“All right. Let me know if you need anything.” Pearl touched Daniel’s arm gently before she left and gave him another grateful smile.
“What’s that about, by the way?” Harper asked in a low voice and leaned across the table so Pearl wouldn’t overhear her. “You get paid in chowder?”
“Sometimes.” Daniel shrugged. “I’m kind of a handyman, I guess. I do odd jobs. Pearl’s daughter doesn’t have very much money, and I help out when I can.”
Harper appraised him for a minute, trying to get a read on him, before saying, “That’s very nice of you.”
“Why do you sound so surprised?” Daniel laughed. “I’m a nice guy.”
“No, I know that. I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know,” Daniel said, watching her sip her drink. “So, you don’t usually leave for lunch, and you came to a diner even though you’re not hungry. What brings you here today?”
“I just needed a break.” She didn’t look at him directly, instead focusing on the thick black branches of his tattoo, which crept past the sleeve of his T-shirt and down his arm. “A friend of mine is missing.”
“What’s the deal with you?” Daniel teased. “First your sister goes missing, now your friend.” Harper gave him a hard look, and his smile vanished. “Sorry. What happened?”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “He’s more of a friend of a friend, but we dated a few times. And he just went missing on Monday.”
“Oh, is he that kid from the paper?” Daniel asked.
“Yeah.” Harper nodded. “I just read about it before I came here, and I just needed to … not think about it anymore.”
“I’m sorry for bringing it up, then.”
“No, it’s okay. You didn’t know.”
“How is your sister, by the way?” Daniel asked, changing the subject.
“Good, I think,” Harper said, then gave him a rueful smile. “I haven’t even properly thanked you for helping me find her yesterday.”
“You thanked me plenty.” He waved off her apology. “I’m just glad she’s all right. Gemma seems like a good kid.”
“She used to be,” Harper agreed. “But I don’t know what’s going on with her anymore.”
“I’m sure she’ll turn out all right. You raised her right.”
“You make it sound like I’m her mother.” Harper laughed somewhat uncomfortably. Daniel just looked at her and shrugged. “You think I act like her mother?”
“I don’t think you act like you’re eighteen,” he clarified.
She bristled as if he’d accused her of something terrible. “I have a lot to worry about.”
He nodded. “I can tell.”
Harper rubbed the back of her neck and turned away from him. Through the diner window she could see the library across the street, and she wondered how well Marcy was holding up.
“I should probably get back,” Harper said, and she reached into her pocket for her money.
“No, no.” Daniel waved his hand. “I got this. Don’t worry about it.”
“But I thought this was my IOU meal for the ice cream.”
“I was just kidding. I’ll pay.”
“Are you sure?” Harper asked.
“Yeah,” he said, laughing at her guilt-stricken expression. “If it bothers you so much, I’ll let you pay for it some other time.”
“What if we don’t ever eat together again?” Harper asked, eyeing him skeptically.
“Then we don’t.” He shrugged. “But I think we will.”
“Okay,” she said, because she couldn’t think of anything else to say. “Thank you for the Coke.”
“No problem,” Daniel said, watching her as she got up.
“And I’ll see you around, I guess.”
He nodded and gave her a small wave. As she was walking out the door, she heard Pearl ask him if he wanted any pie. Harper went back across the street to the library, and it was very hard for her not to glance back over her shoulder at him.
THIRTEEN
Rebellion
Part of her penance was helping Harper clean. It actually wasn’t specifically dictated as part of her punishment, but it helped ease Gemma’s guilt over frightening both Harper and her father so badly.
Based on how much Harper complained about it, Gemma thought that cleaning the bathroom was her least favorite chore. So that was the one Gemma had offered to take over. Although, after spending five minutes scrubbing the inside of the toilet, she was really starting to regret it.
When she got to cleaning the tub, she realized that the toilet wasn’t even the worst part. The drain in the bathtub was disgusting. Harper always claimed it was mostly Gemma’s hair clogging things up, but Gemma hadn’t really believed her until now.
Fortunately, she wore thick yellow cleaning gloves, or else there would have been no way she could’ve handled it. As she pulled out a long wet rope of hair that looked all too much like a drowned rat, Gemma noticed something glinting in the light.