Page 69 of A Home for Harmony

“Never,” Scarlet said. “You’re a pro at that.”

“You earn that money and if you continue to do your chores here, you’ll get it. As for a job, school has to come first. Your grades weren’t that great on your last report card. You can do much better.”

“I’m doing my homework now,” Scarlet said. “That’s why. My test scores are fine.”

“Which is the first step, but if you aren’t getting your work done now, how are you going to get it done if you’ve got a job?”

Scarlet’s head went back and forth. “How about during the school year for now, I only work on the weekends and then during breaks and the summer I can work more?”

That was going to be his suggestion.

He was of the firm belief she should have a job at some point, but she’d be working for the next fifty years and didn’t need to bust her ass now.

“That sounds reasonable. Where are you thinking of applying?”

“I was going to go to the shops on Main Street. Most are open on the weekends and close at eight or nine, so not late either. I really want to try Blossoms. Two of the guys that work for you, their wives work there, right? Heather and Ivy?”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not calling in favors for that,” he said. “Sorry. If you want to apply, go ahead, but whatever you get, you get on your own.”

His daughter pursed her lips. “You’d call in a favor if I got a ticket from the local police.”

“No,” he said firmly. “I wouldn’t. Because you’d probably tell them who I was if they didn’t figure it out themselves by the name on the registration and the sticker in the window that they’d not give it to you anyway. But if they did, that’s on you.”

It would be the only way his daughter would learn. As much as he wanted to shield her from life, he wasn’t doing anyone any favors that way.

“That’s not nice,” Scarlet said, giving him a cheesy grin. Typical teen response.

“This isn’t about being nice,” he said seriously. “It’s about being responsible and you learn that on your own. If you want to apply for a part-time job under those conditions, that is fine with me. Not during the school week and weekends only. You’re not stopping softball, are you?”

“No,” Scarlet said. “I’ll still play softball.”

It was the only sport his daughter stuck with. She’d played soccer for years, but this year said she didn’t want to.

Trinda wanted to force it, but he didn’t feel forcing a kid to play a sport was the way to go. Scarlet wouldn’t put a hundred percent into it and she’d want to quit, which he wouldn’t allow once she joined the team. It was best to hear her reasons she didn’t want to play and he couldn’t fault her.

She wasn’t good enough to be a starter and barely played. She was sitting around more than anything, and it wasn’t enjoyable.

He couldn’t blame her.

“Then it’s settled,” he said. “But I want you to keep me in the loop about what is going on with it.”

“I tell you more than I tell Mom,” his daughter said. “You’ll know before her.”

“How are things with your mother? Are you going back home after dinner or staying here?”

“I’m going home,” Scarlet said. “I told her I’d be back. She thought you’d say no. She was wrong and I want to make sure I tell her that.”

“Don’t rub your mother’s face in it. That causes all your fights.”

“But she shouldn’t try to say she knows how you’re going to respond to things. It’s not like we’ve talked about this before.”

“No,” he said. “We haven’t, but your mother isn’t going to change, so maybe you should.”

“Why do I have to be the one to change all the time?” Scarlet asked. “She’s the adult. She should know better.”

“You’d think. Decide if you always want to be at odds with your mother or not, but you have to be respectful and going home and rubbing her nose in something this meaningless when you got what you wanted serves no purpose other than making you look like a child.”

Scarlet put her head down and blinked her eyes a few times.