Page 86 of Puppy Love

She tilted her head and watched him, careful to give nothing of her feelings away. Her heart ached for this man—for the little boy—and the only thing she wanted to do was pull him into her arms and tell him that everything was going to be okay. But that wasn’t what Harrison needed right now.

“I’d probably make it over a mountain just fine, and Imightbe able to survive a fall into a volcano, but I’d definitely die in the lake. I can’t swim.”

Her distraction worked, his attention caught. “What are you talking about? Everyone can swim. You just wiggle your arms and legs.”

“First of all, I think it’s slightly more complicated than that, and secondly, of course not everyone can swim. Especially not people who spent most of their girlhood in the hospital. By the time they were done with me, I barely knew how to take a shower on my own. I’m great at sponge baths though, in case you’re wondering.”

He fought the smile rising to his lips. “I’m not going to feel sorry for you.”

“No one is asking you to.”

“I’m not going to let this go either. How long have you known?”

That one was easy. “I didn’t know she was your mom. He told me right after the camping trip that he was seeing someone, but only that her name was Minerva.”

The rest was hard. She didn’t know what to do, what to say—or even if therewasanything to do or say in a situation like this one.

“Oscar knew.” Harrison’s mouth was a grim line. He was still clutching Bubbles, but he set the animal down now.

Like the obedient, well-trained puppy that she was, Bubbles took her release in stride and settled herself comfortably at Harrison’s feet. Sophie’s chest tightened at the sight of it. He’d accepted that animal into his life so easily—fell in love with her after a few hours. In a short time, their lives had become so intertwined it was hard to imagine the two of them existing separately from one another.

Naturally, human relationships were a little more complicated than that, but that didn’t stop her from feeling jealous.

“Yeah, he probably did know,” Sophie agreed. “You can hardly blame him for not telling you though. Your dad would have never forgiven him. Will you tell me about her?”

He blinked, caught unaware at her rapid change of subject.

“She looks like you. Well, I guess it’s more accurate to say thatyoulook likeher, but you know what I mean. Her smile can light up a whole room—I bet that’s what your dad sees in her. How long after your diagnosis did she leave?”

“Twenty-four hours. Possibly less.” He shook his head and stared at her as if unsure how she managed to get such an easy answer out of him. “Look, Sophie—this isn’t some cute love story that’s finally found its happy ending. You realize that, right?”

Sophie ignored him. “From a few things your dad mentioned the other day, it sounds like they’re going to move in together—but not at your house. He said something, something about it having too many memories. I didn’t know what he meant at the time, but that makes sense. She probably wants to go somewhere they can start fresh.”

An expression of agony passed over Harrison’s face, but the sound he made wasn’t one of anguish. It was a laugh—empty and bitter, yes, but a laugh all the same.

“Of course she does. I’m sure it’s killing her to see it like that. Her precious darling.”

Now it was Sophie’s turn to blink in confusion. Harrison saw it and laughed harder.

“Do you realize he hasn’t let me put a single nail in that place until the day you and Bubbles waltzed in? Not one nail, not one coat of paint, definitely not a tablecloth. In a few short weeks, you managed to wreak nothing short of a miracle.”

If Harrison’s parents had reconciled over his coma, she had the suspicion it was Minerva, and not her, who had managed the miraculous, but she didn’t say so. It was hardly a helpful observation under the circumstances.

“For twenty-two years, he forced us to live in the ashes of everything she left behind,” Harrison said. The laughter stopped as suddenly as it had started. “I wanted to change it. I wanted to fix it. Believe me—Itried.”

“But…” Sophie said, prompting him.

“He liked watching it go to ruin.”

“Why?”

“Because it’sherhouse, Sophie. Not his. Not mine. It’s been in her family for generations, the place where all our happy Parks dreams were going to come true. Until, of course, I ruined it. One near-death experience, and Minerva realized that some dreams aren’t worth the cost.” He glanced away, his gaze fixed on the horizon. “It wasn’t just her husband and son she left behind that day. She left everything she’d ever known—her home, her career, her friends.That’show little she wanted to do with me. That’s how much she couldn’t wait to get away.”

Clarity was starting to take over her confusion—and, with it, some of that same bitterness that characterized everything Harrison said and did.

“Then why on earth do you and your dad still live there?”

This time, his laughter held a note of sincerity. “Sheer stubborn will, at least on his part. That man resented me every single day of his life, and he’d have gladly packed up and left if the opportunity had afforded itself. But a Parks doesn’t abandon his duty. The house was left in his care, and so was I. He would never have considered leaving his post, however much he might have wanted to.”