Medley

39: ALL THROUGH THE DAY.

After I get home from New York, Harry and I spend two hours on the phone as if we hadn't been together all day. Falling asleep to the sound of his voice is now on the list of things I like most in life, only thing higher on the list would be falling asleep in his arms.

I wake up the next day to a 'good morning' text from Harry and my day is bright from beginning to end. Work is fun and that makes the hours fly by. Of course, Jasmine was at Medley during my absence and now everybody seems to believe I'm dating a British spy.

They've learned he's a guy with a mysterious job that I can't talk about and he's traveling all the time. I can see how that would cause Jack's imagination to run wild.

I should kill Jasmine for opening her mouth, but I know Jackson could make a mute person talk! He spends half the day asking me questions I refuse to answer. All he gets is the name 'Harry'. The other half of the day he spends trying to guess what Harry's profession is. By the time we close I'm pretty sure he's convinced himself and Talia that Harry is James Bond.

Lunch with Jasmine means another round of interrogation. Harry's over four hundred miles away and he's still the center of my entire day.

I love my best friend with everything I have, but what's starting with Harry feels like I should be guarding it until we're standing on more solid ground, so the version of the story she gets is extensively edited and doesn't reveal much about him.

What I can't keep from her is how excited I am, I couldn't hide it from her even if I tried, she'd know. Just as I'm sure she knows I'm being selective with what I tell her and she's okay with it because she's happy for me.

Harry calls while I'm taking my dog Seb out for his night walk and we talk on the phone all the way back to my place from the park until it's time for him to call it an early night. He's had a long day.

I dance around the house to Doris Day on my record player until bedtime.

"All through the day
I dream about the night
I dream about the night
Here with you

All through the day
I wish away the time
Until the time
When I'm here with you"

The weekend goes by uneventful. Work seems to help with the anxiety so I choose to be at the shop both days. Harry is busier than normal both Saturday and Sunday so our communication is limited to a few texts throughout each day.

Monday is the day I've been dreading.

Every Monday and Wednesday I volunteer at a local shelter that provides assistance to the homeless, to abused women that have fled their homes, to single mothers that struggle to provide for their kids, and people in any other situation of life who require a temporary roof. It serves as a refuge for all of those in need no matter the reason.

I love to help out there, it's something my mom and I did together and I didn't want that to change after she died.

But the shelter is where I met Kai.

Kai, being a lawyer like his father used to be, volunteers providing legal assistance or advice to the people there, whether it's acquiring a restraining order against an abusive husband, or referring people that have been wrongfully evicted to lawyers specialized in those cases. Anything he can do to help those who end up here.

He is an amazing man, having come from money and now at age twenty-seven having made it on his own, he still has a sense of duty to give back.

With everything that's been taking place with Harry I wasn't at the shelter at all last week or the week before, and I haven't seen him or talked to him since the concert more than through a few text messages here and there.

Kai's never been intrusive about my personal life, but judging by the way he looked at me from a distance back on that day when I followed Harry to his dressing room, I'm sure he'll have something to say.

I work for a few hours in the morning, eat lunch at home with Jasmine and then head to the shelter. Kai is already there. As soon as he's freed from the people he was talking to in the office when I arrived, he comes looking for me in the kitchen where I'm helping Beth, the cook, peel and chop vegetables for tonight's dinner.

At first he's all smiles and jokes until he works up the courage to bring up the subject I knew I couldn't escape from.

"You didn't come at all the last two weeks."

I stare at him for a few seconds trying to read in his eyes if that was an accusation or he's just stating facts. The resentment reflected on them prompts me to believe it's option number one.

"I was very busy." My tone is polite but indifferent.

"Were you with him?" My whole face turns burgundy but not from embarrassment, it's pure rage. I can't believe he's doing this here, or anywhere, now or ever, he has no right!

I excuse myself to Beth and grab his hand leading him inside the office where we can talk privately.

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ALL THROUGH THE DAY - Les Brown and Doris Day