Leaving Jamie at the warehouse with my mother felt like a bad call. It's been hours since I kissed her goodbye. I'm sure by now my mother was on her twentieth interrogation question. She probably knew more about Jamie than I did—and I studied that woman when I was her 'fake date' to Harper's wedding.

I just hoped Jamie was okay. I didn't really tell my mom anything about Cherise or what Jamie has been going through. My mom knew something was going on, but I felt like if I told her then she wouldn't be able to help herself with questions and trying to make it better for Jamie.

But a promise is a promise. I needed to stop worrying about her and start focusing on the time I was spending with my dad. Speaking of, I looked over to the left and saw him bringing some fresh pastries to our table at La Rose De Baguette.

"Told you that you'd like this place," I joked when I saw his plate filled with Danish.

"You know I've always had a sweet tooth, son." He took two big bites of the Danish before looking back up at me. "Thanks again for letting us stay with you and Jamie. She seems like a good girl."

I tried and failed to bite back my smile. "Yeah, she's amazing."

Amazing didn't begin to cover it if I was being completely honest. When I walked into the bedroom last night and saw her taking off her jewelry at my dresser, my heart nearly stopped. That site alone made me realize how much I wanted her and I to be a real couple. In a real relationship. I wanted to live with her. I wanted her stuff mixed with mine.

"How do you think the girls are doing?"

Crossing my arms over my chest, I scoffed at his question. "Honestly, she probably knows every school Jamie attended, every grade she made in every class, the name of every guy she ever..."

My rambling got caught off when a mind numbing jealousy started coursing through me. I never thought about Jamie with other guys before. And we've never talked about her ex's. But now that I said that, I couldn't get it out of my head. The truth was, I didn't want her with any other man. I didn't want another guy kissing her, and I for damn sure didn't want some other guy making love to her.

My dad's expression was a mixture of worry and frustration. Worried about me getting hurt if this thing with Jamie crashed and burned. Frustrated that I haven't come clean with Jamie about that night. Basically in his eyes I was digging my own grave if I kept going down this path.

Clearing my throat, I say up in my chair. "Mom is probably onto her college history by now," I said, hoping to get my mind to stop spiraling out of control with images I did not want to see.

"You're probably right, Ollie. Do you think she's doing okay? You know, with all the questions?"

My dad knew I didn't tell my mom anything regarding Jamie's situation. And I know he didn't say anything either.

"I think so. Shit. I hope so." I exhaled a deep breath. "She insists that she's all right. And in her defense, she does seem better "

"Maybe she is."

"What if she isn't?"

My dad sat his Danish down. "Listen to me, son. I may not know Jamie that well, but I think you should trust her and take her word for it." He shook his head slowly. "I love you, but you don't want to smother her. You may end up pushing her away. Trust her word. And trust that if she does need you and she's not okay, she'll come to you."

He was right. I knew he was right. I guess that was the problem when you were in love with someone. You just wanted to make sure they were safe and happy. You wanted to protect them from anything and everything around them. Sometimes you even had to protect them from themselves.

Suddenly my phone started ringing in my pocket and I fished it out. I frowned when I saw Harper's name on the caller ID. Getting up from my chair, I glanced at my dad.

"Sorry, dad, I got to take this. I'll be right back."

Who knew why Harper was calling. But after Jamie disappeared on Cherise's birthday, I wasn't going to ignore this one.

Once I was out of earshot of my dad, I sat at an empty table and answered. "Please tell me this is you, Harper, and not the whole crew ready to kill me and bury me in a shallow grave."

The soft feminine laugh that came through the phone made me smile. "Yes, Ollie, it's me. Just me."

"How are you, Harper?"

"Good. All of us are," she said softly. "After you told us she was okay and she called me herself, we've all been able to breathe a little easier."

I could imagine. God only knew how they were all keeping it together when she took off. The thought of her doing that to me made me feel more than a little panicky.

"That's good. I'm glad to hear it." When she didn't say anything, I asked, "So, what did you need?"

"Well, I know I could call her and ask how she is,  but she would tell me she's fine even if she wasn't. So I just wanted to, ya know, check on her."

I knew exactly what she meant. I was having trouble trusting Jamie's words myself. "Yeah, she's good. She's doing a lot better. She seems...happy."

"That's so good to hear, Ollie. That's really good to hear. Is she there with you?"

Uh oh. How the fuck did I answer that? "Uh, no she's not. She's at home."

Brief silence. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing."

"Ollie..."

"She's hanging out...with my mom."

Very looooong silence now. I even glanced at the screen of my phone to make sure the call didn't drop.

"Harper? Hello?"

"She's with your mom? Please explain. Right now."

I told her everything. All of it. Well, everything about my parents showing up unexpectedly and Jamie offering to have them stay over. Her moving into my room. All of it.

Harper's silence wasn't a surprise. "I don't even know what to say. I can't believe it. She really offered for them to stay?"

"Yes. Believe me, I was just as surprised as you are. I even gave her an out, but she was stead fast on them staying with us. She said it would prove to me she's okay."

"Holy shit," she breathed through the phone. "Maybe she is doing better. I mean, I can't believe she moved her stuff into your room. That's very... not Jamie."

"I thought the same thing," I muttered. But fuck did I love seeing her stuff mixed with mine. "Hey, Harper? Can I ask you something if it stays between us?"

"After everything you've done for her? Yes, of course. Ask me anything."

How to put this... "I know this probably goes against your girl code, but has she ever said anything about me? Like if she ever wanted something...more with me?"

"Honestly, Ollie, she always kept you, or at least whatever she felt for you, a secret. She didn't tell us anything. But we all knew there was something between you guys. We could tell by the way she looked at you."

I was quiet as I thought about what she said. It made sense. Jamie was a secretive person. I guess I was hoping she confided in her best friend's.

"You love her, don't you."

There wasn't a reason to lie about it. "Yeah, I do."

Harper didn't say anything for the longest time. We both just sat there with silence hanging between us. I didn't even know what I was hoping to get from asking her that question. Reassurance that Jamie wanted a relationship with me? How the hell would Harper know? The person I needed to talk to about it was the one person I couldn't ask right now.

"Did Jamie ever tell you the story about me and Jackson?"

Her question had me frowning. "No, I don't think so." Then again, I was so taken with Jamie from the start that it wasn't surprising if I simply didn't remember something she told me about Harper and Jackson.

"It's a long story," she started to explain, "but he and I ended up in kind of a similar situation as the two of you. We were in a non-relationship. I knew I had fallen in love with Jackson, but I was scared to death to tell him because, at the time, he was a man who slept around a lot and didn't believe in love. I was so scared that if I told him how I felt, he would leave me."

"You guys weren't together when you fell in love?"

"No. We kind of had this friends with benefits situation going on." So that's what Jamie had been talking about that morning after we first slept together. "Anyway, Jackson got scared of his own feelings and did something stupid to try to push me away."

Curiosity got the best of me and I asked, "What did he do?"

"He kissed another girl right in front of me."

Ouch. Big mistake, Jackson. "Damn. I'm sorry, Harper."

"Not as sorry as he was, believe me. But anyway, the whole point of this story is that, if he and I had just been honest with each other and told each other how we really felt, we wouldn't have had to go through that pain and stress."

I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the table. "So, you're pretty much telling me the same thing my dad did. I need to tell her how I feel."

"I can't tell you what to do here, Ollie. That has to be your decision. All I can do is tell you what happened with me with my experience and what I learned from it."

She was right. I needed to figure this shit out sooner rather than later. "Thank you, Harper. Truly."

"Of course." Brief pause. "Take care of our girl, okay?"

Even though I tried clearing my throat, my voice came out rough with emotion. "Always."