The Sweetest Thing Read online

  Harper took a deep breath, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. She maneuvered to her feet, swiping at her face with the back of her hands. She leaned to kiss Mrs. Todd’s cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered and then she bolted from the room, not bothering to look back over her shoulder.

  Quentin jumped to his feet to run after her, wanting to check that she was well. Mrs. Todd stalled him, her hand reaching across the table.

  “Just let her be for a minute. She’s going to be just fine. Sometimes it’s hard for a woman to learn that a man’s blues was nothing but love the whole time,” she said softly.

  Nodding his head Quentin glanced back toward the door Harper had disappeared through, hoping Mrs. Todd knew what she was talking about.

  She drank the last of her beverage. “Quentin, thank you for my coffee but I got to be heading home. My show is about to be on.”

  Quentin nodded. “What show is that, Mrs. Todd?” he asked.

  She chuckled. “The one I watch behind my eyelids.”

  7

  For the second time in less than a week Harper was blubbering like a baby. No matter how hard she tried to stall the wealth of saline falling from her eyes she couldn’t. Quentin knocked on the bedroom door and, hearing her sobs, pushed it open without waiting to be invited inside.

  Harper was sitting on the floor at the foot of the bed. She tried to speak but had no words, instead wailing her hurt with complete abandon. Dropping down onto the floor beside her he fought back his own tears, a host of emotion exploding between them. Harper dropped her head against his shoulder, still sobbing. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders he pulled her close. With his free hand he reached for hers and held it, his fingers entwining with hers. Lost in the moment neither said a word, the soft timbre of music playing on the stereo echoing in the distance.

  When Harper’s sobs finally transitioned to short gulps and hiccups he questioned if she was going to be all right. She shook her head with uncertainty.

  “All I have ever known is what my mother told me. She always said my father wasn’t any good. She swore that his not loving her meant he never loved me, too. And I believed that with everything in me. I believed it and believing it kept me from my father. It hurt his heart and it ruined me! Now I come here and everyone keeps telling me what a great guy he was and how much he loved me and I see how you and Troy are, how much you loved him and how much he seemed to love you two back and suddenly I don’t know what to believe!”

  The tears were flowing again as she stopped to take a deep breath. Her nose was running and Harper found it difficult to breathe. She took short breaths through her mouth, her sinuses congested. She couldn’t begin to fathom what Quentin had to be thinking about her and she knew she must have looked a fright.

  Quentin nodded, not sure what to say, if anything should be said at all. A brief moment passed before Harper continued, still sniffling and tearing.

  “If I tell you something do you promise to keep it to yourself?”

  “If it’s something you don’t want me to share, of course I’ll keep it a secret,” he answered.

  Harper nodded. “All my life I’ve had major issues about my father. So much so, that I haven’t been able to trust any man with my heart. And my mother didn’t help the situation because in her mind every man was a jerk.”

  Quentin nodded in understanding.

  “I’ve never really dated, but I’ve done a lot of flirting. I’m a very big flirt! I’m really good at flirting.”

  Quentin pursed his lips and looked toward the ceiling. “Really? You think?”

  She cut an eye at him. “Be serious,” she said as he smiled at her. “I’ve only had two relationships in my whole life and both of those crashed and burned. My mother blamed my father for everything that was wrong in her life so I blamed my father! Had he been in my life I would have seen those travesties about to happen and I could have saved myself some heartbreak.”

  Quentin shook his head. “That’s not necessarily true. Pop was in my life and he didn’t save me from my heartbreak.”

  She shrugged. “I didn’t say it was rational. It’s just how it was.”

  “So who broke your heart?”

  “Oliver Bennett did in the ninth grade, and Jeffrey James, last year.”

  Quentin chuckled and Harper gave him a swift swat on the arm. “Why are you laughing at me?”

  “I’m not laughing at you,” he said as he rubbed the sore spot throbbing against his bicep.

  “I’m not talking to you anymore,” Harper pouted as she moved to get up.

  Quentin grabbed her arm and pulled her back to his side. “I wasn’t laughing. Tell me about Oliver Bennett and Jeffrey James,” he said, mocking the man’s name.

  Harper blew a deep sigh. “Oliver was my first love. I worshipped the ground that boy walked on. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for Oliver and then he just dumped me. He took Lucy Davies to the senior prom.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Just like that!”

  “Which means you gave it up and he hit it and quit it. Am I right?”

  Harper cut another eye at him. His expression further fueled her frustration. She pointed a finger in his direction. “I’m going to smack that smirk off your face!”

  Quentin held up both hands. “I’m just trying to get the full picture of what happened, that’s all.”

  “Well, he hit it and quit it,” she snapped. “I gave him my goodies and he dumped me.”

  “Sorry but it’s a boy thing,” Quentin said with a shrug of his shoulders. “At that age we don’t know any better.”

  “Boy thing, my ass! Please tell me you did not hurt some girl like that when you were in high school?”

  Quentin blew a warm breath past his full lips. He began to count on his fingers. “Lacey Taylor, Janet Newton, Camille Ferris, and the brunette with the ponytail and glasses but I don’t remember her name,” he said, his expression reflective.

  Harper turned to stare at him, her head waving from side to side in disbelief. “You’re calling all of them tomorrow to apologize,” Harper said firmly. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know better.”

  Quentin smiled. “Well, on behalf of Oliver, myself, and all sixteen-year-old boys with raging hormones, I’m sorry that you were hurt. Now tell me about Jeffrey James.”

  She took a deep inhalation of oxygen. “I met Jeffery two years ago and fell head over heels. I really thought he was my future. He was smart, good-looking, accomplished, heterosexual, and had no previous relationship baggage.”

  “Sounds like quite a guy.”

  “I thought he was,” Harper said matter-of-factly. “I had done my due diligence and vetted him completely. Checked his credit, his background, his Facebook page, everything. I couldn’t imagine finding a more perfect man and I thought everything was going perfectly for us. We’d started talking about marriage and our future together and I was more than ready to start planning our wedding.

  “Jeffrey was a venture capitalist and his business took him all over the nation. One weekend he had to go to North Carolina, which was his home state, and I thought I would surprise him by showing up unannounced. He seemed very happy when I arrived and I thought we were going to have a great weekend away.”

  “So what happened?”

  “His wife thought the same thing.”

  “Brother had a wife?”

  “And two kids.”

  “They didn’t come up on that background check?”

  She shook her head. “Nope! There we were, buck naked in his hotel room when the door suddenly opens and his wife walks in.”

  Quentin laughed. “Buck naked?”

  She gave him a hard stare, her eyes narrowed. She shook her head. “It wasn’t funny. Obviously, his wife was upset and she started screaming at him. At first I didn’t have a clue what was going on and once she explained, I was upset and I started screaming at him. Then that fool ran and locked himself in the bathroom. She was banging on the d
oor to get inside and he was curled up in the bathtub crying ‘no, no, no’ like a baby.”

  “He was crying?”

  “Like a baby!” she said, her tone emphatic. “Nothing hurts more than to see the man you thought you loved exposed for a cowardly, pathetic excuse of a human being.”

  Quentin bit down against his bottom lip to keep from laughing. Harper shot him a look and then laughed herself. “See, I’m a complete mess, my love life is wacked and I have my parents to thank for it!” she said, tossing up her hands in frustration.

  “Pop wasn’t perfect,” Quentin said. “In fact, he was somewhat of a womanizer himself. But he did try to do right by me and Troy, and with us not having any parent who cared about us, it meant a lot.”

  He drew his fingers along the side of her face. His voice softened, the sincerity in his tone melting Harper’s anguish away. “I do wish you had known him like I did though. I think you would have really liked the man that he was.”

  She nodded, a deep sigh blowing past her lips. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just a hot mess and I shouldn’t be dropping my issues in your lap.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s all good,” Quentin said. He pointed at her face. “You should get a tissue. You have something . . . right . . . there . . .” he said as he poked her nose.

  Slapping her hand across her face Harper jumped to her feet, popped into the bathroom, and looked into the mirror. She peeked back into the room, meeting his gaze. Quentin’s grin was wide and teasing.

  “There is nothing on my nose,” she said.

  “Probably fell on the floor,” he said as he skewed his face.

  Harper laughed as she wiped the streaks of tears from her cheeks. “I think I need a cookie.”

  Quentin tossed his hands in the air and waved his fingers. “Cookies! I can do cookies!”

  As he moved in the direction of the door, he paused, turning to stare back into the space. “Harper?”

  “Yes?”

  “Everything you could ever know about Pop is here in this house. Have you started looking through any of the stuff in this room?”

  Her eyes trailed the décor in the bedroom. She had thought about snooping through the drawers and the closet but it had been intimidating. Fearful of what she might find, she had talked herself out of the chore. She shook her head no.

  “Let’s do it together then,” Quentin said. “And I’ll tell you everything I can about him.”

  As he turned to make his exit Harper called him back.

  “Yes, ma’am?”

  “I meant it about calling Cindy, Sue, Sally, or whatever their names are to apologize about your being a jerk. You’re calling them tomorrow!”

  Minutes later Quentin was still laughing.

  Jasmine was laughing hysterically. Harper shook her head at her best friend as she shifted her iPad to see the screen better. Video chat had become her new favorite thing; the online, face-to-face application enabling her to catch up with her best friend in real time.

  “That mess was not funny!” Harper exclaimed.

  Jasmine gasped for air. “I keep telling you not to tell people that story about you and Jeff.”

  “I didn’t mean to tell him. I was having a moment and it just came out. He was just really easy to talk to.”

  Harper and Jasmine had been chatting for over an hour. The women had caught up on business, laying out a plan of operation for them to follow while Harper was in Memphis. Jasmine had been surprised when Harper had called to say she might stay a little longer than anticipated but both had reasoned a day or two more wouldn’t put either one in over her head.

  Jasmine shifted closer to the camera on her own device, her image filling Harper’s iPad screen. “So where are those brothers of yours?” she asked, the question low and conspiratorial. “I want to meet them.”

  “Brothers?” Harper repeated. The word caught her off guard. “What do you mean brothers?”

  “Y’all got the same daddy, right?”

  “I guess, but it’s not like we’re related by blood,” Harper intoned.

  “Maybe, but it’s almost like you’re family, isn’t it?”

  Harper shrugged her narrow shoulders. “I guess. I really hadn’t thought about it like that,” she said as she suddenly pondered the idea. At no time had she ever considered Quentin in a brotherly fashion. If she had, then all of her other thoughts about Quentin would definitely be incestuous.

  She lifted her eyes to see Jasmine watching her with interest. “What?”

  “There’s something you’re not telling me,” Jasmine chimed. “Fess up! What’s going on?”

  Harper rolled her eyes, the dark eyes skating toward the ceiling and back. “There’s nothing to confess. I haven’t done anything.”

  There was a moment of silence as the two sat staring at their respective screens.

  Jasmine giggled softly. “Harper Donovan, you must have bumped that lumpy head of yours if you’ve forgotten how well I know you.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “When you don’t give me details it means something is going on. Spill it.”

  Thirty minutes later Jasmine was laughing hysterically again having heard every detail, the good and the bad, of Harper’s trip. “I knew you were holding something back!”

  “If you say one word,” Harper admonished.

  Her friend shook her head. “You know me better than that. So, back to my first question, when do I get to meet them? Are they there?”

  “No. When I woke up there was a note on the table that they’d gone to church and would be back after lunch.”

  “Church? Oooh, I like that!” Jasmine gushed. “The man cooks, has a sense of humor, is musically talented, and prays. I like that a lot. So, can I see the pictures?”

  “Okay, I’m done with you!” Harper laughed. “Good-bye!”

  “Hold on!” Jasmine shrieked. “On the serious, Harper. You are still grieving. Do not, I repeat, do not make any major life-changing decisions for at least six to eight months.”

  “Six months! Are you serious?”

  “Very. You’re emotional right now, Harper. Your heart’s hurting. You need to let that heal before you think about putting it through some relationship drama.”

  Harper laughed. “I’ve always had an issue with sixty days and now you want me to hold out for months. I think you have lost your mind.”

  “Maybe so but wait it out anyway. Do you hear me?”

  “I hear you, Jasmine!”

  “Promise?”

  “I promise!”

  “And pray for me, please!”

  “For what? Why do you need prayer?” Harper asked.

  “Mama Pearl is going to dinner with me and my date tonight.”

  Harper laughed. “Video that for me, please!”

  Quentin and Troy had been attending Mt. Vernon Baptist Church since their first weekend living with their pop. That first day, both had gone to church kicking and screaming. As soon as they’d passed through the building’s front doors every one of the church mothers had claimed them, nurturing their spirit with worship, praise, and a host of discipline. Since that first time both men could count on one hand the number of times they’d missed Sunday service and still have fingers left over.

  That morning the congregation had reminded the two brothers that their church family would always be there for them since Everett Donovan no longer could be. And standing in the sanctuary of the Parkrose Avenue church Quentin had expressed his gratitude for all the love that had been shown to them. Afterward he’d been in a hurry to leave, anxious to get back to Harper.

  Miss Alice called his name as he moved down the aisle toward the exit. She gestured for him to come to her and as one of the other matrons pulled on Troy’s arm he made his way to her side.

  “Good morning, Miss Alice,” he said as he leaned to kiss her cheek.

  “Morning, baby! How are you doing this morning?”

  Quentin nodded. “I’m goo
d.”

  “Where’s Harper?”

  “She was sleeping so we let her rest. She had a rough day yesterday.”

  Miss Alice shook her head. “Poor thing!”

  “Mrs. Todd stopped by and she sang some song that she said Pop wrote back in the day for Harper.”

  Miss Alice’s head bobbed up and down against her neck. “I wish things could have been different for them both but it is what it is.”

  Quentin dropped down onto the pew beside her. “Did you know about Harper, too?”

  She nodded. “I did but it was a sore spot with your pop and he just wanted to leave it alone. He tried to reach out to her when they diagnosed his cancer but you know how that turned out.”

  “I feel like I didn’t really know him, Miss Alice. I mean, why would he keep something as important as his having a daughter from me and Troy?”

  Miss Alice took a deep breath. “Now, I won’t have you talking no foolishness like that. You knew your pop and what you didn’t know didn’t have anything to do with how he loved you, your brother, or Harper. Everett won’t proud about some things he done in his life and those things he suffered with by himself.”

  Quentin tossed her a quick nod. He glanced over to Troy who’d moved to the door and was standing in conversation with the church’s pastor. “Are you coming to the house?” he questioned, turning his attention back to Miss Alice.

  She shook her head. “Not today, baby. I think I’m gone spend some time alone today.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Miss Alice gave him an easy smile as she pressed her hand to his cheek. “All of you are going through a rough patch right now,” she said. “It’ll pass but until then you need to be careful about what you do. Harper’s fragile and she needs you to be a good big brother. Your pop would have wanted that. He would have wanted you three to be there to take care of each other. Okay?”

  Quentin nodded his head slowly, her comment giving him reason to hesitate. He met the older woman’s deep stare.

  “Harper’s your family, Quentin. Yours and Troy’s, and that’s more important right now than anything,” Miss Alice concluded.