After 3

Chapter 236.

"I," I don't know what to say to her. Out of all the shit I have broken, this time it truly was an accident.

 "This and my china were the only things left from my grandmother." She cries.

The china. The china that I smashed into a million pieces.

"Karen, I'm sorry. I,"

"It's okay Hardin." She sighs, tossing the pieces of the vase back into the pile of dirt. It's not okay, I can see it in her brown eyes. I can physically see how hurt she is and I'm surprised by the heaviness of guilt on my chest from the sadness in her eyes. She stares at the shattered pot for a few more seconds and I watch her silently.

"I'm going to finish dinner, it will be ready soon." She wipes her eyes again and leaves the same way her son did only minutes ago.

...

Tessa's POV.

"Where's your Hardin?" Smith asks in a quiet voice.

"He's at home, back in Pullman."

"Where's that?"

"It's a long way away." I do my best to smile.

"Is he coming?" Smith looks up at me with bright green eyes.

"I don't think so, you like Hardin don't you?" I laugh and push the sleeves of my old maroon dress over a hanger and place it inside the closet.

"Sort of, he's funny."

"I'm funny too." I tease and he smiles a shy smile.

"Not really." He bluntly answers and I laugh harder.

"Hardin thinks that I'm funny." I lie.

"He does?" Smith follows my actions and begins to help me fold my clothes.

"Yes, he won't admit it though."

"Why?"

"I don't know." I shrug. Probably because I'm not very funny, and when I try to be funny it's even worse.

"Well tell your Hardin to come here and live, like you."

My chest tightens at the sweet little boy's words. "I'll tell him. You don't have to fold those," I tell him, reaching for the blue shirt in his small hands. 

"I like to fold." He hides the shirt back behind him and I nod.

"You'll make a good husband one day," I smile at him and his dimples show when he smiles back. At least he likes me a little more than he did before.

"I don't want to be husband." He says, scrunching his nose, and I roll my eyes at the five year old who speaks like a grown man.

"You'll change your mind one day."

"Nope." He ends the conversation and we finish folding my clothes in silence.

My first day in Seattle is coming to a close and tomorrow will be my first day at the new office. I'm extremely nervous and I can't help but feel on edge. I don't care for new things, they terrify me. I like to be in control of every situation and enter new environments with a solid plan. I haven't had time to plan anything about this move, except enrolling into my new classes and honestly, I'm not looking forward to them as much as I should be. Somewhere in the middle of mentally scolding myself, Smith has disappeared from my temporary bedroom, leaving a perfectly folded pile of clothing on the bed.

I need to get out and see Seattle tomorrow after work. I need to be reminded of what I loved so much about this city because right now, in this foreign bedroom, hours away from everything I have ever known, it just feels so... lonely.