I didn't. I wanted him miserable and riddled with some sort of fungal infection.
But, higher road and all that.
I moved to walk around him but he suddenly stepped in my path, blocking me.
"Hey!" I snapped, my blue eyes flashing in anger and panic. Leftover PTSD from high school had my heartbeat rising. I knew he couldn't hurt me in a public place, but I was always on high alert around him.
"We aren't in high school anymore. Youcannotblock my path," I scolded.
A light red hue slashed his defined cheekbones. "Shit, sorry, Grace." He hastily stepped aside. "I didn't mean to block you."
His gaze searched my features before his shoulders slumped when he interpreted my fiery glare and blanched mouth. "I won't take up any more of your time."
He then glanced at me with a mixture of hesitancy and hope. "Is it too much to ask to see you at some point while you're home? Just to chat?"
At my incredulity, he rolled his firm lips in and nodded.
"I'm sorry, Grace."
I felt the weight behind his apology, sensing that he was apologizing for so much more than disrupting my day.
Unmoved, I nodded stiffly before shifting past him.
"Hey, Grace?"
I sighed in annoyance before wordlessly glancing back. An unreadable expression was in his eyes—eyes that were no longer cruel and mocking.
"Are you happy?"
I frowned in surprise at his question. Why was he asking me that? Why did he care?
"I am," I slowly responded. "I have a great life, happier than I have been in years. No little shits trying to bring me down."
Okay, that last part was definitely taking the low road, but fuck it, I was beyond caring. I just wanted this awkward and weird encounter to be over.
Harrison nodded and cleared his throat again before staring at the floor. The air was ripe with uncomfortable tension, and I was at a loss on how to end this conversation.
"Errr…areyouhappy?"
I kicked myself for prolonging this bizarre and awkward meeting. I couldn't give two shits if he were happy, but that polite Southern manners—which had skipped a few people in Ashburton—had won out. That and a morbid curiosity.
Harrison's shoulders tightened before he slowly raised his head and met my stare head-on. My breath caught as a tiny spark lit my body when our eyes clashed. I did not want to examine that reaction too closely.
His jaw clenched. "No."
I jolted back from that strange trip down memory lane. That brief yet poignant interaction stayed in my head for months after. It bothered me to no end why I couldn't shake Harrison's forlorn look out of my mind. Why wasn't he happy? Why was he behaving so out of character?
After examining random scenarios repeatedly in my head, I finally scolded myself for wasting so much time thinking about him. I hated Harrison. Granted, that hate had diluted a bit after high school since I wasn't in his presence, but the lingering distaste was there all the same. I wasn't going to spend any more time worrying about his happiness.
"Grace?"
I closed my eyes in wary resignation before reluctantly glancing up and meeting Harrison's stare head-on.
"Hi," he smiled warmly, his eyes lighting up in friendliness. The sight felt wrong in my head. He was supposed to sneer at me with a mercilessly cruel glint in his eye. It was what I was used to from him.
And God damn, but why did he have to be so fucking handsome still? Those little lines creased around his eyes as he grinned, which drew my attention to his perfectly straight, white teeth. And those stupidly adorable dimples of his seemed more pronounced than I remembered. His whole package was annoyingly eye-catching to my wandering gaze.
Ashamed that my heart had started picking up an odd pattern, I opened my mouth to respond with a snarky remark.
