She smiled once again and turned back to her eggs. “So tell me about this Nick. I don’t want to be the odd one out on this little fishing trip if the two of you are super close already.”
“I think you and I are closer in some ways, if that helps,” I told her.
“Oh, so he’s not a friend with benefits?” she teased.
“Nope, just a friend,” I said. “And while I hope you like him, you better not fall in love with the guy. I’m not in the mood to share everything I have with him.”
She smiled. “Don’t worry about that. I don’t think there’s much for you to worry about on that front unless, of course, he happens to be everything you are plus a bag of chips.”
“Now that’s an expression I haven’t heard in quite some time.” I chuckled. “He’s a lot like me, but I would like to think that I’m a lot better of a fit for you and what you want in life.”
“Okay, I guess I better take the doctor up on his opinion,” she said.
“Good idea. You can be around people like Nick, that’s good for your health, but when it comes to the person you want to go home with at the end of the night, that’s me, all the way,” I told her with an air of superiority.
She laughed again, and I relaxed into a laugh with her. I couldn’t get enough of the sound of her laughter, and I hoped I would always be able to make her happy like that. I couldn’t believe how well this past day and a half had gone, and I had no doubt in my mind at all about introducing her to Nick. I wanted my best friend to meet the woman I was falling for. After all, he had seen me have my girlfriends here and there, but I never made any real effort to introduce them to him or vice versa out of the fact I already knew I wasn’t going to be spending the rest of my life with them.
It wasn’t like that with Harper. With Harper, I knew I wanted to be with her, and I couldn’t wait to get her ingrained in my world as much as possible. I couldn’t imagine life without her at this point, and I knew the next step in our lives was to now have her meet the people who mattered to me.
The people I hardly mentioned to anyone when I was at work. Well, to the patients anyway. But, Harper wasn’t my patient. She was the woman who had just come into my life one day and made herself at home. I was falling for her more and more each day, and I was thrilled when she said she wanted to come along on the trip.
It wouldn’t be anything big, but it would give Nick the chance to meet with her, and it would give her the chance to meet the kind of people I spend my time with when I’m not at work. It was a real step, I knew that, and I was surprised with myself that I was so ready to take it this early on in the game.
But the fact that I felt so good about her and the relationship told me that this was the right thing to do. She was taking her time and getting to know me on a level that she was comfortable with at her own pace, and I felt free to do the same. And, I felt that this was my pace.
There was no need to put off letting her meet anyone in my life when I saw this as the rest of my life. I wanted her to be there for the big things that happened moving forward, and the best way to get to those was to have her coming to the little things now.
I really couldn’t think of anything that would be more casual than fishing, and I knew Nick wouldn’t mind having someone else along for the ride. Every now and then he would bring along the girl he spent the night with the night before, and I never gave him shit about it.
We were good enough friends, I knew he’d be down.
And with Harper game to go, too, it was set.
And I was excited for it.
More excited than I thought I would be.
It would be a good day.
TWENTY
Harper
“Quick little yank,like this. There you go! You got it! Good job!”
I laughed as I reeled in the fish, Trevor’s arms around me holding the pole like I was five years old. But, I didn’t mind. I could have his arms around me all the time and I would never want it to stop.
“I told you, all you had to do was leave the damn thing in the water, and what do you know? A fish,” Nick said.
I gave him a look.
“Okay, right, but when you told me that it bobbing up and down means there’s a fish on the line and the only thing the pole does is bob up and down, what do you expect me to do?” I asked.
“First of all, you saw how it was bobbing when you had a fish just now vs. when you were checking on it a thousand times earlier!” Nick replied.
“Okay, okay now, kids, you don’t have to bicker. Aren’t you having a good time? Or do I need to take us home early?” Trevor asked.
I giggled.