In Tune (Red Bird Trail Trilogy Book 3) by Laramie Briscoe Page B

himself and being a better man, you were left to fester in the fear. It turned you into another person.”
    She thought hard about what he was saying. “You know, you could be right. It’s time for me to take that fear and turn it into something else. I won’t let it rule my life anymore.”
    Reaching over, he grabbed her hand, and they lapsed into a comfortable silence. It was in those silences that she knew they would be okay.

‡
Chapter Fifteen

    I t was the rarest of rare nights, both Cash and Harper were doing homework. Cash avoided it like the plague, but he knew that if he failed the semester, he’d never hear the end of it from Harper.
    “Remy,” he yelled from where he sat at the kitchen table. “How about you go ride your bike, dude. I can’t concentrate with that television on.”
    Remy looked like he wanted to argue, but Harper piped up. “If you go ride your bike for an hour, I’ll make cookies tonight.”
    “Deal.” Remy came over, shaking her on it.
    “What about me?” Cash asked, holding his hand out.
    “What about you?” Remy asked with a newfound attitude that Cash had to admit he thoroughly enjoyed and hated at the same time. “You wanted me to do something without giving me anything in return. You deserve no handshakes.”
    Harper chuckled as Remy made his way out of the apartment, and she glanced over at Cash. You have to admit, he’s right. You can’t always ask someone for something and give nothing in return.
    It hit him almost right in the chest that perhaps she was talking about their situation. “Do I not give you enough?” he asked, fear in his voice. “Is there something you want from me that you’re not getting?”
    “No.” She laughed. “At some point we need to have a discussion about the future, but I don’t expect us to be having it right now.”
    He closed his book, giving her his full attention. “Well, why not? Why shouldn’t we have it now?”
    “We need to study,” she reminded him.
    “Studying will be there in a few minutes. This is important,” he argued. “Where do you see yourself in the next few years?”
    She knew he was being serious about this, could tell by the way he looked at her and the tone of his voice. Knowing all of this, she knew without a doubt that if she didn’t answer, he wouldn’t let this go. Closing the book, she blew out a deep breath. “I see us together, with Remy, hopefully not in this apartment. I see myself graduated from school, hopefully working part-time for myself and part-time for someone else. I don’t think my business will be grown by then, but I hope like hell that I’m working on it. I want us to still be together. Maybe by that point we’re planning a wedding; maybe by that point we’ve realized that we enjoy what we have. I don’t know.”
    She waited a few minutes.
    “Well what do you see?”
    Cash wasn’t as quick to answer as she was, but it didn’t make it any less profound. “Much of what you said. I definitely see us out of this shoebox; I see me working for Heaven Hill full-time and doing stuff on the side. I don’t know that I’ll still be running the Trail. Maybe by that time I will have grown up enough to feel that my immortality is no longer guaranteed. I hope that we’re not struggling, but it’ll be okay if we are.” He reached out and grabbed her hand. “No matter where we are and what we’re doing, if I’m with you, I know things will be great, because we’ll make them that way.”
    Harper smiled widely at him. “I don’t know what it is about you and your uncanny ability to turn on the charm, but sometimes I wonder if you even realize you do it.”
    “Oh, baby, I know.” He leaned over and kissed her, slipping his tongue inside her mouth, lazily stroking against hers.
    “The most important thing,” she observed. “Is that we both see each other together in a few years. I think the jobs will take care of themselves. For me to do what I want to do, I’m going to need