Page 91 of A Home for Harmony

“Not even close,” he said. “Aside from the age, the mentality of her generation is different. Though her parents are divorced, she had a strong family foundation, despite a strained relationship with her mother. Her relationship with her father seems to be improving.”

“Tell me about that relationship because it will bother you,” his mother said. “Family has always been everything to you.”

“It’s a weird relationship,” he said. “Her mother’s remarried. She’s close to her mother in the fact they spend holidays together and talk, but it sounds like her mother is very judgmental of Harmony and her choices in life.”

“Oh boy,” his mother said. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“Not bad choices,” he said. “Just not the ones her mother would make. Her father was detached when she was younger.”He explained what he’d been told and why. “I didn’t see it this weekend.”

Though Andrew James was serious, you could see he cared for his children. He listened to them, he probably smiled more than Micah did, and he was excited to be a grandfather.

“You met her family this weekend?”

“Her sister, Erica, and Erica’s fiancé. She lives with Erica and always has. They are extremely close. Theo is the oldest and he’s married. There was another close relationship. The siblings seemed to have stuck together through the parents’ issues. Her father just appeared to be an old school doctor with a high level of responsibility and not much of a personality.”

“Sounds like my son,” his mother said, laughing. “Maybe that is what Harmony sees in you.”

He wanted to be insulted until it hit him.

He was serious. He didn’t laugh much. Didn’t have a big personality with many people. And his career had high levels of responsibility and stress.

Jesus, did Harmony have a Daddy complex?

She said she didn’t, but now he wasn’t so sure.

Or could it be why she got along with him so well, because she’d dealt with this growing up?

He was more confused than ever.

“I have no idea,” he said. “But we get along good and things are going well.”

“All wonderful things to hear,” his mother said. “I can’t wait to meet her. Maybe we’ll come home earlier than we planned, but we’ll find a place to stay.”

“No,” he said. “That is crazy. You can stay at the house like you always do. Harmony has a house.”

“That she lives in with her sister,” his mother said.

“It’s not like that. It’s a big house. It’s her father’s second home they share. Erica will move into Tucker’s house soon which is on the same street.”

“Funny that she’ll have family on the same street the same as you do. What does she think of that situation?”

“We haven’t talked much about it,” he said. “She knows we co-parent Scarlet and share a few holidays together. If anything, she’s good with it. She’s more concerned with who I am than what I did or had in the past.”

“Then it sounds like you should follow her lead on this,” his mother said.

28

OPEN AND ACCEPTING

“Danielle,” Harmony said two days later. “How have you been?”

“Great,” Danielle said. “I’m so glad you had the time to squeeze me in for this call.”

“Anytime,” she said. “I was stunned to get your email. Lizzie never said you left Media Creator. Can I ask what happened? Not that I don’t appreciate the business, but there are plenty there you could have gone to.”

“I think it wasn’t a good fit for me,” Danielle said shyly. “I’d only been there two years and everyone is such a big personality.”

Danielle had been a loner in many eyes. She was an assistant to several, being bossed around more than anything else.