Page 30 of A Home for Harmony

Micah snorted. “I got them over a month ago,” he said. “I guess I lucked out.”

He’d almost waited to see if they went on sale for Black Friday and then told himself he’d forget so bought them right then, since it took him long enough to even find them.

Good thing, because he had no clue that they were completely out of stock everywhere now.

“You’re the best,” Scarlet said, sliding them on her feet and kicking her legs in the air. She grabbed her phone that was never far from her and snapped a picture.

“Don’t you dare brag about them to friends who might not have gotten them,” he said sternly.

Scarlet put her phone down and sighed. “You’re right. I’m just so excited!”

“I’m glad, but they can see them later. Open the rest,” he said. “Then I’ll get breakfast started.”

His daughter tore through the rest of her gifts, which were nothing more than some clothing that she’d sent him links or pictures of. She had to divide and conquer her lists so that her mother and he didn’t buy the same things.

Scarlet had told him she only asked for the slippers from him, so that meant they were important to her.

“Did I get a stocking?” Scarlet asked. She loved getting a full stocking and he’d completely forgotten that.

“Shit,” he said. “It’s upstairs. Hang on.”

He was so scattered last night that it’d slipped his mind.

He jogged up the stairs to his room and pulled the stocking out and stuffed it with all the things his daughter loved, then put the gift card in there for the makeup store that became her new obsession.

There was no way he was stepping foot in the place and knew this was easier.

“Thank you, Dad,” Scarlet said, standing up to kiss him on the cheek. At just five foot three, his daughter was close to a foot shorter than him and reminded him of the little girl she’d once been.

She’d always be his baby, but he knew mentally she didn’t think of herself that way anymore.

“Ohhhhh, I’m doing online shopping later,” Scarlet said, holding up the gift card. “Mom got me a bunch of gift cards. I know it. She said it was too hard to pick things out for me.”

He held back the roll of his eyes. It was simple when his daughter sent detailed lists or texts links to exactly what she wanted.

Maybe she thought it was her being fussy, but in his mind, it made life easier.

If he was going to spend money on something, he was getting his daughter exactly what she wanted so he knew she wore or used it.

“Your mother knows you like to shop,” he said. “Now you get to pick out anything you want. And you can get more with after-Christmas sales.”

“I didn’t think of that,” Scarlet said.

Score one for saving his ex on this holiday.

“Don’t always look for the bad in things,” he said. “Do you want to talk about why you ended up here and not at Mom’s all night?”

“I was coming here anyway this morning,” Scarlet said. “What’s the big deal?”

“I’m trying to figure out why you came,” he said. “Maybe Mom was upset over it. Is she still coming now too?”

They had a tradition of Christmas breakfast together, even after the divorce. Before he moved back to the same street, he’d go to his old house that Trinda got in the divorce so that it was easier for Scarlet. Providing he didn’t have to work that morning. If he did, he went later at night.

He was going in in a few hours. The night captain was staying late and then he’d work late tonight for him to come in after he was done with his family dinner.

“She said she was,” Scarlet said. “I’ll text her.”

“Before you do, do you want to tell me what happened last night?”