Maybe Forever (Missing Pieces Book 1) (2 page)

Chapter Two

Harper

“Hey, sleepyhead, are you staying over tonight?” Harper asks once Dakota wakes.

“Yeah, is that cool with you?” he asks, wiping some sleep from his eyes. He sits up slightly, looking over at a sleeping Jamie.

“No. I’ve decided to shake things up after seven years. Go home,” she says before walking toward the kitchen. He gets up slowly and follows her into the kitchen.

“Did you cook?” Harper asks.

“Yes. Your plate’s in the microwave,” he says. They sit down at the kitchen table after she gets her food. She sets a soda down in front of him as well as herself. Harper watches him as he holds the soda in his palms, looking listlessly at its label.

“You okay?” Harper asks as she digs into her meal. Alfredo noodles with real chicken pieces inside.
A man that knows his way around the kitchen is one to keep around
, she thinks.

Dakota nods his head, still staring at the soda can. “Your son just…he said something that struck a nerve.”

“Yeah, what?” she asks, her mouth full of food. Dakota looks up at her and laughs. Harper grins.

“He told me…”

“What?”

“He said I was his best friend,” he says quietly.

Harper stops eating. “He said that?” Harper asks, smiling sweetly.

“Yes, he did,” Dakota says. He inhales deeply and then lets it out slowly. “I didn’t have the guts to tell him he was my best friend too. It sounds too pathetic to my ears.”

“It is pretty pathetic,” she teases.

Dakota chuckles. “He’s my favorite person in the world, though. I don’t know exactly when it happened, though. It seems like just yesterday we were discussing what is better: being a Power Ranger or an X-man, and now we’re discussing who’s hotter: Kimberly or Rogue.” He swallows a gulp of soda. “Career paths and girls he should date are right up the road. I don’t know if I can handle that.”

Harper laughs as she finishes her last bite of food. Her chocolate brown curls dance around her face as she giggles. At the strangest times she realizes that Dakota is just as much of a parent as she is. He looks up at her, and the expression on his face makes her knees go weak for some reason.

“Hey, did you do something different with your hair?” he says, wrapping his finger around one of the loose curls adorning her face. Harper blushes slightly.

“Oh yeah. I just tried a new kind of curl. You noticed?” She gets up from her seat and goes to the sink to wash off her plate.

“Of course I noticed,” he says matter-of-factly. “It looks good.”

Harper blushes deeper. “Thanks,” she says, her back still to him.

“Welcome.”

She turns around after washing her plate and stands against the counter, her arms folded in front of her chest. “So, are you going to come over the morning of Jamie’s first day? He’ll probably be expecting you here when he wakes.” Dakota swallows the swig of soda in his mouth.

“Yup, I’ll be here, camera in hand.”

“Do you go anywhere without that camera?” she says.

“Nope, it’s a part of me.”

Harper laughs. “You’re such a dork, Daughtry.”

“Ah, you love it, Montgomery.” She looks down at the floor. Her blush has returned. “Jamie thought I was going to call it quits from coming around so much just because he’s starting high school.”

Harper looks back up at him, a little worry written on her face as well. “What did you say?”

“There’s no place I’d rather be than here,” he says smoothly.

Harper smiles brightly. She downs another swig of her soda. “To be honest, I’m a little worried about this change too. It’s like he doesn’t need me all of a sudden.”

“It isn’t that he doesn’t need you. He’s just going through something,” Dakota says. “I talked to him tonight about it.”

“Do you think it’s something serious?”

He gets up and slowly walks over to Harper. He leans up against the counter next to her.

“I don’t think it’s anything life-threatening. All I told him was if he ever needs to talk, he can talk to me.”

“I’m sure he already knew that. You’re always there for him.” Dakota folds his arms across his chest, and Harper looks up at him.

“I guess he just needed me to say it out loud, you know?” He looks down at her.

She turns around to face him, setting her empty soda can on the counter’s top. She runs her fingers softly through her hair and bites her lip nervously.

“I don’t know if I say it enough or ever, Dakota.” She puts her palms on his wide chest, feeling like some sort of contact should be made. “It’s hard raising a teenage boy without the full support of his father. Thank you for making it a little easier.” Her eyes slightly glaze over with emotion.

“You’re welcome,” he says softly. “I know it’s weird to say because I’m not his father, but wherever you lag, I’ve always picked up the slack, automatically. It was never a question for me. We’re in this together and it’ll always be that way…in case you were wondering too.”

Harper looks at him as if she’s seeing him for the first time. He’s far from the teenage boy she let into her home seven years ago. She takes her hands off him and rests them at her side. Suddenly the soda can on the counter has become very interesting, and she studies it to avoid his eyes and her beating heart. She shakes her head clear.

“Did I freak you out?” he asks. Harper finally looks up at him.

“No, no…” she says. “I just hadn’t realized how much you’ve changed.”

“Changed?” he says. She looks at him, and he’s a lot closer to her than he was a moment ago.

“Yes,” she says breathlessly. She swallows her unpredictable fogginess. “You’re not watching as much
Teen Nick
as you used to,” she teases. Dakota laughs, and the tension in the room evaporates.

“If I’m not mistaken, you were the one obsessed with
The Amanda Bynes Show
.” Harper laughs.

“Oh my goodness, am I ever going to live that down?” Dakota shakes his head. He pulls at a shorter curl, blocking her eyelid, and twirls it in his fingers, slipping it behind her ear softly. He outlines her ear with his thumb, and Harper releases a soft sigh. Her eyes close involuntarily and without preamble, she’s once again too close to Dakota Daughtry. She opens her eyes reluctantly, and Dakota is staring down at her with the same look on his face. A look she can’t quite figure out the meaning to.

“I should…” She swallows thickly. “I should probably go to bed. I’m going to make a big breakfast tomorrow.”

“Okay,” he croaks.

“G’night,” Harper says, setting her empty soda can in the sink and then walking out of the kitchen. She feels his eyes on her back as she walks away. There seems to be a lot of changes happening in the household and some, Harper realizes, she may not be able to handle either.

***

Dakota

Dakota wakes up to the smell of sausage, bacon, eggs, and chocolate chip pancakes. The sweet syrup is tickling his nose as well, and he has no choice but to get out of bed and enter the kitchen. He yawns before standing up and stretching his long body awake. He enters the kitchen, scratching his stomach sleepily.

“Morning, peoples,” he says, dragging the last word.

“Morning, D. Mom made breakfast for us, and it’s delectable,” he says proudly, using one of his summer vocabulary words.

“Damn, Jam, you’re breaking out words your mom doesn’t even know.”

Harper laughs and sets his plate down on the table. “Thank you,” he says as if he didn’t just insult her intelligence.

“Jerk,” she says, sticking out her tongue.

He laughs and starts saturating his plate with syrup.

“Hey, Jam, you know what my favorite thing is?”

“What?” Jamie asks, stuffing his fourth pancake in his mouth.

Dakota swallows a piece of sausage and puts on a mischievous grin. “Noogies,” he says as he jumps at Jamie and starts attacking his head.

“D! D—stop! I’m going to choke!” he screams, laughing hysterically.

Harper laughs. “You guys can never stop playing.”

Dakota stops and looks down at Jamie, who nods in silent agreement. Dakota rushes over to Harper and puts her into a headlock. “What, you thought you weren’t going to get some too?” he says as she starts to laugh hysterically.

She screams and giggles simultaneously as he ignores her protests and tickles her too. He catches her in his arms before she falls down on the linoleum floor. She grabs hold of his neck, holding onto him for dear life until he lifts her upright. Dakota’s arms leave her waist reluctantly, but Harper still has her arms in place, staring at him just as he is her.

“Should I take my breakfast in the, uh, living room?” he asks cheekily. Harper lets go of Dakota and quickly turns back to her cooking. Dakota comes back to the table, his face heated. He looks at Jamie, who’s smiling at him goofily. Dakota gives him a good kick under the table, which makes Jamie’s smile go away quickly and reappear on Dakota’s face.

***

Harper

Ding Dong.

The doorbell sounds, and Harper rushes to the door with her spatula still in hand, eager to leave the kitchen. She opens the door with a smile, but as soon as the visitor is revealed, her smile fades.

“Wh-What are you doing here?” she stammers.

“Can I come in?” Aiden Shaw asks.

Harper blinks back her shock and opens the door widely. She follows him into the living room. “You should have called first, Aiden.”

“Now I have to call first before coming over to see my son?” Aiden says.

Harper rolls her eyes.

“Where is he?”

Harper motions her head toward the kitchen. “You should really start calling first. How do you know I didn’t have plans with him this weekend? It’s the weekend before he starts school.”

“I’m going out of town for a few months, so this is the only time I have until Thanksgiving, okay?” he says.

Harper scowls. “You’ve been out of town all summer, Aiden,” she says sourly.

Aiden groans. “I have to do my job, Harper. I know I’m not here as much as I should be, okay, but I try to be here as much I can.”

Harper purses her lips together and puts her hand up to stop him from talking. “Whatever.” She sits on the end of the couch and folds her arms.

“Does he need anything for school?” he asks.

“No, I bought him new clothes last month and…Dakota bought him a couple pairs of sneakers.” She looks up at him, knowing that he’s going to have something negative to say. “What?” she says when she sees his annoyed face.

“Why is another man buying stuff for my kid?”

“He wanted to. Aiden, please don’t start.”

“Doesn’t he have school supplies to buy for himself? He’s what, seventeen now?” Harper’s eyes narrow, and she restrains from putting up any fingers. “Do you honestly think he’s still sticking around here for Jamie?”

“Yes, I do, Aiden. He actually loves being a part of this family, something you wouldn’t understand, I guess.” Aiden nods.

Harper gets up from her spot and turns her back to him.

“Hey, woman, get in here and make the men some more pancakes!” Dakota yells playfully as he enters the living room. He stops dead in his tracks when he sees Aiden.

Aiden stands up straight and looks at Dakota, a small smirk on his face. “Hello, Dakota, lovely to see you,” Aiden greets.

Dakota walks over to Harper, standing beside her casually. “Can’t say I feel the same,” he says.

“Oh, ouch,” Aiden says sarcastically. “Two points for the twenty-three-year-old babysitter.”

“And negative two for the deadbeat,” Dakota says sharply.

“Funny. You should really think about a career in comedy once you’re done with this whole chasing-after-my-leftovers thing.”

Harper holds Dakota’s arm as he steps toward him, his fists clenched. Aiden walks past him, heading for the kitchen, satisfied with the reaction. “Why do you two always have to go for each other’s throats?” Harper asks once Aiden is out of sight. Dakota shrugs.

“He’s the biggest asshole in the world,” he says matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, well, I’d like it if you two would at least be civil. It’s annoying always having to break you two up like six year olds. Neither of you are going anywhere, so you might as well try to behave like adults.” She sighs, exasperated. Dakota bites his lip to hide grinning at her scrunched-up nose.

“Plan on keeping me around forever, huh?” Harper rolls her eyes, smiling slightly.

“Shut up, Daughtry,” she says. Dakota laughs.

“I’m going to go. I have to get ready for work anyway.” Harper folds her arms in front of her chest and nods, trying to hide her disappointment.