Embarrassed that she had to talk about that night with Matt of all people, Harper began to massage her forehead. “Look, I’m not out to hurt Axel. I’m trying to recover and move on. I have to do what’s best for me now, have to remain strong for the sake of our girls.”

“Seems like a hell of a way to do it.”

“What?”

“Never mind. So you won’t even try?”

Squeezing her eyes closed, she continued to massage her forehead.

“Harper?” Karoline said. “What is it?”

Harper waved her off. “Fine,” she said into the phone. “I’ll call him. But not right now. Later. I’m at the store.”

“Thanks, Harper. We really appreciate it. I’m telling you, he’s not the same since…that happened.”

Shame sent a prickle down Harper’s spine. “I’ll do what I can,” she said and hit the end button.

Karoline was, of course, waiting to hear everything. “What’s going on?”

“It sounds like Axel’s getting homesick.”

“Homesick!”

“Matt says he’s missing the girls, wants me to convince him to hold out until the tour is over.”

“And you’re going to do that?”

“At this point, I’d rather he not come back. Maybe I’ll be stronger if I have more time.”

“Good point. So what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to encourage him to stay. Do you want him coming to Silver Springs for Christmas?”

“No. I want him to be willing to come, but…I guess I don’t want him to actually come. That would be awkward, since we’re all pretty mad at him for leaving you in the dust.”

Harper didn’t like the way Karoline was characterizing her, but she had enough going on, didn’t need to start an argument with her all too frank sister. “Well, I don’t want him to come, either. And I don’t want him to take the girls to Colorado.” She loved spending time with Piper and Everly, but she’d also been using them as the reason she couldn’t call Tobias.

If they were gone, she had no idea what she might do.

“This is what it looks like,” Atticus said.

Tobias sucked the foam from his beer as he watched the YouTube video Atticus had called up on his phone—the video of the hiker carrying a disabled friend on his back. “That might be possible.”

“But it looks crazy, right?”

“It might be crazy.” Tobias leaned back in his seat. “You need to consider the risk. If I take one wrong step, you could get hurt.”

Atticus played the video again. “Wouldn’t you face the same risk? I can’t imagine it would feel good to fall with a hundred and fifty pounds strapped to your back. You’d hit the rocks pretty hard.”