Digger
Harper, the kids, and her entourage got on the first plane out of Alaska this afternoon. Gone forever, never to return.
I tried to keep as busy as possible at work, but as soon as I finished up, I went for a long drive that wound up on my sister’s doorstep. We’re sitting out on her back porch having lemonade. Moira’s munching on homemade chocolate chip cookies while I pour my heart out. She listens to the whole awful story without saying a word.
When I’m done, she demands, “So,that’show you left things?” Her face wrinkles up in disgust.
I nod and let out a long sigh. “That’s how we left things.”
“You don’t … maybe think you were a teensy bit hard on her?” she asks, picking up another cookie off the plate. “I mean considering everything she’s going through …”
“No, I don’t,” I answer, wishing I hadn’t stopped here in the first place. “Everything I said is true, and if you ask me, she needed to hear it.”
“The truth according to Digger, anyway,” she says, raising her eyebrows.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask, irritation scratching at my insides.
“It means, you have a tendency to see things through poop-colored glasses, always assuming the worst of people, especially people like Harper,” Moira tells me. “I mean, seriously, Digger? How could you tell her she’s been playing the victim all these years, just for trying to keep her family together?”
A wave of guilt hits me again. I try to rid myself of it by reminding myself of the logic of my argument. “I could see a woman who has no education and no resources staying with a terrible husband, but someone so rich that she never has to work again? That’s a woman who has options, Moira. A woman with choices.”
“You don’t get it.” Moira sets her glass down on the table. “When a woman has kids, those little people come first, no matter what. The only choice is their happiness.”
I scoff. “Yeah, like our mother?”
“Harper isnotour mother. She’s nothing like her and you know it. She puts Liam and Lily first every chance she gets. Having to spend two nights away from them nearly did her in,” my sister tells me. “You must have been able to see that for yourself, unless you’re totally blind.”
“I didn’t come here to be lectured.” My eyes narrow in annoyance.
“If you came here to hear ‘well done,’ you stopped at the wrong house. You messed up, Digger. Big time. Telling Harper she’s selfish was not the way to go if you ever want to see her again.”
“She’s the one who doesn't want to see me again. You didn’t hear how dismissive she was, telling me she really ‘enjoyed getting to know me.’” I emphasize the last bit with air quotes. “Who says that to someone they care about? Someone who basically told you he’d do whatever it took to protect you and your kids, and to help you start over.”
Moira’s mouth drops open. After a second, she says, “You told her that?”
I nod while trying to push aside the pain I’m feeling. “And the worst part is, I meant it.” Scrubbing my hand through my hair, I add, “I’m such an idiot, falling for her act.”
“What makes you think it’s an act?”
“Isn’t it obvious? She left the first chance she got.”
Moira shakes her head. “She’s in an impossible situation. Her life was already a hot mess, but with the press getting a hold of the video of the two of you, it pretty much imploded. Ethan told me that her being here with the kids had become a situation they could no longer control. There are too many ways people could get to them, now that they’ve been discovered.”
Even though I’m listening, I don’t want to hear it. I want to stay angry. Making Harper the villain is the only way to protect my heart.
Moira continues, “Do you know what her life is going to be like now?”
“Back to living life as a Hollywood princess, I suppose.”
Rolling her eyes, my sister tells me, “They’re posting security guards outside her home. She and the kids will be prisoners there for weeks. Ethan’s already working on getting her the best divorce lawyer in the country so she can fight for full custody of the kids. Her entire life is going to be doing whatever it takes to make sure Lily and Liam get through this with the least amount of damage.”
“I still say she didn’t have to go back.”
“She couldn’t stay here. Not if she’s going to shield the kids from all of this.”
Listening to the sound of the frogs croaking in the creek nearby, I sit back in my chair and let out a long sigh. My body aches like I’ve gone ten rounds with a grizzly. I’m so twisted up, I don’t know who’s right and who’s wrong. All I know is this hurts like a son of a bitch. I never should have ignored my instincts and let myself fall in love.
Holy hell, I’m in love.