I fall in love easily. I fall in love everywhere - on the tube, in interviews, stopped at a red light, during concerts, while I'm working and while I'm relaxing. It's a sensation that comes over me very easily. I almost never fall in love with looks...
Once Harry and I decided what we wanted to do with the house, we hit the ground running. He hired a contractor, and I hired a decorator... against my better judgement. I may have used the words 'posh' and 'snobby' while fighting Harry on the decorator thing, but I caved in the end. He convinced me it would be much more convenient for me to go visit Rosa in Madrid, now that it was finally safe to do so, if I didn't need to worry about the renovations. So, I flew to Madrid and he drove to Holmes Chapel and we spent ten days apart, while our house was a construction site.
"You are going to love it, darling. Don't you remember how long it took to convince me to redo this house, and how incredible it turned out? Plus – you get a housemate at the end of it all!", Rosa drove me to the Barajas airport and tried talking me into buying a crappy romance novel to keep my mind off the reno. I didn't have the heart to tell her I wasn't worried about the house; I was just missing Harry.
The thought of arriving home and seeing all the changes in the house excited me, but there a slightly worrying thought did manage to sneak inside my brain... Harry and I agreed that once the reno was done, we'd invite Anne to stay for a couple of days. I've never met his mum and the possibility of her not liking me was hanging over my head, like one of Harry's dark grey clouds. I'd met his sister and I'd even met his cousin once, but meeting his mum was a completely different ballpark. I wondered if one could ever come to meet their significant other's parents without having a panic attack beforehand. It seemed impossible. Parents never thought anyone was good enough to guard the hearts of their children, and even though most would never show their dislike for the poor partners – I didn't even want to imagine the scenario of Anne thinking I wasn't good enough for Harry. I still struggled with those thoughts on occasion, even after all this time.
Harry was waiting for me at the arrivals gate, wearing jeans and a leather jacket... one I had never seen him wear before. It sometimes hit me at the oddest of moments, how much my heart expanded for this man.
"I missed you.", his arms wrapped around me and I inhaled his scent.
"As did I, love.", Harry grabbed my luggage and led me out to the car, "How is Rosa? How is Madrid?".
"Rosa is fine, happy to have been vaccinated and that she can now go back to living her life with lesser levels of fear and anxiety. She sends all her love, by the way. And Madrid... well it's always beautiful, but it feels different. It has been a while since the city was able to breathe fully and it doesn't seem used to it."
"There is a surprise waiting at the house,", my throat tightened, "it's nothing bad, I promise.".
Had he invited Anne? Was it a reno party? Did he make last minute changes that I wouldn't like?
He turned onto our street and I spotted it right away... it was a door. A yellow door. He had our door painted bright yellow. A smile immediately took over half of my face, because we were now those people – the ones whose house you walk past and wonder how they got to be so cool as to have a bright yellow door.
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