Harry has been gone all morning. My mom got her friend, Jennifer to meet Harry at some cafe to talk about photography.
When I hear the front door close I look over to see Harry walk into the living room. "Hey, how was it?" He walks over to the couch and sits next to me. "It's was great. We talked a lot and she even gave me some tips." He tells me.
"She actually offered me a job as her assistant."
I look at Harry and smile at him. "That's great, Harry!" He looks at me and gives me a weak smile. He looks down and the small smile disappears. "What's wrong?" He looks back up and into my eyes. "If I take the job I have to move to California." The look in his eyes is sad and I know that the same expression is on my face.
"Are you going to take the job?" I ask him. "I'm not going to take it if you don't want me to."
"Harry, this is a great opportunity for you. I would never keep you from doing something like this." I don't want Harry to think that I'm not okay with him taking the job. I don't want Harry to leave Atlanta, but I would never take away something so great away from him.
"I love you, Lydia." Harry gives me a weak smile and wraps his arms around me. He holds me tight and the feeling that I get from being in his arms is a feeling that I am going to miss.
..........
I turn the knob to high on the stove to heat up the pan. Harry and I are making grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for lunch. I place a slice of bread with cheese on top of it into the pan. Harry pours the can of tomato soup into a pot and starts to stir it.
"Lydia, I was thinking about something." Harry looks over at me as he continues to stir.
"And what might that be?" I ask him. "What if you move to California with me." I look up at Harry not sure what to say. "I'm not so sure about that." I look away from him and focus my attention back to the pan.
"Look at me, Lyd." I ignore Harry, but he places his hand on my chin and moves my me head so that I am looking at him. "Move with me." He commands and looks into my eyes.
"No." I keep my eyes locked on his and his hand drops from my face. I can see the hurt in his eyes from my answer. "Please Lyd, I want to be with you and I can't do that if I'm here and you're in Atlanta." Moving back to California is not something I had ever planned on doing. I left to get as far away from Josh as possible, away from my problems. There is nothing that should be keeping me away from California since I had spoken to Josh, but I just can't bring myself to move back with Harry.
"I'm not moving back. I am staying in Atlanta. I'm sorry, Harry." I tear my eyes away from Harry's, but I know his are still on me.
.........
Today is the last day me and Harry will be in California. We are leaving tomorrow morning to go back to Atlanta. I have been driving around trying to find a restaurant for me and Harry to go to.
"Lydia, we have been driving around for almost an hour." Harry complains. "We haven't even been in the car for an hour. Just pick any place. I don't care." Harry sits up in the seat and looks out the window as we pass by stores and a few restaurants. "That one." Harry points to a small restaurant at the end of a strip mall.
I pull into the parking lot. We walk in and it smells better than I had expected. We choose to sit in a booth that is next to the window. A brunette waitress with bright blue eyes walks over to us with a smile on her face. "Hi, can I get you two some drinks?" She writes down our drinks on her notepad then walks away.
"What are we going to do today?" Harry asks me. "I don't know. There's not much to do in Bakersfield." He rests his elbows on the table. "Why couldn't you have lived in LA? We could be be hiking up to the Hollywood sign right now." He smiles at me.
The waitress comes over and places our drinks in front of us. "Are you ready to order?" She asks us and Harry nods his head. "I will get the bacon cheese burger and she will have the chicken fingers. Both with a side of fries." Harry tells her for the both of us. She writes down our orders and walks back to the kitchen.
"Are you glad to finally go home tomorrow?" Harry asks me. "Yeah, I like being here with my family, but I'm glad to go back."
"I will be packing all this week cause I'll be leaving next Thursday."
When the words come out of Harry's mouth it takes me a second to register what he said. "Next Thursday? You're leaving next week?" I look at Harry with surprise clear in my face. "I didn't tell you that did I?" He looks away from me. "No, I thought you would be leaving in a few weeks. This is soon, Harry." I knew that Harry would be leaving at some point, but not this soon. I was hoping I would have more time with him before he leaves.
"I thought I told you, Lyd. I'm-" I hold up my hand for him to stop talking. "I don't want to talk about this anymore." We finish eating in silence, neither of us wanting to say anything.
