27. Tobias
CHAPTER 27
Tobias
I have to park several blocks away from her apartment because of all the vehicles, the biggest one being a tour bus parked alongside the yard. Harmony will be surprised to see me. I watched her attorney leave carrying a leather briefcase. It doesn’t matter. I also saw her punk cousin, the one who came into my bookstore, leave with a bunch of children. By my best count, she’s in there alone.
I knock a couple of times when I get to her door and almost give up when there’s no answer. But her door finally opens and there stands Harmony in a robe and slipper set. Her hair is a rat’s nest on the top of her head—surprising since I’ve only seen her in well-maintained pigtails or space buns.
She looks worn out, dark marks under those eyes of hers. I’m reminded of the girl who nearly fell asleep in my car when her Jeep wouldn’t start. She was tired then, too.
Shit.
It was my fault she was roughed up by the cop. That part I didn’t call for, but I knew it was wrong when it was happening and didn’t speak up in time. I didn’t know she was pregnant until she said it to the officer. She was trying to protect her abdomen. It was obvious, and as concerned as I was for my mother, I could hear Harmony repeat to the cop that she was carrying a child. He didn’t seem to believe her or care and shoved her hard against his SUV. She did not deserve the way she was treated.
I shouldn’t have yelled at her that night, but I was still running on the adrenaline of looking for my mom. I think that set the cops off.
I hope Harmony’s okay. That the baby is okay. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to her baby because of what I did.
“Toby.” She gasps and glances around like she’s hoping someone might come save her. She grips the edge of the door and starts to shut it. “My lawyer said not to talk to you. If I tell him you’re here, he’ll file a restraining order.” She glances around wildly again like she’s trying to find something to protect herself with or like she’s hoping one of the plethora of family members visiting comes by.
“Don’t close the door. I don’t need to come in. I wanted to talk to you without lawyers,” I tell her. “I wanted to talk to you about your café.”
She subconsciously opens the door a little wider and steps forward.
“Do you still want it?” she asks, head cocked. “Is that why you’re here?”
Her robe catches on the handle to the door and her robe falls open. The t-shirt she wears underneath is pulled tight against the small swell of her stomach. It’s funny how she didn’t look pregnant before that night, but she definitely looks it now.
“I’m looking for a buyer. I want to go back to Southern California. Back home where I belong.” She doesn’t make eye contact as she says it.
I can’t believe my ears. She’s ready to leave and is finally offering me the café on a platter. I don’t really deserve it. Nor do I want her to go. This has all been blown way out of proportion.
I can’t help but wonder if it’s even possible for me to fix this as she stands there, door open, tongue worrying her lip ring.
She continues to chew on her lip. There are dark circles under her eyes, and she looks worn down—resigned. This is not the girl that held her own against me when I first came into her café and wreaked havoc on her life. Nor is it the person who defended her right to a liquor license in front of most of the town.
“Draw it up and I’ll have my lawyer look it over. If he tells me your offer is fair, I’ll sell it to you just like you wanted.” She steps back into her apartment and shuts the door, putting an end to our conversation. The lock clicking is my cue that it’s time to go.
The storefront next to the bookstore is everything I’ve wanted since I found out someone bought it. So, why does this feel so rotten?
While I’m driving home, I come to an understanding—the whole reason I was intrigued with Harmony. It wasn’t just about The SeaSong but the challenge she put up defending it. The passion in which she fought for her dream is what I loved about our sparring. It made life in this small town exciting for once. It made me momentarily forget that I have to care for my mom.
Jerry was right. She does bring life to Port Haven. However, he doesn’t know what she stirs in me.
If she sells to me, yes, I’ll have a larger space to hold book club meetings or get a bad coffee. But life will go back to being boring here in Port Haven. And not just for me.
Harmony’s touched the lives of a lot of people here in town. She’s given Marie a look at what it’s like to have someone believe in you and give you responsibility. She’s shown the businesses on the main strip what it’s like to be a business owner with a sense of purpose. She’s taught the townspeople how to act with poise in the face of adversity. She’s given the nurses at the hospital gifts and food on her dime to thank them for what they do. She’s even volunteered on the damn Christmas planning council.
And she’s touched my mother in a way that brought happiness to her soul. I still can’t believe she was secretly visiting her.
That challenge and passion are obviously now missing from her. You’d think her entire family taking up most of the town would bolster her confidence. Her parents and uncle at the very least supported her coming up and opening the café.
She hasn’t been back to work since she was released from jail. It’s been a while—at least a week. Marie gives me a daily report about everything regarding The SeaSong. She gives me the details on various members of Harmony’s family and the few employees she’s hired, including the gossiping lines that are out front each morning.
Most people would eat up that kind of attention. I’d give my fourth toe to have that kind of business in one day.
Maybe the words her aunt spoke in the café the day after she was arrested are true and she is different.
Un-Harmony-like now. I’m not sure if it was being arrested, being treated roughly by that bastard of a cop working with Dean, or the exhaustion that she’s been wearing all over her face that has her giving up.
Whatever it is, getting my way doesn’t feel triumphant. Instead, it’s like I’m taking advantage of her. And I have never been that guy.
I think of Harmony sitting in the waiting room at Haven Hospital, having her chair picnic as she called it, and waiting to find out if my mom, whom she had never met, was okay. If I was okay.
Port Haven needs a woman like that, a caring and youthful person who will go above and beyond for those around her.
And here I am…running her off to the other end of the state.