CLANDESTINE | HS |

SIX

Harry

"Harry, this is Natalie."

I reach out and shake the hand of the petite blonde, smiling at my mom and her friend, Sandra.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you." Flashing me her perfect white teeth, she pulls her hand back from mine. "Your house is lovely."

"Thank you." Looking at all of the people around my yard, twenty or so, I turn my attention back to her. "It took a lot of work but I'm pretty happy with it."

Natalie nods before taking a sip of her drink as my mom nudges my arm. "Harry, did you know that Natalie just moved back into town?"

I shake my head. "Oh, where'd you move from?"

"Well of course I grew up here but I just moved back from DC." Pushing her long waves behind her shoulder, she smiles at me. "I worked in marketing."

Taking a drink of my water, I nod. "So what brought you back?"

"Honestly?" Laughing, she wets her bottom lip. "I missed being home. Besides... The traffic was terrible and I was tired of everything revolving around history."

"You don't like history?" I ask, simply.

Natalie shakes her head, her smile breaking through again. "God, no. It's so boring. I get it— things happened in the past. Why do I have to suffer to learn about them?"

"I think we can all learn from the past." Shrugging my shoulders, I continue. "Whether it's because of someone else's mistakes or our own."

Narrowing her eyes, Natalie looks at me playfully. "I feel like that came from a fortune cookie."

"Maybe it is." Smiling down at her, I notice just how bright and blue her eyes are. "So what are you doing now that you moved back? Still in marketing?"

"I am." Reaching over, she picks up a piece of fruit from the table and pops it into her mouth. "I took a job with an oil and gas company. What about you— What do you do?"

"Well, I guess the short version is that I help build stuff." I smile. "It's a lot of work but I can't see myself doing anything else."

Natalie smiles at me and I realize just how pretty she is. "Feels good doing a job you love, you know?"

"Absolutely." I smile.

Her eyes travel across the ink on my exposed skin as I watch her bite down on her bottom lip.

I'm not dumb and I'm sure she isn't either.

Both of our moms are friends and I'm sure they think if we talk today, we will want to continue our conversation tomorrow.

Who knows? Maybe we will.

I watch her lips move around what I think is a question, but I'm not entirely sure. Instead, my eyes find the back door of my house and the two people who just stepped outside.

Standing there in a light purple dress, Logan holds my gaze for just a heartbeat longer than we probably should. Fuck, she looks so pretty.

I feel a hand on my arm at the same time I watch her eyes narrow, the same time her tongue rolls around the inside of her cheek.

"Harry?"

Bringing my focus back to the woman in front of me, I shake my head just a little bit. "I'm sorry, what did you ask?"

"I asked which tattoo of yours took the longest?" Natalie laughs, the tips of her fingers toying with the end of her hair. "They look nice."

"Probably the butterfly on my sternum." I can feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up, the goosebumps flying across my skin even in the heat of the day. "Here, I've got a picture of it somewhere."