#(harper interactions)

Harper was not in the mood for anyone today. She had a rough day at work and just wanted to enjoy her time off. No of course not part of her promise to herself was that she was going to work on her mental health more. She didn’t want to go inside the building. She had seen enough therapists and such back when she had put herself through in patient therapy all those years ago. She was not about to bring herself mentally there again. Before she moved to the island her therapist suggested she find a new one on the island. The only problem with that was the island was so small. She didn’t want to do this. So instead Harper sad outside the building on the sidewalk. 

Harper was unsure why the woman was standing directly in the middle of the sidewalk.All Harper needed to do was make it to her front step and she could place the boxes down. Harper had boxes of research she was carrying to her place that she needed to categorize and such but this lady was not making it easy. “Excuse me!” Harper called out from behind the boxes. She couldn’t really see the woman now that she was close up but she was hoping the woman would move. Harper let out a groan as the boxes slipped through her fingers and fell on the ground spilling. “Greaaat.” She sighed and laughed. “Damn.” Harper started to pick up the papers and place them back into the box. 

Harper was getting EJ tonight from her ex husbands house and wanted to be able to surprise him with a sweet treat. She had been to this bakery a few times before and absolutely loved all the cute things they made here. She knew her son loved their cupcakes and so she walked inside to get him one. There weren’t many people in the bakery. There wasn’t even a line. It was Harper’s lucky day. She walked up to the counter and a woman popped up. Harper couldn’t help but laugh. “I didn’t see you there.” She said after she had jumped. 

It was her ex husband’s night with their son EJ so Harper decided to call up her friend Dylan. They hadn’t talked about exactly what they were doing but it was her first night in a few weeks where she wasn’t on call with the aquarium or EJ was over. She finished getting ready and texted Dylan that she was on her way over. She had a feeling Dylan was going to want to go out and get into some type of trouble but Harper just wanted to have a fun night of some kind of freedom. She couldn’t drink more than one or two anyway since she had to work in the morning. Harper walked up to her friends door and knocked. “Dyyyllaaannn.” She called when the woman took more then 4 seconds to answer the door. 

Harper had grown up with other siblings but they weren’t like her. All of her younger siblings were just well normal. It was a different thing to have a sister on her mother’s side. Harper thought it would take awhile to create a bond and become friends with this young woman she really didn’t know at all. Apparently all it took was a few trips to the beach and things started to feel different. Harper started to feel like Mari was her little sister. She was excited that Mari was going to join her and EJ today as they went around doing errands. If they could get everything done maybe they’d go to the Aquarium or the beach. Harper checked her phone and smiled when  she got a messaged saying Mari was there. She opened the door and smiled widely at her sister. “Welcome to crazy land.” She said swinging the door open for Mari. “Come on in.” 

Harper knew she was in trouble when EJ told her that all the books at her house were for babies. The boy was 8. He of course wanted books about things he liked. She finally gave up her dream of EJ still being little. Harper walked into the book store and looked around. There were so many books. How would she even know which ones to pick? She knew the types of things her son liked and when ti was game night at her ex husband’s house she saw the books that he had there. It was going to be interesting. She looked around in hopes someone would be able to help her out. 

Harper was excited to have Bernie come visit her at work today. She knew that Bernie wanted to work with the Dolphins as well. She was well on her way to getting an internship here at the aquarium. She was in the middle of paper work when one of her co-workers told her that Bernie had arrived. She smiled and got up from her desk and headed out of the small room that she shared with the other lead trainer. She was working on the dolphin sanctuary research the aquarium had started a few years ago. She was excited to have a break from research to just hang out with her favorite animals. “Hey!” She smiled and waved at Bernie. “Welcome!” 

Harper couldn’t sleep. She was having these terrible dreams. She wasn’t sure what they were about but she wasn’t about to let them ruin her day off. She got herself together and decided it was a perfect day to sit on the beach. Though she really didn’t want to lay out on the beach, those days were for when she was with EJ. Today she just wanted to sit with a drink and watch the waves. The water was her happy place. She never felt more at home then in the ocean. Harper dipped her toes into the water and sighed. “A quick swim wouldn’t hurt...”