She snatched it out of his hands and started stuffing clothing inside. “I want to know why,” she said. “Why did you have to hurt my friend like that?”

“If I didn’t hurt her now, imagine how much worse it would be a year from now.”

“She loves you!”

Lola, unhappy with the shouting, stuffed her head under the bed.

“I’m damaged. You don’t love something damaged. You try to fix it. But I can’t be fixed,” Luke snapped. “After Karen… There’s no recovering from something like that. No getting back to normal.”

“Is that why you didn’t tell her about Karen?” Gloria demanded, zipping the bag shut.

“I was selfish. I tried to pretend that I wasn’t this scarred, broken person. Harper brightens every room she walks into, and I fell for that…for a while. But I can’t love her. Not the way a normal man can.”

“Just because you’re damaged doesn’t mean you can’t live happily ever after.” Gloria’s lip was trembling, and she didn’t know why.

“That’s exactly what it means. It means I’m not capable of loving her the way she needs me to. I had to let her go so she can find that with someone who can.”

“That’s bullshit,” Gloria said, fighting back tears that had snuck up on her. “You’re making excuses for being a chickenshit.” She pushed past him, hauling the bag with her into the hallway.

“What is it with women calling me a chickenshit?”

“Get used to it!” she called over her shoulder.

“Just…wait!” he started down the stairs after her. “Is she okay? Is she safe?”

“What do you care?” Gloria demanded, rounding on him at the foot of the stairs.

“Just because I’m a monster doesn’t mean I don’t care.”

“She’s safe, no thanks to you.”

“She needs money. Let me give you—”

“Harper doesn’t need your guilty payout. She’s got friends who love her.” And with that, Gloria slammed the door in his face. She didn’t want to let his words dig their barbs into her. Didn’t want to let them damage what she was building with Aldo. But, God. What if Luke was right?

She pushed the ugly doubt away and hurried down the walk.

Back in her car, she saw Aldo was calling again. She hit ‘Ignore’ and dialed Sophie instead.

“Joni called. Harper is with her. And I just broke into your brother’s house, stole a bunch of Harper’s stuff, and called him a chickenshit.”

“Do I need to send Ty over to deal with the body?”

74

Gloria trudged through Aldo’s front door. She stopped short, avoiding Ivan’s mad streak in front of her, a toy mouse half his size bouncing in his mouth.