Every word out of her mouth killed another piece of him. “It’s not your fault, Harper. I was wrong. I didn’t think. We should have called him together.”
“I’m not blaming you.” Her cheeks were tinged an angry pink. “I’m talking about my choices. I should have listened to my instincts.”
Instead, she’d listened to his. And now, they were here, waiting, fearing.
Just that quickly, the anger, the hardness, the grim set of her mouth drained away, replaced by a pool of tears welling at the rims of her eyes. “Oh God, Will, what if something terrible has happened to him?”
“He’s going to be fine, Harper. We’ll find him.” But he knew they were useless words when they were stuck thirty thousand feet in the air.
And when her tears spilled over, he didn’t think, just instinctively rose, stepping around the table, to reach for her.
Her hands shot out and she pushed against his chest before he could even get close enough to put his arms around her. She whirled in the swivel chair, away from him, getting out on the other side as she scraped the tears off her cheeks.
Will froze. Every muscle, every organ, the breath in his lungs, the beat of his heart. He wanted to calm her, comfort her, take her in his arms and stroke her hair. He wanted to promise her that everything would be all right. But he’d already broken every promise he’d made to her, because Jeremy was gone.
“You’re right.” Each word was raw. Broken. “I should take a nap. Or at least lie down for a while.”
“That’ll be good.” He could barely keep himself from begging her to let him hold her. To let him try to do whatever he could to take her pain away. “Take the pill. Then you won’t be lying there with a bunch of worries running through your mind.” It was a pathetic offer, and he felt as helpless as he’d been as a kid, with no right words to say, no action to take, nothing to do to fix things. “I’ll wake you with any news.”
If anything happened to her brother…
No, he couldn’t let himself think that way. He had to believe that Jeremy would be found, that he was fine, just as he’d told Harper. Because if Will allowed any other scenario into his head, he wouldn’t make it through the flight.
Harper walked to his cabin with slumped shoulders. Defeated. He’d done that to her. He’d done it to Jeremy. He thought he knew best. He planned and arranged and argued until he got what he wanted. He’d dragged her into his life when she clearly hadn’t wanted it, not in the beginning, at least. But he’d made her want it.
The bedroom door closed with a click he could hear over the jet engines, one that sounded so final. Like the lock closing back down on a heart that had only just been set free.
She’d lain in his arms last night and whispered that she loved him. But it hadn’t taken Will more than a couple of hours to show her that he didn’t deserve her love.
*
Harper didn’t think she’d sleep. Yet she was aware of nothing until Will stroked her arm. He sat beside her on the bed, his phone in his hand, not touching her except for that one brief caress.
“They found him. Your brother is all right. He’s just fine, Harper. Totally fine.”
She put a hand to her mouth to stifle the cry. The sudden wave of relief was physical, a warm rush of sensation that seemed to flow up from her belly and wrap around her heart. Oh God, thank you, thank you, thank you. She’d been praying when she’d fallen asleep.
“He wants to talk to you.”
She grabbed the phone. “Jeremy?”
“Hi, Harper.” Jeremy’s voice was loud, as though he wasn’t still thousands of miles away.
“Are you okay?” Her pulse was like the roar of the jet engines in her ears.
“Yeah, Harper. I got lost. I was dumb.”
“You are not dumb, Jeremy.” She turned away from Will, rolling to her other side, hugging the phone close to her ear with two hands. “Where are you now?”
“I’m at the police station in San Francisco. Benny came to get me.”
“Good.”
“Are you mad at me?” came his plaintive question.
“No, sweetie, I’m not.” Later, when she’d come down off the relief high, she’d probably do a bit of yelling about how badly he’d scared her. But for now, she only cared that he was safe.
“Is Will mad?”
She didn’t turn, didn’t look at Will. “No, he’s not mad. But you’ll need to tell him you’re sorry.”
“Yes. Promise.” It reminded her of Will’s promises, and her heart ached. “Hey, Harper, I have to go. They brought pizza. I’m really hungry. I didn’t get to eat dinner.”
He wanted pizza. She wanted to cry. But he was all right. Everything was all right. “Okay, honey. You better get home and get some sleep. I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye, Harper. Benny wants to talk to Will again, okay?”