Page 37 of A Home for Harmony (Blossoms #16)

THE RIGHT RESPONSE

T wo weeks later, Micah’s cell phone rang at work. He looked over and saw it was his ex-wife.

“Hi, Trinda. What’s going on?”

Normally she texted him if there was an issue. They didn’t talk much because they didn’t need to with Scarlet being older.

“Did Scarlet go to school today?”

He frowned. “Yes. We left at the same time.”

“The school called and said she’s not there. One of you always calls me if she’s sick.”

“If she’s sick and with me, I would have called the school to let them know. Track her on your phone,” he said.

“She removed me from her phone. I don’t follow her.”

He ground his teeth and put his phone on speaker so he could talk and open the app. “Why didn’t I know that? She knows the rules.”

“I didn’t think it was that big of a deal,” Trinda said. “You can see her at all times.”

“And I don’t track her unless I have to,” he said.

Like now. That was probably why his daughter didn’t have a problem with it.

He wasn’t as intrusive as Trinda. “I see where she is. I don’t know this address though.

” He knew most of his daughter’s friends and where they lived.

He put the address into his laptop. “The last name is Trainer.”

“I’m going to strangle her,” Trinda said. “That is Eli. He’s a year older than her and she’s been talking about him lately.”

“She’s at a boy’s house?” he asked. “She skipped school and is there alone?”

“What do you want from me?” Trinda shouted. “You’re the one dating a twenty-year-old.”

He’d been waiting for this comment.

“She’s not twenty, Trinda. Give me a break. I know you know how old she is.”

“That’s right,” Trinda said. “She’s twenty-seven and it’s all Scarlet talks about. She all but idolizes this woman and now she thinks she can skip school and be with a boy. God only knows what they are doing.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Because he didn’t want to know what the hell his daughter might be doing.

He knew what he was at that age when he was alone with a girl.

He’d like to think his daughter was smarter than that. She wasn’t allowed to date without his knowledge. They agreed she could when she was seventeen. A few more months.

“You’ll let me know what is going on?” Trinda asked. “Then we’ll decide how long she’s grounded for together. I say at least a month.”

“We’ll talk about it,” he said.

“You’re always the hard one,” Trinda said. “Don’t tell me you’re going to let her get away with this.”

“I said we’ll talk about it once I know what is going on,” he said. “I don’t jump the gun like you always do.”

He was going to text Scarlet but drove to the house first. He’d text her from outside and she’d know it.

Micah grabbed his keys and left, drove the twenty minutes to the house, and noticed five cars on the road in front of it. He recognized two of the cars as Scarlet’s friends. At least she wasn’t alone with a boy.

His phone was out and he was texting his daughter, asking why she wasn’t in school.

It wasn’t even a minute later before the front door opened and she came out alone, her head down, and walked over to him.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Get in and talk to me. I want to know what you’re doing and why you aren’t at school, who is in that house with you. Everything.”

His daughter looked embarrassed. “Monica and Amber wanted to skip school today. Colby said we could hang out here at her house.”

“Who’s Colby?” he asked. “I’m supposed to meet all your friends. Those are the rules.”

His daughter’s lips twisted with the urge to yell, but she suppressed it. He was positive she’d be arguing with her mother over this.

“She’s new,” Scarlet said. “She moved in with her stepmother and father.”

“Your mother called me because the school called her. Did you think we wouldn’t know you skipped school?”

“I thought maybe she’d think I was home sick and you’d know.”

“Scarlet, you know your mother and I communicate those things. She said you’ve been talking to a boy named Eli.”

Scarlet crossed her arms in front of her. “I don’t know why she had to tell you that.”

“I don’t know why you felt you couldn’t,” he said. “You just said a girl named Colby lives here, but I know this is Eli Trainer’s house.”

“He is her brother.”

“Is Eli in the house right now with you and your friends?”

“No,” she said. He held her stare and she squirmed. “He’s not. He went to school. But I thought I’d still be here when he got home.”

“You thought wrong,” he said. “Go get your stuff and get your ass to school. I’ll be following you to know you went.”

“I need an excuse or I’m going to get detention.”

“Guess you’ll be staying late then, won’t you? When you get home, we’ll figure out the rest of your punishment.”

“It’s not fair,” Scarlet whined. “Everyone skips school. You can’t say you never did it. There isn’t anything going on today. Half my teachers are out and it’s all subs. They are at a training.”

“You know what?” he said. “If you’d said that to me and asked and explained it, I might have let you do it.”

Her jaw dropped. “What? Really?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe. You’ve been doing your work and getting your grades up, but you just blew all that by this stunt. Go.”

She got out of the car and went inside, then came out a minute later with her stuff and he followed her to school. If her friends stayed there, that was on their parents to figure it out.

Rather than go back to the office, he texted Harmony to see if she was around and could talk.

The past few weeks, she’d had no other contact from whoever sent her flowers.

He’d read all the messages that she could find, and alone, none of them stood out as anything more than someone that might be infatuated with her.

Not dangerous or threatening to anything other than her peace of mind.

Harmony replied that she was home if he wanted to stop, so he swung in that direction.

“Hey,” she said. “Stopping over for some nooky?”

“No,” he said.

“You’re not even smiling over that. Did you find out something about those messages I’ve been getting?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. I just found Scarlet at a friend’s house skipping school.”

She grinned. “That’s pretty normal for her age,” she said. “Don’t tell me you’ve never skipped school.”

“I have,” he said. “I want to be pissed about it, but part of me is trying not to be.”

“You can’t expect her to be a perfect teen.”

“I don’t. I’m more pissed that it was at a person’s house that I’ve never met. I don’t know who they are. I didn’t even know she wasn’t at school. Trinda always gets the calls from the school and Scarlet had hoped that her mother would just assume Scarlet was at my house.”

“But she didn’t?”

“No. I reminded Scarlet that I still informed her mother if she missed school. It’s one of those things we always did. I could track her, something her mother doesn’t have the ability to do anymore after one of their fights that I didn’t know about.”

“Be happy one of you could still reach her,” she said.

“I am. I found the address, then was told it’s the house of a boy that she likes.”

“Ouch. And there is the problem. I know she can’t date for a few more months.”

“She told you that?” he asked.

“She texts me,” she said. “Am I supposed to tell you every time we talk?”

He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. “No. How often? You’d tell me if there was something wrong or she was bothered, right?”

“Of course I would,” she said. “I think she wants a friend who is an adult. She thinks highly of you and most times she says how happy she is you found me. I can show you the texts, but please don’t tell her.”

“No,” he said. “I don’t want to invade that privacy or trust.”

“That is the right response. I don’t want to lose her trust. She knows I’d come to you if there was anything to worry about.”

“Would you?” he asked. “You didn’t come to me about this other problem.”

“Micah. I might lose my patience with you and I rarely do with anyone. That’s a low comment and you know the reason.”

It was low, but he didn’t regret saying it either.

“It’s not the point. The point is, I want to know if my daughter is doing something she shouldn’t be.”

“So you don’t trust me?” she asked, crossing her arms. “Because of my age or something else?”

He ran his hand through his hair. “I trust you. This is my daughter. I’ve got you on my mind. Her disobeying us. What if there were guns in that house and someone brought them out? There is a reason I want to know who her friends are.”

He looked into them to know if there were guns in the house. At least none registered. To know if there were criminal records in the house too.

“You have to trust her too,” she said. “I know what it’s like not to have my parents’ trust and it can really mess with you.

She’s got a much stronger head on her shoulders than I ever did at that age.

But maybe you need to tell her what you’re telling me.

I think you were more worried she was alone with a boy. ”

“Yeah!”

“Was she?” she asked.

“No. The boy lives there. She had two of her friends I know with her and one I don’t. It’s the stepsister of the boy she likes I know nothing about.”

“Eli?” she asked.

“Harmony. You knew she liked a boy and didn’t tell me?”

“Micah,” she said, matching his tone. “She’s confiding in me as a friend.

An adult friend. She likes him and knows she can’t date him, but she wants to know more about him.

She doesn’t want to talk to her parents about it and feels safe talking to me.

Do you want me to risk that by telling you something when there isn’t anything to tell? ”

He paced around the house. “No.”

“That’s right. There isn’t anything to tell you. She has a crush. This boy isn’t the first crush she’s had in her life either and it won’t be the last. If it makes you feel any better, he sounds...scholarly.”

“A nerd?” he asked.

She laughed. “That’s mean. And it’s not a word I’d use. He sounds like he’s smart. He’s been helping her with her schoolwork. Did you know that?”

“No,” he said. “I thought she was doing it on her own.”

“She is,” she said. “With a boy she has a crush on. Not a bad influence if you ask me. You said he wasn’t there, right? So he didn’t skip school when he could have.”

“Good point.”

“Go easy on her,” she said. “I’m not saying she shouldn’t get in trouble, but you talk to her enough about life, do it again. Remember, you were sixteen once too, even if it’s too long ago for you to remember.”

“If I skipped school with a girl at sixteen, I wasn’t studying.”

She moved over and put her arms around his neck. “Were you a bad boy in school?”

“That’s cheesy sounding,” he said.

“But sexy too. You’re in your full uniform. Do you have time to go upstairs?”

“No,” he said. “Sorry. I need to go back now.”

“Boring,” she said. “So responsible and all.”

He gave her a kiss. “Don’t suppose you could come over for dinner and help me talk to her? It might be good for all of us.”

“I could do that,” she said. “Just tell me the time. Make sure you’re out of uniform. No reason to tease me.”

“You know how to take my mind off of my worries,” he said, grinning.