When I arrived home, I went to my office and contacted the realtor about checking new commercial listings in the Hollywood area. Then I changed into shorts and a different T-shirt and headed down to the beach. My brain still hadn't reattached to my skull after my bender last night, so a run was out of the question. But fresh air and a walk were definitely called for.
When I hit the beach, I turned, walking north until I reached the end where a large rock cliff loomed. I turned around and headed back. As I got close to my house, I saw Harper sitting on the beach holding the baby while Noel was in the water with their toddler son.
Harper waved at me. "Hey, neighbor. Why don't you come join us?"
"I don't want to intrude on your family fun."
"Nonsense. Come keep me company. I want to know if you've used that tub with the view of the ocean yet."
I arched a brow, thinking that was a personal question. It's the type of thing Kate might ask. But then again, Harper and Kate had a lot of similar qualities.
Not wanting to seem unneighborly, I went over and sat my ass in the sand next to her.
"Not yet."
She slanted her gaze to me. "Not even with Kate?"
"No." I shook my head and laughed. "Kate is probably the last person who’ll get into that tub with me."
Harper sighed as she turned her gaze to the ocean. "Kate is a pretty tough nut to crack, although I can hardly blame her."
"I know. I fucked up—" I pursed my lips together, realizing that I was swearing in front of a baby. "I know that I messed up. I don't need to be reminded of it."
"Yeah, you did. But you're not the only one. Kate has had some challenges in life. Being so tough is how she got through them."
My brow furrowed as I looked at Harper in question. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I shouldn't really be telling you her business."
I nodded. I knew women, especially someone like Kate, wouldn’t like people talking about them. But if something else had happened, something else I needed to consider in my effort to win her back, I needed to know.
The fact that Harper mentioned it suggested that she wanted me to know, but her hesitation in sharing probably meant she wasn’t sure whether I was worthy.
"I'm not building a club near her," I said, hoping that Harper would see that I didn't want to hurt Kate.
"That’s a good thing if you want to have any chance with her." She hesitated again. "I don't really know the details because I didn't know Kate back then. Of course, I knew about her family, as all rich families know about other rich families.”
I nodded because that was true.
“She and I didn't become friends until a year or two ago, so most of this, I heard from Lucy, Ethan's wife. It goes without saying that Kate can't know that I'm telling you this. It probably shouldn't get back that Lucy told me."
“I won’t say a word.”
She turned her attention back to the ocean, and when she didn't speak, I thought she was changing her mind.
The baby stretched and then settled back into sleep. Harper smiled at her child, and I had a moment to envy her. If I had played my cards right, maybe Kate and I would have had a kid or two by now.
Harper looked at me. "After you left, or maybe around the time you left, I'm not sure of the timing, but sometime not long after she graduated from college, her grandfather cut her out of the family."
"Cut her out?" I tried to think back to what Kate had told me about her family when we’d been together. She'd always been close to her brother, but she had shared that her grandfather wasn't warm or loving.
Before I had asked her to come back to New York and marry me, she had hoped that she would get a job in the family company, so the relationship couldn't have been completely bad, could it?
"He was somehow able to gain control of her trust fund. So, when he disowned her, she had nothing."
What the fuck? "What about Ethan?"
“Ethan was in line to take over the company, but his grandfather pitted him and a cousin against each other to earn it."