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Chapter 97

And now the kids are making noise
Just because it's something to do
To do, yeah

— The Neighbourhood, Noise

. . . .

"Has your dad left yet?" Harry peeps his head out from the hallway back towards the bedrooms as I'm sitting on the couch looking up a variety of the best mattresses.

Dad came over to officially say that I was accepted for the apartment and stayed a little while longer to tell me about Bonnie's pregnancy. He showed me a picture of the little fetus, and even though he pointed to where the baby was, all I saw was a blob. On top of that, he also said that they were looking for a house, and would start after I get settled into my apartment and before the baby comes. As a whole, the upcoming couple of months are quite eventful for the Thomas family.

"Yeah, you can stop hiding now."

"I still don't understand why I have to hide from the man in my own house."

"You're the one making yourself hide, not me."

"Touché," he walks up behind me and rests his chin on the top of my head. "You've been looking at these same mattresses since I went into hiding."

"I don't know which one to get. Dad said this one's nice, but then this one seems appealing too."

"How about we order one after we start moving you in? Does that sound better?" He wraps his arms around my shoulders and kisses the side of my head.

"Yeah, I guess."

He pauses for a second, kissing the side of my head every few seconds, and then breaks my heart when he speaks up. "I'm going to miss you being here."

"Don't make me get all emotional. You know my hormones have been acting up."

"Do you need to go to the store to get tampons or anything?"

"I'm prepared, but thank you."

I follow him out to the kitchen where he starts on lunch, and he stops short in his steps as he's walking to the fridge.

"We should go out tonight. It is time for us to go on another date."

"It is, isn't it? We should do something more casual."

"Anything you want," he reaches into the cabinet for the bread bag and slides past me to get to the fridge.

After we have lunch and take a walk with Lilly, we come back to the house for Harry to take a shower and for me to put some clothes in the wash before I need to get ready. Midway through, Anne walks in and sneaks up on Lilly who was sat in our bedroom on the bed with her colouring books and crayons spread around her in one giant ring.

"Grandma!" Lilly jumps off of the bed and leaps into Anne's arms.

"Hi, Anne."

"Hi, Violet. Is Harry here?"

"Yeah, he's in the shower, but I can get him to hurry up if you want me to."

"Oh, no no. That's fine. Though I do need to talk to him."

She sits down at the foot of the bed and talks with Lilly about their day. Meanwhile, I slip into the bathroom where Harry's standing at the toilet, and when he sees the door open, he flinches and reaches for his towel to cover himself up.

"Shit, don't–oh, I thought you were Lilly. I love her to pieces, but she hasn't exactly mastered the whole privacy skill yet."

"Your mum's out there with Lilly, and she needs to talk to you about something." I reach for my makeup bag on the countertop and dig through the contents to start getting ready.