Nothing Good Gets Away

Chapter 65

*This is part two of Chapter 64, so be sure to read that one first!*

ROWAN BASS

As I push my front door open, Scout comes running over and passes me to go right to Harry as he follows me into the house. I roll my eyes and hang my keys, watching him jump up to try and stretch his paws up to Harry's shoulders.

"Okay, Scout," I snap my fingers and clap my hands, but he doesn't give up until Harry himself tells him to get down and gently pushes at his chest until he falls back to his four legs. "I still don't know why he thinks it's okay to jump up on you like that when he doesn't do it to anyone else."

"Yeah, I dunno," Harry closes and locks the door behind him and scratches Scout's head before I open the back door for him to go running out.

"So did you eat already?" I ask.

"I had some pizza at Zayn and Nicky's, which is where I was before I showed up at your parents' place," he kicks his shoes off and sits on the couch to get more comfortable.

"Oh, okay," I take the bottle of wine from the refrigerator to pour myself a glass. "Did you want something to drink?"

"Sure," he nods, so I pour him the same merlot and bring it over to hand to him on the couch. I sit next to him, but not too close. We're not really fighting anymore, but we really do have to talk, and I worry that the closer we are physically, the less likely it is that we'll be doing a lot of talking.

"You look really nice," he says.

I look down at my jeans and fitted emerald green cardigan. It's about as basic as basic gets, but I think he really means that. "Thank you."

He nods, taking a sip from his glass. "So...do you wanna start? Or should I?"

"You can," I tuck my legs under me and twist to face him more, giving him my full attention. "Just be honest."

He gives me another nod, focusing on his wine down in his lap. "I guess, if it wasn't obvious, I just started to feel insecure when I realized that I can't pay your mortgage by myself, and maybe I was just looking at it too traditionally, but I just figured that I should be able to do that for you. Carson would be able to do that for you and your dad does it for your mum. Seems like it would be nicer if I could, right?"

I pause for a second, thinking of how to answer that honestly while also not hurting his feelings. Yes, I meant it when I told him I always planned on building my own house regardless of whether or not I was in a relationship, but I guess I also assumed that, if I ever did get married, I would end up with someone like Carson; someone who can pay my mortgage.

"If I didn't have my own business and I was just living off my trust or something, then maybe I would be concerned," I tell him, "but then I wouldn't have built my house if I couldn't afford it, Harry. Even when I was dating Carson, never once did I think, 'Oh, well he'll just move in with me and then he can pay for it', you know? So no, I'm not disappointed that you can't pay my rent for me."

"But what about everything else?"

"Like what?"

"Like...our kids," he says, and the way it almost comes out as a question is cute, I think.

I try not to smile. "What about our kids?"

He finishes his wine and set his glass on the coffee table just so he can lay his head back on the couch, turning to look at me. "Are we gonna pay for their university?"

Rolling my lips together does nothing to keep me from laughing like I thought it would. "That's a little premature, isn't it?"

Thankfully, he laughs too. "It's completely premature, but I just wanna know what your expectations are because it's been brought to my attention that I've been making assumptions about that."