Page 12 of A Home for Harmony (Blossoms #16)

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR

M icah knew a trap when he saw one.

“I don’t have enough information to fully give an opinion,” he said. “Anything that I say is biased by having a teenager at home.”

“That’s a fair answer,” she said. “One I’m not surprised you’re giving.”

“I try to be fair. I know not many people think law enforcement personnel are fair, but I am.”

“I see it with you,” she said. “Even if you don’t want others to know, it’s there. The way your daughter is with you is enough testimony to it.”

He nodded. “I never looked at it that way. I try to be who I am.”

“Like my video.”

The video of her looking like the girl next door.

Where he wished it was shot in his bed and not hers.

Or that he was next to her.

He hadn’t had thoughts like that since he was in college and before he met Trinda.

“Like the message in your video,” he said. “Which was nicely delivered.”

“That sounded so hard for you to get out of your mouth,” she said, laughing. “Take a sip of your beer. Maybe it will help.”

Their drinks had been placed down and he did what she said, hoping to quench his parched throat after seeing Harmony all sleepy eyed in bed.

But she didn’t come off as sexy. She came off as real.

As genuine.

And he was having a crisis of conscience in his opinion of her.

“I don’t want to put you off,” he said. “I wonder if this is a generational thing.”

She laughed and then winked at him. “Do you know how many Mommy Vlogs are out there? And let me tell you, there is nothing more cutthroat than a mother trying to boast about her child and gaining subscribers. I can’t tell you the number of clients I’ve got that are mothers starting out.”

He frowned. “Clients?”

Her head went back and forth. “I have instructional videos that people can buy on how to earn money on YouTube. They can also pay for one-on-one sessions where I walk them through connection, trends, video editing. You name it, I’m doing it.

The one thing I’ve started now is being a liaison between brands and influencers.

I’m building a list of brands that want to use influencers for marketing.

It’s crazy cheaper than traditional ads for them.

I’ve got a list of influencers that is growing who want to earn money.

I put them in touch with each other after being the middleman for some negotiations, then get a percentage from both sides. ”

Most of this was going over his head, but he understood the gist of it.

“You are keeping your presence so that you’re reputable also?” he asked.

“Something like that,” she said, nodding. “I won’t bore you, but it’s all part of my business. I do the work so both sides don’t have to. It’s not a lot of work either. Or won’t be as the lists grow.”

“I don’t think I realized the amount of money to be made on social media.”

“You have no clue,” she said, smirking. “But people think it’s there for everyone and it’s not. Do I rate a better opinion in your mind now?”

“Is it important how I think of your career?” he asked.

“It is,” she said sincerely. “Don’t you want to know what someone thinks of your career? You said that is part of the reason your marriage failed. I’m sure you want to know how a woman feels about it now before you get too invested. Where is it any different?”

Damn, she had a point. He felt like an asshole not seeing it himself.

“I wasn’t trying to do that,” he said.

“I’d hope not but figured I’d put it out there.”

“You’re educating me on the other side of social media,” he said. “I guess I needed that. Or should know it with Scarlet.”

“It’s not all negative, but there is a lot of bad too,” she said. “Do you want to know how I feel about your career?”

“I’d like that,” he said. He was glad she’d brought it up.

“I’ll be honest and say I never thought much about it until you told me about Scarlet having to text you before she came over at night. Then my mind went to you having your gun out.” She leaned closer. “I thought it was sexy and I wasn’t thinking of the gun in your hand.”

Heat crept up his neck as his face flushed—he hadn’t known anyone could affect him like this, and somehow, she’d done it twice now without even trying.

“It happens,” he said. “It’s better to be prepared.”

“And now you’re going to sound like a parent,” she said, winking at him.

“I get it, you are one. I do plan things in life but take them as they come too. As for your job, I’ll be serious.

There are going to be times it will scare me, I’m positive.

I’m not going to lie. But as you said about your opinion of my job, it’s biased.

I’ll consider myself uninformed but open-minded to learn more. ”

“I like that,” he said. She was wiser than he’d given her credit for, more open-minded, more accepting than most people he’d known. And if he were being honest, which he wasn’t quite ready to be, she saw things more clearly, more fairly, than he ever had. “I’ll do the same.”

“Good,” she said happily. “Now that that’s out of the way, you didn’t tell me what you did yesterday other than your daughter showing up the night before so she could open gifts with you in the morning. Was it just the two of you?”

And this was where things got tricky.

“We have a tradition in our family on Christmas morning as long as I can swing it with work. We have breakfast together. Scarlet, me and her mother, Trinda.”

“Oh,” she said her lips pursing like a kiss. Only he knew it wasn’t a kiss she was trying to give but a shock on her face. “You did say you co-parented and you live on the same street. I guess I didn’t think that extended to spending holidays together.”

“Only Christmas and Scarlet’s birthday. It’s nothing more than breakfast. We take turns going to the other’s house with who cooks. Whatever Scarlet wants. Is that a problem?”

“Nope,” she said. It was as if her brain had caught up with the information.

“I find it very sweet. My mother has been remarried for years and she still trashes my father. My father has dated and been in relationships, but we don’t always know of them completely.

He’s not one who shares, but one thing he has never done is trash my mother or her relationships. ”

“I don’t do that,” he said. “Trinda and I didn’t work. It doesn’t mean she won’t always be part of my life. We share a child together and, mostly, get along well.” Because he refused to put his daughter through any more fighting between her parents. “She has more relationships than I do.”

“Is she in one now?”

“Scarlet says she’s going back and forth with someone. I’ve been hearing the name Randy, but I haven’t met him.”

“Is that something you both do?” she asked. “I should know that. I mean, it’s only two dates, but do you introduce people to your ex?”

“I haven’t,” he said. “Not once. I’ve met some of hers. As I’ve said, she’s had more relationships, or long-term ones than I have. I normally met them picking up Scarlet, but since I moved close enough for her to walk and now she can drive, I’m not at Trinda’s much.”

“What about meeting Scarlet?” she asked. “Is that off limits?”

“It’s not off limits, but hasn’t happened either,” he admitted.

“Does your daughter know you date or does she think you’re some monk?”

If she wasn’t smiling, he might have choked on the sip of beer that he’d taken. “She knows I date because she’s always on my case about being alone and I assure her I’m not, but it’s not something I share with her.”

“That’s fair too,” she said. “It’s not like I want to meet her or anything. We aren’t there yet. I will admit—not only are you the first guy I’ve dated that is so much older than me, but the first with a child.”

“Is it a problem?” he asked.

“I wouldn’t be here if it was,” she said, holding her glass of wine up to him.