After I've got Harper up to speed she sits there stunned while chewing on her straw. I'm trying to stay out of her head while her thoughts bounce around all over the place. Liam is listening in on her too and he slightly squints while she goes over everything. She finally stops chewing on her straw and hands her empty glass to the waitress without saying a word. The waitress nods and saunters off to get her a refill. Finally Harper says, "What if you don't get revenge on Topher at all?"

Confused with that being her response I say, "What? What do you mean?"

She drops her straw onto the table and says, "What if you go home to be with your dad for the last few months you have with him and then...stay there."

Liam, not following her thought process either says, "So you think we should just move back to Highland Park?"

Harper nods, "Yes. Ellie you have been away from your dad for like what, ten years? And before that he was active in your life for what, two years? This will be the last time you get to really bond or spend time with your dad. So you move there, you two start fresh with your careers there and then Topher basically gets left behind. He basically did nothing to you if you just move to Highland Park and start over. He misses the opportunity to know his grandchild and you two move on like he never even existed."

"Yeah, but what about Teddy? Topher tried to kill his parents. And Stephanie? He screwed her over too."

Harper holds a finger up in the air as she says, "Stephanie is her own problem. Knowing that whore she probably got what was coming to her. Karma is a bitch you know."

I let out a light laugh knowing it would be shitty to leave Stephanie in the dust to sort this mess out for herself. Liam then says, "I still have to help Teddy clear his parents name. It looks like they set up Topher to go down for the explosion and they shouldn't take the fall for my dads lies."

"Teddy's parents are in the mafia or are James Bond or whatever. With their secret spy connections they have to know someone that can whack Topher. They probably don't need amateurs like you and Ellie."

There's something to her words that make sense. Liam must sense it too because he's awfully quiet. He's not one to shy away from an argument with Harper. If we do what Harper says and up and move to Highland Park, Topher would never suspect it. He's probably assuming that Liam, Teddy and I will retaliate. If we just move on with our lives like nothing happened, everything he did to us won't matter. He may have ruined our L.A lives but it won't matter if we go back to HP to be with my dad. Maybe he helped make this choice easier. It would have been hard to walk away from my job here for an unknown amount of time.

"Think about it Ellie, you know your parents would set you up nicely if it meant you staying close to home to be with your dad and help your mom. You two know more people there that it wouldn't be all that hard to find a connection to get you back to work. Basically the ten years of revenge Topher has been planning is basically pointless. Isn't that a bigger blow? He wanted to take everything away from you two like you guys did to him but in the end, the only thing that he ended up doing is drive the final wedge between him and Liam."

What she's saying makes sense. If we don't let him affect our lives he doesn't win. I can go home and be with my dad and figure out parenthood without worrying about Topher. Liam looks to me and runs his hands through his dark hair. He pushes his navy long sleeves up to his elbows and then rests them on the table. I look to him and say, "No revenge might be the best revenge of all."

"I'll have to run this by Teddy. I agree that we should be with your dad these next few months but Teddy has been my partner in crime for a long time. I couldn't just abandon him." I nod in agreement. Teddy is both of our best friend. I couldn't imagine him not being Liam's partner. The waitress drops Harper and Liam's next round of drinks down and Harper orders a few items off of the happy hour menu. She scrolls through her phone and I hear her reluctantly invite Colin down to our house. Those two need to drop each other like a bad habit. Liam gives my knee a squeeze under the table and I still feel exhausted from my emotional roller coaster this week.

After Harper finishes her light bites and another drink we head back out to the car the valet has ready for us. Liam has been deep in thought all through lunch and I want to pick his brain as soon as we get home.

Liam helps Harper carry her heavy suitcase into the guest room at the end of the hall and she's on the phone with work when he comes and plops down beside me on the couch. He slouches into the cushions and looks to me, "You know, Harper is smarter than I give her credit for." A loud laugh escapes me as I so was not expecting him to say that. He continues, "I'm serious. This whole time I was trying to figure out a way to get back at Topher while figuring out my work shit while trying to plan for the baby and travel back and forth to be with your dad. I was making things complicated on myself."

I nod, "I know, Highland Park was never really an option for me before. After law school, I took the best job offered to me and this has been our home since. But if that job is gone what is keeping us here?"

"If you want to move home to be with your dad I will support that. I can be a detective anywhere and you can be a lawyer anywhere. We can leave this mess behind and still beat Topher."

 I release a long sigh and we both know we have to talk to Teddy first. I look to him and say, "It's weird. We could be moving back to Highland Park. I never thought we'd go back there after high school."

Liam nods, "We could be going back to where it all started."