The Weeks Between • HS

Week 4 • Harry

Nola has been rather quiet since the night we finished off a bottle of wine together on the back patio. I'm not entirely sure how to take that, so of course I replay all the parts of our conversations that I can remember on a loop in my mind.

I am lost deep in my thoughts at the open market picking up some items. One good thing about having to wear masks is that I have been able to go under the radar more often than ever before in the past five years. I've gotten what I came for and am about to leave when I pass a booth with hand-made kites. I spy one that is a mermaid and one that is a pink dinosaur eating donuts. Are you kidding me? I immediately think about the girls and buy them the kites, but then realize that I probably should have asked first.

----- Text Message to Nola -----

Harry: Would you be alright if I get kites for the girls?

Nola: Sure.

Harry: I will bring them by this morning.

----- End of message -----

I knock on the door at Nola's and nobody comes to open it, but I can hear them inside. Finally Nola's voice comes through the  doorbell camera, "come in, it should be open."

Mia runs to me, her pigtails bouncing with each step she takes. She grabs my hand, and I tuck the kites behind my back with the other. She tugs on my hand, so that I will come down to her level and whispers loudly, "sissy is really sleepy today."

I look over to see that Nola is literally stuck on the couch beneath Hattie and Charlotte. I walk forward with an outreached hand. "Your phone, Nola," I tell her, realizing that she has no idea what I am asking for. I open the camera app and call Mia over and whisper in her ear, "can you go lay by your mum and pretend that you are sleeping like your sissy?"

She giggles and does as I ask and snap the photo. I hand Nola her phone and as she looks down at the vision I walked in on, her eyes look like the are threatening to water. Shit. That was not my intention. I smile at her. Mia, with her fantastic timing, comes between Nola and I in our moment. "Harry, whats dat?"

"I was just going to leave these on the front steps. Your mum will have to decide when you can use them." I lean over to share another secret with Mia. "I got you the mermaid one because you are the Mermaid Princess." Her eyes light up and she giggles excitedly. Nola is watching the interaction, and her face falls. I get the feeling that I have done something wrong, but she seems to shift out of that state rather quickly.

Her shake wakes Lottie who starts to cry immediately. "Here, sweetie," Nola says, as she adjusts the girls on her lap.

Mia pulls me from the living room to the small room between the kitchen and porch. I believe it is supposed to be the breakfast nook, but instead, Nola has it set up as one of the girls play rooms. "Harry, tea party!" Mia shouts as she starts to bound between boxes and cupboards, setting the tiny table with six place-settings. Before I know it she has handed me an apron to tie around my body, but I am still distracted by Lotties cries.

I move back to the living room. "Is she not feeling well?"

Nola shakes her head 'no.' "It's her ears. They have always been a problem. She has tubes, but I am guessing one is either not working or has come out. We are just holding on until we can call our doctor in the states. Hopefully she can call something in over here before the pharmacies close?"

"Where in the states?" I ask, the conversions are like second nature to me at this point.

"California." Interesting.

"It's only 3am there. What time do they open?" Knowing that will be a long wait, my face drops.

"The nurse line opens at 7:30am. So, another four hours? All she wants to do is lay with me." Nola says, clearly exhausted. The house is usually tidy, but today there is clear evidence that it was a rough night. I think she can see me surveying the damage when she adds, "we are a hot mess over here, Harry. Mia made herself a breakfast of yogurt and a banana, because it was what she could reach herself."