Spaces Between Us [ZARRY]

Chapter 10: Harry

I had one rule. One quiet, necessary truth I built the last six years of my life around.

Do not acknowledge Zayn Malik.

Not in passing. Not in memory. Not when his name came up in emails, or when old photos resurfaced in someone else's feed. There was no need to grieve something I'd never asked for. No need to reopen a door I had bolted shut for good reason.

And for six years, I kept it. I didn't look. I didn't wonder. I raised my son, built a life, learned to live in the space left behind.

Until yesterday.

Until the moment he looked across a café table and saw my son, really saw him, and something in his expression broke.

Now he was following me like he thought this was a story he had a right to enter. Like fatherhood was a role you could audition for when it suited you.

I had ignored him at the office. Refused to so much as nod in his direction outside the school gates. And still, when we pulled away in the car, I could feel the weight of him behind us. Watching. Waiting. Hoping, probably, that I'd make room for the conversation I never gave him the chance to have six years ago.

But I didn't owe him that.

Ezra, of course, was watching me now. From the back seat, quiet as anything, but with that same quiet intensity he used when he knew I was avoiding something. He hadn't asked a question yet, which meant he was building up to one.

He got that from me.

I kept my eyes on the road and hoped foolishly that he might let it go. He didn't.

"Are we going to talk about the ad guy following us, Daddy?" he asked, voice mild.

I kept my tone steady. "He wasn't following us."

Ezra gave me a look through the mirror. "But you told him to stop following you just now. And he was at my school today. We just met him yesterday."

I exhaled through my nose. "Yes. I did tell him that."

There was a pause. "But yesterday you let him talk to us."

"Yesterday was different."

Ezra tilted his head. "Did he do something wrong today?"

"No."

"Then why are you ignoring him?"

The question landed heavier than it should have. Ezra wasn't trying to argue, he just noticed the change. He remembered Zayn from yesterday that was calm, polite, friendly. And now I'd shut him out like he'd done something unforgivable. To Ezra, that didn't track. It shouldn't.

"I'm not ignoring him," I said eventually. "I just don't want him around."

Ezra frowned. "But he was nice."

"I know."

"He didn't say anything bad."

"I know, darling."

He crossed his arms, huffing. "I don't like him if he makes you upset."

"Good," I said without thinking.

Ezra gave me a sharp look. "Why?"

Damn it.

I sighed. "Because he's unreliable."

Ezra blinked. "Like Grandpa?"

I almost smiled. "No. Grandpa is emotionally unavailable."

Ezra nodded, all seriousness. "Ah. Worse."