Deserve [H.S.]

Chapter 46

REVENGE

Time apart is annoying as all hell.

Not only had there still been zero physical intimacy between Noah and Harry, but they were separated by three hours again.

On the Monday after their weekend together, Harry went back to the town that had become his new home over the past few months and continued working in William's furniture store for the week. His first shift back, Kaleb vehemently insisted that he had missed Harry, despite them only being apart for the weekend.

The rest of the week went by normally, with both Noah and Harry busying themselves at work and talking or FaceTiming every night. To make up for the couple times a week they used to eat food together while sitting in the car still in the parking lot, they FaceTimed over dinner one night. 

Thankfully, Noah had gotten her stitches removed during the week and her wound was healing well, becoming more of a pink fleshy scar by that point. She wasn't upset by it at all, either. She thought that it made her look like a badass more than anything. It provided a great story to tell, too.

Though Harry didn't know it, his boss, William, was thinking. He could clearly see that Harry was splitting his time between home and his new, forced home. It was obvious to William that the only tie Harry had back to that town was the furniture store, so, it was ultimately the only thing keeping him away from Noah during the week.

William didn't want Harry to feel guilty about quitting. He had a hunch that Harry, being the altruistic person that he was, didn't want to leave William and Kaleb without help around the store. After all, having only two people work at such a labor-intensive job was incredibly difficult. Harry did most of the heavy-lifting in terms of the furniture refurbishing, while William ran the cash register and selling-aspect. Kaleb floated between both positions wherever he was needed. With Harry being such a large part of their business, William figured that Harry knew the same, and, therefore, didn't want to leave them high and dry, despite being pulled away from Noah in the process.

Harry didn't know it, but William had already put up some "Now Hiring" ads online and in the local paper. He hoped that if he got someone to take Harry's place, then Harry would feel comfortable leaving that job to go back home where he could continue on with the life that he was supposed to live.

On Thursday, Harry's last day working for the week, he was moving a charming nightstand that he had refurbished into the front of the store, as it had dried from the fresh wood stain and was ready for sale.

As he walked his way through the store, carrying the nightstand, there were multiple customers milling about. Harry nodded and awkwardly smiled at a few that offered him friendly greetings, then finally came to the spot where he would be placing the nightstand down.

A woman approached him while he was positioning it, slightly moving it around to make sure it looked nice amongst the other furniture. He had his back to her, so he didn't notice her walking up.

"Excuse me," she said, standing a little ways away with her hands folded together in front of her as she gazed at him expectantly.

Harry instinctively moved out of the way, assuming that the customer simply wanted to look at the furniture that he was blocking. "Oh, sorry," he quietly said as he glanced over at her.

"Oh, no, you're fine," she smiled at him as he brushed off his hands on his jeans. He half-smiled somewhat awkwardly, wondering why this woman was staring at him. "I just... I live in this town and I've seen you around and I just wanted to say hi."

Okay, that's weird, Harry thought to himself, but he just rubbed his nose twice with his knuckle and said, "oh. Um, hi."

The woman's smile grew at his shy behavior. "Hi." She paused for a moment, then got rid of the awkward silence by saying, "my name's Kate."