enough jobs to give me some leeway to volunteer for the charity events… This is what I wanted to do with my life.There’s something in all of us that we can share, that we should share.”

“Start a nonprofit,” he said.

She scoffed.“Yeah, right, where do I get the start-up?I don’t have the foundation to—”

“Give me a number and you’ll have it in an hour.”

She stopped swishing her feet in the water to look at him.“Do you want to have sex with me?”

Just like her to be frank… and smell so amazing.“We’re in a public park but the car’s just around the corner…”

“Bastian,” she said, linking their fingers.“We can’t go into business together.I can’t take your money, not with things the way they are.”

“What way’s that?”

“I won’t take advantage of you.”

“I’m a big boy.”

Her eyes dropped.Oh, fuck, he didn’t need any encouragement.

“Things are complicated enough,” she said.“We were fake together and broke up to save our families the heartbreak.My family’s falling apart.I live in your house.I work from your home.And the cherry?Your family think we’re together again… Do you really want to add a business partnership to that?What happens when things get back to normal?”

“Normal?”he asked.“What does that look like?Are you going back to your parents?”