as it is || harry styles au

thirty-nine

"Harry's right, James. You can open the door so long as an adult is with you and you know who's at the door. Got it?"

He nodded his head. "Got it."

When I eventually got to finding my phone, I erased the many notifications I'd gotten from Lena trying to get a hold of us and found a text from Zuri.

Zuri: Good morning. My appointment got pushed up to 10:30am. Does that still work for you?

>> I'll be at your place to pick you up at 9:45! (:

Her anxiety was bleeding through her message. Ever since we were in high school, if her texts started to read like corporate emails, I knew something was up.

Lena stayed to eat pancakes with us and confirmed a time with the lawyer for eight-thirty just outside of Midvale. It'd give us enough time to get Jamie to school, get properly ready, then drive the thirty minutes out of town. I'd only have about an hour to speak to the lawyer before needing to get back to Camden to pick Zuri up.

"You alright, love?" Harry asked in the car. We were on the way to my place so I could change into clean clothes.

"I'm okay."

He moved his hand to my thigh. "This will be over with soon. This lawyer is gonna help us, and you're going to feel safe again."

Had I ever felt safe?

     The question popped into my head so suddenly.

     And I had an answer to it just as quickly—when Jamie and I had caught that stomach bug and Harry insisted on nursing us back to health.

     I'd refused his help then. I was naive and ungrateful.  I'd been so caught up in hiding from my feelings for Harry and trying to figure out how we'd fit into each other's lives again that I was reluctant to see that we were still so in love with one another.

While that was the safest I'd felt in Camden since being back, it'd only been for a short couple of months before Jake turned up.

At my apartment, I ran through a quick shower and changed into a light blouse with dark jeans. Harry changed his shirt from the one he had slept in with one he'd left here, then used my deodorant to freshen up. He learned that's where the line was drawn when it came to sharing hygiene in this relationship.

"Mr. and Mrs. Henderson, I presume?" The sole person in the cafe stood from a table to greet us as we walked in.

"Sure," Harry said at the same time I replied, "Uh, yes," and shook her outstretched hand.

"You can call me Ivory."

She smiled widely, showing off a perfect set of white teeth. She was a couple inches taller than me in her heels, and when we shook hands, I could see the beginnings of dark tattoos under her shirt sleeve. "Hello, Ivory. I'm Michelle Keough."

Harry shook her hand next. "Harry."

"Hello, Harry. Please, take a seat. I just ordered us a few coffees, if that works."

We sat across from her at a booth. Harry put some space between us, but I was still comforted by his touch on my leg. 

"Thank you so much for meeting with us, especially on such a short notice," I began. "If there's a late notice fee or whatever, I'm more than happy to pay—"

"Oh, Ivory, you're so sweet, but absolutely not," she chuckled. "First off, there's no such thing as a short notice fee, and secondly, I won't be accepting payment from either of you."