Page 68 of Rain or Shine

“More than that.” Harloe lifts her chin, settling into her thoughts as her smile slips away. “Things were simpler back then.”

“Or you didn’t know enough to see that they weren’t.”

“Maybe you’re right. Do you have a place like this? A home somewhere in Montana that you’re avoiding?”

Montana was never home.

Sure, I had a roof over my head, but it leaked all winter and was freezing cold. Dad drank his paychecks away instead of fixing up the house so Grant and I would have a safe place to live. Mom came and went. Sometimes she had money; other times she was only there to siphon off what Dad hadn’t spent on whiskey. She’d stick around long enough to remember why she left, and then she’d hit the road.

Every time Mom left town, Dad would blame us for being too difficult and scaring her off. He couldn’t see he was the problem, even when he was using his fists to get out that anger.

That was life, but it wasn’t home.

“I don’t have a place like this,” I admit. “Grew up in a small town and moved out of my dad’s house as soon as I had the chance. Never looked back. Never had a reason to since my brother was gone.”

“Does any of your family still live there?”

“My dad will never leave. He’ll die on his favorite barstool someday, and they’ll bury him next to his father, who did the same.”

“And your mom?”

“Haven’t seen her since I was sixteen. Don’t know where she ended up after that.”

Harloe’s head angles, and I wait for her pity, for me to tell her that I don’t want it. But that isn’t what crosses her face. She doesn’t even frown. Her eyebrows pinch like she’s confused more than anything.

She wets her lips, glancing at the main house. “I can’t imagine not being there for my kids.”

“Do you want kids?”

Why do I even ask her that question? I sure as shit never thought about starting my own family, so it doesn’t matter to me what Harloe does or doesn’t want.

Except… it does.

She shrugs, hugging her stomach. “For a long time, I thought I didn’t want a family. But I think that’s just because having a family meant settling, and I wasn’t ready to do that yet.”

“But you are now?”

Her eyes fall to where she’s toeing her boot in the grass. “I don’t think we’re ever ready for anything in this world. We’re just dealing with shit as it’s thrown at us. Pretending we have a choice in fate when we don’t. Maybe I’ll have a family. Maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll fix this problem with Ransack. Maybe it will be torn down, and I’ll do something different. I can’t focus on what will happen tomorrow. Only today. Nothing else is promised.”

She glances up, and I get a glimpse of the girl on the run.

Running from her wedding.

From her feelings.

From whatever she thinks she doesn’t deserve.

Harloe’s been running since the day I met her, and I’m starting to suspect there are reasons beyond her being the wild child of her family. She has secrets haunting her beautiful blue eyes. Demons that are chasing her because of something in her past.

I lift my chin, gazing out at the horizon. “In Vegas, there’s this fountain a few streets away from the Strip. It’s right beside one of those old celebrity wedding chapels. A sculptor from Paris carved the statue in the center. It’s the goddess of fate, or some shit like that. People flock to the fountain to make wishes because they swear it’s magical. They’re convinced fate is listening. That if you throw in a penny from your birth year, you might get lucky and have your wish come true.”

“Don’t tell me you threw a penny into the well, Shane.” Harloe hitches her eyebrow.

“Once.” I smirk when she bursts out laughing. “Figured it was worth a shot.”

“How uncharacteristically optimistic of you.”

I grin. “As it turns out, it was pointless. I was passing by one night, and I saw lights around the fountain, so I pulled over. They were fishing out all the pennies to clean the water and dumping them into the trash. It got me thinking about all those wishes people throw at shit that don’t really mean anything. Wishing on shooting stars or wishing wells or whatever they believe in. If it comes true, is it really fate or was it just manifestation?”