Act Two // Book One

Chapter Twenty

The next two weeks seemed to fly by for both Harry and Samantha. Mr. Rollins was just about done with the entirety of the grounds of Harry's house. Jeri was only at the house twice a week now to clean up a few things. Which left Harry and Samantha alone a lot of the time.

They'd fallen into a sort of routine. When Samantha got to the house they'd spend the first few moments discussing what Harry needed done for the day. He'd disappear downstairs for the next few hours. Then, like clockwork, he'd come upstairs. They'd both get dressed in their running outfits for a run with Rufus. When they returned Harry would run out to get them lunch. The rest of the afternoon would be a succession of Harry yelling from some room of the house that he needed something. He never went near the basement again. Samantha tried not to get her hopes up that he was doing it so he could spend more time with her in the afternoons.

That afternoon, however, he was at the record company for a meeting with both Jeffs. Azoff wanted him on tour as soon as possible even though the album wasn't out and wouldn't be out for some time. Bhaskar wanted him to take his time finishing the CD. Harry wasn't sure what he wanted. All he knew was that he found it harder to focus on the meeting because all he could think about was what was happening back at home without him.

Harry made a half-assed excuse to his friends about needing to get home to pay Mr. Rollins. It was a halfway decent weather day in London, so he enjoyed the slight breeze that blew across his shoulders while he walked back to his car. He slowed to a stop when he realized that he hadn't thought about Gwen at all that morning. The thought took his breath away. Was he losing her? His eyes fell shut, his mind racing while he pictured her face in his mind. She was still there. As beautiful as ever.

He opened his eyes. The fear dissipated a bit, finally dissolving completely when his eyes fell on a tabloid at the newsstand in front of him. Harry didn't usually pay any attention to tabloid headlines, much less read them. But this one caught his eye.

He took a few steps forward, just to get closer so he could make sure he wasn't seeing things. His stomach dropped when he saw that he definitely wasn't seeing things.

The cover was a paparazzo picture of he and Samantha on a run with Rufus. The headline ran across it in big yellow letters that read "Harry Styles Finally Replaces Dead Fiance with new Assistant".

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Samantha hated few things more than standing in lines, especially at a grocery store. She always felt like it was such a gigantic waste of time. She usually tried to pass the time by flipping around on her phone, but she kept it tucked in her back pocket today. She knew pulling it out would be too much of a temptation to text Harry and find out how his meeting had gone. She'd become far too involved in his personal life. It needed to stop. She was his employee and that was the end of it.

Though she had to admit, she was proud of him lately for his progress. He still had his moments, but he'd stopped lashing out at least. But he still hadn't gone anywhere near the master bedroom.

The lady in front of Samantha shot her a look when she let out a deep, pronounced, obviously bored sigh. Samantha's mouth bowed into an awkward smile when she'd realized she'd accidentally done that out loud.

When the woman turned back around, Samantha's eyes rested on one of the magazines currently staring her in the face. She found herself mindlessly reading the headlines and rolling her eyes at the absolute absurdity of them.

She was halfway through one of the titles when her entire body froze, her eyes widening in pure shock. She pushed forward, grabbing at the cart of the woman in front of her that had just shot her the dirty look. But Samantha didn't care. She reached out with both hands to grab the magazine and pull it closer to her so she could read.