Page 3 of A Home for Harmony (Blossoms #16)

PRIME AGED SIZZLING

“ I can’t believe you didn’t call me,” Erica said when Harmony climbed into her sister’s car thirty minutes later.

“I sent you a text,” she argued.

“You know I don’t look at texts when I’m in a meeting,” Erica said. “But if my phone rang, I would have checked it.”

She knew that, but didn’t want to put her sister out. “It worked out fine.”

“I was only meeting with Tucker’s HR department,” Erica said. “I could have left.”

Tucker, her sister’s boyfriend, owned a massive manufacturing plant in the area. He and her sister had met through her old job, and Harmony still found it funny that all three of them had somehow ended up back in Mystic.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I was lucky the state police stopped to check on me. He was nice enough to let me sit in his SUV with him while we waited.”

There was no way she was admitting to her sister that her heart was wildly racing that she thought it was going to spring out of her chest and take off on a run slip sliding in the snow and ice.

No one knew that she’d been getting disturbing emails and messages for over a year.

Heck, she thought they’d finally stopped five months ago.

Every message she got, she blocked. The same with the emails.

But they kept coming under a new name every few weeks. The same tone of messages too. She knew it was the same person and couldn’t wait to get out of the city.

With her not being in New York City, they couldn’t make comments about where she was or what she was wearing, seeing her out to eat with friends or coworkers. Nothing.

At first she’d thought it was comments on how she looked in her videos that she posted. Some of them were.

But then she realized that outfits or places they mentioned weren’t in videos or posts and someone was actually watching her.

Getting two more messages and an email in the past six weeks was annoying, but it’s not as if she ever let on to where her father’s lake home was or that she was living there now.

“So you didn’t freeze,” Erica said. “Look at you. Really, Harmony?”

“Don’t turn into Oscar again,” she said, pouting. “Tucker has been so good for you and now you’re going to lecture. You can’t tell me you’ve never left the house before, running a quick errand, and weren’t one hundred percent prepared.”

“You know who you’re talking to, don’t you?” Erica asked, turning to look at her sister in the car.

She laughed. “My bad. You would never run out to get creamer before you could have coffee in the morning because you wouldn’t have run out of it to begin with.”

Erica’s shoulders slumped under her wool jacket. Her sister even had boots on her feet instead of shoes.

Harmony had tossed on one of her brother’s old Yale sweatshirts he’d left behind, pulling it over her T-shirt and leggings. With her slippers doubling as outdoor shoes, she set off on what was supposed to be a quick ten-minute run to the convenience store for a carton of creamer.

“No,” Erica said. “I wouldn’t have. And if I were home more, I would have realized we were low, so I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” she said. “You’re getting laid. I’m not. I’m jealous. I wouldn’t take that away from you.”

Her sister giggled. Such a warm sound. “I should have come home last night, but planned on it today anyway since I’ve got work to do.”

Tucker lived on the same street about six houses down. Her sister was spending a few nights a week there and most of the weekends, but she came home daily to work unless she was in an office somewhere.

Like today.

“And we’ve got no creamer for coffee. Unless you want to stop at the store quickly.”

“We might as well if you’ve got time,” Erica said.

“I have nothing specific planned. Not with a client.”

Harmony did schedule work to do all the time. She was always busy, but it didn’t mean she had to work eight to four. Sometimes she worked later at night or early in the morning.

Being the boss with flexible hours had its perks.

“Then we’ll get what we need,” Erica said. “You’ll have to let me know.”

“Because you’re too busy getting porked to make a grocery list. And speaking of pork, can I tell you about the bacon I was with this morning?”

It was a running joke she had with Erica about hot guys being called bacon.

“Do tell,” Erica said. “The state police guy, the tow truck driver, or the mechanic at the garage?”

“Police,” she said. “Some prime aged sizzling going on there. At one point I was afraid I was going to giggle when I thought it’d be nice to be burned by some of his oil.”

Erica was almost roaring with laughter in the car. She loved her sister like this.

For so long her sister was grouchy, grumpy, and boring.

Not anymore.

This move to Mystic had been the best thing for both of them.

She was going to continue to think it while she figured out what to do about these darn annoying emails and messages that wouldn’t stop.

More than annoying since they disrupted her peace of mind. But nothing she could really make a big deal about either.

It was silly to get nervous with Micah walking to her car.

But he was a stranger.

A big dude on top of it.

The guy never cracked a smile once. Not even a teeny tiny smirk.

She even tried to get him to.

She couldn’t remember the last time a man was immune to her charm or smile. Maybe she was losing her touch being so isolated from personal contact.

Online people put on more of a show and could give her false reactions or validations.

If only everyone could just be as genuine as she was.

“That’s hilarious and so are you,” Erica said. “Tell me more.”

“His name is Micah Barnes. He’s a captain with the state police. I bet he is Luke’s boss or one of them.”

She hadn’t wanted to tell Micah her connection to Luke Remington. That Heather, her sister-in-law Daisy’s best friend, was married to Luke.

Or that she knew Brooks Scarsdale too.

Brooks was married to Ivy, who worked with Daisy and Heather at Blossoms. Girls she’d gone out with before. It was nice to have friends in the real world and not just people she only communicated with online through emails and instant messages and chats.

“Most likely,” Erica said. “What made him sizzle?”

“He’s older. That’s where the aged bacon comment came in. I’m not sure how old and am not guessing, but I saw some grays in his hair mixed in with the dark brown.”

Not enough to say he was going gray, but since he had a full head of hair, she’d bet he’d be a silver fox in a few decades.

He had a cleanly shaven face. She even smelled a pleasant musky aftershave she bet he used.

Her little lady parts had actually twitched a few times once the rest of her calmed down and knew she wasn’t in any danger.

The only danger was her hormones standing up and trying to flag him down.

Not that she’d ever do that.

She didn’t know if he was married or in a relationship. He probably was.

Tall, dark, and handsome with just the right amount of brooding to make it dangerous.

Dannnng. She really only saw that on TV and in person it was something special.

She had never imagined she would be drawn to that, but she was.

Too bad he seemed to lack a personality, though she had to be fair, she had to admit he was trying with her.

Trying not to lecture or come off authoritatively.

Probably hard for him to do in his position, which made him seem almost sweet in her eyes.

“Having some gray hair doesn’t mean you’re old,” Erica said. “I’ve pulled a few out in the past year.”

“You’ve given them to yourself,” she said, smiling.

“You’re probably right. But I guess, to you, Tucker is old.”

“How old is Tucker?” She wasn’t sure she knew that about her sister’s boyfriend.

“He’s thirty-five,” Erica said. “That’s a good age.”

“Because you’re thirty. It’s a good age for you.”

“Not for you at twenty-six?” Erica asked.

She shrugged. “I never thought much of it. I don’t look or think of someone’s age when I get to know them.”

“But you are thinking it with Micah,” Erica pointed out.

“You’re reading more into this. I said he’s older. It’s not just the gray hair that I saw, and yes, it was only a few on the side by his ear. But he had some lines in his face.”

“Wrinkles?” Erica asked, smiling. Her sister pulled into the grocery store parking lot. It was pretty empty this morning.

“I’ll call them laugh lines. Though I don’t picture him as the type of person who laughs a lot. Having spent enough time with Oscar, I know a grouch or two when I see one.”

Erica gave her shoulder a playful shove when she shut the car off.

“I guess that makes you a pro,” Erica said.

“Could be,” she said. “I wonder if I can get a coffee inside. I’m dying for one.”

“I doubt it,” Erica said. “But I could have gone through the drive-thru for one on the way.”

“It’s fine. I’ll live.”

Her sister limited her caffeine intake now due to migraines so she tried not to put the temptation in front of her.

“If you could have lived without it, then you wouldn’t have ventured out to get creamer this morning,” Erica said, grabbing a cart and pushing it toward the door.

“I was planning to go out later anyway,” she said. “And my car would have or could have died at any point. It was better in the morning than at night.”

“Good point,” Erica said. “What did the mechanic say?”

“It’s some electrical thing. They can’t even hook it up to the computers there, so it’s going to get towed to the dealership. God only knows how long I’ll be without a car.”

“It’s only two years old,” Erica said. “They should give you a loaner.”

“Do you think?”

“I would ask them if it’s possible,” Erica said. “A lot of dealerships do that.”

“Yeah. With luxury cars, but I don’t have one.”

“You won’t know until you ask,” Erica said.

“They should get my car today and I’ll do that when they call,” she said. “Now let’s get some food and get out of here.”

“Why?” Erica asked. “So you can post about today’s adventure?”

She turned her head to frown at her sister. “You know I don’t do those things. I’ll admit I was an idiot today. I shouldn’t have done that, and I wasn’t prepared.”

“That’s right,” Erica said. “All those things. So maybe eat some humble pie and post that to all your followers so that someone else doesn’t do it next time.”

Her head went back and forth. “Mom might see it,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Erica snorted. “Do you really think Mom watches anything you do on social media?”

“No,” she said, her voice lowering. “She thinks I can’t take care of myself, which today kind of proved it and that hurts worse. But it’s more about the fact she thinks everything I do is frivolous and meaningless.”

Erica took her hand off the cart and reached for Harmony’s. “We know that isn’t the truth and I’m sorry that I brought it up to take the shine off of you. I never like doing it.”

“It’s fine,” she said. “You know I don’t let Mom get to me much anymore.”

Which was a lie.

“I do,” Erica said. “But I still think you could do that today and your followers would appreciate it.”

“Maybe.”

But she wouldn’t because then that would make her a liar if Micah looked her up and saw it.

Not that she believed he’d care enough, but still, best not to risk it.