She Lays Down [h.s.]

Nineteen

Harry pushes open the door and he's immediately greeted by the smell of coffee and warm pastries. He hasn't been inside this particular café since Kate left him, but he loves it and it's close to Mary's work so he decided to come back and treat Mary to a nice lunch.

The menu has changed quite a bit since the last time he came in and it takes him a moment to order a drink so that he won't just be sitting around as he waits for Marigold. He likes to show up early just in case the other person does, it's a weird quirk of his but he would rather be early and on time instead of late.

Unfortunately, a lot of other people have also decided to have their lunch in this fine establishment, so it takes him a little while to find a seat that allows him to see out the window. Mary said that she has a surprise for him and he would like to see her walk up to get a hint at what it is and just to see her because she always puts a smile on his face.

While he waits, he's decided to start planning some lessons for the next school year because it's coming up quickly and he likes to at least have some ideas down beforehand. This time he's doing it old school with a notebook and a nice black pen. Lately, his computer has been bothering him because it's gotten a little slow and staring at his screen sometimes hurts his eyes after a while.

He's just clicked his pen and written the date on the corner, he likes to do that to remember when he wrote down whatever it is that makes it out of his head and onto the paper, when a familiar voice calls his name in an unsure and questionable tone.

It's Kate and he knows it immediately because he'd recognize that voice anywhere. It's the voice that broke his heart and haunted him for months after she left. Unintentionally, he stiffens a little in his seat and grips his pen a little tighter. He's over Kate, he really is, but he didn't expect to ever see her again and he's got a bad feeling about this.

For a moment, he's silent because he really doesn't know what to say and he's trying to regain his composure because nothing's wrong, it's just something that he didn't expect to happen today or any other day.

Kate says his name again and Harry sighs softly and gently sets his pen on top of his notebook. He turns slightly in his chair to face the direction her voice came from, a slightly forced smile on his lips. "Hello, Kate."

Despite the fact that he called her Kate while they were dating, he still calls her Kate instead of Katie because it's just a habit that's stuck with him even after all these years. She's a little surprised to hear Kate, but she likes it and her lips lift up into a small smile.

"Hi, it's nice to see you again. You look good."

And he does, he looks much better than he did when she left him all those years ago. She looks the same to him, but it's all so different to her because she's spent some time reevaluating her life and the decision that she made to cheat on him and leave him when he was nothing but good to her.

Things with Cory didn't really work out after another few years and she's come back to town to check in on Harry and see if he's still around and what he's been up to because she really misses him even though she's the one that broke things off in the first place.

Harry nods slightly because he really doesn't think that he's changed much and it's a little awkward for her to say that because he knows that she says things like that when she's interested in someone.

"You too."

He doesn't really know what else to say because he's already sent her a long letter with all of the things that she didn't give him the chance to say to him when she left him. He's got nothing to say to her anymore and that's just how it is because she made it that way, she made things awkward between them by calling his name and she knows it just as well as he does.