"I was hiding in doubt till you brought me out of my chrysalis...and I came out new...all because of you."
Josephine McArthur is well and truly lost. After completely uprooting and changing her life she is left unsure of pretty much anything. An u...
"Sometimes you are fuckin weird you know that? Help me." Harry shakes his head at me while I laugh and pull the heavy cover off the car.
Beneath it is a stunning, cherry-red Porsche, that makes my jaw drop. "God, you rich bastard. This is stunning. Oh my god."
The car lights up as he unlocks her and I can't help but squeal from excitement as I slide into the front seat.
"It's good to be home." Harry smiles widely as he puts his hand on my headrest and turns his head to back out of the garage.
A little while later we pull up to a driveway and wind down into another garage, but this one is attached to his home. There is ivy crawling the gate and lush green lawn from the wet winter months. I follow him up a small cobblestone path to the stairs of his home and a wide smile spreads across my face when I notice that his door is painted pink. "Oh, I love that. You should do that to the LA house too."
He smiles back at me, "You like it? We can have any color door you'd like, you can pick it out when we get home." He holds the door open for me and ushers me inside with a hand on the small of my back.
It's so lovely in here. There are large windows and a big kitchen, the couch is teal velvet and it looks incredible, there are huge posters on the walls and a gallery of artwork down the hallway. I could spend hours looking at everything, it's so beautiful. "H, this is stunning. Oh wow, I love it. It feels like you."
His arm comes around my shoulders and brings me into him closer for a hug, so I wrap my arms around his waist and look up at his face with one eye squished shut so he's not blurry. He chuckles a laugh when he looks down at me.
"I'm glad you like it. I love it here, and I also love you." He stretches his thumb way over to flick the tip of my nose while he says it and it makes me smile.
"We have a couple of hours to rest and freshen up before my mum gets here so I'll show you around and let you get settled, come on."
He walks me around the house and tells me about the process of building it, why he wanted certain rooms in certain places. His studio, for instance, faces west so that he can watch sunsets while he writes. His gym faces east though, so he can watch the sunrise. He has a beautiful basement for entertaining and several guest rooms for me to choose from.
I chose one upstairs that faces the sunrise since I know he's going to make me get up early as all holy hell. The security team brought our bags upstairs so I could unpack my few items and make sure my kit was in good shape for tomorrow still.
Harry left me to freshen up so I took a nice shower, put my hair back into a bun, and slipped on a simple black tank top and a pair of black jeans. I'm not going to bother with makeup but I will generously apply my skincare so that I'm nice and glowy for the evening.
My bare feet carry me down the hallway and my nose is met with a delicious smell of garlic and herbs mixed with seafood.
"Mmm, are you making delicious fucking cod again!?" I yell as I walk down the stairs.
"It is quite wonderful, isn't it?" A woman's voice says from my right, causing me to jump and miss the last step, sending me tumbling toward the floor.
"Oh god. I'm so sorry dear, I didn't mean to scare you! Are you okay!? Harry!" Anne is frantically trying to help me off of the ground while I'm trying to figure out the best way to make myself invisible.
"Jojo are you on the ground again? Darling, we've talked about this..." He snickers at me while I try to seem the slightest bit graceful as I get up.
"I'm so sorry, I'm fine. Really, I'm good. So sorry."
"Well, what a hell of an introduction I made, scaring you half to death. Hello my dear, I'm so excited to finally meet you!" I squeak out a nervous laugh and manage to say hello before she pulls me into a tight hug.
"Oh, I'm so glad you're here!! I feel like you're part of the family already, it's so good to have you here."
I have to force my eyes to stay dry at her kind words but Harry sees through me and brings me into a side hug with a quick kiss on my head. "Come on, come help me cook. Mum, will you chop veggies please?"
I'm assigned a position as "stir-er" for the sauce. Harry lifts me onto his beautiful kitchen counters and tells me I have to stay and stir until we serve so his fancy sauce doesn't separate.
"Anne, you pick the music for tonight, we can never agree on cooking music." She smiles brightly at me before scrolling through harry's phone and selecting a playlist.
Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons flow through the speakers and into the room, bringing an instant smile to my face. "Oh YES Anne, excellent choice."
The three of us sing along as the first lines play, "Sherry, Sherry baby. Sherry, Sherry baby. SheeEEeEeeRRY BAYayBY. "
Cooking dinner with the two of them will go down as one of my favorite memories ever. I stir, We sit and eat at the kitchen island, and then we all just stay in the kitchen talking for hours. I take my place on the counter again, Harry makes tea and then leans against the counter and Anne stays sat at the island.
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She tells me stories of Harry as a kid that made me laugh until my stomach hurts, and She tells me stories of him as a man that made my heart clench deep in my chest. It's a surreal feeling, to meet this woman that I've seen for years and years and listen to her talk about her son like he's just a normal boy. The love they share is palpable and it makes my heartache for the memories of my mother.
Anne stays with us for a few hours before she reluctantly leaves, with the promise to see us again before we have to go. She hugs me tightly and sways me side-to-side before she kisses Harry goodbye.
"I'm not tired yet, are you?" Harry asks while we make our way upstairs.
"No, not really. I probably shouldn't have slept so long on the plane, but this hot guy next to me was just so comfy to drool on."
"Movie night in my room. I'll provide melatonin and a shoulder to drool on if you promise to not recite every word of the film."
I fake a shocked gasp "That's asking a lot from me. You know how much I love that!"
We both giggle at our dumb banter as we split up to get changed. I brushed my teeth and then slipped on a pair of sweats and took my bra off so I just had the comfy tank on. then I slipped on a pair of socks before I made my way to Harry's room down the hall.
Harry already has a movie picked when I get in the room and my side of the sheets pulled back on the bed. It's a sweet gesture that makes me smile and makes my stomach do a weird tightening thing that I'm going to forcibly ignore.
I slide into the sheets and take the purple pill harry hands to me quickly with a sip of water. " That should help. We've got to sleep well, big day tomorrow."
We snuggle down into the bed and I rest my head on harry's shoulder as he slides his arm under my head. " I'm glad you're here. I'm glad I get to share tomorrow with you. I'm glad I get to share my home with you."
My heart does a painful clench again at his words and I can't help but kiss his cheek when I respond. "I'm glad you're sharing it with me too, H. I'm proud of you."
_____________________ hey, hi, hello
i hope you enjoy this cute little chapter. kind of a filler, but a nice break from the heaviness of the previous two chapters.
