Oh great, a fat reference.
“I am doing better, Mrs. Grimshaw.” Harper did her level best to paste a smile onto her face and not gag at the fact that she’d just addressed the woman as missus. “Thank you.”
“I also noticed you’re back in the ring with another man. You do move fast don’t you? Don’t really waste time between rounds.”
Now a slut reference. Perfect.
“How about we get started?” Harper asked, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible.
“Yes.” Bethelda’s eyes did another sweep over Harper’s entire body.
She had a very strong instinct to cover her belly with her hand, to shield her baby from this woman. But she resisted. A move like that would be ample fodder for this woman to write about. As it was, Harper had no doubt that her Voluptuous V. nickname would be gracing another Bethelda Grimshaw blog post very soon.
She couldn’t freaking wait.
* * *
Starting her day with Bethelda Grimshaw was a pretty accurate precursor for how the rest of Harper’s day was going to shape up.
She had back-to-back clients and barely any time to breathe. Which might’ve been a good thing as one of her clients had apparently bathed in patchouli before she’d come in. The scent was so pungent that Harper’s small reprieve in no more nausea was non-existent.
After lunch, Harper went to LaBella where she was treated to a couple on vacation yelling at her for her inability to “squeeze” them into her already packed book for the day. And then she was forced to listen to a tourist who spent the entire hour on the phone talking to someone about “the injustice of Daddy not buying her the convertible Porsche for the days that she just didn’t feel like driving her Beamer or Audi.”
There was a “no phones” policy in the spa, but it had long ago been established that if the clients didn’t follow it, there was no way to enforce it.
Speaking of phones, she’d forgotten her phone charger. Since she’d also forgotten to charge it the night before, it died somewhere around two o’clock. The short charge on her drive from the spa to the resort had only bought her about a half hour.
Texting Liam throughout the day had become part of the norm, so not having that when she was already in a foul mood was just adding fuel to the fire at this point.
She was at the spa until well after seven, just in time to get caught in the downpour from the thick black clouds that had been threatening all day. They were an excellent indicator of exactly how she felt, too.
The second she stepped out from the overhang of the spa the wind whipped up, making her umbrella flip and getting her soaked in an instant. She shoved the useless bit of scrap metal and cloth into the trash can at the end of the walkway before sprinting to her car.
When she shut the door behind her it was like she’d just climbed out of a pool. She shoved her keys in the ignition, turning over the engine before she opened the vents and turned on the heat.
Summer or not she was shivering, the cold making her teeth chatter and every inch of her skin breaking out in goose bumps. There was a cardigan in her backseat and she snatched it up, attempting to wipe some of the water from her skin. Her ponytail was dripping and when she squeezed the material of the sweater over her hair it instantly soaked the fabric.
Harper threw the now sopping cardigan into the seat next to her, before she found her phone in her purse and plugged it into her car charger. The spinning wheel popped up, indicating it was getting some juice, but it would be a good couple of minutes before it loaded up. The song on the radio ended and rolled into another as she put her Cruiser in Reverse and backed out of the parking lot.
She wanted more than anything to take a steaming hot shower when she got home, but the lightning that cracked across the sky a second later shoved that idea out of her head. She was going to have to settle with food warming her up.
She was going to make the most decadent grilled cheese sandwich possible with the ingredients in her fridge before she heated up the tomato soup her mother had sent home with her the night before. Then she was going to curl up on the couch with Luna in her lap, a cup of hot chocolate in her hand, and talk to Liam in whatever form was available.
It would be her choice to FaceTime with him as she’d like to see his face more than anyone’s in the world, but she’d make do with just his voice if she had to.
And as if the universe was finally on her side, his voice filled her car making her warm in an instant.
“I firmly believe that it’s the things you have to fight for that are worth the most. The struggle makes it more in the end.”
It took her a second to realize how hearing his voice was a possibility—her brain was just that frazzled—but he was talking to her through the radio. Well, not to her exactly, but to the DJ who was interviewing him.
It was the country station she always listened to on her satellite radio. Nellie Westin did the morning show and she interviewed musicians all the time, getting them to do a live performance at the end. They’d usually replay segments of the interviews throughout the day and week.
Harper had no idea Liam was supposed to be on it.
“More what?” Nellie’s northern accent came through the speakers. She was born and raised in Detroit, which was actually where her show was broadcast. Liam had been there two days ago.
“More everything. In my experiences, the greatest things in my life have not come easily.”
“This is the theme of your newest album, which will be available in a few months if I’m not mistaken?”
“Yes, ma’am, Unsteady Ground will be out the last Tuesday in October.”
Always the southern gentleman. Harper’s mouth split into the first genuine smile she’d had since going into work that morning.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I just got ma’amed by someone who’s about two seconds older than me. You southern boys sure are polite.”
“Sometimes. Depends on the day.” A low laugh escaped his lips and Harper would bet money on the fact that he had a slightly mischievous smile on that face of his.
“Well, I don’t doubt that. Now don’t let me get sidetracked here. Let’s get back to this new album of yours. There’s a song on Unsteady Ground that’s already creating a lot of buzz. ‘Forever’ hasn’t been officially released yet, but you’ve been playing it at concerts and your fans are going crazy over it.”
Harper pulled into the parking lot in front of her apartment, putting the car in Park and turning the engine off. The radio was still running as she leaned back in her seat to listen to the last of the interview.
“Yeah,” Liam continued. “It’s a different song than anything else I’ve done.”
Harper could just see him sitting there in the studio, those massive headphones on his ears while he reached up and ran his hand across the back of his neck.
“It’s a love song isn’t it?”
“It is. And a ballad, two things I’ve never really delved into before…or at least not successfully. But this song was one of those stars align moments.”
“And how exactly was that?” Nellie asked.
“I found the right muse…the perfect muse actually.”
And this was the part where Harper stopped breathing.
“Would I be correct in guessing that this song is based off something that actually happened? Off an actual woman? Because I’m not going to lie, Liam, there are quite a few fans out there, besides myself, who are more than curious.”
“‘Forever’ is based off true events,” he confirmed.
Harper still hadn’t taken a single breath.
“And I wrote the song within twelve hours of meeting her. It was the fastest I’ve ever gotten anything out on the paper. And it’s the clearest melody I’ve ever heard in my head.”