Page 21 of A Home for Harmony

One thing she realized was that she was branching out way too much and she couldn’t be successful unless she put more of her attention into one thing.

It was more important to focus on one or two things great than multiple things halfway.

She’d finally found it and it was growing faster than she thought and it was what she wanted to expand her business on.

“That’s how you get their products?” he asked.

“I do,” she said. “But I buy them too. I make good money and I’m not someone who just gets free handouts. I’ve got a growing business and my sponsorships feed money into my business for me to expand into something that I know is sustainable for the future. I’m riding the here-and-now wave while I can, knowing that the tide will come in at some point, but I’ll be set when it happens rather than be swept away.”

“That’s a very mature thing to say,” he said.

She crossed her arms. “Are you insulting me or complimenting me?”

“Complimenting. Sorry. My daughter is all about who the new rage is and posting shit online. It drives me insane how easily she is influenced by people.”

“That’s normal,” she said. “Not even for her age, but for people in general. Which is why everything I post is positive but not unrealistic. I won’t accept a sponsor I can’t stand behind and I won’t post anything that I feel might be harmful to people or sway them into making a horrible decision.”

He took a drink out of his bottle of water and she watched as his head tilted back, his Adam’s apple moving as he swallowed.

Her body heated up even more.

“I noticed that from the few I’d seen,” he said. “I don’t know what you’ve got on your other platforms.”

“More of the same,” she said. “Me using or wearing a product, but it’s always done with something else. A message of sorts. I don’t want to bore you, but if you want, I’ll send you a video of how I ended up getting the following that I did. It was from my last job. They hired me to help people do exactly what I am doing. Set up social media profiles, help them utilize those tools, give courses, et cetera.” She pulled her phone out. “I wasworking with an animal shelter and filming while I was there so I could teach them how to edit for a post.”

She found the video, he gave her his number, and she sent it to him.

His phone went off, he picked it up off the table, and watched the video while she continued to eat.

“Wow,” he said. “I can see where that might do it.”

It was the video of her getting a scared dog to come out and see her that no one else could do.

“I’ve been told I’ve got this way about me. It’s just who I am. I’d been posting videos for years and then more when it became my job. But that went viral and was the start of where I am now.”

“And where exactly are you?” he asked.

She grinned. “Looking at a piece of bacon and wondering how I got here and what he sees when he looks at me.”

7

SLICE OF BACON

“What’s the female version of bacon?” he asked. “Do you have a word for that?”

Harmony laughed and her eyes seemed to glow.

Micah had completely misjudged Harmony. Or so he thought.

It wasn’t like him to feel this way, but there was something so genuine and grounded about her. He’d noticed it in his car nearly two weeks ago, and again in the few videos of her he’d found online.

There was nothing overly personal in her videos, and it took some deeper digging before he even realized who her father and brother were.

He didn’t let her know he knew that.

“I don’t have one,” she said. “What would you call me?”

“Smoking.”