Page 105 of A Home for Harmony

He collapsed on her, out of breath, and then rolled so he wasn’t squishing her.

“Not bad for an old man, huh?” he asked.

“You’re perfect, Micah.”

“Hardly that,” he said, snorting.

“Perfect for me and that is all I care about.”

32

MADE THE ROUNDS

“Happy Birthday,” Erica said to her on Wednesday.

“Thank you.” There was a muffin on the counter with a candle in it. What a sweet way to wake up.

Harmony would’ve liked to have woken up with Micah this morning, but he had Scarlet last night at his house and she understood he wasn’t at the point where he wanted to ask his daughter not to come for a night.

Erica lit the candle. “Make a wish.”

“I think my wishes are coming true,” she said, smiling and then did a tap dance in place. But she did make a wish about her relationship with Micah, even though it was everything she’d always wanted.

“You’re so sweet,” Erica said. “The two of you together were great. Mom didn’t know how to react.”

Harmony laughed and took the wrapper off the muffin. “I’m still surprised by it. Do you really believe she’s going to change?”

“I think so,” Erica said. “Or maybe I hope so.”

“It was nice of you to say you’d talk to her this week about the wedding plans. Are you going to or did you say that to save me?”

“I’m going to try it. We have it narrowed down to places and dates. You know that.”

“I do,” she said. “I can’t wait and it’s going to be nice to get away in the fall. What do you think Mom is going to say?”

“She seemed excited about going away. I thought maybe the three of us could go dress shopping. That’s going to be the start of it.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you,” she said. “A new beginning. She’s going to be opinionated, but maybe she can be nice about it.”

“We’ll see,” Erica said. “What are your plans today?”

“I’m having lunch with Micah. Which we don’t do often. Scarlet is at his house tonight, but she wants to cook dinner for me. Isn’t that nice?”

“Very nice,” Erica said. “You seem to blend into his family well.”

“I guess so,” she said. “As well as we can. Scarlet is a good kid, but I don’t want her to resent me.” She took a big bite of her muffin while Erica walked over to make her a coffee. After she finished chewing, she said, “She’s following me closely on social media. I told you about the day I made the cookies.”

“You did. Does it make you think twice about what you’re posting now?” Erica asked.

“Yes and no. It shouldn’t. I’ve always had the mentality that I didn’t want to post anything to hurt someone else or have people come after me or try to cancel me. That stuff happens so often. I think I’ve always been considerate about how someone might think.”

And now she had that worry that her boyfriend, who hadn’t been too keen on her career, might not approve of something if it affected his daughter.

It was a heavy burden to carry that she hadn’t thought of prior.

“You don’t want Micah mad at you either if Scarlet does something or acts a certain way based on a post you did. Or if people connect the two of you?”

“I don’t want to have my relationship be a secret forever. I’m not posting anything about them right now and she isn’t telling too many people either. But why can’t I let people know I’m in love without saying with who?”