Page 10 of A Home for Harmony (Blossoms #16)

SOFT AND SQUISHY

“ M erry Christmas,” Scarlet said as she walked down the stairs rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

It was a damn good thing that Harmony had left when she had because his daughter texted at nine and wanted to know if she could come stay with him last night.

That meant something happened at her grandparents.

At least she texted first, but she also knew to do that at night if it was dark so he didn’t think someone was trying to get into the house.

“Merry Christmas to you too. I’m assuming you want to open gifts before you eat?”

“Of course, Dad,” Scarlet said, walking quickly to the tree by the fireplace.

He’d noticed Harmony checking it out when she looked at the pictures of his daughter, but she didn’t comment on his fake green bristles.

He only put the tree up for his daughter. A tradition for the two of them to decorate it together. She wanted more decorations in the house, but he wasn’t too keen on them.

The first few years he gave in and let her do it, and then she seemed to outgrow it all but the tree.

He sat in his leather chair while Scarlet went to the tree. He hadn’t even wrapped her gifts and had planned on doing it last night, which meant once he knew she was coming, he had to do it, then bring them down when she was sleeping rather than this morning before she was supposed to arrive.

It’s not like he could get any sleep last night.

His mind and his body were a collision course of erotic thoughts after spending time with Harmony.

“Go ahead,” he said. “Start anywhere.”

His daughter did her normal perusal of the gift boxes until she found the one she was looking for.

Her UGG slippers. He didn’t know why he was surprised she zoomed in on that box that he’d hidden in the back.

She ripped it open and squealed. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Scarlet said. “My friends told me their parents said these were sold out everywhere and to not get their hopes up.”

Micah snorted. “I got them over a month ago,” he said. “I guess I lucked out.”

He’d almost waited to see if they went on sale for Black Friday and then told himself he’d forget so bought them right then, since it took him long enough to even find them.

Good thing, because he had no clue that they were completely out of stock everywhere now.

“You’re the best,” Scarlet said, sliding them on her feet and kicking her legs in the air. She grabbed her phone that was never far from her and snapped a picture.

“Don’t you dare brag about them to friends who might not have gotten them,” he said sternly.

Scarlet put her phone down and sighed. “You’re right. I’m just so excited!”

“I’m glad, but they can see them later. Open the rest,” he said. “Then I’ll get breakfast started.”

His daughter tore through the rest of her gifts, which were nothing more than some clothing that she’d sent him links or pictures of. She had to divide and conquer her lists so that her mother and he didn’t buy the same things.

Scarlet had told him she only asked for the slippers from him, so that meant they were important to her.

“Did I get a stocking?” Scarlet asked. She loved getting a full stocking and he’d completely forgotten that.

“Shit,” he said. “It’s upstairs. Hang on.”

He was so scattered last night that it’d slipped his mind.

He jogged up the stairs to his room and pulled the stocking out and stuffed it with all the things his daughter loved, then put the gift card in there for the makeup store that became her new obsession.

There was no way he was stepping foot in the place and knew this was easier.

“Thank you, Dad,” Scarlet said, standing up to kiss him on the cheek. At just five foot three, his daughter was close to a foot shorter than him and reminded him of the little girl she’d once been.

She’d always be his baby, but he knew mentally she didn’t think of herself that way anymore.

“Ohhhhh, I’m doing online shopping later,” Scarlet said, holding up the gift card. “Mom got me a bunch of gift cards. I know it. She said it was too hard to pick things out for me.”

He held back the roll of his eyes. It was simple when his daughter sent detailed lists or texts links to exactly what she wanted.

Maybe she thought it was her being fussy, but in his mind, it made life easier.

If he was going to spend money on something, he was getting his daughter exactly what she wanted so he knew she wore or used it.

“Your mother knows you like to shop,” he said. “Now you get to pick out anything you want. And you can get more with after-Christmas sales.”

“I didn’t think of that,” Scarlet said.

Score one for saving his ex on this holiday.

“Don’t always look for the bad in things,” he said. “Do you want to talk about why you ended up here and not at Mom’s all night?”

“I was coming here anyway this morning,” Scarlet said. “What’s the big deal?”

“I’m trying to figure out why you came,” he said. “Maybe Mom was upset over it. Is she still coming now too?”

They had a tradition of Christmas breakfast together, even after the divorce. Before he moved back to the same street, he’d go to his old house that Trinda got in the divorce so that it was easier for Scarlet. Providing he didn’t have to work that morning. If he did, he went later at night.

He was going in in a few hours. The night captain was staying late and then he’d work late tonight for him to come in after he was done with his family dinner.

“She said she was,” Scarlet said. “I’ll text her.”

“Before you do, do you want to tell me what happened last night?”

“Nothing,” Scarlet said, shrugging.

His daughter was pulling her clothes out and taking the tags off and folding them into a pile. He had no clue if she’d take them home or leave them here. He gave up trying to figure it out.

She split her possessions between the houses and fetched anything she needed from the other one. It was easier with her driving now rather than having to run up and down the street or ask one of her parents to bring it over.

“Something had to have happened,” he said. “We had a plan and normally stick to it on the holidays. Did you not have fun at your grandparents?”

“It was good,” Scarlet said. “Mom was moody again.”

He sighed. “She can’t be moody all the time,” he said. “Are you sure you two aren’t just annoying each other?”

Scarlet shrugged again. “I don’t know. She annoys me. She’s always telling me to hurry and rush when I’m getting ready. I wanted to look nice last night.”

His daughter had a bad habit of taking forever to get ready. “We’ve talked about you being late before,” he said.

“But it was just to Grandma and Grandpa’s,” Scarlet argued. “It’s not like I was late to school.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “You should always be on time.”

Scarlet rolled her eyes. “You’re so boring. Not everyone is as rigid as you.”

“I’m not that rigid,” he said. “I let you show up when you want.”

He was squinting his eyes at her.

She giggled. “That’s a joke and I know it. Even though you’re not smiling.”

“Sure,” he said. “It’s a joke.”

Though he was damn glad Harmony hadn’t been here when his daughter arrived.

He wasn’t so sure he could handle that.

He’d dated over the years but nothing serious and no one he introduced to Scarlet.

If his daughter saw cars at the house, she’d ask who it was and most times it was friends and not a woman. Since he’d been living on the same street, he made a habit of not having women over.

Which didn’t explain why he was so willing to have Harmony come last night.

Maybe because he knew his daughter wasn’t home and wouldn’t see Harmony’s car.

“What are you making for breakfast?” his daughter asked.

“You still didn’t tell me what happened last night,” he said. He stood up to walk to the kitchen. “It had to be more than your mother telling you to hurry.”

“Fine,” Scarlet said, getting up and walking into the kitchen with him.

She opened the fridge and got the orange juice out and poured a glass.

“I know Mom got me more gift cards than anything. And she doesn’t do a stocking anymore either.

I just like waking up here on Christmas morning.

You make it fun for me, even though I know Santa doesn’t exist.”

“Santa doesn’t exist?” he asked, whirling quickly to look at her with his eyes wide.

His heart was all soft and squishy that his daughter wanted to be with him.

He had to be doing something right even if other women in his life didn’t think so.

“Don’t be silly, Dad,” Scarlet said, moving over to hug him. She didn’t do it often, but when she did, it reminded him of the little girl that was growing up before his eyes.

“That’s me,” he said. “The silly Dad.”

He kissed her on the top of her head before she moved out of his arms.

Scarlet laughed. “I’ll text Mom now. Can we have pancakes and bacon? I saw bacon in there.”

“That was the plan,” he said. “I’ll make eggs too.”

“Why is your face red?” Scarlet asked.

“What?”

“Your face is red. Why?”

“I didn’t know it was,” he lied.

There was no way he’d admit that when he picked up the package of bacon, all his thoughts went to the woman in his arms last night.

He wondered if it’d look desperate if he texted her today.