ISN'T SHE LOVELY | hs

6 | STOLEN WORDS

| MICKAYLA |
Wednesday 27th July, 2022

"Sunshine boy, meet Sunshine Boy."

With a ginormous grin and baited breath, I show Harry my latest finished work with open and extended arms like I'm one of those fancy ladies that reveals prizes on old eighties game shows. He set foot in my flat five minutes ago, an introduction between him and Sir Duke barely beginning before I was ushering him over to look at the painting, instead.

This piece is without a doubt one of my favourites to date, and also the one I feel the most nervous about. Sunshine Boy was influenced by a man of the same name, and I want to make sure he likes it even if it's not for him.

My cat didn't like the attention being taken from him, though, which is something Harry easily realised. It's why he faces me now with Sir Duke baby-cradled in his arms after asking me how he feels about being picked up.

I told Harry that he loves it, a truth he learned pretty quickly as my fur baby made himself right at home nestled against the warmth of someone so sunny. SD is now purring as he gets his belly rubbed, or at least I think it's him making the noise. It could be Harry, to be honest. He practically made the sound when I stroked through his hair while on his shoulders post-gig.

Since the concert, it feels like something has shifted between Harry and I. It's probably my delusions making me believe such a thing, but the way he held onto my thighs that night, the way he seemed reluctant to put me down to the ground only to lift me back up mere seconds after we made it into the nightclub, the way he danced with me both at the concert and later on on the dancefloor after setting me to my feet once more, the more frequent hang out sessions since then, too... Well, those things would tell you otherwise. They're telling me otherwise, anyway.

Either I'm right, or I'm more of a hopelessly romantic fool than I initially thought. That's the most likely answer.

And now here I stand: freshly basted after another insemination, and waiting for Harry's approval on my art.

The arrangements for today's IUI were made between Harry and I a week ago over the phone. I was in the middle of painting my nails from their peach and lemon shades to cream, yellow and fuschia when the call came in. I answered it fast like I always do when it's him ringing.

Harry told me he booked the insemination date for today given my prior permission for him to pick whichever day he preferred, and that I'd work around it happily. However, being the sweetheart that he is, he still felt the need to explain his reasoning.

"Well, I was thinking sticking with your ovulation cycle would be beneficial, so I went with next Wednesday." Harry explained softly and shyly, which made me simply grin at how adorable he is. Most men don't even know what ovulation is, so he earned brownie points for that, "It'll be exactly a month since the first round, and you were ovulating then, right? Is that okay with you?"

"I was, and absolutely." I hummed with a smile on my face before blowing my nails to dry, "Very good thinking, Jagger. I'm ready for my second date with Baster Boy."

Round two happened a couple of hours ago, the same meeting-up, sperm-donation, jokes-cracked-by-me cycle happening, just like the first time. I dished out the banter in a bid to keep Harry relaxed, but that proved unnecessary. He was cool, calm and collected with a cheery smile on his face as the cherry on top of a cute cake.

I was feeling more or less the same way, too, just not as much as I had been previously. My reassuring words that I've spoken to him countless times were meant completely, but I was starting to feel scared and anxious. I want this to work so badly, even though I know it's a process that can take a few tries. I'm not sure if Harry can handle another negative result given how broken he was when it happened before. I'm not sure if I can, either.