Chapter 4
"I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE.”
"What’s that?” Harmony wanted to be uncomfortable walking down the street, into town, knowing everyone would notice the most eligible bachelor arm in arm with the newest single female. That would cause quite a stir at the water cooler or bus stop tomorrow.
"I sort of let my family believe we are on an official date,” Mason said.
She paused just before they turned onto Main Street. "Why?" She swallowed the thick lump in her throat. The idea that she could be pulled from this identity at any given moment tore at her heart for the first time. For months, she hadn’t cared as she learned the ins and outs of her new persona, figuring after the trial, she’d end up having to learn a new one.
That was fine by her.
Until she met Mason. Going to bed with him had been a big mistake.
“For starters, Lilly’s mother is friends with my mom, and she’s tired of hearing about how we should be a couple, when she knows we are so not right for each other.”
“Always good when your mom has your back.”
He nodded, their hands swaying back and forth in tune with Coop’s heavy panting.
“And it also serves to get my mom off my back about being single and not adding more than a dog to the family.”
“So, what happens when they find out we’re not dating?” she asked. The familiar tug of wanting someone to share a glass of wine with in the evening filled her mind and heart. For a long time, she and Lucas had it all, and if she were being completely honest, she’d been head over heels in love with him.
The second he was ready and willing to punch her in the face was when she realized his idea of love was something entirely different than hers.
“That’s just it, I’d like to date you, but—”
“You regret what just happened.”
“I don’t regret it” he said, pulling his hand away. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t think this through. I mean, you are sweet, and fun, and I do enjoy your company, but it feels like I’m using this to get my family off my back and that’s not fair to you, especially when I do like you.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’m using you to get business. So, maybe that makes us even.”
Talk about flipping a switch. Mason went from hot to cold faster than a sports car.
“Not even a little.” He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and turned. “I’ve had two serious girlfriends in my life. One married my best friend.”
“That really sucks,” she said, instinctively reaching out and wrapping her fingers around his biceps.
He glanced down.
She immediately let her arm fall to the side, remembering the look he’d given Lilly. No way would she ever be like Lilly.
“Well, we were in high school, but she was my first love.”
Harmony suspected his first bed partner as well. She cringed, remembering her first time having sex. It hadn’t been pleasant, and she certainly didn’t want to be with that guy a second time.
“She and her husband still live around here?”
He nodded. “You’ll meet them today. He’s a fireman, and she works with my sister at the high school. She’s also pregnant with their second kid, and I think every time my mom sees that, she starts pushing again.”
“Can I ask about the second serious girlfriend?” She sucked in a breath, wondering why on earth she would ask for more information about his failed love life. Not only was it rude, but it showed interest, and they seemed to be establishing that neither of them wanted to get involved. That their time in bed was a one-time thing.
And that was for the best.
“She spent two years with me while I was in the military. I came home, and brought her back here with me. Long story short, she hated small-town life and ran off with some guy she’d met while back in New York visiting family.”
“How long ago was that?” Really, Harmony, shut the fuck up.
“A long time ago, and I’m over it, but you’ve been hinting on and off that you’re either not interested, or not ready, or whatever, and I need to respect that, not seduce you.”
“I was a very willing participant.” And here comes a truth that she could live with. “You’re a nice guy, and I also enjoy you and your damned mutt, but I’m a lot fresher off a bad relationship and—”
“Say no more.” He turned, tugging on Coop’s leash. “Let’s just enjoy the barbeque. No strings attached. And tomorrow, everyone can say what they want, and we can just let it fade into nothing, or we can go on another date.”
“Now you’re confusing me,” she said, following him down the street toward a makeshift stage where a band tested their instruments for a performance later in the afternoon.
“I’m a walking contradiction right now.”
“You know, we can still be friends, even though our budding romance won’t last past this one date,” she said, laying down the law.
Coop moaned, glancing up at them both with wide puppy eyes.
“Don’t worry.” She patted the dog’s head. “You can come over anytime you want.”
“Uncle Mason!” a young boy yelled as they turned onto Adam Street heading toward the park.
Coop howled with a happy gurgle as he tried to hurl himself forward, but Mason pulled him back.
“Heel,” Mason said, and the dog sighed, but did as his owner commanded. “Good dog.”
“Did you train Coop yourself?”
He nodded. “Hey, dude,” Mason said, holding up his hand for a good fist pound. “Brian, this is Miss Baker.”
“You can call me Harmony,” she said, not liking the sound of Miss anything.
“I’ve heard about you. My mom said you’re going to help plan a stellar Star Wars party.”
“That I am,” she said, reminding herself she needed to download all the Star Wars movies and give herself a crash course in everything from Yoda to the Dark Lord. “Maybe you can tell me some of your favorite parts so I can focus on those.”
“Sure thing. Are you sitting with us?”
“Yes, she is,” Mason said before she could interject, but she would have confirmed the boy’s suspicions.
Part of her didn’t want the charade to end, but it would be just that. A charade.
And what would happen when something went wrong within the Witness Protection Program and she had to disappear?
Not that she’d be girlfriend number three who left him…oh, that was a weird thought, one she never wanted to contemplate again.
No more sex and that was final.
“Come on, then. Mom and Dad got a great spot, and Grandma and Grandpa are already here.”
“Lead the way, my man,” Mason said.
The other part of her kicked in and she wanted to all of a sudden take ill so she could run home.
“Harmony, it’s so good to see you again,” Kate, his sister, said as she waved from her spot on a blanket. “I’d get up, but…” She pointed to a toddler sleeping in her lap. “Jessica here decided it was naptime.”
“No worries,” Harmony said with a timid voice. Never in her life had she been shy, and she’d always been known for saying exactly what had been on her mind, a trait she often wondered might have contributed to her mother’s suicide.
The counselor told her under no circumstances did her actions in any way lead to her mother’s death, but a small piece of Harmony would always wonder if the cruel things she’d said about the way her mother chose to live her life had hurried the process along.
Coop made a complete circle before lying down next to Kate, resting his head on her leg, nuzzling the small child.
That damn dog had gone and stolen her heart.
“And the man standing in front of that grill over there,” Mason said, looping his arm over Harmony’s shoulders and pointing, “is Harvey, Kate’s husband. Next to him is my dad, William.”
“And I’m his mother, Joan,” a woman’s voice rang out from her left. “And this is Trevor. Say hello, Trevor.”
Harmony turned and smiled. A stunning woman with white-silver hair, blue eyes, soft-looking skin, and a body any twenty-year-old would die for stood two feet away holding the hand of a shy boy, who gripped her leg, resting his cheek against her thigh.
“Hi,” Trevor managed to squeak out.
She bent over, extending her fist, which earned her a smile and a quick pound. “My name is Harmony.”
“We’ve heard so much about you,” his mother said. “My daughter tells me you’ve got quite the impressive shop for an event planner.”
“Thank you. I hope you’ll stop in sometime.” Harmony forced herself to keep her hands at her sides, when she really wanted to fold them over her chest, closing herself off from everyone. Living in a big city, you knew a lot of people, but there wasn’t this sense of actually knowing much about anyone. Whereas, in just a few days, she felt like she’d been intimate with half the town, now including Mason’s mother.
Talk about an ick factor.
Her phone buzzed in her back pocket. She thought about not taking it out and glancing at it, because that could be seen as rude, but she couldn’t imagine who the hell would be calling her. Almost no one had her number.
She glanced at the caller screen. “Oh no,” she whispered.
“What is it?” Mason asked.
“It’s the alarm company for the shop. Hello?” She pressed the phone to her ear.
“This is AMR Business Monitoring. You have two zones going off. Are you at Harmony’s Mistake?”
“No. I’m not.”
“Shall we dispatch the police?”
She glanced at Mason, who held his phone in his hand. He nodded, as if he’d heard the other end of the conversation.
Maybe he had.
“I’m only a block away.”
“Let’s have the police take a look, okay?”
“All right,” she said.
“They’ve been dispatched. Three minutes away.”
Harmony tapped her phone. “Excuse me, I need to check on something at the shop.”
“I’ll go with you.” Mason handed the leash to his sister. “We’ll be back shortly.”
“Is everyone okay?” his mother asked as he took Harmony by the hand.
“Not sure, but I’ll be in touch.” They walked out of the park. “Your business wasn’t the only one where the alarm was tripped,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Is that good or bad?”
“Neither, but my boss thinks it might be a few teenagers who have been getting into some trouble, and often during annual events, these things happen.”
By the time they got to her storefront, a fire truck and one police car were parked outside.
A woman holding a small boy and obviously pregnant waved.
“That’s Carol. Her husband is Jake, a fireman.” Mason pointed to a man leaning against the truck.
“That’s the girl who left you for your best friend?”
“Yep, and now I’m leaving you with her. I need to go find out what is going on. Stay close to her.” He waved and then took off in a jog.
Wonderful.
“Hi,” the woman said, shifting the kid on her hip. The sun hit her auburn hair, giving it a bright-red flavor. She also sported freckles, though not many. “You must be Harmony.”
“How’d you know?”
“Small town and everyone is talking about how you’re dating Mason.”
Harmony wished the woman sounded like she was bitter, but she actually sounded happy, as if him being with a woman made her thrilled.
“I wouldn’t say we’re dating.”
“Really? What would you call attending the neighborhood barbeque together, then?”
“Convenience, considering I’m renting his cottage.”
“Yeah, well, don’t tell Lilly that. She’s been trying to get her claws into Mason ever since that bitch Julia ripped his heart out.”
Harmony wanted to know how what Carol had done was any different, but she refrained. She’d rather learn about his last girlfriend. “I’m surprised Lilly hasn’t moved on to some other bachelor since it’s been years since Mason’s last serious relationship.”
“What? Are you kidding? He and Julia broke up just a few months ago. Turns out she was married. Well, separated, but she still neglected to tell Mason. He could have gotten past that, but she had a kid and never told him.”
Harmony narrowed her gaze as she glanced in Mason’s direction. He had his back to her as he chatted with another officer and Jake.
“I take it he only told you about me and Renee.”
“He didn’t mention names,” Harmony said, feeling a bit like a fool. Not because he hadn’t told her about his third love. That was none of her business, but because she’d felt a pang of anger that he hadn’t trusted her with the information.
And that was stupid. He owed her no explanation about any part of his life.
Lest not forget, her entire existence as Harmony Baker was a total lie.
“He’s really a good man,” Carol said. “The best, actually.”
“Then, if you don’t mind me being so bold, why’d you dump him for his best friend?”
Carol laughed. “He loves to tell the story that way, but I didn’t dump him for Jake. After the senior ball, we realized we weren’t compatible. A couple of weeks later, I started to date Jake, but it seemed that way to everyone in this town, and none of us corrected the story.”
Harmony didn’t know Mason well, but that sounded like something he’d do. She bit down on her thumbnail. “What about the other girl? The one he brought back after he left the military?”
“That would be Renee. Nice girl, but she couldn’t handle a small town. She went back to her hometown for a visit and never came back. She married some guy a month later.”
“Ouch.”
“I know. I’ve always felt bad for Mason that way. He’s one of the good guys, and he gets stuck with Lilly as the best option in this town—until you showed up.”
Mason waved her over. She wasn’t sure if that was being saved by the bell, or being summoned to the principal’s office.
“Like I said, we’re not really dating.” She pulled out her business card. “Feel free to stop by my shop sometime. Half off first event.”
“I’ll do that, but you should know that Lilly is saying you’re desperate for customers, which is the only reason you’re giving half off. Oh, and that she knows for a fact, you’re not very good.”
“She’s saying that?” Harmony couldn’t deal with mean girl tactics, but if she were pushed hard enough, she’d be sure to mean girl it back.
“No one listens to her in this town,” Carol said. “You better go. I hope we cross paths soon.”
“Me too,” Harmony said, wishing she hadn’t made that admittance. Why couldn’t Sterling have picked out something like a writer or artist of some kind that allowed her to be a recluse in the community.
No ties.
And yet, today alone, she met a few people she could see herself inviting over for drinks.
Wonderful.
Now off to deal with Mr. Sexy Deputy Landlord.