salute ➳ 〚h.s.〛 〚a.u.〛

sunday mornings

December, 2022

Sunday mornings were daddy-daughter alone time in the Styles house.

It had started out of necessity a while back because Piper's mum was ill but still insisted on family dinner so Piper was tasked with cooking. Not wanting to let her mum down, Piper had gone along with it and had spent a frazzled morning in the kitchen trying to make something edible while also wrangling the girls and by the end of the day she was so stressed that her and Andrew started a screaming match across the table from each other.

Harry and Sydney had both agreed that for the sanity of their beloved wife and daughter, Piper needed some alone time on Sundays before she had to deal with her family. Over time that had evolved into Piper sleeping away Sunday mornings while Harry took the girls somewhere out of the house for the morning so she could have her alone time.

Harry had grown to love Sunday mornings. One of his favourite things to do was spend time with his two beautiful daughters and while he would never begrudge Piper joining in the fun, he enjoyed having a little time just the three of them. He already had irrational worries that there would come a day when they didn't want to hang out with their dad, that he would get the eye rolls and the heavy sighs when he asked to spend time with his daughters. If they turned out to be anything at all like their mother, their teenage years were going to be interesting. He was determined to treasure the time he had with them now, when only one of them could speak and both of them still looked at him like he was a king in their eyes.

It had been Piper's idea to take them to a bookstore to keep the girls occupied. She'd always loved the tradition with her dad when she was a kid and their eldest was already obsessed with storybooks so it seemed like a match made in heaven. Seven Sundays in and Harry couldn't help but agree.

He took them to a bookstore not too far from the house that opened early on a Sunday and was usually pretty quiet which gave them some freedom to let loose. Harry didn't have to worry about the girls making too much noise (as they were prone to do, Sara chattering about anything on her mind and Violet making whatever sounds she could think of just so she could keep up) and they could spread out in the children's section without worrying too much about disturbing any of the other shoppers.

The second they walked through the doors, his daughters were off like it was a race. Sara zipped ahead of him, throwing off all her winter clothes in bits and pieces so she left a trail of hats, scarves and mittens in her wake. Violet toddled away on her little legs, content to stay wrapped up like a little marshmallow as long as she was allowed to explore freely. She'd picked up walking not too long ago and she was enamoured with the new view of the world it offered her and how many things she could reach now. Harry was dreading the day when she could run properly without stumbling down on her bum. It was hard enough keeping up with one child as it was.

"Morning Harry!"

He lifted a hand in greeting to Ella who worked behind the cash every Sunday morning. She was a nice girl studying engineering at uni so her and Piper had hit it off the first time they'd come in. Ella was used to the craziness of the Styles family so nothing the girls did could phase her, which was good because they had a knack for causing trouble despite Harry's and Piper's best intentions.

"Doing alright? How was the project?" he asked as he bent to pick up his daughter's hat, leaning over to pluck up a mitten as well. They'd gotten the ones with the little clips hoping that they would stay attached and wouldn't get lost but nothing was ever that simple with the Styles girls.

"It went alright. Probably would have failed it if Piper hadn't looked it over for me. Pass along a thank you, would you?"

"Will do," Harry agreed as he picked up the other mitten. He gave Ella a wave before disappearing down the aisle toward the children's section at the back of the store, only pausing to grab a scarf, a winter jacket, a cardigan, and then also one boot. He had to pause a moment to take a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose and muttering to himself "I love my children, I love my children, I love my children —"