Page 107 of Even After This
“That isn’t funny.” I giggle anyway. “What about when your dad was proud of you?”
“It was almost the same look of disapproval, but you knew the difference because his eyes would gleam.” Harlan shakes his head. “I’d give anything to see that gleam again.”
With extreme care, I remove one of my gloves and tuck it under my arm. “What would he say to you now?” I use my freed hand’s dexterity to pry open the wrapper.
Just as I smile with victory, the ski lift stops abruptly, and my hold on the protein bar releases when I grab Harlan’s hand. “Oh no.” My only shot at nourishment falls toward its powdery white ruin.
As our chair swings, Harlan leans forward. “Well, at least we aren’t over a trail. Then someone really would have experienced death by protein bar.”
His remark might be funny if I wasn’t in a panic. My stomach drops with each lurch of the bench. “This is like the baby swing from hell. Make it stop.”
He grips my hand tight. “We’re okay. It’ll calm down in a minute.”
Every muscle in my body tenses. “This chair is going to hurl me off onto another mountain to be eaten by wolves.”
“Unless the axe murderer gets you first.”
I bite the inside of my cheek to hold off a smile. “Don’t think I won’t push you off this thing.”
His barked laughter fills the thin air. As the swing finally slows, he leans over and kisses my temple. “I love you, Meredith Harper.”
I gape and blink. I don’t move so as not to scare the moment away.
Lips remaining in place, Harlan chuckles. “See? You forgot all about the swinging.”
Forgot about the swinging? No. I know all about the swinging. For a long time, I swayed through the murky depths of grief, only recently finding the ascension to living my life. Considering a future. Searching for purpose. And now, out of nowhere, the pendulum has thrown me right into the arms of an unexpected gift.
As my eyes fill with tears, I turn my head. My response to him is immediate. Easy. Peaceful. “I love you too, Harlan Holcombe.”
Our faces are so close, all I can see are his eyes crinkling with a smile, right before he leans in to kiss me.
This is not a simple peck. This is a seal. A slow, deliberate, sweet seal of our commitment to each other.
“Get a room,” jokers yell from the chair behind us.
He pulls back, and I don’t try to hide my has-to-be-blinding smile.
Harlan Holcombe loves me. Not the actor. But Harlan Holcombe the man. Loves me.
I grab my glove and wrangle it back onto my cold hand. Afterzipping up my jacket, I loop my arm through his and rest my head against his strong shoulder.
“Dad was all about loyalty.” Harlan’s gravelly voice cuts through the silence. “He wanted us to be loyal to the family but also to ourselves. Regardless of my success, I think he understood my career wasn’t about being true to my ultimate purpose in life. And I think I disappointed him.”
Squeezing his arm, I snuggle in a little deeper. “What do you want to be when you grow up, Harlan?”
“I want to hand down a legacy.” Harlan taps his skis together, loosening the settled snow. “Dad taught us to leave something here on earth that makes an impact.”
I lick my chapped lips. “What does that look like for you? The guys you mentor?”
“I don’t know, Meredith.” He knocks his skis with more force, causing a giant clump of snow to fall to the ground. “But I was thinking it might have something to do with you.”
My pulse quickens, and I’m stilled in scared anticipation of what he might say next.
He kisses me on top of my head. “It would be an honor to leave a legacy with you.”
My stomach drops. At the same time, the chair lift restarts and jerks us back to our path up the mountain.
Ominous tingles skitter across my body.
