Page 119 of A Home for Harmony

“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.