Page 85 of It Happened on the Lake

N ow that she was committed, Harper spent hours worrying about her upcoming date. What should she wear? Where would he take her? What would they do? How would she feel about being out with someone other than Chase?

“Quit being ridiculous,” she chided herself as she stood in front of a full-length mirror, eyeing her still flat stomach.

She’d tried on a short dress, then a pair of bell-bottoms and a loose-fitting blouse, both of which she tossed onto her bed.

Thankfully her clothes still fit, though she knew that would be short-lived.

She couldn’t understand her case of nerves. What did she care what she wore? Angry that it mattered at all, she settled on faded jeans and a crop top.

Marcia loudly disapproved. “Oh my God, Harper, what’re you thinking?” she’d cried. “You’re going to be a mother.”

“Leave her be,” Dad said before asking how she’d met Joel. Satisfied with her quick explanation, Dad met Joel at the door with Marcia hovering, pinched-faced, behind him. “Have a good time,” Dad said. “Home by midnight.”

Harper dashed out a little breathlessly, grateful to be out of the apartment.

Joel took her to a place he knew, a crowded café off campus that was filled with kids about her age. They shared a pot of cheese fondue while conversation and laughter buzzed around them. Afterward, because he knew the bouncer, Joel got her into a club though she was barely eighteen.

It was the first time she’d gone out in ages and it felt wonderful. Joel was funny, and though his sense of humor was a little on the sarcastic side, she liked it. She liked him.

She didn’t get home until nearly two and Marcia was beside herself, but her father, thank God, understood and before her stepmother could light into her, Dad told Harper goodnight and she shot into her room.

The second she closed the door behind her she could hear the argument resonating through the paper-thin walls. Ear to the door, she closed her eyes and listened.

“She just needs to unwind a little,” Bruce said. “Be a kid.”

“You gave her a curfew.”

“I know, but—”

“But she’s going to have a baby!” Marcia wasn’t about to be placated.

“I know, honey, but not for a while.”

“It’ll come sooner than you think. Really, I don’t know if I can take this!

You know, Bruce, this wasn’t part of the deal!

We had plans, remember? To travel? Once Harper was in college, we would be free to come and go as we please.

To see the world! You promised!” Marcia’s voice had risen an octave.

“You—You told me we would move into the main house on Lake Twilight, didn’t you?

That we would live on the island. And you said, you promised that we would go to Hawaii and London and Paris and—”

“Shh, honey,” Dad cut her off. “We’ll still be able to do those things.”

“Are you out of your mind? We’re talking about another human being coming into the world. A baby with diapers and bottles and toys and colic and tantrums and—Oh dear God, I can’t even think about it!”

“Then don’t.”

“But she’s here with us! The baby will be with us !”

“Marcia, please.”

“And what about your brilliant daughter, huh? She won’t be going off to Stanford or USC or wherever now, will she? She’ll be stuck here with us and we’ll be babysitting around the clock while she goes out to God-knows-where and does God-knows-what!”

“Marcia, you’re overreacting.”

“Oh my God, Bruce, wake up and smell the coffee! We’re going to be saddled with her and that kid for another twenty years!

Do you know how old we’ll be? Do you? Think about it!

” She was starting to hyperventilate. “This is not what I signed up for!” And then there were a few quick, hard footsteps before the door to the next room banged shut.

Involuntarily, Harper jumped. The whole apartment seemed to shudder.

Everything Marcia said rang true. Slowly, leaning against the door, she slid to the floor.

She placed a hand over her abdomen. “It’s okay,” she whispered, rocking back and forth, not knowing whether she was speaking to the baby or herself as tears drizzled down her cheeks.

“It’s going to be okay. I’ll make it work out. Somehow.”

The next day and those following were no better.

The argument between her father and Marcia still simmered, he trying to placate his wife and daughter and Marcia icing both of them out.

Bruce spent some of his time at a branch office of the company he worked for, while Marcia glowered and barely spoke or spent days in her bedroom with the door shut.

Unable to stand the tension in the tight unit, Harper spent as much time out of the apartment as possible, at the college, in the park, or window shopping. And she saw Joel, either on a date her parents knew about or on the sly.

She learned he’d grown up in Southern California, gone to college at the University of Oregon where he’d gotten not only his BA but a Master’s in English, spent half a year looking for jobs in Oregon before coming here, where he was hoping to land a full-time job at the junior college.

Currently he juggled his time as a bartender at night while tutoring students during the day.

He’d gotten out of the draft due to some medical issue.

She liked him more and more. He brought a little fun into her life. But she fought the ridiculous urge to think she was falling in love. Did he remind her of Chase? A little, she supposed, and her heart still ached for the boy she’d loved so fervently.

Joel seemed a bit of a dreamer and talked about everything he wanted to do in life.

But then, didn’t she have dreams as well, dreams a baby might put on hold but wouldn’t destroy?

And the more time she spent with him, away from the tension in that apartment, the more she wanted to spend with him.

When he kissed her for the first time, she kissed him back.

With more passion than she’d expected. When he touched her, she responded and found the feel of his hands on her body welcome and warm.

And the first time they made love, in an apartment he shared with two roommates, she cried for all the mistakes she’d made. He held her and she felt the ice around her heart begin to crack.

One night, three weeks after Harper met Joel, her father and stepmother were fighting again, a rehash of all the other spats they’d had—about Harper, about the baby, about finding a house, about being forced out of Oregon, about how unhappy Marcia was.

As the argument escalated, Harper left the apartment and waited in the parking lot for Joel. He picked her up, and they drove off in his old Rambler. “Bad?” he asked.

“The worst.” In the passenger seat, she tapped her fingers on the edge of the open window, the recent fights between her father and Marcia swirling through her brain.

Marcia thought Harper was ruining her life by spending time with Joel, and she wasn’t afraid of telling her about it.

She’d said, “One boy got you into this mess. Another one won’t help!

” It was as if Marcia expected her to be a nun.

Well, a pregnant nun. If that was even a thing, which it wasn’t.

Grimly Joel said, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” But it wasn’t.

They ate pizza at the local parlor, then, because his roommates were home studying, Joel drove them to the hills.

The windows were down, music blasting from the speakers, warm air fanning her face and tangling her hair.

He stopped in a spot where they’d parked before, on a quiet hill overlooking the city lights.

He cut the engine and said, “You’re obviously bummed. Wanna talk?”

Talk was the last thing on her mind. She just wanted to forget. “No.” She reached out and pulled him close to kiss him and he responded, kissing her back, tugging her blouse from the top of her jeans, his hands finding her breasts as she arched upward.

They made love with a fevered passion that left Harper breathless. Joel, too, was gasping as he flopped back against the seat. “Man, what got into you?” he whispered.

“Don’t know.” But she did. She just didn’t want to say how much she needed a release from all the bad karma at home.

She didn’t even want to think about living with her parents.

She just wanted to escape. From their rules.

From their fights. From everything about them.

She saw the clock on the dash and blew out a long breath.

“I have to get back.” Another thing she wanted to escape from was her curfew.

How dumb. She was going to have a baby and they were still bossing her around to the point of telling her when she could come home at night.

Marcia had said it earlier today. “You live in our house, then you live by our rules.”

Bitch.

Joel was pulling on his jeans. He yanked them over his hips as she rehooked her bra. Glancing over at her, he said, “Let’s get married.”

“What?” Despite her mood, she almost laughed. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am. Dead serious.”

“Are you crazy?” She looked up at the night sky, a crescent moon shining in a vast array of stars. “We can’t just get married.”

“Why not? You’re eighteen now, right?”

“Yes, but—”

He twisted his key in the ignition, and the Rambler sparked to life. “We can drive to Nevada. Reno’s not that far, and if we want to, we could drive all night and hit Vegas by morning.”

She actually laughed then. “You’re insane.” She struggled into her jeans and buttoned her blouse as the car idled.

“I’ve been thinking about it. A lot.”

“Oh, I get it. You don’t want to be drafted,” she said automatically.

“That’s not it,” he said confidently. “I’m not fit to join up. Asthma and bone spurs.”

“Really?”

“Really.” He slipped the car into gear and backed up. “This—you and me getting married—has nothing to do with that.”

“Then why?”