48. A peace offering

FORTY-EIGHT

A PEACE OFFERING

SHEP

After a few minutes of trying to locate my best friend, my phone rings and I smile.

“Hey, baby. Miss me already?”

Harlow laughs nervously on the other end of the line. “Yeah, you could say that.” Then there’s a long pause. “So I was thinking, would it be okay if I stayed at your place tonight? I’m assuming Lennon is going to end up there anyways so can I come over too?”

My eyebrows shoot up. “Yeah, of course. Are you still here?” I start walking back outside and, sure enough, I see her Bronco down the street with the headlights on.

“Yep. I can wait and follow you to your place. Were you able to find Wes and Lennon?”

I’m already walking towards her car, when she gets out and heads towards me. We meet in the middle, with our phones still to our ears.

“No, but I found something even better,” I say as a soft smile spreads across her lips. She hangs up her phone and then throws herself into me. I wrap my arms around her and notice she’s shaking. “Baby, you must be freezing. Let’s go inside and see if we can’t find our friends.”

She nods her head into my chest and when she steps away, something is different. I don’t know what, but she doesn’t look as light and carefree as she did not even five minutes ago.

“Is everything okay?” I study her face.

“Yeah, I just want to be with you tonight. Is that okay?”

“Of course, angel. Let’s go.” I take her hand in mine, leading her back into the house.

After almost half an hour, we finally find Wes and Lennon. Once we’re all together we head back outside and I text her my address just in case, watching her walk back to her car with Lenn.

Wes and I get in my truck and I can’t gauge if he’s drunk or not. Typically he’s very chatty when he drinks, but he seems lost in thought right now. I know I could probably ask him what he’s thinking but, truthfully, my mind is still reeling over the night with Harlow.

Driving back to the townhouse, catching sight of Harlow’s car trailing behind me fills me with ease. I don’t know how we got here, but this might be the best night ever. When we pull into the drive of our house, Wes stops me before I turn the car off. The girls haven’t pulled in yet and he finally speaks.

“I messed up tonight.”

I raise an eyebrow, glancing in the side mirror to watch for headlights.

“What do you mean?”

“Lennon saw me talking to a girl from one of the sororities and I guess she heard some of the talk about me from last year.” His head falls and he drags a hand over his face, sighing.

Last year, Wes went through some pretty deep shit with his sister. She’s only seventeen and, with the way life has gone for the two of them, he’s essentially raised her. He never gave me all the details, but I know something went down at a party his sister ended up at. Wes blamed himself for what happened because they had got in a fight earlier that day and she took off, going to the party.

After he found out what happened, he started drinking more and was slipping into a bad habit of partying, hooking up with girls, and not focusing on school. It took a reckoning from my mom to get him back on track.

“She asked me if I had dated that girl or if she was just one of my hookups and because I’m an idiot who doesn’t think, I laughed and said, ‘I don’t date.’”

“Dude, seriously?” I pinch the bridge of my nose with my thumb and pointer finger. “Is this the part where you tell me that you somehow made it up to her?”

He scoffs before laughing. “She shut me down before I could even try.”

“Well, she came back to the house, so that’s good…right?” Headlights beam through the back window of my truck and Wes shrugs his shoulders before opening the door and getting out.

We all head inside and Dahlia soaks up the extra attention from the girls while Wes sulks on the couch. After I walk Dahlia, we all silently split off and go to our rooms.

Harlow steps into mine and looks around with curiosity. She cocks her head to the side when she sees my punching bag and lets out a hum of interest.

“I started boxing over a year ago.”

I walk up behind her and place my hands on her shoulders. She flinches and then relaxes into my touch. “You seem a little jumpy. Are you sure everything’s okay?”

“I’m just tired.” She starts to put her hair into a messy bun, then looks around the room again. “Actually, can I rinse off and borrow a sweatshirt and some boxers?”

“Yeah,” I answer while walking over to my dresser, grabbing her something to put on.

She walks over to my bed, and sits down next to Dahlia who’s eagerly awaiting more pets. “Does she sleep with you?”

“Typically, but she doesn’t have to while you’re here.” I offer.

“I don’t mind,” she says softly, petting Dahlia and looking intently into her eyes. “I feel like she gets me. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, it does,” I say, handing her my clothes. “You may have been her first unofficial case as an ESA.” She chuckles at the joke, but there’s also probably some truth behind it. “Speaking of cases, she had her first trial run at the precinct.”

She stands up, giving me a soft smile. “Aw, I want to hear about it after I shower.”

“Of course, babe.” I press a kiss on her head then get her set up in my bathroom. Once she’s done, I rinse off and come out to find her already in my bed and Dahlia moves to curl up next to her. I stand there for a second, taking in the sight. My two girls. Once again, peace washes over me and I get into bed with them. Then a different feeling takes over when I realize Harlow smells like me. While I love her signature scent of cherries and vanilla, something about my body wash covering her makes me feel more possessive than normal.

She lays there silently tracing patterns on Dahlia’s fur. Observing her movements, I reach out and run my thumb along her cheek. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

When she peers up at me, her emerald eyes almost look lost, but it is after three in the morning. “I won’t keep you up for much longer but let me give you the rundown on Dahlia.”

“Okay,” she whispers, resting her head back on the pillow and focusing on Dahlia again.

She listens as I talk about the upcoming meeting we have at the precinct with a young girl who has to be questioned as a witness to a car accident she was involved in. How we hope Dahlia will be able to help keep her calm and her parents are looking forward to it too, which is exciting.

Harlow nods as she listens and after a few minutes, she asks if I can get her some water. I kiss her forehead before getting out of bed and wandering into the kitchen. I’m shocked to see Wes lying on the couch as I leave my room.

“Damn, that bad?” I say in passing while I grab a water bottle from the fridge.

He grunts in response.

“Harlow seems a little off too. I wonder if they talked about something in the car?” I stand there for a second, feeling clueless about what’s going on. “Maybe I should send Lennon into my room and let them sleep together.”

“Does that mean you and I are going to share my bed?” Wes asks in a sarcastic tone.

“We can, or you can stay out here and I’ll stay in your room.” I walk over to his door and knock lightly, “It’s Shep.”

It cracks open and Lennon looks at me with an uncertainty in her eyes. “I’m not here to get involved with whatever is going on between you two. I just wanted to see if you’d take this to Harlow and maybe y’all could stay in my room tonight? I get the feeling you two need each other or something.”

She looks past me at Wes then down at the water before taking it from my hand and walking out to my room.

I watch her give Wes a sad look, one that he doesn’t acknowledge, before turning around and declaring, “Dahlia is staying with us too. Thanks.” Then she goes into my room and shuts the door behind her.

“Alright, well I’m going to lie down in your room. You can stay out here and mope.”

“Whatever,” Wes clips out and my heart hurts for him, but I’m hopeful they’ll figure it out.

At around 7:00 A.M., my body naturally wakes up, since this is usually when Dahlia starts to stir and needs to go out. I wonder if she’s fine since it was only four hours ago when I walked her, but I don’t want her to disturb the girls.

I quietly walk out of Wes’s room and across the living room, careful not to wake the sleeping grump on the couch either. When I get to my room, I slowly crack open the door and have to hold back a laugh. Lennon and Harlow are on opposite sides of my bed with Dahlia in the middle on her back and her legs up in the air. She’s in heaven.

Realizing everyone is clearly fine right now, I grab my hoodie off the door then shut it, deciding to run out and grab coffee for everyone. When I get back, Wes has moved into his room and Lennon is on the couch with Dahlia.

“I took her out for a walk, I hope that’s okay,” she says while petting her.

“Yeah, that’s great. You didn’t have to do that though,” I say, handing her a coffee. I wasn’t sure what she drank but figured I couldn’t go wrong with a classic latte.

“Thanks,” she says while grabbing the warm cup from me. “Truthfully, it helped me avoid Wes in the living room when I walked out. I didn’t expect him to be there.”

“Yeah, he slept on the couch last night.” I sit down across from her in our recliner. “Do you want to talk about it?” I take a sip of my own coffee and watch as Lennon screws her face up, clearly thinking over what to do.

“I don’t know what to say. I guess I’m confused, but it’s my fault. I’ve told Wes that I don’t want to date but I just thought…I don’t know,” she trails off.

“That he would try and change your mind?” I offer.

“I guess, maybe. But he said it last night, he doesn’t date.” She peers down at the lid of her coffee, picking at it to avoid my gaze.

“Yeah well, Wes can say some stupid shit sometimes, but I think if he knew how you felt it would change things.” When she doesn’t lift her head up, I decide to do a little wing-manning myself. “I don’t know what you’ve heard about Wes, but as his best friend, I’d be happy to set the record straight. Yeah, he got around some last year, but something really shitty happened with his sister so he stopped giving a damn.”

Lennon glances up and I can see a frown forming. “I don’t care about his past, but I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, well, don’t tell him I told you. Maybe y’all can try and talk through things, I’m sure he’s awake in his room listening to music or something. Take this with you as a peace offering.” I hand her another cup of coffee and she smiles.

“Thanks, Shep. You know, you’re a really good friend.” She gets up and starts walking to Wes’s room.

“That’s what I keep hearing,” I call out after her before getting up myself and heading into my room.

Harlow is still curled up under a blanket. It’s pretty chilly now that it’s officially November, so I’m surprised she was comfortable in just my sweatshirt. I walk over, putting her cold brew on my night stand, then sit down next to her, the bed dipping when I do. She stirs a little, before fluttering her eyes open.

“Hi,” she says through a yawn.

“Good morning, pretty girl. Sleep okay?” I throw an arm over her, pulling her head into my lap so I can play with her hair, absentmindedly twirling the ends with my fingers.

“Mhm,” she says, nestling into me. “Lenny told me you sent her in last night, that was sweet.”

“Just seemed like you two needed each other, it was no big deal.”

She sits up and notices the cold brew. A smile tugs on her lips. “Is that for me?”

“Of course. I wasn’t sure if you’d still want this since it’s cold outside but?—”

“Oh, it does not matter what the temperature is outside.” She interrupts me.

“Noted,” I laugh, handing it to her.

She takes a sip and lets out a sigh. “Yum. We should go get breakfast. Do you and Dahlia want to come with? We can take it back to my apartment.”

Once again I’m shocked by her request, but it’s a Saturday so I don’t have anything going on. Even if I did, I’d cancel just to spend more time with her.

“Yeah, that would be great. Do you want to check with Lennon if she’s staying?”

“I’ll text her that I’m leaving and can come back later if she needs me.”

Harlow and I work in silence to pack up a few things of mine and Dahlia’s then we head out to her Bronco. I can’t help but smile watching her drive, nodding her head along to the music playing. Dahlia is curled up in the back seat and damn, I’m so fucking happy right now.

Weekends with Harlow, how did I get so lucky?