If You Only Knew (Harper Falls Book 3) (12 page)

Now, at the ripe old age of sixteen, she hated it. It was
cruel. In her darker moments, she wondered if he did it deliberately. Like he was
taunting, giving her a brief glimpse of what she would never have.

This morning she didn’t have to worry about that. Her father
was out of town on business. Even better, M.J. and Kyle had bummed a ride with
friends to The Gorge.

Considered one of the most scenic concert destinations in
the world, it was located almost halfway between Spokane and Seattle. Boasting
views of the Columbia River on one side and the Cascades on the other, people
flocked there every summer, drawn by a variety of musical acts, both current
and classic. Tyler couldn’t imagine how her brothers could afford tickets to
see Steely Dan, but she didn’t complain. Any time she had a few days
sibling-free, she was happy.

She spent the morning with her mother. Birthday pancakes
were a tradition. She opened her presents. A lavender-colored blouse and art
supplies. High-end art supplies.

“Mom.”

Tyler was giddy with excitement. A sketchbook, oil paints.
The charcoal alone must have cost a pretty penny. She looked at her mother. The
love and pride shining from her eyes made Tyler bite back the protest she had
planned on making.

Anita Jones enjoyed giving her daughter the tools that would
help her live out her dreams. She only wished it were possible to do more. As
it was, it had taken almost a year to save up for these few items. She started
saving right after Tyler’s last birthday.

Sweet sixteen. How was it possible her baby was almost a
woman? She looked again. No, she
was
a woman. In the blink of an eye,
the little girl had grown into someone any mother would be proud of. Beautiful
inside and out.

Anita choked back the tears knowing Tyler wouldn’t
appreciate an emotional scene. How could she explain to her daughter the
combination of feelings she had swirling inside. Happiness warred with sorrow
knowing Tyler would soon be gone.

They never spoke of the future after high school, but
Tyler’s yearning for something outside of Harper Falls was almost palpable.
When the time came, she would see her girl off with blessings and no regrets.
For now, she would savor the time they had left.

“Thanks.”

Tyler hugged her mother. They were both slender, all the
women on her maternal side ran towards thin. Anita was borderline gaunt. In the
long run, she knew it wouldn’t make a difference, but for one morning, Tyler
was determined to try and fatten her mother up.

“Sit and eat with me.”

“Oh, honey, I have so much to do. The church bazaar is
in a few weeks and I have a whole basket of mending to catch up on.”

“It’s my birthday. I get one wish, remember? Mine is to
have you share my special breakfast.”

“When you put it that way.”

Tyler smiled. It turned out to be the best birthday morning
ever.

She spent the next six hours weeding Mrs. Bradshaw’s garden,
mowing Mr. Eastman’s yard, and washing the Cyprus twins’ windows. Tomorrow
morning, Dani and Rose would be with her for a bigger job down on Swan Lane;
today she was on her own. Her get-out-of-town fund was growing bit by bit. If
one of the scholarships she planned on applying for came through, in two years
she would be out of Harper Falls, no looking back.

“Tyler Jones.”

Lottie Cyprus waved at her from the porch. Sweaty, her once
clean fuchsia colored t-shirt streaked with dirt, Tyler waved back. She was just
finishing the last window. Twenty in all, they sparkled like diamonds giving
her pride for a job well done. Be on time, do it right the first time, and
stick by the motto the customer is always right meant return business. And big
tips.

“Morning, Ms. Lottie.” Tyler glanced at her old
Timex. “Afternoon. Wow, the day is really flying by.”

Only two hours until Drew. Today it would have to be an
abbreviated visit. That evening, Dani and Rose were taking her out for dinner
followed by a sleepover at Dani’s house. Mrs. Wilde always made some
outrageously delicious cake, then the three friends would hunker down for a
marathon of Indiana Jones. They almost never made it to the fourth one. Just as
well, it sucked.

Then, groggy from too much sugar and too little sleep, they
would stagger to Dani’s room where they had spent so many nights together. It
was silly to get choked up over bunk beds, yet Tyler felt a little teary. Two
more years, she reminded herself. Not tomorrow.

She couldn’t deny things were changing. Soon, she would tell
her friends about Drew. Almost a month since that first meeting on the bridge.
Was it wrong to want to keep it to herself a bit longer? The secrecy made it
all the more exciting.

“Tyler? I’ve called out three times, dear. Is the heat
getting to you?”

“Sorry, Ms. Lottie.”

She put down the bucket of dirty water and sprinted over to
the porch.

“How are you today? I hope you’ve stayed off your ankle
like Dr. Romoray told you.”

Lottie Cyprus was all of five-foot-nothing though Tyler
suspected when push came to shove, she fudged and added a few inches. Tiny but
tough, that’s what she called herself.

She and her identical twin sister, Dottie had lived in the
same house in Harper Falls their entire lives. It was a huge, rambling
two-story building. No particular style, it was located in what was called no
man’s land. Not north with the mansions, not in Harper Falls proper. The Cyprus
family had money with a small m, not a capital one.

With no boys to inherit and carry on the family name, the
twins made a pact. They would only marry if the man agreed to change his name
to theirs and live in the ancestral home. Born there, married there, gave birth
in one of the downstairs bedrooms. Each had buried two husbands. Now in their
nineties and blessed with vitality and good health, they enjoyed visits from a
combined seven children and nineteen grandchildren. Great-grandchild number
seven was due next month. Great-great-grandchild number three a few months
after that.

“You are so sweet, always asking after my and Dottie’s
health. Your mother raised you right.”

“She sure tried.”

Lottie laughed, showing a set of strong, white teeth. They
weren’t the ones God gave her, but they were hers, bought, and paid for.

“You have a fire in you, Tyler Jones. That’s a good
thing; don’t you dare let anyone tell you different.”

“They tell me all the time. I just don’t listen.”

“That a girl. Here, take this glass of lemonade. Made
fresh this morning.”

Tyler drank every drop, the cold, tart liquid sweetened to
perfection. There was nothing better on a hot day. At the moment, Tyler felt
like she could have guzzled a gallon of it. But like Ms. Lottie said, her
mother raised her right. One glass was polite; she didn’t ask for more.

“Thank you.”

Instead of handing back the glass, Tyler escorted the old
lady through the front door, waving at Ms. Dottie, who was knitting and
watching
The Price Is
Right
, and into the kitchen. It was like
stepping through time. Original everything kept in pristine condition. Not her
style. Tyler liked things more modern. She admired it though. As an artist, she
found beauty in the past as well as the present.

“Now you be on your way.”

Ms. Lottie settled herself at the kitchen table and started
shucking peas picked right out of her own garden. Her slightly gnarled hands
fast and sure.

“I imagine you have a young man waiting for you.”

“What makes you say that?” Was Ms. Lottie hinting
at something? No. She couldn’t know anything. Could she?

“A pretty young woman like you? It would be a crime if
you didn’t have a string of boys clamoring for your attention.”

“No time. You take care. I’ll be back next week to
deadhead your rose garden.”

Sighing with relief, Tyler waved goodbye, exiting out the
back door. She put the bucket and cleaning supplies away before grabbing her
bike and heading home for a quick shower and something to eat. Fifteen minutes
later, her clothes were in a heap by her bed and cool water was running in a
blissful stream over her body.

So far her birthday had been pitch perfect. Great breakfast,
productive and lucrative morning. Talking with Ms. Lottie was always a kick.
And now a refreshing shower followed by the turkey sandwich her mother left in
the fridge.

So why wasn’t she smiling? Because of that one moment of
panic she felt when she thought someone knew about her and Drew. One innocent
comment from a friendly old lady had cast a tiny little shadow over her bright
sunny day.

If she were a girl from Harper Academy, there would be no
need to hide their friendship. If he were just a boy from Harper High, no one
would blink an eye. Just last fall, she went on a date with a boy whose parents
had money. They hadn’t seemed to mind. Why were she and Drew such a bad
combination?

She didn’t have to think very long or hard about the answer.
She was a nobody and Drew wasn’t just rich. He was the crown prince. Heir to
the Harper empire, he would carry on the family line. Someone like that did not
dally with someone like her. What if, God forbid, the unthinkable happened? The
mixing of their bloodlines would irrevocably sully the Harper name.

Tyler reached for a towel, fashioning it into a twisted
turban for her wet hair. She grabbed another towel and dried off. When she
caught a glimpse of herself in the foggy mirror, she stopped.
This is the
freaking twenty-first century,
she wanted to scream. Hadn’t the lines
between the haves and have-nots blurred enough to let a couple of teenagers be
friends? Maybe more? Hell, Prince William had dated a commoner. Why couldn’t a
Harper date a Jones?

Because, Regina Harper would spontaneously combust and burn
down the whole town with her.

The whole thing was ridiculous and a bit exhausting. Tyler
didn’t care if they needed to keep their meetings a secret. As long as Drew
wasn’t ashamed of their friendship, she didn’t care about anything else. She
was ninety-nine percent certain he would agree with her assessment.

She pulled on a pair of clean shorts and a t-shirt tie-dyed
in orange and blue. For her peace of mind, she needed to be one hundred percent
positive. But how?

The answer was a simple one. She would ask him.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TYLER”

Tyler gasped, spinning to find Drew sitting on the group of
rocks just inside their little cove. He never got there before her. Today he
was waiting, so handsome in his khaki board shorts and clean white t-shirt. His
skin sported a golden summer tan making his brown eyes appear even richer than
usual. Tousled, as always, his dark hair was streaked with bits of blond,
naturally achieved by the hours he worked in the blazing July sun.

Drew found a summer job just outside of town at a local
farm. He called himself an odds and ends guy. Any little thing that needed
doing, from moving irrigation pipe to washing the dog, he did it. Because of
the heat, his boss rarely required him to work past one or two in the
afternoon.

“You’re early.”

And he knew it was her birthday. For some reason, the two
events combined to make her a little nervous. Then there was that third thing.
The question she needed to ask.

“Busted water line and a broken finger.”

“You’re hurt?”

Tyler’s gaze quickly searched out his hand, looking for any
injury.

“Not me.” He held up his hands, wiggling ten
digits, all in perfect working order. “Dave Stern, owner of the farm. He
managed to pretty much crush the index finger on his left hand while trying to
fix the broken pipe. His wife rushed him to the hospital and gave me the rest
of the day off.”

He hopped from his seat to take her into his arms. It was
still so new. There was an intimacy between them now. One kiss and everything
had changed. Tyler liked it — a lot. She’d never known a boy before who could
make her feel this way, all tingly; so aware of her body. The closest she came
was reading a steamy romance novel. Hot sex scenes stirred up her body and
fueled her imagination. This was the first time she had experienced those
feelings because of another person.

She felt hot and cold at the same time. Her heart raced; her
mouth suddenly dry.

Tyler was sixteen years old. She was growing up during the
computer age where curiosity was easily satisfied. With a website for
everything under the sun, teens no longer had to wait for their parents to fill
them in or rely on sketchy information from their peers. Any kid with a laptop
knew what was what. Sex was no mystery to Tyler, at least not the mechanics of
it. She knew how things worked, what went where. The biology of why her body
reacted the way it did; she knew that too.

She quickly discovered that there was a world of difference
between knowing and feeling. She had the body of a young woman. Her experience
lagged way behind.

Tyler gazed up into Drew’s eyes and like always, her nerves
melted away. Sweet. He had the sweetest expression. How could she have any
doubts when he looked at her that way?

“I repeat. Happy Birthday, Tyler.”

“How did you know?”

“I told you. I’m good with computers. Your school
records contain your date of birth.”

Tyler’s gray eyes widened. “You hacked into Harper
High’s computer system?”

“Hacked is such an ugly word.” Drew shrugged, a
half-smile on his lips. “It shouldn’t apply when the interested party
means no harm. I wasn’t changing grades or messing with anything important. I
just needed a teeny bit of information.”

“You could have asked me.”

“Then I would have missed that look on your face.”

“What look?” Tyler demanded, teasing right back.
“I have a look?”

“Mmm.” Drew traced a finger along her hairline,
trailing across her cheek. “Wide-eyed surprise. Then a touch of
embarrassment, followed by cautious delight.”