Page 29 of A Home for Harmony

It seemed benign enough, but she knew it was the same person sending her the creepy emails too. Those three ending emojis.

“What’s wrong?” Erica asked.

“What?”

“You’re frowning,” Erica said. “Everything okay?”

Harmony forced a smile onto her face. “Perfect,” she said. “Just reading some messages.”

Erica pulled her phone out of her hand. “No phones until later.”

“But what if some bacon reaches out?” she asked.

“He can wait if he does,” Erica said. “Never be too eager.”

“The last thing I’m doing is taking dating advice from you!”

“Not long ago you said you were jealous of my relationship. You can’t have it both ways.”

“I can have it any way I want,” she said, nodding. “Extra crispy and greasy enough to slip and slide all over the place.”

She closed her eyes and tried to imagine it and wondered what Micah was doing now.

9

SOFT AND SQUISHY

“Merry Christmas,” Scarlet said as she walked down the stairs rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

It was a damn good thing that Harmony had left when she had because his daughter texted at nine and wanted to know if she could come stay with him last night.

That meant something happened at her grandparents.

At least she texted first, but she also knew to do that at night if it was dark so he didn’t think someone was trying to get into the house.

“Merry Christmas to you too. I’m assuming you want to open gifts before you eat?”

“Of course, Dad,” Scarlet said, walking quickly to the tree by the fireplace.

He’d noticed Harmony checking it out when she looked at the pictures of his daughter, but she didn’t comment on his fake green bristles.

He only put the tree up for his daughter. A tradition for the two of them to decorate it together. She wanted more decorations in the house, but he wasn’t too keen on them.

The first few years he gave in and let her do it, and then she seemed to outgrow it all but the tree.

He sat in his leather chair while Scarlet went to the tree. He hadn’t even wrapped her gifts and had planned on doing it last night, which meant once he knew she was coming, he had to do it, then bring them down when she was sleeping rather than this morning before she was supposed to arrive.

It’s not like he could get any sleep last night.

His mind and his body were a collision course of erotic thoughts after spending time with Harmony.

“Go ahead,” he said. “Start anywhere.”

His daughter did her normal perusal of the gift boxes until she found the one she was looking for.

Her UGG slippers. He didn’t know why he was surprised she zoomed in on that box that he’d hidden in the back.

She ripped it open and squealed. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Scarlet said. “My friends told me their parents said these were sold out everywhere and to not get their hopes up.”