Abandoned [h.s.]

seven

The doorbell ringing stopped their fun, Harry paused the movie and picked up Lilly, carrying her outside of their massive blanket fort and to the front door.

"Who's here Daddy?" Lilly asked curiously.

Harry smiled at her, his hand on the cool metal of the doorknob, "Skylar. I invited her over for dinner."

He opened the door and Lilly was giddy and practically yelled, "Mummy!"

Neither he nor Skylar corrected her, if she wanted to call her Mummy then they were going to let her be happy.

"Hi Lilly! How are you?"

Lilly beamed, "Good! Daddy and I build a...a fort and watched movies all day!"

"You did!? What about school!?"

Lilly giggled as Skylar stepped inside and Harry shut the door behind her, "Daddy helped me with my work because the doctors said I have to stay home."

Skyler smiled, "Is he a good teacher?"

Lilly nodded happily and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck, hugging him as he held her on his arm, "The bestest!"

Harry grinned and kissed her cheek as they made their way into the kitchen.

"You've got a massively nice place, I'm impressed."

Harry laughed as he set Lilly down on the counter, she liked to watch him cook and always pleaded for him to let her help when she could, "Thank you, I worked hard for it and it's certainly paying off. Would you like a drink? Wine, water, beer, soda, juice...?"

Sklyar laughed and continued to admire how elegant his place was, even with an energized little girl around to make a mess whenever she could, "Some wine would be nice if you don't mind."

Harry smiled, he knew that would be the answer before he even asked the question, "Red or white?"

One of Skylar's eyebrows lifted as she turned to face him, "You have options?"

He shrugged, wine wasn't only for women and he found that he quite enjoyed the taste sometimes, "I like wine, sue me."

"White, preferably White Zinfandel if you have it."

It was Harry's eyebrow that rose this time, "Expensive taste I see."

Skylar laughed and rolled her eyes, "Hardly."

He didn't take very long to get her exactly what she'd asked for and start with dinner. Skylar leaned against the granite island in the center of the kitchen and watched him and Lilly interact, sharing some small talk with each of them every now and then.

Somehow, being in his home with them felt natural, like she picked up right where she left off after she had blatantly shoved him out of her life. She knew he had to have some deep rooted sadness in his heart for what she had done, he'd tried to remain in her life for months until one day he'd finally given up, and when he did, he had made it very clear how upset he was with how things had ended.

She was his best friend and the same could be said the opposite way around, she just made the wrong decision and it was just too late to go back and change things now.

"I hope you still like this because I remembered that it used to be your favourite. Lilly here is a bit picky with the vegetables so hers is slightly different but anything for my little princess."

He set down a very elegantly prepared plate for both Skylar and himself before placing a more kid-like plate in front of where Lilly sat, swinging her feet happily.

Skylar's eyes widened, a smile quick to form on her painted red lips, "Roasted chicken with Asiago Polenta and Truffled Mushrooms. Harry, this is amazing. You didn't have to do this."

Harry shrugged, his smile bright as he took his seat along with Lilly's tiny hand, "I wanted to, think of it as my congratulations for going to college since I missed that chapter of your life. We say grace before we eat, I hope you don't mind. You can join us if you'd like to?"

Skylar smiled, "Yes, I would love to."

He let Lilly say grace which ended up being very adorable and short but neither he nor Skylar minded.

"Oh my God..."

Harry lifted an eyebrow as he ate another bite of his chicken, he swallowed before he answered so he would be more polite, "What is it?"

Skylar looked at him like he was kidding, "What do you mean 'what is it!?' This is delicious! Harry when did you learn to cook like this!?"

He chuckled before sipping his wine, "Don't act like you've forgotten, you know I learned from my mother and a few other choice relatives. I'm glad you like it though. Lilly, how do you like your dinner?"

Lilly shoved another forkful of mac and cheese into her mouth and chewed quickly so she could answer him, he'd done a very good job of teaching her manners, "I love it! Thank you Daddy!"

"You're welcome sweetie, let me know if you want more and I will get you some, okay?"

"Yes Daddy."

Dinner rolled over smoothly and Skylar ended up sticking around and helping put Lilly to bed.

"She's so cute. You're going to have boys knocking down your door some day, might want to start preparing now."

Harry chuckled as he washed out their wine glasses and set them in the dishwasher, "I've got some time. Surprised no one has knocked down your door yet."

Skylar blushed, "You flatter me. No, no one's been really interested for a while but it's okay, I'm not really looking anyway."

His eyes drifted to the rings on his fingers as he twisted them around in a slightly nervous manner, "I was interested once but you never wanted to talk about it. I thought you knew and that's why you were avoiding me."

Skylar frowned, she hadn't ever known that he was interested like that. Sure, they'd spent one passionate night together after they had both gone through rough break ups, but she never thought he actually thought that way about her.

"You did?"

Harry smiled softly and shook his head, his eyes lifting to meet hers, "I do."