She got out to find Tawny waiting on her porch and Dana and Brook just coming up from the lake’s edge. She started to walk right past all of them, but Tawny popped her hands on her hips and glared at Harper.
“You are welcome, by the way,” she said.
“For what? I can take care of myself. I don’t need you to fight my battles,” Harper said. The feeling was coming back in her chin, and it stung like a son of a gun.
“Good Lord! What happened?” Dana asked.
They both started talking at once, each blaming the other one for ruining the whole evening. Finally, Dana clapped her hands, and they both turned to look at her.
“Do you need some help getting that cleaned up, Harper? Is it deep enough that we should take you to the emergency room or the urgent care for stitches?”
“I’m fine. All of you just go away and leave me alone,” Harper answered.
“Fine! Next time I’ll let a crazy bitch carve her initials in your face.” Tawny stormed off toward her cabin.
“I’d love to have a sister, and here y’all are acting like this.” Brook took off at a jog toward the house.
“Sure you don’t want me to help with that?” Dana asked again.
“I told you to leave.” Harper went inside and slammed the door. She didn’t even make it to the bathroom before someone knocked on her door. Expecting it to be Tawny arguing some more, she slung it open and said, “Get off my porch.”
“Good God, Harper,” Wyatt gasped. “What happened? Car wreck?”
“I thought you were Tawny.” She blushed. “It was a sister wreck. I’m fine.”
“So Tawny did this?” Wyatt brushed past her into the cabin and beat her to the bathroom, where he got out peroxide and butterfly strips. “You’ve ruined a pretty nice shirt, and you’ve got blood all over your jeans.”
“Cold water will take it out. Move over so I can get this cleaned up.” She shoved at him, the action only serving to remind her that even a tall woman like her couldn’t budge him an inch.
He put the lid down on the toilet. “Sit down and I’ll do it for you. And again, which of your sisters did this?”
She sat down, suddenly aware that she was only wearing a bra on top. “Not Tawny. This girl Daisy at the bar. She tried to make me give up my stool—she wanted to save it for her sister. I protested. So she broke a beer bottle and tried to convince me otherwise. And then Tawny stepped in to rescue me. Hell’s bells, Wyatt! I’ve been takin’ care of myself for ten years. I don’t need her help.”
“So what does the other woman look like now? Hold your head up.” He tucked a washcloth under her chin and gently poured peroxide into the wound. When it stopped bubbling, he wiped it dry and applied antibiotic ointment and three strips to hold it together.
“She’ll be limpin’ for a week, and all the makeup in the world won’t cover up those two black eyes. Tawny packs a mean right hook when she’s mad. I bet Daisy don’t think she’s nearly as mean right now as she was this mornin’,” Harper said.
“So this all happened in a bar? Are you drunk?”
“On half a beer? God, no! I went there to dance, drink a beer or two, and blow off some steam, not get drunk and brawl. She caused it. I didn’t. And I didn’t even know Tawny was there, didn’t know that she even went to cheap little bars. Figured she’d only be interested in swanky clubs,” Harper answered.
Wyatt stepped back and tipped her chin up. “Don’t get that wet for a few days and it should heal up pretty good.”
“Thank you, Dr. Simpson, but I know how to take care of barroom wounds,” she said, her voice only slightly elevated from the effect that he created when he touched her face.
“I should go now.” Wyatt’s warm breath caressed that soft spot right under her ear, and the temperature in the room jacked up several degrees.
“Thanks again,” she whispered.
“Anytime. I’m just glad it wasn’t one of your sisters that sliced you open.” He moved out of the bathroom.
“Why does it matter who did it?” she asked.
“Sisters shouldn’t act like that. Get some rest.”
She raised her voice as he crossed the room. “Two aspirin and call you in the mornin’ if I’m not better.”
He gave her a thumbs-up and gently closed the door behind him. She removed her bra, kicked off her boots, and slid her skinny jeans down over her well-rounded hips. Once she was completely naked, she turned on the water in the old claw-foot tub and crawled into it. Her long legs reached all the way to the end, and when the water was deep enough, she turned the faucets off with her toes.
She only meant to rest her eyes for a few seconds, but when she awoke, the water was cold, her arms were asleep, and the cut on her chin was throbbing. She quickly stood up and grabbed a terry robe, wrapped it around her body, and checked her reflection in the mirror. The strips were holding and there was no blood.
“That’s good,” she muttered as she padded barefoot across the floor to her bed. She didn’t bother taking off the robe, but curled up on top of the bedspread and pulled the edge up over her feet. In seconds she was asleep, dreaming of playing chase with a little blonde-haired girl in a field of bright Texas bluebonnets. The child wore a pure-white sundress. Her blue eyes were the same color as the flowers.
The alarm clock jerked Harper out of the dream and back into reality. No matter how tightly she shut her eyes, she couldn’t bring back the peace that she felt when she was out there in the middle of that bluebonnet field.
With a sigh, she threw her legs over the edge of the bed, turned off the noisy alarm, and went back to the bathroom to check her wound. It looked fine even if it did throb with every heartbeat. She quickly dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and hurried out across the gravel lot toward the café.
Zed must’ve seen her coming, because he already had a mug of coffee sitting on the table for her. She picked it up and warmed her hands before taking the first sip.
“I should’ve put on a jacket. Morning breeze is a little nippy,” she said.
“Will be until Easter is over with in a couple of weeks. After that we’ll be prayin’ for some of this cool wind,” he said. “What happened to your chin?”
Between sips of coffee, she told him the story. “Guess some sisters are almighty protective of each other’s rights to a bar stool. And others get into their sister’s business uninvited.”
“What demons are you chasin’, child?” he asked, his tone deepening.
“What makes you think I’ve got any demons?” Harper pushed the chair back and brought the coffeepot to refill both their cups.
“Plain as the nose on a pig’s face. What happened that last summer you came here to stay for a month? You ain’t been the same since. Your granny was plenty worried about you when you ran away from that boarding school. You didn’t get in touch with nobody, either. Why she didn’t hear from you until you was past eighteen?” he said.
“Life happened, and believe me, Granny was the only one worried about me,” she said in a flat tone.
“I was worried right along with her. So tell me about it.”
“Granny used to say that the person who stirs the shit pile has to lick the spoon. I’m not in the mood for that this mornin’.” She laid a hand on his bony arm.