Page 39 of A Home for Harmony (Blossoms #16)

“I think so,” Scarlet said. “Are you two going to get married?”

She grinned. “This isn’t about your father and me. It’s about you. You’re trying to distract things now.”

She knew those tactics, she’d done them herself.

“I know I’m going to get grounded.”

“Accept the punishment for your actions,” she said. “It’s part of life.”

Micah walked in the door then with dinner.

“Hey,” he said. “I’m going to shower and change.”

“I’ll set the table,” Scarlet said.

He looked at Harmony and lifted his eyebrows, but she shook her head. She wouldn’t tell him what was said. Nor was she going to go to his room and let Scarlet feel as if she was being betrayed.

“It might go a long way if you apologize first and let him know why you did it,” she said.

“I told him why,” Scarlet said. “None of my teachers were in and we only had subs. We weren’t doing anything. Then he told me if I said that to him this morning, he might have let me miss school. But I doubt it.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because I can’t see him letting me do that.”

“You don’t know for certain unless you ask, but now you probably broke his trust.”

Scarlet’s shoulders dropped down. “He said that too.”

Harmony helped get the table set and brought the pizza to the center, along with the salad Micah had picked up.

He was down in the kitchen a few minutes later.

“I’m hungry,” she said, moving to the table to get out of the way.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” Scarlet said, hugging her father. “I shouldn’t have done it and then realized what an idiot I am knowing you’d find out.”

“So you’re sorry because you got caught?”

“No,” Scarlet said. “Just for doing it. I didn’t really want to and got talked into it. Maybe the pressure got the best of me and that was wrong. Eli probably is going to think I’m an idiot now too. He went to school. He’s smart and he’s been helping me with homework in study hall.”

“He’s in your study hall?” he asked.

They all sat and ate. “He is,” Scarlet said. “That’s how we met. He’s cute, but a little dorky. Not someone I thought I’d like, but he’s funny too. I really like him.”

He put his hand up. “This isn’t about whether or not you can have a boyfriend. Don’t turn it into that.”

Scarlet put a pout on her face. “Oh. You saw through that.”

Harmony kept her grin in. Scarlet was a smart one. “You told your father why you did it and regret it. You also know you’ve got to live with the consequences. Micah, why don’t you tell Scarlet why you’re upset?”

“I know why,” Scarlet said. “Because he’s always worried I’m going to get into some situation I can’t get out of.”

“It happens,” he said.

“But you’ve taught me how to handle myself,” Scarlet argued.

“You’re sixteen, not thirty-six. You don’t know it all to handle well even if you wanted to,” he said.

“I get myself in binds all the time,” Harmony said. “Sometimes you’ve got to learn to ask for help if you’re uncertain. And if you make the wrong decision, own it.”

She was looking at Micah while she said it.

“What’s going on with you?” Scarlet asked. “Is Dad mad at you for something too?”

“No,” he said. “Harmony is saying the same thing I would. You know what you did was wrong, Scarlet. You ultimately lied to both your mother and me by skipping school. You’re going to allow her to follow your phone again.”

“But she watches everything,” Scarlet whined.

“So?” he said. “Now you gave her a reason she needs to. That’s on you.”

Scarlet picked up her pizza and took an angry bite out of it. “You can see me. That’s enough.”

“This isn’t a negotiation,” he said. “Your mother follows you or you lose your phone and computer for a week. And that’s not even your punishment for skipping school.”

Scarlet’s jaw dropped. “Then you wouldn’t be able to follow me.”

“Don’t be so sure about that,” he said, lifting an eyebrow.

“Fine. I’ll add Mom. Did you talk to her about my punishment?”

“She’s with Randy tonight, but I’ll call her later and will finalize it.”

“See,” Scarlet said. “She couldn’t even say she’d miss a few hours with him to be here.”

“Did you want her here?” he asked.

“No,” Scarlet said.

“Then why say that?” he asked.

“Because a sixteen-year-old girl says and does things they don’t mean all the time,” Harmony said.

Micah turned to his daughter. “I’m not going to yell at you.

There is no reason for it. I don’t want you to do this again.

If you want to miss school for a reason or there is something going on that you don’t want to go, I need to know and we’ll talk it out.

If you want to be treated like an adult, then you need to show me you can be one. ”

“Yes,” Scarlet said, putting her head down. “How long will I be grounded, and what will it contain?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “But you’ll find out later. Until then, hand your phone over. No talking to your friends.”

Scarlet got up and picked her phone up from the other counter and handed it to her father.

Harmony had never done that as a kid. Her mother couldn’t be trusted not to go through her phone, but Scarlet completely trusted her father.

An hour later, Scarlet was in her room doing homework.

“That wasn’t so bad,” Harmony said.

“It could have been worse,” he said. “She was okay before I got here?”

“I’m not going to tell you everything, but I think you would have been fine without me. She trusts you, Micah. That’s why she listens. My mother would have opened my phone up right in front of me and read everything it said.”

He snorted. “I think Trinda does that. I won’t say I’m not tempted, but I can’t be that way unless I’ve got a good reason.”

“She’s acting like a typical teen. That isn’t a big reason.”

“No,” he said, pulling her into her arms. “Did you mean what you said? About learning to ask for help and owning when you make the wrong decision?”

“I mean it,” she said. “I shouldn’t have tried to carry the mental load on my own. I feel almost free now that you know and don’t even dread opening my emails anymore.”

He sighed. “I don’t want you to feel that way. I can’t help you if I don’t know.”

“Micah,” she said. “I appreciate your help, but it’s more important that you’re there for me rather than solving the problem.”

“Just like you were for me tonight,” he said, kissing her on the forehead.

Why hadn’t she realized that was the reason he asked her?