☼

"Have you noticed Haz rarely ever eats breakfast or dinner in our own house on the weekends?" I asked, looking over at Aaron who glanced up from his phone to stare at me with furrowed brows.

"No." He shrugged as I lowered the fire on the stove, sending him a dead panned look to which he tried to purse his lips, urging me to kiss him only for me to press the back of the spatula I was holding against his pouted lips.

"No." I said, mimicking his tone making him smile against the kitchen utensil as he stared at me.

Haz suddenly walked into the kitchen, taking a stool and hopping on top of it to quickly grab one of the dinner plates from the dish rack near the sink before he slipped it underneath his arm and looked over at us.

"Alright, I'm out, be back soon." Haz said, thumping his chest and throwing deuces up before he attempted to leave, fast walking with his stubby second grade legs right towards the front door in only his money pajamas holding a large plate under his arm as Aaron and I exchange looks.

"Wait Haz, I actually have breakfast here for you." I said, leaning over the counter with excitement when my son paused to stare at me.

"Oh, cool, whatta we got, cereal?" Haz asked expectantly, walking over to the kitchen island where I could only see his afro and the top part of his head as he placed the plate down and peeked over the counter to look up at me.

"Nope, I made you breakfast this time." I stated with a proud smile, straightening my posture as Haz's jaw dropped before he looked over to his father.

"Why would you let her punish me like that." He whispered to his dad in betrayal who also turned his attention to me.

"Woah babe, whatever Haz did we can talk about this, you don't have to make his meals, that's just cruel and unusual." Aaron cautioned in all seriousness, his blue eyes wide as he brought his hand over mine, slowly lowering the spatula down as I looked between my husband and son with raised brows.

"Oh quit it, I'm not trying to punish you- I just, I don't know I wanted to make you pancakes since I never really do." I explained, readjusting the apron on my body as I showed the two my work on the hot frying pan.

"Oh. All this time I thought you were just cooking random small black rocks on the stove." Aaron laughed as him and Haz peered down at the over burnt pancakes with distaste while I turned my head to look at him from the side.

"Yeah, they're your balls, you want some." I offered in a monotone voice, pushing the pan closer to Aaron who smiled, shaking his head and raising his hands up in surrender as Haz let out a low "oohhh..." bringing his small fist to his 'O' shaped mouth even though he looked pretty bored with the current conversation at the moment.

"Well, I don't want to eat my dad's balls so I'm just gonna go head out now." Haz casually said, dismissing himself as he grabbed his plate again and left the kitchen, both Aaron and I just staring at him down the hall until we heard the sound of the front door opening and closing indicating Haz had really just left.

"You see what I mean." I said, placing the pan and spatula down in defeat, crossing my arms over my chest as I faced the wall while Aaron came up behind me, rubbing my shoulders and kissing my cheek.

"Aw baby don't be sad, you're cooking isn't that bad." He cooed, attempting to make me feel better as I looked up to stare at him with a knowing smile.

"Cool, so that means you'll eat the lunch I made you this morning right?"

Aaron froze, his hands rigid on my arms before he slowly took them off me.

"Oh damn, would you look at the time babe- sorry you know Ima be late for work and-" He didn't even finish as he quickly darted away, bolting out so fast I swear smoke would've left his heels as I laughed and followed after him, chasing my husband around our kitchen with the bag of his lunch I grabbed off the island.

"Just one bite." I teased, trying to catch him, the both of us freezing across the counter as we grinned at one another.

He narrowed his eyes at me in a playful manner.

"You can't make me." He snickered, sticking his tongue out before he ran over to me, catching me by surprise by kissing me and running out of the room.

I tried to catch up with him only to find him quickly grabbing and collecting his things as he headed straight for the door.

"Oh come on Aaron I worked hard on your lunch!" I tried to reason with him, not bothering to chase him any longer as my chest heaved up and down while we stared at one another from across the hall.

"Love you!" Was all he said before the door slammed shut, leaving me all alone in the house as my shoulders slumped with disappointment.

I sighed, tossing the bag of the sandwich I had worked almost forty five minutes on to perfect for Aaron before I glanced at my burnt pancakes, taking one in my hand and nibbling on it only to gag and scrunch my face up at the taste.

I guess I knew why Haz would skip out eating breakfast here and get it somewhere else.

And I'm pretty sure I know exactly where he's getting it.

++

"What up my white home skillets, what's for breakfast." I saw and heard my son say, sitting himself at the kitchen counter on a high bar stool in Harry's house as I peeked through the slightly cracked window from outside at the front porch, staring with wide intense eyes at the betrayal in front of me from my own blood.

I pressed my face against the glass, watching as Haz and Talie talked in their pajamas with plates in front of them waiting patiently as Harry cooked what smelled like to be his amazing sunny side up eggs and hashbrowns at the stove, flipping and spicing things expertly as he layed out everything out.

He turned with a dimpled smile when he saw both his daughter and my son hold out their plates as he brought the pan to them, transfering the mouth watering meal onto their dishes while I eyed the food.

God that smelled good.

"Tell your mom she can come in whenever she wants." Harry suddenly smirked at Haz, not even looking at me as he sipped his coffee while I froze at the window as my son looked over at me.

"You can come in, he already knows you've been standing there for five minutes straight, why do you think he cracked the window open?" Haz called out to me as a slow awkward smile formed over my face when all three heads turned to look at me standing at the window outside before I waved.

"No it's fine, Haz is already there and I don't wanna impose so... if you want to accidentally throw an omelet out the window here and onto my face, I'm pretty okay with that." I said, going on my tiptoes with excitement before Harry chuckled, whispering something to the two kids in front of them making them all laugh.

"You talkin smack Styles?" I called him out, only making Harry turn to finally smile at me with a dimpled grin, not saying anything before he began to make something else.

I stood there and waited for a while, wondering when someone would be a real player and throw a piece of food my way before Harry walked over to the front door, opening it and stepping outside onto the porch with me as we locked eyes, a confused expression on my face and a knowing look on his.

That's when I saw the plate of scrambled eggs and hashbrowns he was holding.

Harry, Haz, and Talie all liked sunny side up eggs better.

But I was the only one who really had a thing for scrambled eggs.

"Harry I feel bad I just can't-" I began, not wanting him to worry about someone else to feed as he laughed.

"Oh this? This isn't for you." He said as I slowly blinked at him, feeling stupid for assuming as I just stood there, my gaze flickering to his food then to his face.

"No, it's for this cute little black pomeranian that comes around here in my neighborhood often." He elaborated with a smirk, twirling the plate in his hand as I stared at the food.

"Oh, for a dog." I swallowed, immediatly responding even though all I could think about was diving face first into those hashed browns.

"Nope, a puppy. A little perrito." Harry said, the last word making me snap my gaze back to him as we stared at one another, the realization sinking in as he passed me with a small smile, making sure to casually whistle and have the plate linger right under my nose.

"Yup." He simply said, waving his hand to blow the scent of the food to me with a mischevious grin before he brought it down on the window sill.

"See you." Harry then patted my shoulder in a friendly manner as I continued to hardcore stare at his artwork that he called food before he went back inside, closing the door.

He made my favorite breakfast.

My mouth watered as I took a large step towards the window sill, peering down at the food with hungry eyes before I leaned my elbow against the window frame.

"How you doin?" I smirked, looking down at the meal with raised brows as I moved the plate from side to side, cheking it out.

Huh, he forgot to put the little bits of crispy bacon at the top, I loved when he sprinkled bacon on my meals during the time we lived together.

My train of thought was snapped when someone suddenly lifted the window, opening it even more making me step back as I looked at Harry who was inside the house looking at me from across the window with the plate of food in between us.

"Sorry, forgot one thing." He said, holding something in his fist before he opened his hand right over the dish, making a show of sprinkling small crunchy bacon bits as he casually hummed while I began to hypervenilate.

Harry's gaze flickered up from the plate, seeing the look of anticipation on my face before glancing back down with a small dimpled smile as he placed a fork on the dish to complete it.

"The pomeranian can use utensils?" I teased, knowing what he was trying to do as he shrugged his broad shoulders.

"She's a smart puppy." Was all he said with a smirk before he closed the window.

The minute he walked away I started to devour the dish, bringing forkfulls of hashbrowns and hunching over the window sill before I thought, screw it and sat down on the porch, cradling the plate in my lap as I licked away the bacon bits off my lips in satisfaction.

I chewed quickly, throwing my head back with my eyes rolling back as well probably looking possessed by how good Harry's food was.

I really did miss his cooking, and him in general if I'm being honest.

I licked at my fingers and the plate, leaving it clean with no trace of food left before bringing it back onto the window sill with a lazy content smile on my face.

I sighed, patting my stomach and rising back to my feet only to jump back, letting out a small "oh shit" when I saw Harry already standing at the window across from me.

He was grinning, his arms crossed over his chest with one of his hands resting on the side of his face, as if he was deep in thought before he flickered his green eyes between the empty plate and me.

"Uh... you just missed the puppy. Yup, she ate- she ate all of it, I just, I couldn't stop her." I shrugged, blowing out a low awkward breath before stuffing my hands into the pockets of my sweats, shrugging my shoulders in a 'what can you do' manner as Harry raised a brow at me.

"Oh she did did she?" He drawled out, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the sill as I pursed my lips, nodding and avoiding his gaze.

He let out a small chuckle at my reaction, grabbing the empty plate and turning to leave before he paused, still staring at me.

"You have a little..." He trailed off with a grin, pointing at his chin making my eyes widen as I mumbled a curse under my breath, quickly wiping whatever evidence of food I had left off my face.

"I've got orange juice to help compliment the meal. Come on, it's on the house." Harry said, nodding his head urging me to come inside as I smiled.

"Oh sweet, I'll take that." I gave in with an excited grin as we both walked to the door, Harry opening it and letting me in as Haz and Talie leaned forward to see me from the entrance, slowly clapping.

"What was that, like five seconds for you to inhale all that food." My son laughed when I sat besides him.

"Ha you're just jealous your mom can crush you in an eating contest." I countered, narrowing my eyes at him in a playful manner as he did the same while Harry poured me a glass of juice.

"Oh, what's that you're reading there baby?" I asked Talie who slid the book across the counter to me.

"It's about sign language, I wanted to learn." She shrugged with a proud toothless smile as I flipped through the pages, letting her reach her small arms out and show me everything that caught her attention when she was reading while Haz butt in.

"Yo you gotta teach me some of that, I only know how to say F you in sign language and it's not really sign language." I joked as a wide smile spread across Talie's face when she looked up at me.

"Really?" She asked, her green eyes filled with admiration as I nodded.

I looked away from her, about to turn to Haz when I caught Harry's stare, finding him just looking at me and the kids with a small smile of endearment on his face, blinking when he noticed that I was looking at him before he glanced away, continuing to pour the drinks with a faint blush tinting the tips of his ears.

"Morning!" Cynthia cheered, appearing into the kitchen already dressed in work out clothes as Harry handed everyone their drinks, greeting his wife.

"Morning." Harry said, leaning down to kiss her as I took my drink, awkwardly swiveling slowly around on my stool and drinking the tall glass of juice, not stopping until it was completely empty as I forced my brain to think about orange juice.

Orange juice is so good.

It's so nice and orangy.

So yummy- oh and they're still kissing, right yes, I love orange juice.

"Nat, it's so nice to see you here! Your son is usually here." Cynthia laughed when her and Harry broke away as I placed the empty glass cup down on the counter, wiping my lips with the back of my hand as I sent her an uneasy smile and nodded.

"Ha yeah. My cooking tastes like crap so I'm here." I said, bringing my hands up ever so slightly making awkward jazz hands.

"But I promise I'll pay you back for the food you cook and everything." I quickly said as Harry shook his head.

"Don't need to, Haz is already paying." Harry answered making me look over to my grinning son with wide eyes.

"You got money little man?" I asked with a raise of my brow.

"No, he's teaching me how to do the cool handshake." Harry informed, bringing his large out in front of Haz's small one.

"Nah you gotta smack hands like a sideways high five, not a hand shake, then you do the fist bumps." Haz said through a mouthful of bacon as Harry attempted it, the both of them doing their handshake, Haz doing his movements with ease while Harry hesitated, looking confused and out of beat.

"My dad's too white for this." Talie sighed besides me, making me look at her with a light laugh.

"So... when does the handshake stop." Harry asked, intensely drawn into the handshake between him and my son, continuing hand slaps and fists bumps that seemed to never end.

"Man it was supposed to end like three fist bumps ago." Haz informed with a bored expression as Talie and I laughed while Cynthia grabbed a fruit from the fruit bowl.

"Wait, where you going love?" Harry said, glancing away from his and Haz's handshake for only a brief moment before refocusing on it again as Cynthia got a bottle of water from the pantry.

"You know I always do morning yoga with my girls honey." Cynthia smiled, going on her tiptoes to kiss Harry's cheek as he gave her a look.

"Yeah what about your girl." He tested, nodding over to Talie who was flipping through the pages of her large sign language book silently.

"It's fine, I understand." Talie said, looking up from her novel as her mom made her way around the corner over to her, kissing her forehead while rubbing her back.

"Thank you honey pot." Cynthia smiled.

"Bye Haz, bye Nat." She said, waving as she grabbed her rolled up yoga mat and left for the door.

Talie kept staring at her page with a sad faraway look in her eyes as she thumbed the bottom of the page, her small pink lips slightly pouted making me sling my arm around her slumped shoulders, rubbing the side of her arm as I pulled her into my body while she automatically leaned her head against my chest in response.

"You know what first sign you wanna teach me?" I asked, playfully poking the side of her face making her smile, a dimple indenting the side of her cheek as she nodded her head eagerly before looking back down at the book in her arms.

"When does it stop!" Harry started to panic, his voice cracking as his and Haz's handshake only began to quicken and complicate while Haz gave him a blank expression, exchanging smirks with me while I held Talie closer and winked at my son.

++

"Staring intensely at your grilled salmon like you're gonna threaten to gang bang it later in an allyway won't make it cook any faster." Harry informed as I continued to glare at the fish on the frying pan in front of me with wide eyes, not daring to look away before I leaned forward.

"Cook you little bitch." I threatened under my breath, narrowing my eyes at it in determination.

I had already helped Harry with his bake sale, baking all those different brownies, cookies, minicakes and selling them in front of the house since Haz and Talie's friends were hanging out at Harry's house.

Obviously the sale went great.

Now it was Harry's turn to help me out.

"Alright, alright, calm down." Harry interjected, placing his large hands over my shoulders and pulling me away from the fish, turning me around until I was facing the counter with a large glass bowl and other different ingrediants.

"Remember what I told you about how to make potato salad?" He asked, running his hand through his short hair as he placed his elbows on the counter by my side, leaning forward and looking at my face expectantly.

"Yes." I nodded, now focusing as I grabbed the mayonnaise with a serious expression, opening the lid as I stared at the bowl.

"Seven large spoonfuls of mayonnaise-"

"Five." Harry coughed into his fist, clearing his throat before he smiled at me.

Momentarily pausing, I blinked at him before looking back down at the bowl.

"Seven large-"

"Did you not just hear what I coughed." Harry corrected, flicking my forehead catching me off guard.

"I like mayonnaise." I quickly defended with a light laugh, making him roll his eyes as I followed his instructions, taking five large spoonfuls of the thick white condiment and plopping each scoop into the bowl.

I then began to peel the potatos, Harry hovering over me, repositioning my hand here and there saying I needed to focus on peeling the potatos, not my fingers.

"Oh shit!" I cursed with a jump, dropping the peeler and holding my hand against a small kitchen towel with clenched teeth, making Harry immediatly drop whatever vegetables he was washing into the sink as he appeared at my side.

"Let me see. You idiot, did you hurt yourself? You probably skinned yourself fuck- okay you know what, no more, I'm not letting you anywhere near any sharp kitchen tools let's clean your cut." Harry scolded, a tone of panic in his hard voice as he tried to reach for my covered hand.

I swallowed, looking up at him with wide sad eyes before I dropped my act, a slow smirk spreading across my face as I let out a low evil laugh and took the towel off my hand, showing him my middle finger and flipping him off with my perfectly non injured hand as he glared at me.

"Fuck you." He said, breaking into a small dimpled smile while I continued to maniacally laugh as he dipped his finger into the bowl of mayonnaise, putting a glob of it onto the tip of my nose while I swayed side to side laughing and teasing him.

I quickly wiped the food off my face with a smile, Harry mumbling a "get back to work" while pushing my head a bit with his hand as I chuckled and looked back down at my work.

I dared myself to look up to see Harry's face again, only to find him going back to washing the vegetables, looking down at them with a small smile, shaking his head as I bit my lip to keep from grinning like an idiot before I went back to peeling the potatos.

His smile made me happy.

After I finished the salmon, Harry let me spice it myself before I carefully placed it on a clean plate with a perfect serving of potato salad at the side.

"Looks good." Harry approved once I was done, raising his hand to give me a high five before I looked at his ring finger.

"Hey, where's your ring?" I asked, freezing with my arm up mid air as he glanced at his hand.

"Oh yeah, it's just on the counter, I like to take it off when I'm cooking." Harry explained with a casual shrug, grabbing something from the far back of the counter besides the sink before he showed me his wedding ring to Cynthia, placing it back on.

"Huh, I should've done that, I mean I don't take it off a lot so-" I began, looking down at my own hand only for me to freeze in place in horror.

My wedding ring wasn't on my finger.

"Ohhhhh no-no-no-no-no-no-no." I quickly repeated under my breath in alarm, physically freaking out as Harry looked at my outstretched hand.

"Wait where's your- oh no don't tell me you..." Harry trailed off in realization, snapping his gaze up to meet my wides eyes while I sucked my lips inward.

"Mhmm." I nodded, my lips pressed firmly together as I slowly began to hypervenilate.

"While we were-"

"Mhmm."

"And it-"

"Mm-fucking-hm." I confirmed in a pained tone, the both of us just staring at one another with wide eyes as the realization slowly sank in before we both bolted to the left over desserts from the bake sale, quickly taking them out of the fridge and clumsily sprawling them across the counter.

"Do you remember when you last had it on while we were baking these?" Harry interrogated as we frantically tore through each packaging of sweets one by one.

"No I don't remember!" I panicked, messily digging through and tearing apart a brownie as Harry did the same to the mini cakes.

"What do you mean you don't remember!" He snapped, the both of us crossing our arms over one another to look through the next baked good as I began to sweat.

"Bitch it means I don't remember!" I told him, our faces only inches away since we were practically over each other trying to get all of the baked goods on either side of us while glaring at the other.

Pieces and chunks of dessert flew through the air until it was down to the last brownie, but even then my ring was no where in sight.

I let out a tired sigh, slowly leaning down and resting my forehead against the counter to catch my breath as my eyes screwed shut.

"Oh god someone might fucking choke or swallow a piece of jewelry all because I'm a dumbass. I didn't wanna put anyone in danger, God I feel so bad- I feel so bad what if-"

"Hey, don't worry about it," A large familiar hand hesitantly rubbed my hunched shoulder in comfort as I felt Harry step closer.

"What is it like, 2.5 carats? That big rock on that ring won't even fit down anyone's throat, you're fine." He assured while I made a low grunt of disagreement.

"If dick can go down a person's throat then so can a diamond." I said, my voice muffled since I still had my face down on the kitchen counter.

Harry didn't say anything after that, I don't really think he knew what to say since his hand on my shoulder stiffened until he slowly and awkwardly raised it off my body before clearing his throat.

"You think your uh- hus- Aaron be mad when he finds out about this?" Harry asked with a strange tone in his voice.

"He won't be happy I'll tell you that." Was all I said, letting my body slump.

It was quiet for a moment before I heard Harry's footsteps pass by me.

"I'll be back, stay right there." He quickly requested as I raised my hand with my pointer finger and thumb pressed together giving him the 'okay' sign without lifting my head.

Aaron was gonna be pissed, he was the one who chose my wedding ring for me.

It was ridiculous, I still remember him saying this stupid quote, the bigger the diamond the bigger the love even though I really didn't care what was on my ring, diamond or no diamond.

After a few moments I heard someone enter the room again as a finger gently poked my shoulder.

"I've got something for you." Harry said, making me finally open my eyes and raise my head up from the counter to look at him only to be taken aback by what was in front of me.

There in his outstretched hand, was my old wedding ring.

The wedding ring Harry proposed to me, the one I wore and never took off when we were together, the one I slid off my finger when I decided to leave that one terrible terrible day.

"You... you kept it." I slowly said in disbelief, straightening my posture as I hesitantly took the small jewelry that meant so much to me, feeling Harry's eyes on me as I traced the simple gold metal of the band with one tiny diamond on it the size of a small pebble.

Harry and I both didn't want to use any of our parent's large abundance of money to get our rings, we saved up our own pay and bought our rings for eachother.

I checked the rim of the inside of the band, finding our initials that we requested to be carved into it still there.

N & H.

"I uh, I kept it and I just thought, I don't know if your wedding ring with Aaron really means that much to you you could- you could sell that I guess... to get a new one..." Harry began in a sad tone, looking away from me as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I mean you could also, I don't know change the engravings to your initials if you wanted to and just do tha-" The rest of his sentence never left his lips when he saw that I was sliding our old wedding ring onto my ring finger, feeling as if I was in a trance and that all the memories of being with Harry were filling my head all at once.

I looked at the forgotten wedding band on my finger, so happy to see it, so happy to know that it still exists and with all the memories as I felt the cold metal against my skin.

Like it belonged there.

"Nat, why are you- why are you crying?" Harry suddenly spoke up, placing his large warm hands on my shoulders as he peered down at me in concern, making me realize that warm tears were actually streaming down my face I smiled, laughing lightly and shaking my head.

"I'm sorry, don't worry I'm fine," I sniffled with a smile, feeling breathless as I looked down at the wedding ring on my finger before wiping at my tears.

"I'm just, I'm really happy. I didn't- I didn't think I'd ever see this again and it means so much to me." I tried to explain, laughing at how much joy was filling my heart as I took the ring off and cradled it against my chest, smiling up at Harry with teary eyes as he looked down at me in pure shock and wonder.

His expression morphed into something all too familiar as he reached out and wiped at a lone tear with his hand as my eyes fluttered close at his touch while I scrunched my face playfully at him causing him to chuckle.

His hand lingered over my face and I welcomed the warmth, almost having to physically force myself not to lean in to his touch before he pulled away.

"Nat I-"

"Daddy! Nat!" Talie burst into the room, causing both Harry and I to turn to her at the sound of urgency in her small voice as she looked at us with wide frantic eyes.

"One of Haz's friends is choking on something he ate in his brownie!" She panicked, pointing to the front door as Harry and I exhanged looks before we ran to the scene, darting outside to find
one kid named Eric choking and hacking his lungs out on the grass behind a bush while Haz kept telling him to "not sue."

We then heard the sound of a car parking across the street, making us both realize Eric's mom was here to pick him up.

"You deal with the parent I got the kid." Harry said as I let out a small "right" before we split.

"What up Clara, haven't- haven't seen you in forever how've you been!" I practically yelled from across the street, quickly running over to Eric's mom and attacking her in a quick hug that caught her off guard as I looked over my shoulder at Harry behind me.

He was now behind Eric, performing a heimlich maneuver although from this angle it looked like he was just violently humping the kid on his lawn.

Oh god.

"Yes, it's nice to see you-"

"Oh wait! Wait is this, woah is this a new car!" I cut her off, quickly turning her around to face her parked SUV so she wouldn't see Harry as she gave me a look.

"Um no.... it's not." She trailed off, attempting to lean away from me.

"And what is that sound?" She asked when the sound of gagging was heard across the street as she tried to turn only for me to pull her back.

"Oh no I think I see a scratch." I lied, pointing at the paint job as Clara leaned forward, squinting her eyes with furrowed brows.

"I don't see anything-"

"Hey Clara! Hey Nat!" Harry greeted, making us turn to find him with a healthy looking Eric at his side who was currently counting a nice stash of money in his hand.

"Hey Harry! Hey Eric!" I said with as much enthusiasm as both Harry and I smiled at one another, causing Eric and his mom to look at us with strange expressions.

"Did you have fun?" Carla asked her son, stepping forward as Harry went behind her, standing besides me as Eric paused, looking over her shoulder at us.

"Well...." Eric smirked in a high pitched tone.

Harry then raised another folded twenty dollar bill in his hand behind Eric's mom.

"Yup! I had loads of fun!" Eric claimed with an award winning smile as Clara cooed and pinched his cheek, turning around making Harry quickly hold the money behind his back as we both grinned at her.

Clara and Eric went in their car as Harry subtly slid the cash into Eric's hand while Haz and Talie watched us from the front porch of Harry's house.

Harry and I waved goodbye rapidly with wide forced smiles on our faces as the car drove away before I felt Harry place something in my hand that was behind my back, making me run my fingers over the hard surface of the small object already knowing it was my wedding ring to Aaron.

I looked over at Harry, sending him a grateful expression to which he simply smiled and nodded before walking back to the house.

I glanced over my shoulder when he started talking to our kids at the front door before looking back down at the two wedding rings in my hand.

Aaron's diamond ring and Harry's engraved band.

Only one of them truly belonged to me.

And it hurt knowing which one it was.

++

"I'm so serious when I say that it tasted like shit, I thought we were gonna have something good for dinner." Aaron said, wiping at his mouth and tongue with a kitchen rag as I frowned.

"Oh come on, I worked really hard on the clam chowder, I thought it would be nice if I made a home cooked meal for dinner this once." I reasoned as Aaron quickly grabbed his coat and keys even though he just got back from work.

"Look, I've had a long day at the office babe and I need to eat something that will actually stay in my stomach. Not saying I don't appreciate your work, but I'm going to get some In-N-Out." He informed, trying to kiss my cheek only for me to avoid it quickly as I gave him a look.

"Seriously." I said, scrunching my eyebrows at him as he rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, be dramatic over it then." He dismissed me, not even waiting for my response as he opened the fromt door and left, slamming it shut as the sound echoed through the house.

Well I know who's gonna be sleeping on the couch tonight.

Probably me since Aaron is always too stubborn to actually listen to me and I can't stand one second laying next to his dumbas s in bed.

I walked back into my kitchen, looking over at Haz and Talie who were subtly playing and poking their bowls of clam chowder while Harry happily ate his own serving from the kitchen counter.

Haz and Talie saw me at the entrance, their eyes widening before they both shoveled a large spoonful of clam chowder into their mouth as if it was the best thing ever before the gave me close lipped smiles and thumbs up.

"Mmm... so good Nat!" Talie said with a full mouth.

"Sooo good." Haz agreed, even though he wasn't swallowing the soup in his mouth making me purse my lips in thought before I went over to the stove where the pot of my clam chowder was as Harry ended his call with his wife on his phone, letting out a sigh and rubbing his face before going back to his food.

"What'd she say?" I asked with a knowing look as I grabbed a spoon from one of the kitchen drawers while Harry sighed, dropping his head before looking at me.

"She's having dinner with her friends, a last minute thing." He informed as he ate my clam chowder while I glanced over at Talie who was actually laughing, giddy with excitement and giggling at a joke book Haz had gotten her, pointing and delivering jokes as she laughed while Haz smirked, just watching her.

"What is that like your second bowl of my clam chowder? Aaron didn't like it." I noted, getting my own small bowl while looking down at the white hot mush as Harry shrugged.

"I like it." He simply said as I tried my food.

I immediatly began to choke.

"Oh god I put wayyy too much salt in that- what the actual hell." I coughed out, cringing and covering my mouth as I shook my head, placing the bowl down while Harry laughed, continuing to eat my food.

"Why are you still eating it? Or more importantly how?" I asked, hopping off the counter and nudging him as he smirked.

"Like I said, I like it." He said in a truthful tone as I raised my brows, thinking back to when Harry and I were together.

I remember this one time I had packed him lunch when he was taking his dad's shift for their family hotel chain.

I made him this small tuperware of mushy rice and really tough overburnt teriyaki chicken but he acted like I had given him freshly cooked buttered lobster with a side of caviar since it was pretty rare that I ever tried cooking since he did all of it.

He kept thanking me, telling me how much he loved me and how he was going to eat every single bite and during lunch at his work I visited him because I forgot to also give him the teriyaki sauce, only to find him eagerly opening his bag of food like an eager kid in the lunch room with a big dimpled smile.

"You know my wife Nat, she made me lunch today." Harry had giggled at a coworker who was sitting besides him, looking away from their coffee to give him a blank expression.

I couldn't have helped but laugh when Harry made a small face, smacking his lips together at the taste of the mushy rice and the rock hard chicken before he shrugged, smiling again and eating it as if it was the best meal in the world.

"That looks and smells like shit." His coworker had commented, eyeing my food making Harry pause his eating to turn to the man.

"Yeah well you look and smell like shit you don't hear me saying anything." Harry fired back, actually looking thoroughly pissed and offended.

"Woah, calm down Styles, all I said-"

"No don't tell me to calm the fuck down when you insult something my wife took her time and effort to make me asshole. So I suggest you shut the fuck up and drink your coffee Eddie before I give you a double shift today." Harry had snapped at the employee who quickly looked away, drinking from his mug like he was ordered as Harry went back to his food, smiling when he saw his meal and happily continuing to eat it.

"Hey Nat, you hear what I just said?" Harry asked, snapping me out of my thoughts and back to the present as I blinked at him.

"Oh no sorry I was just... I was just thinking about something uh... what was I going to do?" I asked, pausing to think about whatever I was planning to do before I zoned out as Harry chuckled and pointed at the house phone in my hand.

"You were going to call for pizza for the kids." He informed with a smirk as my eyes widened in realization.

I snapped my fingers before pointing at him with a smile.

"Oh right thanks," I grinned before looking over my shoulder at Haz and Talie who were still playing with the clam chowder while reading from the joke book in Talie's hands.

"What do you guys think about pizza?" I asked them, making them snap their gazes up to me with wide relieved smiles before they began nodding rapidly.

"Oh yes please!"

"Hit me up with them pineapples on my pizza."

I smiled, dialing for pizza delivery and walking into the living room, plopping down on the couch by myself and propping my feet on the coffee table as I ordered the food.

"Alright, thanks." I said, ending the call before letting out a small sigh of content, sinking further into the cushions of my sofa before I heard footsteps enter the room.

"Su'p ma." Haz said, climbing onto the couch besides me as I scooted over, giving him room.

"Su'p baby, sorry I had to make you eat my food. I won't be doing that anytime soon." I assured him, cupping his cute little face and running my hand through his afro as he looked up at me.

"I know you're tryin, I know you wanted to do this because you thought to be a good mom you needed to make me home made meals. But you are a good mom, and I don't mind the take out. Sure you're not the best cook but you're the best mom, you help me with my homework, always play with me, take care of the necessities in the house. I know you try your best and that's all that matters" Haz explained causing me to break into a smile as I opened my arms out for him.

"Thank you baby." I said in a soft tone when he hugged me, holding his small body close to mine as I felt him nuzzle his face into my neck while I leaned my cheek against his tiny shoulder, rubbing his back.

"And I know that Harry is behind me at the door holding up reading cards for you to say." I added, making Haz's body go rigid under my touch before I heard a deep british voice let out a low "shit," along with the sound of papers falling to the floor.

"Told you she'd know." Talie said, making me break away from Haz as I turned to find Harry, quickly trying to collect the notecards he dropped on the ground while Talie attempted to kick them away, laughing and teasing her father who glared at her before grabbing and tickling her.

"Yeah how'd you know?" Haz asked when I looked back at him with a smirk.

"Necessities, really Haz. You never say that, and you're never one for long 'I love you' speeches." I said, knowing my son well as I playfully poked his side.

"Yeah, but what I said I meant. I just didn't know how to tell you so I asked Harry to help me out. I really did mean it though, you're a cool mom." Haz shrugged, nodding his head as I ruffled his hair and held him to my side.

"And you're a cool son... kind of." I teased, making him laugh as Harry and Talie joined us on the couch.

I looked at Harry who let out an awkward chuckle when our eyes met, resting his arms on the back of the couch while Talie and Haz began to talk.

"Necessities, really." I said with a smirk for only him to hear making him subtly flip me off with a grin when the kids weren't looking making me laugh.

"I have more joke books if you want." Haz said to Talie who turned to him with wide excited eyes.

"Really! Can we look at them?" She asked, barely containing her eagerness as Haz nodded with a small smile, the both of them getting off the couch and heading up the stairs to his room leabing Harry and I on the sofa.

"Nat get your feet off the coffee table." Harry spoke up, saying what he always said when we lived together as I gave hin a look.

"Uh, I'm sorry whose house is this?" I asked him with a laugh, making his smile falter ever so slightly before I caught him glance down at my wedding ring to Aaron that was now on my finger again after I had washed it.

"Yours and Aaron." Harry said under his breath, swallowing before he awkwardly looked away, shifting in his seat as I frowned.

"You know, since you have your ring again you can give me back our old one-"

"I want to keep it." I immediatly said, cutting Harry off as he turned his head to look at me.

"Um, please?" I added with a nervous smile.

"Sorry didn't mean to like be so serious I just," I began, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear as I tried to collect my words while Harry stared at me

"It really means a lot to me and I was wondering if you would... if you would please let me keep my old wedding ring." I asked in a hopeful tone, scrunching my shoulders up as an emotion flashed over Harry's dark green eyes before he inhaled slowly.

"Yeah, course. It's yours after all." He said in a casual tone, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away from me when I smiled.

"Really? Oh my god thank you, thank you thank you." I celebrated, relief and joy washing over me and before I could even stop myself I tackled Harry in a heart felt hug, making his body tense up in surprise.

I immediatly pulled away with wide eyes, shocked by my own actions as well.

"Oh shoot sorry I just- I was so happy. Sorry I shouldn't have-"

"No, no I was just surprised-"

"Ha yeah... yeah me too."

"I mean it's just a hug, it's no big deal." Harry said slowly, raising his arms again for me as I hesitantly did the same.

"Right, just a hug. I mean, we can hug right?" I asked one more time just too make sure.

"Yeah, yeah of course." Harry nodded before we awkwardly closed the space between us, his arms lightly wrapped around me just like mine.

But then he held me closer, tighter against him until I could feel the race of his heart against my own chest as I leaned in more, burying my face into his broad shoulder and closing my eyes, inhaling his scent while he rubbed my back.

"It's just a hug." I whispered to myself, holding Harry more securely, not wanting to let go.

And I swear, for a split second, I could hear Harry whisper the same thing to himself as he leaned his cheek on my shoulder.

"It's just a hug." He whispered with a sigh.