January 21, 2017

"How did you get The Cheater to keep Noah an extra night?" Harry leaned past Nataley to grab his drink from the end table.

"I didn't. He's with his Gma and Aunt Ellie. They're planning to paint their toes, play games, and have a dance party. But I'll have to leave at 11:30 when my Lyft driver gets here. Otherwise, I'll turn into a pumpkin."

Harry's rich, hearty laugh captured Glenne's attention. "Oh, Nat! You came!" She hugged Nataley tightly, ignoring Harry since she'd greeted him earlier. "Yay! Jeffrey will be honored you could be here for his birthday party." Twisting her attention to him, she crowed, "Harry, how are you never jetlagged? It's sickening."

"Years of sleeping on planes," he reminded her. With his 23rd birthday approaching, Harry presumed that someday he might start feeling the effects of flying across an ocean and a continent in one day. But not yet.

As Glenne became distracted by another guest, Harry turned to Nat. Gosh, he had missed her. "Why a pumpkin? Are you Cinderella?" His head twisted around as though seeking someone. "Did you arrive with Prince Charming or are you planning to leave with him?"

Laughing, she rose elegantly, and his eyes took in her long bare legs. Usually she wore jeans of one kind or another, but this night she had dressed up for Jeffrey's birthday. Harry stood next to her, holding his arms out for her to spin. "Woah! You clean up really well." Had he witnessed a blush at his words? The mid-thigh leopard-print dress was flowy, and its low neckline was flirty.

"I don't have a date, but who says I can't leave with someone?" Standing close to him and placing her hand on his shoulder as she rose on her tiptoes, she directed his attention around the room. "Give me the scoop on who's single."

Eyes scanning the space, Harry automatically shared his initial thought. "No one in this room is good enough for you, Nat." He meant it too. Nataley was one of the few gems in the world, and he'd missed her beyond what he could express.

"Uh huh," she pouted. "You just don't want me to be happy. Come on. Introduce me to somebody. Please, Harry?" The way she begged made him feel like a loser, and he ducked his head.

Nervously, he monitored the faces around the room. "Are you looking for a forever kind of thing or just someone to fu-- um, sleep with?"

Shrugging, her low, soft voice reached his ears, making him sad. "I'll take whatever right now. It's been a long dry spell since Ramon." When he sighed deeply, she grasped his arm. "Okay. Okay. Don't give me that long-suffering sigh. Find me a date for your birthday party. That will suffice."

"Naaaatttt..." he whined. Why was she putting him in this spot? Knowing her as well as he did, he wanted her to find the perfect someone. Knowing the other people in the room as well as he did, he knew none of them were right for her.

"Hush, Harry. You owe me."

"I owe you? For what?"

"For letting you borrow my kid whenever you want to do something childlike without being judged."

Damn. She had him there. "Okay. Fair." Eyes roaming the party, he spied two people who had already responded that they were planning to attend his birthday party stag. "Male or female? Or does it matter?"

His query brought a soft smile to Nat's lips. "I wish I were attracted to women. I hear they're better lovers. More considerate."

Where was she getting this information? Then again, maybe it was true? How would he know? Shaking his head, he steered her towards Joel. "Joel! Hey. How have you been?"

The man stood up straighter, his eyes darting around as though Harry had picked the wrong person or mispronounced his name. But neither was the case. Harry was confident. If there was one strength of which Harry was confident, it was his ability to connect names and faces. "Good, Harry. Really good."

They shook hands and when Joel's eyes wandered towards Nataley, Harry took the opportunity to introduce them, "Have you met my friend Nataley? She's an assistant lighting designer at CBS, but soon to be the primary lighting designer wherever she chooses." Twisting his body towards Nataley, Harry gestured towards the other man. "Nat, this is Joel. He's an engineer over at Snap."

"Oh!" Nataley's eyes brightened. "Awesome! Tell me about your work, Joel."

Within moments, the two were geeking out over their respective career paths as Harry sulked by the birthday cake.

"What's wrong with you, man? It's my birthday. You should be celebrating!" Jeffrey clapped him on the shoulder, squeezing lightly. "And where the fuck is Ben? He was supposed to be here already."

"Perhaps the jet lag bug has finally caught up with me," Harry reported, at which point Jeffrey released a high pitched giggle.

"Never! Come have another drink!"

At 11:25, Harry began craning his neck to find Nataley. She had to leave at 11:30. Was she trapped somewhere with Joel? Did she need to be rescued? Her voice reached him about that time. "Happy birthday, Jeffrey! Thanks for the invite. I had so much fun. Your dad is a hoot, and your brother never fails to crack me up."

Harry narrowed his eyes at where Nataley was standing with the birthday boy. Was Joel with her? Not spying him, Harry crossed to them just in time to hear Glenne's comment. "I saw you talking to Joel. He's a good guy."

"We have a bit in common," Nataley blushed. Something inside Harry soured.

"Oh, so you're seeing him again?" Glenne inquired, and Harry swallowed hard while he waited for Nat's answer.

Ducking her head, Nataley smiled. "He's taking me to Harry's party."

"Nice!" Jeffrey blurted. "Lucky guy."

"Aw. You're sweet, Jeffrey. I'm the lucky one to have friends like you and Glenne and -- Harry!" Her vose rose on his name as though she had forgotten him. Which apparently she had since she'd spent the whole night flirting with the software engineer.

Removing her phone, Nataley cursed. "Dammit. I had reserved a Lyft, but my driver backed out, and now they're saying it will be an hour. My mom will never babysit again if I'm not there by midnight. Ugh. Maybe I can get a cab."

"Hush, Nat. You know I can take you to pick up Noah and then home." Harry jumped into the fray, anxious to spend more time with his friend.

"I can't take you away from the party," she protested.

"Nat," he frowned. "Do you know what time it is in England right now? It's late for me, and I need to be heading home soon anyway. Might as well help out a friend at the same time."

She shrugged. "If you're sure..."

"Yep. Bye, Jeffrey. I'll see you for that thing on Monday." Tipping a hat he wasn't wearing, Harry made the way to the door, oddly confident that Nat was following him.

Once settled in the car, Harry quietly asked, "What's her address again?" Inputting the digits and street name into his GPS, he began navigating to her mum's house. It had been ages since he'd been there.

"Harry?" Nataley ruminated as they entered the freeway, "Do you think that people need to have things in common to fall in love? Or do you believe in the old adage that opposites attract?"

Without any idea where the topic originated, Harry dove in with an honest answer. "I don't know."

"That's it? That's your answer?"

"Not sure what more you want, Nat. I'm not some expert on love. What did you see in The Cheater before you married him? Did you think you were in love with him?" He kept his eyes focused on the road, providing her an opportunity to compose an answer while biting the inside of his cheek.

She laughed, and the sound brought a crooked smile to his face, his eyes crinkling in the corners. "I was stupid. Naive. A 21-year-old who thought that this man loved me, mostly because he didn't seem to care that I probably couldn't have kids once I told him about the endometriosis." She snorted. "More likely, he assumed he could fuck me as much as he wanted, and I wouldn't get pregnant."

"Nat..." Harry felt badly that he'd asked the question.

"No. It's fine. I mean, I got the best gift ever out of my marriage to Duane. When I look back now, I had no idea what love was. It certainly wasn't the picture he presented to the world of all smiles and sexy gazes. Nope. In private he was verbally abusive, and I thought he knew what he was talking about." She cleared her throat, gazing down at her clenched hands in her lap. "Sorry. That got rather morose. When I think about love now, I consider the feeling I have for Noah. He is my everything. When he cries, the world stops turning for me until I can fix whatever is bothering him. When he giggles, the entire galaxy could be on fire, and I wouldn't care one bit."

"Awww. That's sweet," Harry commented.

Nataley twisted her body towards him as he drove on the 105. "Does he get on my nerves? Heck, yeah. He's a little boy. Last Sunday afternoon, he was a master whiner. Complaining about everything. He wanted eggs, but wouldn't tell me what kind. So I scrambled them and then he cried because they didn't have cheese. I sprinkled cheese on them and he sobbed because it wasn't melted. I threw the whole thing in the microwave for 30 seconds and then slammed the plate down in front of him. He had reached my last nerve. Not my proudest moment as a mama. But then before I dropped him off school on Wednesday morning, he kept saying, 'guess what?' and telling me things that were just plain silly until neither of us could catch our breath because we were giggling so much. Through all of that, I never stopped loving him. You know?"

Harry felt tears coating his throat, but he nodded even though he had no clear idea what she meant.

"So when I think about falling in love now -- shit. I want that pure love. The kind where both people agree that they're going to stick together no matter what. The kind where when they stand united, there's nothing they can't overcome. The kind where both people feel respected and equal. The kind where you would do anything to protect this other human because you can't imagine a world without that person."

"Wow," he croaked, aware that tears were on his cheeks and incapable of controlling their fall. "That's powerful, Nat."

"Yeah," she lowered her head. "Which is why I think maybe I'm incapable of finding that kind of love. I've attached too much importance to it." Sitting up straight, she tacked on the final words with such conviction that he could sense her backbone clicking into place one vertebrae at a time, "Which is why I've decided to stop looking for it. Joel is a nice guy so far. I'll date him, fuck him, and if we're compatible, then we'll see where things go. Even if I don't fall in love with him. Or the next guy after him. Pure love may be what I want, but does it really exist? Have I set my standards too high?"

"I hope not," Harry muttered as he parked in the driveway at her mum's house.

"Let me grab him." Exiting the car, Nataley knocked once on the front door before entering. In moments, she was back out in the chilly night air, carrying the half-asleep boy like a koala. As they reached the car, Harry exited and opened the back door.

"Hang on. I bought a booster seat for my godchildren. It's in the back." Rushing around to the rear of the vehicle, he opened the boot quickly and returned with the booster. Placing it on the seat, Harry moved to take Noah from her arms. "I've got him," he nodded to her, and Nat released her child's weight into his arms.

Noah drowsily opened an eye and patted Harry's cheek. "Tanks, Harry," he mumbled before falling more deeply asleep. Buckling the child into the car seat, Harry stepped back and bumped into Nataley who placed her hand reassuringly on his back.

"I see what you mean," he whispered. "He's worth loving fully."

"Indeed."

Back at Nataley's condo, Harry carried the boy inside. "Where's his room again?"

"Back here," Nataley escorted him and swept a hand towards the bed. "Put him down, and I'll get his clothes off him."

"Okay. Can I help?"

"You know what you could do? You could take King Charles -- Chuck -- out for a walk. He's been inside alone for too long."

"King Charles wouldn't happen to be a spaniel, would he?"

"He's a cavachon -- a mix of Bichon Frise and King Charles spaniel."

"Oh. Sure. Does he have a lead?"

"It's by the door."

"Come on, boy," Harry called to the dog who bounded to him like they were long lost friends. When he spotted what she called a lead, he chuckled. It was a piece of rope with a clip on the end. Leaning down, he attached it to Chuck's collar. On the other end was a loop that Harry considered wrapping around his wrist, but it looked too dangerous. The damn thing would likely rip off his hand leaving him with a stump should the adorable beast take off without warning. And he needed both hands to play guitar so best to be safe.

The dog dragged Harry around the corner to the back. "Hey! Slow down there, Chuck, my man. It's dark." Removing his phone from his pocket, Harry fumbled to turn on the flashlight just as the dog was scrunching up his rear end to make a deposit on the grass. Shit.

Literally.

"Ugh, Chuck. Did you have to do that?" scowled Harry. "And so much of it? What the hell has Nat been feeding you?"

No bags. How the hell was Harry supposed to scoop that massive pile? His eyes roamed the area until he found an old trashed flyer lying on the ground. Ugh. No other choices. Leaning over, he wrinkled his nose as he scooped the poo onto the paper, hoping it wouldn't flop off somewhere. But now what?

"Where's the bin, you mutt?"

He needed more hands! Wrapping the lead around his wrist against his better judgment, Harry carried the soiled paper in one hand while he searched with the phone's flashlight for a place to deposit the, uh, deposit. Finally the beam shone on a bin near the back of the condo building. Relief flowed through Harry as he ditched the bundle, relieved that he hadn't gotten any on himself.

"Come on, mate. Let's go inside." Which is when Chuck took off, nearly causing Harry to land flat on his face until he released the leash.

Nataley was praising the dog when Harry arrived inside. "Good boy. You're such a good dog." Lifting her head, she smiled at Harry. "Guess he got away from you."

Shaking his head, Harry took her in. "Can't believe you're praising him. You need a better lead. That was ridiculous. And why don't you have any bags for his poo?"

"Oh." Burying her face in her hands, she shook with laughter. "I'm sorry, H. They're under the sink. I should have said something. Do I need to go take care of it?"

"No," he pouted. "It's done. I'm just going to wash my hands and be on my way."

"Mhm," she smiled, her teeth gleaming in the single ray of light shining through the window. "Thank you, Harry." More softly, she added, "For everything."

As he dried his hands on the kitchen towel, Harry tilted his head and observed her. "I hope you find the pure love you seek."

Her gaze drifted away from him as she bit her lip. "I'll settle for someone who makes both Noah and I happy most of the time."

"You deserve more," he whispered.

"Don't we all?" Her rueful response made him glance at her a second time before he stepped to the door.

"See you at my party on the first?"

"Of course! Especially since I've got a date for it." Wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her head in his shoulder, she sighed. Harry's arms tightened around her, and he pressed a kiss to the crown of her head.

"Sleep well." The drive home was longer than usual that night. Not that Harry could have said exactly why.