Page 33 of A Home for Harmony

She’d gotten home a little before eight and it’d been hard for her to drag her feet out of his house.

Not that she’d admit that to him.

“I thought of that too,” he said. “She knows at night she has to text and just not show up. I don’t want to worry it’s someone trying to break in.”

She cringed. Those thoughts never used to cross her mind.

Now she was jumpier at all noises.

She’d bet if he heard a noise, he’d have his gun out or be ready to fight.

She’d never been with a guy that she ever worried about those things and wasn’t sure how she felt about it.

Guess it took a special person to be with a significant other in a job like that.

She wanted to be that special person and was going to work through it.

“Didn’t she go to her grandparents with her mother?” she asked.

They placed their drink and food orders quickly when the server came back over.

“She did, but she and her mother are having issues, it seems.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Nothing major,” he said, shrugging. “I think typical teenage girl things. Scarlet takes her time getting ready and runs late, and it’s an annoying habit. She knows not to do it, but she was yesterday so I think Trinda gave her a hard time about it.”

She frowned. “And she held a grudge over that?”

“I thought the same thing,” he said. “But then she admitted she enjoyed being with me on Christmas morning. That her mother gives her gift cards and doesn’t put a tremendous effort into buying gifts to put by the tree. I buy and wrap gifts. She tells me what she wants and sends me the links so I can’t get it wrong.”

“That’s so sweet,” Harmony said.

“You’re making me feel less than a man right now with the look in your eyes.”

She leaned in with a big cheesy grin. “You should feel more like one. The easy way is gift cards. Most men do that. You took the time to give your daughter what she wanted and she is telling you she appreciates it by wanting to be with you and share in that time.”

His face flushed adorably.

Harmony wasn’t sure she would have been able to picture him as blushing.

“I felt that way,” he said. “That I must be doing something right.”

“I think you do a lot more right than you want to give yourself credit for,” she said.

“Could be,” he said. “I’m just being me.”

“I put a video out yesterday with that message. That being yourself is the best gift you could give to someone and yourself.”

“You posted a video on Christmas morning?” he asked, lifting an eyebrow.

“I can see that look on your face. It’s something that I do to prove that life isn’t about putting on a show and looking your best. I shot it before I got out of bed in the morning. The only thing I did was wipe the eye booger away.”

He snorted. “I might have to join that site to see what you’re wearing. Though I’m not sure I like that hundreds of thousands of other people got to see you in your sleepwear.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled her phone out. “Here you go. Nothing to see. I’m not stupid and never do anything that I think would appear sexually appealing. I’m never careless about those things.”

“I’ve insulted you,” he said.