“Okay, what the hell, Harper?”
I shrug, tr
ying to play off my crazy. “She’s my hero. And comments like that ruined her.”
“Point made. Sorry.”
“Fine. I’m hungry.”
I make my way into the bathroom and shut the door. Seconds later, a knock sounds on the back of it.
“I’m pretty sure you aren’t going to find anything to eat in there.”
I splash water on my face, humiliated. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Harper, open the door.”
I open it to see Lance standing in his underwear, confusion etched all over his face and in his eyes. “Want to tell me what that was about?”
“I told you.”
“Bullshit.”
“I’m just hangry.”
“Fine,” he says, lifting me over his shoulder. “Let’s get you some food then, brat.”
“I’m not a brat,” I say as he hauls me into the kitchen. “I just think it’s wrong to look for the flaws,” I mumble into his shoulder. “You look at anyone long enough, you’ll find them.”
He sets me on the counter and pulls the leftover Chinese from the fridge before offering me a bite, and I refuse it. “You know she lost a baby to SIDS a few years after White Christmas and stepped out of the public eye. Now she’s just that anorexic dancer who went crazy.”
He sets the box down and smooths his hands down my arms. “Baby, what’s wrong? What is this really about?”
“Nothing.”
He tips my chin. “Tell me.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue. It’s the perfect time, but I can’t bring myself to fess up. Terrified of his reaction, it’s all I can do to keep my chin from wobbling. By telling him, I would only humiliate myself more, and not only that, it would change everything. “It just breaks my heart, that’s all.”
“If you say so.” Unsatisfied with my reasoning, he forks another bite of noodles and offers it to me, and I refuse it again.
“So, not hungry, then.”
“Guess not.”
“Not even for a little dessert?” He picks up our unopened fortune cookies off the counter and holds it up. “I’ll open yours, and you open mine?”
“Deal.”
He pops one open, grinning as he reads the slip of paper. “This suits you.”
“What does it say?”
“The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.”
“That is so me.”
“Totally.”