Luckily the door opens before the tree men make an appearance. It’s Agatha, looking surprised.
“Ms. Evans,” she says. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I was heading to town and wondered if you needed anything.” I mean, I’m not really heading to town, but I’m hoping my ploy works.
“Let me ask, just a moment,” she says, closing the door on me. I try not to take offense, knowing it must be protocol.
A few moments later, the door opens again.
Harrison.
“Piper?” he asks.
“Surprise,” I say, throwing my arms out and jutting my hip to the side.
“Agatha said you were going to town?”
He sounds all business, which bothers me a little, even though I know he absolutely has to be all business right now.
“Yeah, I just wondered if you guys needed anything. Or if you needed me to take you somewhere.” I say that last bit a little lower.
His brow cocks up. He gets it.
“Sure,” he says. “I take it you’re driving?”
I nod.
“I bet there are some errands I can run,” he says. “Meet you at your car.”
He closes the door, and I walk back across their driveway, grinning to myself, then doing a little skip.
A flash of movement catches my eye from up above.
The wave of a hand.
From up in a tree.
I can’t see the rest of him, but I smile and wave back. I don’t care if he caught me skipping and looking like a fool. I am what I am.
I head to the car and get in the driver’s seat. It feels like forever until I see Harrison’s shadow, having not heard him approach at all.
“Hi,” he says to me, getting in his seat.
“Hot day,” I tell him.
He buckles in, and I start the car. It purrs like a broken cat.
“It is,” he says. “Guess you wouldn’t believe it if I told you the air conditioning broke.”
I laugh as we pull down the driveway, pause as the gates open. “That whole house is falling apart. Let me guess: Going to be a while before you get a repairman for that over?”
He shrugs. “He said he’d be here tomorrow. Though that’s what the dryer person’s been saying for days, and I’m starting to suspect they’re the same person. Roscoe’s Heating and Cooling and Roscoe’s Repairs, seems like too much of a coincidence.”
I giggle at him. “Don’t forget Roscoe’s Electrical Services. Still haven’t fixed a baseboard heater in my house.”
He lets out a small laugh, and I let the trippy, happy feelings flow through me for a moment before the more awkward ones resurface.
The funny thing is, though, aside from the sexual tension between us, which is very taut and thick and real, I don’t feel that incessant need to blab. The silence is comfortable. Being in his presence both speeds up my heart rate and calms me at the same time. These feelings are a paradox, but I’m grateful for them all the same.
When we drive past the town, though, he turns to me. “Where are we going?”
“Nowhere,” I say, briefly sticking my tongue between my teeth.
He focuses on that for a moment, then looks me in the eye. “Why did I have a feeling?”
“Because I was tired of waiting for you,” I tell him.
His expression falters. “Sorry. It’s not exactly easy to get away. Especially since I came by to do laundry yesterday. There’s only so much.”
“I know, I’m just giving you a hard time.” I wink at him. Innuendo and all that. “Or at least, I hope it’ll be hard.”
His brows raise. “So where are you taking me?”
“A place where we can be alone and escape the heat.”
He chuckles. “That sounds like an oxymoron to me.”
“You’ll see,” I tell him.
I take the Cranberry Road exit heading past the sign to Mount Maxwell Provincial Park. It’s a long and winding drive up past forests and farmlands, more hidden nooks of the island. Harrison’s attention is rapt on the scenery. “There’s so much here that I haven’t seen. And I’ve seen more than Eddie or Monica.”
“Doesn’t that bother them? I mean, I know they came here to escape, but even with that big house, cabin fever has to be getting to them too.”
“I think they’re just so focused on the baby,” Harrison says. “Then again, I’m just going by what I hear. I think Eddie might be getting a little annoyed, but it’s hard for them to go anywhere.”
“We could always go for a hike somewhere,” I tell him. “In fact, we’re about to go for a little one right now. Except if they came, they could get in trouble.”
“In trouble?” he repeats. “Okay, what do you have planned? I don’t trust that expression in your eyes.”
I give him a saucy grin. “Relax. Go with the flow. Island life, remember?”
It’s not long, though, until we’re on the bumpy mountain road, avoiding potholes that threaten to swallow the car whole. To his credit, Harrison doesn’t say anything else, but I can tell he’s wary about this whole thing.