“Do you have problems to be worked out?” They made it to the crest and she leaned back, stretching with her hands on her hips.
“A few. It’s more realizations, I guess.” Her pulse quickened, a little nervous about what she was going to say. “I think I’ve spent a good portion of my life avoiding risks. But it’s not really living, you know?”
He squeezed her fingers. “Hiding behind your lens?”
She laughed a little. “Maybe. And I got comfortable there. Never letting myself get too close to people because I knew eventually I’d have to say goodbye. But I can’t seem to do that with you. I know you’re leaving soon. I know this will go nowhere after next week. But if I shut this down...” She caught her breath. “If I shut this down, what’s between us, I know I’m going to regret it.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “What do you want, Harper?”
Courage began to blossom in her chest, even as the faint sound of helicopter rotors started to pulse through the air. “I want to live. I want to stop playing it safe all of the time. I want to get out of my comfort zone now and again and do something daring.”
“You don’t call what you’re doing for Adele and Dan daring?” Drew lifted an eyebrow.
“Yes and no. I mean, I’m really pregnant. But when this is over, the whole plan is to go back to my safe and boring life. At first that was all I really wanted, but what if that’s not enough anymore? What if I want...helicopter rides through the mountains? Kisses on my porch? Surprises?”
The sound grew louder and she knew she had to get this out before the pilot landed. “The last few weeks, seeing you...it’s been good for me. I can feel it. I’ve been so afraid of getting hurt, but I think what’s always made me so cautious is being blindsided.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, every time I moved, it came out of the blue. My dad would get a change of orders and we’d move. New base, new town, new schools. New teachers, new kids who always stared at the new girl in class. For the first few times, I made good friends, but then it hurt so much to move again and say goodbye. Once I hit nine or ten, I stopped making friends. I understood that I’d have to leave again. By the time I was twelve, I had my first camera, and it became my friend. It never got left behind.”
Drew let out a breath. “Jeez, Harper. That sounds so lonely. I was really lucky to have my brother and sisters, you know? And
we lived in the same house growing up.” He shook his head. “Man. You were lonely and I felt claustrophobic. I love my family, but I couldn’t wait to get out on my own. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck in one place.”
She squeezed his fingers. “I’m not blindsided this time. Like you said, eyes open.” The chopper got closer and the wind started to whip her hair as she raised her voice to be heard. “I’m ready for an adventure, Drew!”
His only answer was a quicksilver smile as the chopper hovered, inching its way toward the bluff. He held her hand tightly as they moved to the helicopter. And when they were buckled up and the chopper lifted off and then dropped over the side to skim down the valley, Harper kept her eyes open and went along for the ride.
* * *
Drew put his pack in the back of the car and took a deep breath. He had no idea what to do next. His feelings for Harper were complicated, but he’d felt in control of them. Or at least in control of how the next week would play out. Maybe seeing each other a few more times, enjoying each other’s company and a mutual goodbye at the end with no hard feelings.
Today had changed all that.
She hadn’t said anything since they’d disembarked. They had maybe fifteen minutes in the car to decide what would happen next. And he knew what he wanted to happen and what should happen.
He should drop her off and go back to the hotel. And yet, he wasn’t ready for the day to be over. Harper deserved to be treated like the special woman she was, and he wanted to be the man to do it.
Neither said anything until they got close to the townsite exit. Then Drew looked over at her. “I don’t want today to end. Come back to the hotel for dinner.”
He had to turn his attention back to the road but he felt her gaze on his face. “To dinner?”
He nodded, glancing over again. “I can take you home to change. It’s been too wonderful a day for it to end now.”
She sighed. “We could always order a pizza. You don’t need to go to all this trouble.”
“I want to,” he insisted. They slowed for a group of tourists crossing the street. “It’s not trouble, Harper. It’s a pleasure. I want to spend more time with you. And I want to...to show you that you’re special.”
“At your hotel.”
He understood what she was and wasn’t saying. “Yes, at my hotel. But it doesn’t have to be there. I don’t want to pressure you into anything.”
There was a pause of perhaps two seconds, and then she answered, “The Cascade sounds fine.”
And with that admission, the air snapped with electricity and the anticipation of what was to come. What did he do? Charm her over dinner? Drive her home again as soon as the meal was over? Wait for her to make a move? He felt as unsure as a teenager faced with undoing a girl’s bra for the first time. One wrong move and it would be all over. Maybe he should just play it cool.
He parked in her narrow driveway and she unbuckled her seat belt. Drew reached over and took her hand before she could take the keys out of the ignition.