“Now be prepared for this, not much has been changed in my room since I left for college.”
“Oh no, not photos of na**d girls?” I teased him as we walked into his room. I looked around it eagerly, trying to find clues that would fill her into what he had been like as a child. He had posters of famous paintings on the walls; I recognized prints of the Mona Lisa, Sunflowers and some others from an art history class I had taken. “Wow, so you were really interested in art, huh?”
“Something like that.” He put my bag down next to the bed. “So do you want to have sex now or later?”
“What?” I glanced at him and wrinkled her nose at him as I continued walking around the room. He had a number of books on his desk and I flipped through them. “I loved Huckleberry Finn as well.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I picked up a picture frame and saw a photo of a young Harry with a girl. They looked into the camera with bright smiles and he was tickling her. They looked like they were about seventeen in the photo. “Who’s this?” I asked casually.
He looked at the picture frame in my hand and frowned. “That’s Angelica. Let me have it.” He took it from me roughly and put it face down on top of his bag. “Shall we go and get something to eat?”
“Sure.” I wanted to ask more questions. I wanted to know who Angelica was. I tried to ignore the pain in my stomach as I thought about the photo. He’d looked so happy and alive. I’d never seen him with that much verve in his eyes. “So will I get to meet Angelica?”
Harry turned to look at me and snapped. “No.” And then he walked out of the door. Sarah stood there for a second before following him out of the door. Whoever this Angelica was, she definitely hit a nerve in Harry.
“I’m just going to the bathroom. I’ll be down in a second,” I called after Harry but he didn’t seem to hear me as he bounded down the stairs.
***
“How dare you put that photo up in my room, Mom!” Harry’s voice was harsh as I walked towards the kitchen. I waited by the door before walking in to see what else he was going to say.
“It’s a lovely picture, Harry.” Daisy protested weakly.
“Look Mom, I don’t want anything pertaining to Angelica in my room or in the house, do you get it?”
“You can’t just forget about what you had Harry.” She sighed.
“Mom.”
“She taught you so much Harry, look at your paintings. Remember that instead of thinking about what she took away.”
“I’m not going to say this again Mom, but I’m not interested in talking about or being reminded of Angelica.”
“Does Sarah know?” Daisy’s voice was soft.
“There is nothing that Sarah needs to know.” His voice was abrupt. “Where’s Dad? I need to fill him in the latest news with our merger in Germany.”
“He’s in the study with John.”
‘Oh.” I heard Harry walking towards the entrance. “I’m going out. I’ll be back.”
“Harry,” Daisy called after him but he didn’t stop. He barged out of the kitchen almost crashing into me.
“Hey Sarah. I have to go out. I’ll be back in a bit.” He looked at me briefly and walked out of the door. I heard his car starting and he drove off. I stood there with my shoulders trembling. I wasn’t sure what was going on and suddenly I felt very out of place.
“Sarah, I’m so sorry about that.” Daisy walked up to me and ushered me into the kitchen. “Harry can be a hot head sometimes.”
“I’ve noticed.” I grimaced.
“Don’t take it personally, my dear.” Daisy patted a seat at the big oak table. “Have a seat my dear, would you like a snack and drink?”
“Uh sure, thanks.” I smiled as Daisy floated around the spacious kitchen. Daisy was short, and blond and looked like a mother. She had no airs about her and poured me a glass of chocolate milk and gave me some cheese and crackers, with some grapes.
“Here you go, my dear.” She smiled sweetly at me. “You must forgive Harry for his rudeness. He’s always been hot tempered. I thought he would grow out of it, or at least I hoped he would. But I fear that is part of his personality.”
“I suppose.” I didn’t know if that was true. I’d always thought that Harry was extremely patient.
“So tell me more about yourself, dear.”
“Oh ok, sure.” I wasn’t sure what Harry would want me to tell his mom but I knew I couldn’t just say nothing. I spent the next two hours telling his mom about my childhood, college, wanting to be an actress and my friendship with Jane. Daisy was a great listener and I found myself at ease with her. It was only when Harry walked back through the door, a couple of hours later that I realized I hadn’t tried to plug any of the things that we had talked about earlier.
“Hey.” I looked up at him and smiled shyly. I was happy to see him; even though I was worried that there was something wrong with him that I didn’t know about.
“Hey.” He smiled at me and I felt my heart singing. He came over and gave me a big kiss on the lips and a hug and I held him close to me. “Sorry about earlier.”
“No problem,” I whispered to him, though I really wanted to know why he had gotten so mad at seeing a picture. Who was this Angelica and what had she done to him?
“Sorry Mom.” He released me and gave his mom a hug.
“No, I’m sorry, Harry.” She stroked his hair. “I didn’t mean to cause you pain.”
“I know.” He looked around the kitchen. “Dad done yet?”
“I think I heard him pottering around. Go and check the garage.”
“Okay. I’ll be back, Sarah.” He kissed me once more and I stared after him with a happy smile on my face as he left the room.
Daisy watched me as she stared after Harry and smiled to herself. She knew the look of love when she saw it. She had been surprised when Harry had shown up with Sarah; she hadn’t looked like the sort of girl he dated after Angelica. But maybe that was a good thing. A very good thing indeed.
Chapter 13
“Did you have fun talking to my mom?” Harry asked me as we walked into his room to get ready for dinner.
“Yes, she’s lovely.” I decided not to say anything else, lest he think I liked her too much. “Did you have a good talk with your dad?”