Harry and the Assistant

Chapter 21: Civil Human Beings

I arrived at the hospital past midnight and my dad was still awake, watching the television. When he turned and looked at me, he gave me what I could assume was a smile, half of his face no longer moving. There were tears in his eyes, and I couldn't help it when they soon were in mine too. I walked over and crawled into bed holding him tightly.

"Daddy I'm sorry I wasn't there." I whispered through my cries.

"It's okay." I understood through his rough speech, "Love you."

"I love you too."

We fell asleep this way, and when I woke up the next morning it was due to the doctor walking in to check on him. I rubbed my eyes sitting up, quickly brushing my fingers through my hair.

"Miss Donaldson, glad to finally meet you. Your dad showed us pictures of you on his phone." He young doctor smiled at me.

"Thank you, Doctor. Sorry it took so long to get here, I was in New York for work." I bit my bottom lip remembering where I had just been, and everything that had just happened the light before.

"It's fine, the gentleman that was here with your dad explained. Uh, so as you may already know, your dad suffered a stroke. He has lost a great amount of mobility on his left upper side. We tried walking with him yesterday, and it seemed fine, but not something I would want him doing on his own. He will need care, Ms. Donaldson. Round the clock."

I nodded, chewing on my lower lip, "Got it." I said softly.

"I can provide options, full time staff, or just assistance if you plan on stepping in. I'll run through everything with you before we discharge him, which I'm hoping will be today after some other test results come in."

I nodded, "Okay. Thank you, Doctor."

When they left I turned to face my face who was in between sleep, I took a deep breath before kissing his forehead, "Dad, imma go home and shower and change and stuff. And I need to stop at the bank, but I'll hurry back okay?"

He stirred slightly and nodded, continuing his sleep.

—

Harry's POV

"What do you mean fired?! There was nothing in that video that could clue you anything." I said, my voice raised.

"Harry, they could hear everything you said. Don't act dumb with me. It was a deal she agreed to." Jeff said shaking his head at me in disappointment.

"Then I don't want an assistant. I'm fine without one."

"Harry you are not. You need someone to help you manage."

"Then hire her back. She needs this job. She needs the money for her dad." I said sternly.

"Then you should of thought of that before running off with her last night." Jeff said standing up.

"I'm not doing anything else with Camille. Christy is gone. No deals needed." I said turned away from him and walking to my room.

I quickly sat on my bed, pulling out my phone and attempted to call her again. This time it went straight to voicemail, not ringing once. I threw myself back on my bed rubbing my eyes. I missed her, she really risked so much for me, and I was so arrogant about it. I couldn't wait to leave for LA later. I had to see her. I hoped her dad was okay, that she was. Yet above all, I hoped she would want to see me.

—

Christy's POV

I got to the bank and waited in line, staring at the latest check from my brother. I took a deep breath, hating that I no longer had a choice. This months bills were approaching and this was all I had left to do.

I approached the window and handed the check to the banker, inserted my card. Before I knew it, it was done. I chewed on my lip as I walked away. I pulled out my phone, to let my brother know it was done, only to see more missed calls from Harry. I texted my brother, then quickly shut off my phone.

—

We walked into the house. My brother helping my guide my dad to his chair in the living room.

"I just got him groceries earlier this week, but I'll send some more over so it's enough for you both." He said softly to me.

"No, Ben, it's okay. I eat different than him, I'll just buy my groceries. Thank you though." I said, covering my dad with a blanket.

"So I went over the options the doctor gave us, I can just hire someone full time Chris."

"No, I don't have a job, I can do it. It's fine."

"What happened to the Harry Styles job? Dad wouldn't stop talking about him and all the traveling."

I smiled softly at my dad before turning to Ben, "It just, didn't work out."

This was the one time I was relieved that my brother didn't care about pop culture. Especially since that video was spreading like rapid fire. I walked over to the kitchen pulling out three water bottles from the fridge. I handed one to Ben, before walking over and helping my dad drink some of his.

"I'm sorry. And, are you and him still...dad said you might be dating him? Harry?"

My eye widened and I choked on my water a bit, "Dad said that?"

Ben laughed and nodded, "Yeah, I'm telling you he really liked him."

I shook my head and bit my lip, looking over at my dad, "Yeah, it's, complicated, but dad really fancied him."

"Well hopefully, it's less complicated? At some point?" He said and I shrugged softly.

"Yeah. We will see. You hungry?" I said softly, "I perfected mom's spaghetti recipe."

"Sure."

—

We sat at the table eating the spaghetti and my brother smiled at me, "It's really good Christy."

"Glad you think so," I moved my pasta around taking a deep breath, whispering the next part, "How's mom?"

I didn't look up at him while he spoke, "She's doing good actually. She's actually been sober for a couple years now too."

"That's really good." I smiled at my food.

"She really wants to see you Christy."

"I know. I just, feel a lot towards her. And I'm sorry I took it out on you. Harry made a valid point, that I've been a little stubborn, and selfish about all of this, and I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I, I really get it. You were really young when she left, I understand. I was an ass about it at times too, so I'm sorry."

I nodded, "It's fine." I smiled small at him.

"So that's why dad likes this guy huh?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"What do you mean?" I said, taking a bite of my food.

"Harry. He made you realize something, and now you and I just apologized to each other like civil human beings."

I chuckled and shook my head, "Yeah. I guess."

We both smiled at each other and laughed.