Lost and Found (manxboy) ✓

Chapter Seven

I unlocked the door to the bookstore for the first time since Harrison had died. I slowly walked into the dark store and went searching for the light switch. I hadn't been here in a long time, but I remembered where everything was from being here countless times in the last seven years.

I went behind the front counter and flipped the switch. The whole room lit up, showing the full bookshelves and empty tables. Everything looked to have a layer of dust on it and I was ashamed that I had let the store that Harrison loved sit in this state. The store had been his pride and joy. It had been called Harrison's Books for as long as he'd had it...until we got together.

He'd surprised me by having the name changed on our anniversary. It was a big deal because usually he wouldn't spend money on something like that when he had a perfectly good sign before, but he'd blindfolded me and brought me to the outside of the shop to show me the new sign.

I pretended to be a little annoyed with him at first because that was the only way I knew how to hide my embarrassment that he had gone through all that trouble just for me. He'd seen right through me though because of my red cheeks.

So for the last six years it had been Beau's Books. I hated passing by the bookstore when I was going around town because it was not only a reminder of Harrison, but also of how he had loved me so much that he changed the name of his store for me.

I looked around the store and within a few seconds some tears started trickling down my cheeks. I was getting really tired of crying.

I sighed and sat down in the chair that was set up at the front counter. I put my head in my hands and tried to get myself under control.

I felt like the presence of Harrison was everywhere here. This had been his whole life, it had been practically his whole being. The store meant everything to him and I had let it gather dust for months.

I wanted to run outside and never come back, but at the same, I wanted to stay and bask in the feeling of being close to Harrison once again. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to think of one of the happiest moments with him.

___

I sat on the couch, my legs bouncing up and down anxiously. I turned around to peek through the blinds every couple seconds, but Harrison still wasn't home. My phone sat quiet on the coffee table even though I had called him twenty times now and called the store ten times.

I chewed on my lip and checked the time on my phone. He should have been home hours ago!

I wondered if I should call the police. It wasn't like Harrison to do this. I had been living with him for three months now, after it just became too much for me to travel all the way here every weekend to be with him. We'd only been dating for a month before I moved in, but it didn't feel too fast to either of us. My parents had both been against it because they thought Harrison was too old for me, but after just a few weeks of dating him I knew we fit together like two puzzle pieces. Harrison would never want me to say something so cheesy, but that's the way I felt.

And coming home late just wasn't like him. Sometimes I went to the bookstore with him and sometimes I stayed home with Sherlock. But today I had a few surprises planned and wanted to stay home to get them ready. I had no clue where he was though.

Tears started pouring down my face because I didn't know what to do. Harrison would have known what to do in a situation like this. He would know whether or not to call the police.

I heard the door unlocking and gasped, trying to get my breathing under control.

Harrison walked in and stopped with one hand on the door when he saw me in tears on the couch.