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I almost threw my phone across the room fumbling to respond.oh my GOD you’re going to love it. i’m booking a stay there for the night right this instant!!!

for the night??She responded right away, so at least I wasn’t the only one fumbling to text immediately.I have to be back here in the morning, I can’t sleep in a tree all night

I replied with atake the day off tomorrow tooand a heart emoji, and she spent a minute typing.

I took the other day off already.

you know, most people take two days off in a week. every week, even, for a lot of them!!! scary stuff

She didn’t respond, which meant I had to take drastic measures. When the door opened and Sam came in, I came around the corner and made a beeline for him.

“Sam! Oh, thank god it’s you.”

He put his chest out. “It’s me! Uh… waiting for a hero?”

“You’re going to work at Jenna’s today, right?”

“You know it. I’m gonna see you there, right?”

“Listen, big guy, Harper is in critical need of a special kind of remedy called treehouse therapy. She has to sleep in a treehouse tonight. I’ve already booked it for her, so I just need you to make sure everyone knows she’ll be out of the shoptomorrow, okay? Make sure Jenna puts on extra pastries and stuff for tomorrow, she’s gonna be swamped.”

He scratched his head. “Uh, treehouse therapy—is that a thing?”

“Oh my god, dude. Keep up. I’m not even gonna answer that. Just tell me you’ll do it. It’s for her wellbeing!”

“All right, all right.”

Score. Paisley was a genius.

It was three hours later before I got a call from Harper, and I picked it up all too happily.

“Hello, my dear Harper,” I hummed.

“Pais, what the fuck is treehouse therapy?”

“The only remedy for you, my dear Harper.”

“Jesus Christ. Fine. Fine, I’m closing tomorrow. Why are you like this?”

I leaned against the counter, trying not to smile too obnoxiously and doing a terrible job. “Psh. You love me. I’ll see you tonight, okay, Harps? It’s a little out of the way, so I’m renting us a car.”

“I honestly forgot you even know how to drive.”

“I’m a good driver, thank you. Five o’clock, pretty dork.”

Apparently my mouth settled for something betweenbeautifulandloser.Whatever. She didn’t fight it.

I spent a dreamlike while getting ready, just trying stuff on in the mirror and obsessing over every detail, imagining how Harper might react to me wearing this or that—wondering if we might kiss again—and I even blew my hair out. It had been a minute, but hell, I looked hot like this.

And I hadn’t realized that I could look this good.

I nipped out quietly to grab the car, and I was lucky Stephanie at the rental barely knew me, because she had no idea who I was when I showed up in my full look. I almost went for a sleek black sedan before I realized that was what Aria wouldpick, so I went with the red instead, and I went around to the lot next to Harper’s business block and texted her a selfie. I fussed over every detail of it, retaking it three times and throwing a filter on too, and I sent it with the captionjust so you don’t get too tongue-tied seeing me here

The message marked as read quickly, but it took a while of her starting and stopping typing to reply.I’m a little underdressed. I thought we were going to a treehouse.

Oh yeah. I probably was overdressed for a treehouse. Still, I scowled at the screen.I swear, I put SO much of myself out there and you can’t even give me a compliment.

She replied without the compliment, but with something else I needed.do you want bubble tea?