Honey Rain

Chapter Seventeen

With quite a bit of coaxing, Harry went out to see his dad a couple days later. Fizzy and I went out shopping for the day and it was honestly enough fun to distract myself from the ache in my heart that wanted Harry to be with me. We went out to see a movie and stopped to get coffee on the way home. We ended up not being home until six that night.

Harry was on the couch with Lottie and smiled cheerfully at me. I matched it and dropped down next to him. He wrapped his arms around me and I leaned my head up to kiss his cheek.

"How'd it go with your dad?"

He glanced over at my other sisters who were still in the room and then turned back to me. "Can we go upstairs?"

I nodded and slowly got up, taking his hand and walking with him to my room. He fell down on the bed as soon as we got in and I crawled onto it next to him. He opened his arms for me and I snuggled up against him.

"Was it alright?"

He took a slow breath in and cuddled me again. "It was alright, I guess."

"Well, what happened?"

I slipped my hand into his and gently played with his fingers while I waited for him to respond.

"Do you want to know where he was all these years Louis?" He didn't wait for me to respond. "He was right here. He lives ten minutes from here. Can you fucking believe that? Ten minutes away and he avoids me for seventeen years."

His words sounded harsh but there was no hatred in his eyes; he simply looked sad. I put my hand to the side of his face and kissed his cheek again to remind him how much I loved him.

"And he barely mentioned anything he'd been doing while he was away. Well, whatever it is was sure important enough that he would leave his own child."

I lifted his hand up and kissed it, hoping it would distract him from his frustration.

"He wanted to know all about me and what I'd been up to and 'oh he's so proud of the young man I've become'. Well, I did that all on my own, without his help or my mum's."

"I thought you said it was alright, love."

He sighed heavily. "It was alright, yeah. We talked and what not, and it wasn't too hard to get along with him. It's weird, really. He and I are kinda similar."

"How so?" I hadn't thought they looked alike in the slightest, but maybe Harry had noticed something.

"He talks like me, Lou. He makes the same sort of jokes and he touches his hair in the same way, which is weird 'cause, like, I just met him. And he taps his foot like I do."

I nodded and kissed his hand softly again.

"I kind of liked him in a way. I still resent him for leaving but he was okay to talk to."

I smiled a bit and met his gaze again. "That's good, that's really good."

"He said we should spend more time together. Said he wants to make up for all the years he missed." He expectantly looked into my eyes like he wanted me to say something.

"Do you think he can?"

He paused thoughtfully. "No. But I'll let him try, at least."

I smiled reassuringly.

"And he said that if I can ever find it in me to forgive him, then I could even live with him if I wanted."

I gently put his hand down. "Would you want to?" As much as I loved having him here, he deserves the chance to see what having a dad is like. One of us should.