HAPPY PANTS CAFE (THE HAPPY PANTS SERIES) (13 page)

She sighed, continuing to gawk for several more moments, when he turned sharply as if sensing being watched. However, instead of saying anything or acknowledging he’d caught her ogling, he simply stared back with a predatory look in his eyes that made her stomach turn into a tornado of flutters. Her heart hammered away inside her chest as the world around them seemed to stand still, their eyes locked.

Her mind didn’t try to guess what Austin was thinking, because her body was too busy feeling. The fearlessness in his eyes, the jaw flexing with tension, the stiff body poised like a hungry animal about to chase down and devour her in one big bite, all made her feel so goddamned hot that her entire body began to tremble.

Did I just ovulate?

Then, just like that, Austin turned away, giving her his back, and disappeared inside the barn.

Harper fanned her face and gave her head a good shake.
Wow. What. Was. That?

She got in her car and drove away, wondering how in the world she was going to survive this week. And she wasn’t talking about the farm work. Something deep inside her wanted him more than anything she’d ever wanted in her entire life. Perhaps even more than her job.
How the hell is that possible?

Driving along the flat stretch of country road that sliced between acres and acres of neatly groomed grapevines, Harper headed back toward town, her entire body shivering despite the ninety-five-degree day. That wordless exchange with Austin had completely neutralized those warm fuzzies from earlier and left her with an unsettling sensation deep in her bones. It was like he’d gotten inside her head and pushed a bunch of buttons she didn’t know she had. “This button will make you feel insecure. Poke!” she said to herself in a deep voice, mocking Austin’s tone. “And this button will make you completely irrational while putting your libido in charge. Poke!”

But why did he have such an instant effect on her? It was definitely more than simple lust. This thing between them felt profoundly sentimental, like when you heard an old song you associated with a particular event in your life. Suddenly, you’re there again, reliving the emotions. That was definitely how she’d felt when she’d seen that scar on Austin’s shoulder blade, but why couldn’t she remember where he got it?

Harper hit the Bluetooth button on her car’s console and dialed her mother.

“Harp! Hey, honey. How’s the story coming along?” her mother asked, sounding as cheery as ever.

“Well, not so great, actually. The owner of that café I told you about isn’t very happy with me.”

“Uh-oh. What did you do?”

“I kind of knocked her over, but it was an accident. Austin and I were racing and—”

“Austin?”

“Yeah, Austin. You remember him, right? Our old next-door neighbor?”

“Of course I do. How did you manage to bump into him?”

“It’s kind of a long story, but believe it or not, he’s a reporter for the
Oakland Examiner
. That’s insane, right?”

“We always said that you two were like mirror images of each other—except that he was a boy and had a big belly.”

Well, that one pack had turned into a ten pack. Her mother would never recognize Austin now if she got to see him. The man was a living, breathing, talking, walking hunk of manly goodness.

“Well,” her mother said, “please tell him I say hi and to send his parents my regards.”

“Will do. But hey, Mom? I have a quick, completely random question.”

“Yes?”

“Do you remember anything regarding Austin getting hurt? Specifically, his shoulder blade?”

There was silence for several long moments. “Mom? You still there?”

“Uh, yeah, sweetie. I’m here. I just…” her mother’s voice sounded unsteady, “wasn’t expecting you to bring that up.”

“Bring what up?” Harper asked.

“The incident.”

What the hell was her mother talking about? “I’m not following.”

“So, you really did forget about it.” It wasn’t a question, but more of a realization.

“Mom, what are you talking about?” Harper didn’t like the sound of where this was going.

Her mother’s voice cracked. “It was the worst day of my life, Harper.”

Harper’s heart began to thump inside her chest, and her hands began to tremble. She quickly pulled to the side of the road and picked up the phone, turning off the car’s speaker. “Mom. What. Happened?”

“A man tried to take you.”

~~

Nineteen years earlier.

It was the first Saturday morning of summer vacation, and Harper woke with a giant smile glued to her face, already dressed for the day—she’d slept in her favorite cutoff shorts and pink unicorn tee. She couldn’t wait! She and Austin had every minute of every day planned for the next two and a half months. They would camp out in her backyard on Mondays and Wednesdays, and in his tree house on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Fridays were pizza and movie night at her house, but
A
ustin was always welcome. On Sundays, both their mothers made them stay home and help with the chores, clean their rooms, and do horribly boring things like go on family hikes or outings to wherever. But Saturdays? Those were reserved for Nerf gun battles at the park. Both she and
A
ustin had a huge collection (automatic Nerf machine guns, Nerf shotguns, quadruple-barreled Nerf pistols) as did the other kids in the neighborhood. The first battle would start right after breakfast and go until noon, when they both had to go home for lunch.

Harper hopped out of bed and put her long hair into a ponytail. “Bye, Mom! Going to the park to set up with Austin!”

“But what about breakfast?” she heard her mother call from somewhere inside the house.

“No time!” She needed to get to the park early to help arrange the battlefield. They used inflatable rafts and a couple of small pop-up tents for bunkers. Orange cones would mark the line between the two teams’ territories. So fun!

She sprinted out the front door, with her overflowing backpack full of bright orange plastic weapons, and headed straight next door. She knocked on Austin’s bedroom window, which was at the front of the house, but he didn’t answer, and the curtains were drawn.
He’s probably already there,
she thought.

She hit the sidewalk and headed to the park, just a few blocks away and ten houses down. Even though the sun was out, the early morning air still carried a damp chill. Sprinklers from several of her neighbors’ homes clicked away, misting the sidewalk as she passed. When she got to the corner of the park, which occupied one full block—divided into a huge grassy field, playground and picnic area with large pine trees—she didn’t see Austin anywhere. She did, however, spot Mr. Reilly’s dang Mercedes among the long line of cars bordering the park’s perimeter. Bummer. Why did he always park there? She got that it was right across the street from his house, but he always came out and yelled at them when they got too close.

A
s Harper’s eyes scanned for Austin, she noticed a beat-up charcoal-gray van, spewing exhaust from the tailpipe, parked directly behind Mr. Reilly’s black car. She wouldn’t have thought much about it, except that there was no one in the driver’s seat and the van had been left running with the side door wide open.

Harper swiveled on her foot, but didn’t see anyone walking in the street or in the park. Where was the driver?

And where is Austin?
They’d agreed to meet as soon as they woke up, and he always rose before she did.
Maybe he’s hiding?
Austin did love to sneak up and scare her.

Harper decided to cut through the picnic area, which was closest to her, and beeline over to the field. As she passed one of the thick and tall pine trees, she unexpectedly bumped into a man who seemed to pop out of nowhere.

“Hey there,” he said, blocking her way.

Harper looked up at him, and a sick sensation filled her stomach. The man wore a blue baseball cap and sunglasses. His sweatshirt looked dirty, and he smelled like old, sweaty tennis shoes.

“I lost my dog,” he said. “Have you seen him?”

She instinctively stepped back. “No.
What’s he look like?”

“He’s a golden retriever. I let him out to go to the bathroom, but he ran off.”

Her body surged with sharp prickles that told her to get the heck out of there. “Haven’t seen him.” She turned away, ready to run for her life, but the man grabbed her arm.

Before she could let out a yelp, the man had twisted her around and held a knife to her throat.

“Just be quiet, and I won’t hurt you.” He began pulling her toward the awaiting van only twenty feet away.

Harper had no idea what to do, but she knew he was lying. She knew he would hurt her, because nice men didn’t go around putting knives to people’s throats.

Still wearing her backpack loaded with bulky plastic toy guns, she grabbed the man’s arm and pushed it away from her neck while pushing back with her body, using the backpack to create space between them. But the man was large and strong and gripped her upper arm tightly, still intent on dragging her to his vehicle.

“Harper!” Austin’s voice rang out, and she caught a glimpse of him running down the sidewalk from the direction of his house. She instantly thought that she didn’t want him to come any closer, she didn’t want the man to hurt Austin. She’d rather die.

“Harper!” Austin was just a few yards away as the man shoved Harper into the van. “Let her go!”

The man released her inside the van and grunted. For a moment, she thought that Austin had tugged the man off of her, but then realized he’d jumped on the stranger’s back.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you! Let her go!” Austin yelled at the top of his lungs, pounding the man in the side of the neck.

“Get the fuck off me!” grunted the stranger.

Harper saw the knife, gripped firmly in the man’s hand with the tip pointing up, lift straight into the air, up over his head, and plunge behind him in an attempt to extract Austin from his back.

There was a horrible cry from Austin as the knife missed his head but struck him. Where? Harper couldn’t see, but she screamed in terror and kicked the man as hard as she could with both feet straight in his groin.

The man wailed, and she used that one fraction of a second to jump out of the van.

“Austin!” she yelled. “Help. Someone
help!” she screamed. Blood was everywhere.

At that exact moment, a man in a jogging outfit spotted them and came running. “Get the fuck away from them!” He bolted toward them, screaming, “Someone
call 911!” On a quiet Saturday morning like that, half the neighborhood had to have heard not just the jogger, but the commotion, too.

The stranger jumped in his van and sped off before the jogger could reach them.

Harper looked down at Austin, who lay in an awkward position on his back, arching his bleeding shoulder off the ground, moaning.

“Ohmygod, Austin!” The look on his face terrified her. He was in pain but biting his cheeks, trying so hard not to cry.

“Move out of the way,” said the jogger. “Go across the street and call 911.”

“Okay. Okay.” She shook her head frantically. “I’ll be right back. Don’t die, please don’t die,” she begged.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said, grinding out his words, and she remembered thinking in that moment how he didn’t sound like a boy, but a man. Sure. Tough. Confident. Unafraid of anything.

And that was the moment she realized she loved him and would never love anyone else. Ever.

~~

Still parked on the side of the country road, cell phone pressed to her ear, Harper wiped the tears from her eyes. “How could I forget this, Mom?”

“I have no idea, sweetie,” her mother responded in a melancholy tone. “But you woke up the next morning acting like nothing ever happened. At first, I thought you just didn’t want to talk about it, and the psychologist at the police station told me it would take time for you to deal with what happened. But when Austin came home from the hospital, you asked him what happened.”

Strangely, Harper remembered that. Austin had responded by saying he had a really awesome fight at the park, but that he’d won. Harper also remembered feeling kind of mad that Austin hadn’t invited her, but then he’d flashed one of his goofy grins, instantly making her feel all dopey and happy.

“Anyway,” her mother continued, “you never brought it up. The psychologist said that as long as you were behaving normally and sleeping without issue, to leave it alone; you’d deal with it when you were ready.”

Boy, I guess it took me a really, really long time to be ready.

“I can’t believe I forgot all of that,” Harper said with a sigh. Because now she remembered how terrified she’d felt, not just for her, but for Austin, too.

“Well, I couldn’t,” her mother said. “I couldn’t stand to live there anymore or think about what that man would have done to you. Even after the police caught him, I still didn’t feel safe in that neighborhood. I don’t know, maybe it was the baby hormones.”