Page 5 of A Home for Harmony (Blossoms #16)

RIDE ON HER BACK

“ Y ou’re sure you’re okay being by yourself tonight?” Erica asked Harmony on Christmas Eve ten days later.

“I’m fine,” Harmony said, waving her hand. “I’ve got some work to do anyway. Go be with Tucker and his family at his grandfather’s tonight. We’ll all be together tomorrow.”

“I wish Dad was coming tonight,” Erica said, frowning. “So you aren’t alone.”

Her father called an hour ago, said he got called into emergency surgery and he could be there for hours, that he’d want to check in on his patient after and would arrive here early in the morning.

“We are used to this with Dad,” she said. “Go have fun. I’m a big girl.”

She didn’t want her sister giving her night up with Tucker because she thought Harmony couldn’t stay home alone.

She did it all the time. Christmas Eve wasn’t even a holiday.

Erica hemmed a bit. “I’ll come back tonight.”

“No,” she said, marching her sister toward the door. “You’re literally six houses down the street. If the boogeyman scares me, I’ll come running to get you. I mean it.”

Her sister would have no idea how true that was.

She’d gotten another message five days ago.

Not an email this time, but a private message on Instagram.

She was positive it was the same person who had been sending emails, but again, different names and a new account.

The signature series of emojis was always the same.

Smile, hug, heart. There was no way multiple people did that every single time.

Whoever this was, wasn’t that smart.

Erica rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you come with us tonight?”

“No,” she said. “I’ll meet Tucker’s mother and Norman tomorrow. Seriously, Erica. I’ve got work to do. Christmas Eve isn’t a holiday, it’s just one people have turned it into because family is normally around. I’m going to prep some food for tomorrow anyway. I’ll have my fill of everyone then.”

They were having Christmas Day here. She and Erica, her father, brother, and Daisy would join them along with Tucker, his mother, Clara, and Clara’s boyfriend, Norman. They’d spent Thanksgiving with her mother and thankfully got to avoid that frustration this year for Christmas.

“I’m not sure,” Erica said. “I just realized this is your first Christmas morning you’re going to wake up alone.”

“And this is your first Christmas morning you’re going to wake up with a man you love.

That is way more important. Erica, I appreciate it.

I really do. But I get to sleep late and get up on my own time.

There is no rushing down the stairs to see what Santa brought anymore.

” Her sister was standing there in the doorway in her jacket bundled up now.

Even to just go a few houses down in her car.

She moved closer and hugged her. “Go have fun. I mean it.”

“I’m being silly,” Erica said. “And babying you and you hate it. I know.”

“That’s right,” she said, nodding her head. “I’m not a baby.”

She’d heard that enough in her life and was over it. She hated it at eighteen. At twenty-six, it was the one thing to make her want to scream when she never lost her cool.

Not never.

Just not often.

Her mother had the ability to make her lose her patience.

She’d never lived alone and, in her mother’s eyes, she probably never would.

“You’re not and I shouldn’t treat you as such. We are going to Tucker’s grandfather’s house shortly, then we’ll be at Tucker’s. I mean it,” Erica said. “If you decide you’re bored, just walk down and join us for a glass of wine.”

“I’ll think about it,” she said, knowing that would get her sister out the door. She gave her a little shove to get her moving and then went back to her office to get some work done.

It wasn’t even three yet, but she was going to clear her emails so that she could take tomorrow for herself other than a few quick posts wishing everyone happy holidays.

Around five, she called it a day and went to the kitchen to scope out dinner.

After ten minutes of opening and closing everything she could in the kitchen, she decided to order out. She’d be doing enough cooking tomorrow for brunch.

But once she’d decided to order, she had to narrow down what she was in the mood for.

When had she ever been this indecisive in her life?

Her mother would say she’d never been any other way, but that wasn’t true.

She always knew she wanted a marketing career, but no one supported or believed in her.

Until recently. Her siblings believed in her.

They encouraged her and she was pretty damn successful, if she said so herself.

“That’s right,” she said, talking to thin air and nodding her head. “I’ve got more money in the bank than ever before and it has nothing to do with the fact that I’m living in my father’s house for free.”

Yeah, that sounded really mature!

Even if it was the truth.

It’s not as if they asked to live here for free, but her father said the house was just sitting empty. Theo didn’t pay for anything more than utilities and taxes when he lived here.

Well, she and Erica split that, so it wasn’t really free, just rent free.

She shook her arms out, did a little butt wiggle, and then let out a breath.

“I will not have a pity party. I’m the happy, carefree one of the family. I’m going to make the best of my first Christmas Eve alone. Starting with dinner.”

She pulled out all the takeout menus, spread them on the counter upside down, and shifted them all over the place. Erica would shudder over choosing dinner this way, but Harmony was more easygoing about things.

This was fun. Things she did with friends in the past.

Just because she was alone didn’t mean she couldn’t do it.

She closed her eyes, spun herself in a circle, slapped her hand down and lifted a sheet up in triumph.

Normally she and a friend would shout out, guessing about what she had. She’d pass on that tonight and flipped it over.

“Chinese food it is,” she said. “Yum.”

Now she had to figure out what to get on the menu.

To continue with the fun, she pulled up a randomizer app on her phone that she used for giveaways, put in the numbers of the meals she liked, then hit spin.

“Looks like dinner has been chosen,” she said.

Since she got her car back two days ago, she’d take it for a drive again to pick up dinner.

The restaurant told her she had twenty minutes before it would be ready and it was ten minutes away.

After the last time she went out to run errands and got stuck on the side of the road in her leggings, she was going to be more prepared this time.

If the sexy Micah Barnes popped into her head, it was only to be expected.

She had spent a few days searching for him on social media.

He had no accounts and that did not surprise her. He didn’t seem the type.

But she had found out some things about his career and read everything she could.

No clue if he was single or not, and she wasn’t sure why she needed to know that.

She ran to her room and changed out of her sweats and put a pair of stretch jeans on. Her purple cotton shirt from one of her sponsors was fine to keep on, then she grabbed socks from another sponsor and pulled on her black UGG boots.

She even grabbed her winter jacket when she was walking out the door and flung her floral purse from Blossoms across her chest as she had a pep in her step.

Harmony interacted and communicated with people nonstop all day long. Just because they weren’t in her presence didn’t mean it was a bad thing. It was just getting used to this new life here with less to do.

When she was driving into town, she had a moment of panic that it was dark out and if her car died again, she’d be a sitting duck.

She’d never felt so paranoid before and had to get it out of her mind.

There was no reason to be scared that someone was sending her emails and DMs saying they missed her. That they wanted to know why she wasn’t posting as much or they didn’t see her around New York City anymore.

There was nothing threatening there, just creepy.

She needed to stop letting it get to her. When you put yourself out there, comments came with the territory. Even the ones that made your skin crawl a little.

She had boundaries with those friends online and most understood it.

Even Skyler stopped asking her to go on another date with him.

He’d let up on his communication with her too and she was cool with that.

Their one date in October was nice, but it wasn’t much more than that and she knew darn well he was using her to get followers and exposure.

He could do his own work and not ride on her back. She wasn’t strong enough to carry people like that and didn’t want to.

Why couldn’t someone just want to go on a date with her and not always associate her with her social media following?

When Harmony got to town, she breathed a sigh of relief that she made it and her car was running like normal.

She opened the door to the scent of all the spices she’d come to love for the sodium carb overload she was going to stuff her face with.

When her eyes landed on a familiar face in the crowd, she smiled and locked her gaze on him, waiting. Sure enough, it took about two seconds before the aged bacon turned and met her eyes.

Just like she knew he would.