Being Harrison Bloom’s Girl

He should say no, of course. That would be the sensible thing to do.

And yet, why should he say no?

He was single, too, wasn’t he? Leigh and he had made that quite clear. They were both single. They were both entitled to see other people if they wanted to.

The thought of Leigh seeing anybody else made him squeeze the phone so hard that it was a wonder it didn’t break.

Single and free, he reminded himself.

“Why not? But it’s six in the morning. A bit early to be calling people about drinks, isn’t it?”

“Time zones. Jet lag. I don’t get the feeling that you mind. You sound quite awake. Why, don’t you have somebody warming your bed these days, Harrison? You never used to have trouble finding people to do that.”

“Times have changed.”

“We’ll see just how much we have changed, shan’t we? I’m looking forward to seeing you, Harrison.”

Harrison wasn’t sure he could reciprocate the sentiment, but it did do his ego a little good. He was a man, after all, and one who had been rejected by the woman he loved twice in about the span of a week.

Ruthlessly, he tamped down any suggestion from his own traitorous mind that he wasn’t being loyal to Leigh.

Leigh could no longer claim any of his loyalty. She had left him. She had broken his heart and walked away, tossing aside everything he had offered her – his heart, his hand, his life.

No, he definitely shouldn’t be entertaining any notion of loyalty towards her. She had forfeited all claims to it.

“When and where?”

“I’m at your disposal, Harrison. Remember how much fun we used to have when I put myself at your disposal?”

Harrison could hardly have stopped the memories that flooded his mind. They were intoxicating.

He and Diane had been very…compatible. They had worked very well together.

Many people dismissed Diane as a bimbo. They usually found out that that was a huge mistake, when it suited Diane to let them figure out how badly they had miscalculated. But they had shared that in common. People had dismissed them as charming shells so often, until they’d had no choice but to set them straight.

She was also very inventive with intimacy.

Oh yes, he remembered how much fun they used to have.

“Evening, around seven. We’ll meet at…”

“Where we met first, Harrison. I’ll see you then. Oh, and please do wear a nice suit. I remember your inclination to forget what you’re wearing when you’re coding.”

Harrison chuckled. In the last few years, he’d gotten used to getting decked out in the nice tuxes when necessary.

“I have a few now.”

“I know you do. I’ve been watching you, Harrison. Now I’ll get to take a good look at you, up close and personal. Don’t keep me waiting.”

Diane hung up, and Harrison sat still for a few minutes.

So, he was going to go out with Diane Masters. It was just a couple of friends getting together, of course. There was nothing more to it.

But even as he told himself that, he knew that that wasn’t the complete truth. If there hadn’t been anything more to it, he wouldn’t be trying to justify it, even to himself.

He had no reason to justify it to anybody, he reminded himself, but there was a part of him that felt dirty for even spending an evening with an old friend – an old friend with whom he had such history.

So, Harrison set it aside, and set his phone aside, and got back to work. He threw himself into it, and for the next two hours, he managed to stop thinking about Leigh. Maybe he hadn’t quite managed to stop himself from hurting, but he’d pushed it to the background and let it hum there.

He would not mope around, wishing that Leigh would come back to him.

He didn’t want Leigh to come back to him anymore. He had had enough of her dithering, her shock at the idea of a solid commitment. He’d had more than enough of Leigh throwing everything he offered back in his face.

He had also had enough of living like a monk, arranging his schedule to suit Leigh’s, only for her to cut and run, over and over again.

All of that was over.

It was done.

He would make things right with Martha and Samuel, of course. He would find a way to make things right with them.

And then he would go on with his life. Leigh had obviously made her choice.

He would have to live with it. Well then, he would live well, because there was no reason why he shouldn’t.

Deliberately, Harrison got up, and walked to the bathroom. He opened the cabinet and methodically gathered up everything he had stocked for Leigh. He put it all in a bag, and set it aside.

It felt cathartic. At least the bathroom felt like his own again, thought Harrison, looking around.

But he was kidding himself, at least a bit. He could get rid of everything he had bought for Leigh, but her scent seemed to linger in there, as if she had walked in there and washed up before leaving.

Leaving without a word, he reminded himself, after turning him down.

She had turned him down.

He had offered her everything, and she had turned him down.

Whatever it took, he would put the past behind him and move on. Harrison promised himself that as he shut out the pain and focused on getting ready for work. He chose the nice suit that Diane had demanded over his usual casuals for work.

Harrison Bloom had made the choice to move on. When he made a decision, he didn’t sit around and wait for things to happen.

He made things happen.

If he chose to make things happen that night with a very obviously willing and single Diane, that, too, would be nobody’s business but his own.