He gave her a smile that looked halfway genuine. “Good. I’ll see you both in the dining room in five minutes.” With that, he turned, exiting the room, and Harper sunk back to the table, putting her face in her hands. “Ugh,” she said, lifting her gaze to Jak. “I just made an awful impression, didn’t I?”
His face did that thoughtful thing it did for a moment as he worked out a word. Impression, she imagined and then he shook his head slowly. “The . . . my grandfather . . .” He looked behind her, seeming to be choosing the right words. “I think he was a different person before . . . my father died. A better person.”
“What makes you think that?”
“His smile in the pictures here . . . the ones before and the ones . . . after. It’s different.”
She studied him. Trusted his judgment. He was perceptive. It made her feel a form of . . . honor that he wanted her in his life. He’d chosen her. Then again, it wasn’t as though he had an assortment of choices. Stop it, Harper. She had this habit of convincing herself people only chose her out of default. Maybe that particular hurt had come from very real circumstances, but at some point, she had to find her own value and believe in it. Might as well be now.
She took his hand. “Come on. Introduce me to your new family.”
As they drew nearer to the dining room, she heard voices, glasses clinking, and a woman’s laugh. There was a powder room to the right, and Harper, feeling a burst of nerves, stopped. “I’m just going to freshen up and I’ll meet you in there. Go on without me.” She nodded to the room beyond.
“Okay,” Jak said, bending forward and kissing her quickly on the lips. “Hurry,” he mouthed, giving her a wide-eyed stare and tilting his head toward the room where the others waited. She put her hand over her mouth so as not to laugh out loud, and his lip twitched too before he turned and headed into the dining room.
She took a minute to freshen up and take a few deep breaths, and then walked quietly in the direction of the dining room. As she approached, she heard Mr. Fairbanks’s voice saying her name and came to a halt. He was directly on the other side of the doorway and was saying something about her as she noticed clinking ice dropping into a glass. “I know you’re new to civilized life, Jak, but we don’t rut like animals,” he murmured, obviously trying to keep his voice low. Harper’s heart sank. Oh God. It was as bad as she thought it was. Shame washed through her.
“I wasn’t rutting,” came Jak’s voice, matter-of-factly. “I was making love.”
Harper grimaced, while simultaneously having the impulse to laugh out loud. Gah. Jak. She pressed her lips together, suppressing a groan. He was so sweet, and so damned unknowingly inappropriate sometimes.
Mr. Fairbanks choked on what sounded like a sip of his beverage, a short laugh emerging before he cleared his throat. “Be that as it, er, may, you have more important things to be focusing on right now.” He paused and Harper thought it sounded like he took a drink, the ice clinking in his glass. “I saw the pile of books in the library. Planning on reading them?”
“I already did read them.”
There was a beat of silence—surprise?—and then Mr. Fairbanks said, “Very impressive. Good.” She heard what sounded like a shoulder pat. “We’ll get you up to speed yet, son. You’ll be one of us in no time.”
Harper backed up very softly and then made sure her footsteps sounded on the marble floor as she entered the dining room, a bright smile on her face.
Jak came toward her immediately, clasping her hand and kissing her cheek. She smiled up at him. “Harper,” Mr. Fairbanks said in greeting.
“Sir, thank you again for having me.”
He nodded. “You’re welcome. May I offer you a drink?” He nodded over his shoulder to the bar cart that he had obviously been standing at when Harper overheard him.
“No, thank you. Just water with dinner is fine.”
The people standing in the opposite corner of the room, approached. An older woman with long blonde hair and a yellow dress, as beautiful and coiffed a person as Harper had ever seen, was in the lead. Jak’s grandfather’s wife, Jak’s step-grandmother she guessed. The woman held out her perfectly manicured hand. “I’m Loni Fairbanks. You must be Harper.”
“Yes, ma’am.” She shook her hand. The woman had a grip like an injured bird. “It’s so nice to meet you. Thank you for having me to dinner.”
“Oh, of course. I think it’s so nice that Jak has a little friend.”
Little friend?
She glanced at Jak, and Jak was looking at her with an expression that seemed to be half hostility and half confusion. Jak obviously was leery of the “bird woman.” As a matter of fact, she looked like a tropical bird. Colorful and sharp. Beautiful, but might peck your eyes out if given the chance.
A second woman approached. She was about Harper’s age with blonde hair to her shoulders and Loni’s same delicately pointy features. She smiled tightly at Harper, her eyes doing a once-over that made Harper want to fidget and explain why she was dressed so casually. I didn’t expect to stay for dinner. I didn’t dress for what is obviously a dressier occasion than at most people’s homes. She thought briefly of the warm welcome they’d both received from the Gallaghers, the immediate feeling of inclusion, and felt a pang within. I wish we were there now. Not here, with these people who obvi
ously see me as an unwelcome outsider.
“I’m Gabi.” She held out her hand and gave Harper the same limp shake her mother had, offering her a phony-looking smile that was simultaneously bored.
“Harper,” she said. The young woman stepped away, her smile having disappeared as quickly as it’d come, her face settling into an expression of supreme apathy.
“Well, hi there.” A young man stepped forward, holding out his hand to Harper. She took it. Finally, someone who didn’t seem afraid to touch her. He gripped her hand tightly in his, smiling, his teeth large and bright white. “I’m Brett.” His eyes did a slow appreciative sweep of her that made Harper want to squirm.
“Hi. I’m Harper Ward. It’s nice to meet you.”