I LAID MY HEAD AGAINST THE cold, glass window and peacefully listened to the cars whizzing by and the customers chattering about whatever was going on with their lives. All of their conversations combined sounded like a new language I was not familiar with. I picked Clare's voice out of everyone's in the shop and listened to hers instead. Her voice was soothing and I would have closed my eyes and taken a quick nap if it was not for the fact that Harry was complaining somewhere off in the distance.

He had been doing this since Clare took his earphones. When we were back in the kitchen, the poor man was unable to find them but I did not bother to help him look for them. His music was distracting him, unfortunately, and Clare did what she believed was right. I was not going to go against her and give them back to him. The guy hated me and risking my job for him was not my priority.

It was eerie, seeing as how Harry always found a way to catch my attention. He did the simplest movements; yet, my eyes wanted to follow every single one. I read his body language—though it was very hard to do so—and somewhat understood why he was upset. He constantly had his earphones in his ears to listen to his esoteric music and he enjoyed every moment of it. I saw him with his music and I was intrigued. I barely listened to music but the way he moved about when listening to his made me want to listen to music more. Better yet, it made me want to listen to whatever the hell he was listening to.

I let out a tired sigh, looking up at him briefly and thinking back to when I first met this displeasing man. He was rude to me then, he was rude to me now. I knew I had not been around here long but I wished he would treat me with a little respect. Was it not obvious I had not planned on going anywhere anytime soon? He was quite oblivious to the situation.

His green eyes landed on me from across the room and he raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner. I could not look away from those hypnotizing eyes of this, though. They were so full of life...so green. I had seen this color plenty of times but staring into his eyes made the engine in my mind roar to life. My lips parted and millions of thoughts raced through my head. His eyes were making me think and I had no idea how I felt about it.

Different colors had different meanings. Red associated with war and danger. White equated with innocence and perfection. Blue linked with loyalty and wisdom. Yellow often related to something of high quality. Black was connected to death and formality. Every color had a meaning and some were the complete opposite of each other but green was a completely different story.

This was the color of growth, the color of spring, of renewal and rebirth. It renewed and restored depleted energy. It was the sanctuary away from stress. Green was a positive color, a natural peacemaker. It loved to observe, and therefore related to someone such as a good listener. It had strong emotional correspondence with safety and protection; it was the color of passage in road traffic. This color had great healing power and it was the most restful color for the human eye. Green was exactly what I needed.

I expected for Harry to smile at me but he did not. He had stopped smiling after I refused to help him look for his earphones. I thought he would have understood how important this job meant to me but I was wrong. He only muttered harsh words under his breath and went back to his little search. He was angry with me for not helping him. I supposed I could have helped him, but my mind made me choose otherwise.

It was my turn to raise my eyebrows when Harry started making his way toward me. I lifted my head off of the window and tried my best not to look so shocked. I thought it would be wise for us to keep our distance but this was happening. Harry was coming my way and I was letting him. It was not that I had much of a choice, though. A cat had officially ran off with my tongue and I allowed it to keep running. My tongue was long gone and I could not find it within me to speak. Harry stood beside me and looked out of the window like I had been doing for the past ten or so minutes. Clare did not have anything else for me to do and I had gotten bored. Looking at the different cars seemed to help the time pass by.

If I was able to raise my eyebrows any higher, I would. Harry seemed interested in watching the cars through the window. There was a chair nearby and he pulled it closer to both the window and I. He sat down on it and kept his full attention on the window. I was astonished. Every time we were this close, rude words or facial expressions were shared. But this...this was something different. Harry sat down beside me on his own terms and he was watching the passing cars with me. Well, he was the only one watching the passing cars. I, on the other hand, was watching him.

His curls were perfectly still and they were slightly shiny. I was tempted to reach out and touch them but I was afraid of the outcome. What if I touched his hair and he snapped? A part of me was enjoying this moment. Another part of me was on guard. I was not supposed to have any type of relationship with anyone and that included being friends. Harry was a rude, obnoxious man but deep down, a small percentage of my heart wanted to be friends with him.

The rest of my heart wanted to hit him with my car and back up just to hit him again.

I bet Harry knew I was watching him. Why was he staying quiet? His chin sat on the palm of his hand and I could see his eyes moving back and forth, watching the vehicles. Wrinkles formed on his forehead and I wondered if he was actually concentrating. I only examined the colors of the cars and the type of model they were. What was Harry examining? I was curious as to what went on in that man's head. He was somewhat off but so was I.

"Do you like cars?"

"What?" I blinked.

"I saw you watching the cars," he was speaking, but he was not looking at me. "You were watching them for a while. I thought you were being a moron but then you looked at me. So, I decided to come have a look for myself."

"I thought I was a Barbie doll?"

"You're a lot of things. I have a long list written."

"Seriously?"

"Mentally, of course. I don't have the time to write down a list about you. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't like you that much."

"I'm going to be here for a while." I sighed. "You might as well get used to me."

"A while, eh? You plan on leaving or something?"

I rolled my eyes, "Way to jump to conclusions. Bravo, I applaud you."

The corner of his lip twitched before curling up, "I don't see you applauding."

"What is it with you?" I wondered.

"I have no idea what you mean. English is filled with more than enough words, yeah? Use them and be more specific."

"God," I groaned. "When I leave for work, please stand behind my car."

"Are you saying you want to hit me with your car?" he questioned me, his smile more apparent. "Because that's madness and just plain rude."

"Do you even know what those words mean?"

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have used them," he poked my head. "Do you even have a brain in there, Doll?"

"I thought I was a moron—"

"Like I said," he stood up from his chair. "You're a lot of things. A bitch is most definitely one of them."

"Thanks."

"Why'd you dye your hair?"

"I thought it was time for a change."

"Oh," he looked at me and I realized he was looking at my hair. "Well, I liked it better when you had different shades of blonde. You look boring now with just one color. Your sense of style is slacking. I'm very disappointed."

My lips formed in a thin, straight line as Harry put the chair back where he got it from. I viewed him as he went to the back and my eyebrows were threatening to leave my forehead. I wished I was able to raise them higher because with Harry, there were going to be rising a lot more. He was very confusing and I had no idea if my mind was ready for this uncertainty. I had so many other things to focus on. Harry's abnormal ways was not one of them.

I looked back at the window and faintly frowned. Not as many cars passed by as they did earlier and that meant I was back to square one of finding something to do. I stood up from my chair and decided to leave it by the window. Clare was busy chatting with a customer and I did not want to interrupt her conversation to ask if she had anything else for me to do. I believed I was doing a wonderful job today even though I barely did anything. Clare informed me on how they receive new herbs every week and that was what Harry and Jillian were unloading yesterday.

I stopped. Where was Jillian? I knew she did not work here but she seemed like the type of person who would stop by everyday to help...or the type of person who just helped out so she could see her boyfriend. I shrugged it off and ran my fingers along the different bottles of herbs. I did not read what they were, though, because I was not very interested at the moment. Lunch was soon and my main focus was currently on what I was going to eat. I wanted to try something different and going back to the place I went to yesterday would not do me any good.

My fingers dropped from the bottles and I looked up at the ceiling. Spider webs clung to the corners and I wondered if Clare or Harry had noticed them. If they had, they left them alone and moved on with their lives. I walked toward the back and instead of going to the supply closet, I went into the kitchen. Harry was standing in front of the fridge and his back was facing me. I ignored him and turned back around to go to the supply closet. I opened the door and moved the light switch, smiling when the little candle lit up on the other side of the room. I grabbed what I needed and went back to where I saw the spider webs.

Ignoring Harry seemed to be the smartest thing to do. I could not focus on him when I had to focus on way more important things such as my safety and my family's. I left Portland but my family stayed behind. They were in more danger than I was because I left and they stayed. They were much more closer to the danger and I did not realize it until now. I sat the broom to the side and placed both of my hands on my forehead.

How had I been so stupid?

I went back into the kitchen and found my purse where I left it earlier. Harry watched me from the side but I did not care that he was in the room. I only cared about the safety of my mother and Jett. I pulled my phone out of the bag and dialed my mother's number. I tugged at my hair as I waited for her to answer. Each ring sent shivers down my spine. Why was she not answering? She always answered on the first if not the second ring.

There was a sigh, "Hello?"

"Mother!"

"Gwen?"

I ignored her, "Are you all right? How about Jett? How is he doing?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Harry's head tilt to the side. I took this opportunity to lock myself in the restroom and press my back against the wall. I did not want Harry knowing what any of this was about. In fact, he did not have a right to know. I barely knew him and I was not going to tell him anything.

"Sweetie, what's going on?"

"I'm so stupid," I whispered into the phone.

"How are you stupid?" she asked. "Talk to me. Tell me what's wrong."

"I left you guys in Portland. I left you where—"

"Honey," she cut me off. "You left us to keep us and yourself safe, remember? That was what we had agreed on?"

"You don't understand," my chest was aching. "I left you where the danger is, Mother. With me hours away, it'll be so easy for them to get to you. Maybe I should just come back."

"No!" she yelled. "Stay in Seattle. I'll figure something out."

"I need the two of you to get out of the house." I said. "They know everything about me and that means they know where you live. God, why didn't I think of this before? You should have moved to Seattle, not me. Mother—"

"Let me think, Gwen."

"But—"

"Give me some time to think!"

I closed my mouth and waited impatiently. Seconds had turned into minutes and I was beginning to worry. What was she thinking? I knew my mother and she always had something on her mind. Did she even have a place for her and Jett to go? I highly doubted it and this bothered me. Even if she did, how would she explain it to my younger brother? Their house was perfectly fine, therefore it would be hard for her to lie to him about the house being messed up.

"We'll go to a hotel."

"A hotel?" I shook my head in disbelief. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"It won't be close," she reassured me. "As soon as Jett gets in from school, we're gone. We'll get a room at a hotel about half an hour away. Jett will probably miss a couple days of school but he's a smart boy. He'll catch up on all of his schoolwork. I'll start taking him to school myself once we're settled in the hotel. He's about to get out for summer break anyway. It'll work out perfectly. I think that's the only thing we can do right now."

"I'm so sorry," I apologized.

"You can't change your past," she exhaled and I imagined her shaking her head indirectly at me. "We're just going to have to learn how to deal with this until they're caught. Look, honey, don't worry about us. I can handle it and I'm already packing our bags. Just move on with your life, okay? The more you think about it, the more it'll stress you out. Seattle is supposed to be a new start. Don't regret moving there. It saved you."

"Okay."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

"I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye."

"Goodbye."

I hung up the phone and wiped away the single tear that had managed to escape from my eye. As soon as I wiped it, more tears began to fall. My body was still against the wall and I slid down until I was in sitting position on the floor. I was shaking as I sobbed and I pulled my knees closer to my chest. What had I done?

God, what had I done?

I was supposed to be looking over my shoulder every second to make sure no one was following me. Now, my mother would have to be doing it because I left her and Jett there in Portland. When I first thought of moving away, I never thought about putting my family in danger by doing so. I just had to go and everything seemed fine at the time. Now, I was thinking more than I ever did and I was realizing the idiotic mistakes I had made. I knew my mother would be able to take care of herself but would she be able to take care of Jett, too?

I stared ahead at the wall and my bottom lip trembled. What was wrong with me? I should not be crying. I was much stronger than this. Crying made me weak and I could not be weak. I wiped my face with the back of my hands and stood up, walking over to the sink. I left my phone on the floor and examined myself in the mirror. My cheeks were still wet and my eyes remained glossy. I had to go back to work and there was not much I could do with my appearance. If anyone asked, I was homesick. It was a piece of cake, honestly. Now, would they believe me? The decision was in their hands, not mine. I did not care what they believed.

Swallowing hard, I turned around and made my way to the restroom door. I grabbed my phone from the floor and when I unlocked the door, I heard something move on the other side of the door. I was quick to open the door to see Harry standing there with his eyes wide. They were not wide for long, though. He quickly fixed himself and cleared his throat. He looked me up and down and I knew he could tell I had been crying. I was not ready for any smart comments he had to say. In fact, if he decided to make a smart comment, I would have started crying again.

But he opened his mouth and asked me the last thing I expected him to ask.

"Hey, want some coffee?"