Page 17 of Forbidden Dreams
“On it,” Charlie says, and I hear footsteps walking away from the door.
“Are you okay?” My voice is almost in a whisper as I ask her, hoping like fuck she turns and looks my way. She puts her palm against her cheek, then the other cheek. “Harmony,” I call her name and then stop when she still avoids looking at me. When I hear voices coming closer to the closet, I stop talking to her as I hear Charlie tinkering with the door before it’s pulled open. My eyes watch her the whole time, wanting to talk to her about the kiss, but knowing with my sister and Charlie outside the door, it really is not a good time.
She walks out before I can say anything to her. “I’m sorry,” she mumbles as she walks past Autumn, looks at her, and then stares at me.
“What did you do to her?” she asks, looking at me and then back over her shoulder. “Were you mean to her?”
I gasp. “Of course I wasn’t mean to her.”
“Hey,” Janelle says, sticking her head into the room, “my tables just left. Can I punch out?”
“Yeah,” I say to her as she waves her fingers at me. “Take her home, will you?” I look over at Charlie, who just stares at me. I avoid looking at him, pretty much the same way Harmony avoided looking at me.
I grab the case of water, then leave the stock room, propping the door open and walking behind the bar. I see Harmony smiling at her tables as she comes back and goes to the POS, waiting for the ticket to come out, and placing it down on the counter. I grab the ticket and the two of us work silently with each other. I only hear her voice when she’s talking and laughing with the customers, who fall under her spell. I even catch a couple of them trying to check out her ass when she walks away, and it takes everything I have not to toss them out.
I’m cleaning behind the bar when the last table gets up and leaves, making sure they wave at me and then Harmony before heading out. She cleans up the table, coming back with the glasses and putting them in the dishwasher before grabbing the rag and the spray bottle.
She walks toward the tables, wiping them all down. My mouth wants to say something to her,
but every time it opens, nothing comes out. Not one fucking word. Not one fucking syllable. Not one fucking thing. It’s like all the words I know are gone. I watch her moving from one table to the next, I try to hurry on my side and make sure we finish together. She makes it to the last table at the same time I finish wiping down the bar. “Is that all there is?” she asks me, and I put my hands on my hips. The guilt about fucking up and kissing her is roaring up my spine.
No, my head screams that is not it. “Yeah,” I say to her instead of forcing her to talk about what happened in the closet.
She nods at me, walking back to the closet as I put my hands in fists on the bar and hang my head. She is about to walk past the bar when I push off and join her. She looks over her shoulder, and I can see she’s wondering what the fuck is going on.
“It’s late,” I tell her as I go to her side. “I’m going to walk you to your car.”
“That’s unnecessary,” she mumbles, stuck in her spot.
“We can stand here and argue about it”—I cock my hip—“or you can let me walk you to your car.” She looks at me. “And while we are talking about things, we can discuss what happened in there.” I motion with my head toward the closet.
Her eyes go from me to the closet and then back to me before she shakes her head. “No.” Bending it and walking out of the bar. I follow her to her car, watching her get in, and moving out of the way before she decides to run me over. I watch the tail red lights fade into the distance before I walk back in, finish closing up, and then head to the back to get my own shit to head home. The muscles in my neck are tense as I pull onto my street. The houses are all pitch black except for a couple of porch lights that are on.
The street is peaceful and serene as I make my way down it, my eyes going to the car parked on the street in front of Harmony’s house. Passing by the car, I spot the driver sitting behind the wheel. His face turns to watch me as I pull into my driveway. The hair on the back of my neck rises as I get out of my truck. I look over at him for a split second before I see headlights coming down the street, turning into her driveway. I watch her get out of her car, not even noticing the man watching her.
I start to walk toward her when I hear the sound of his door being closed, and now her eyes fly up to the man walking toward her. My feet speed up even faster. “Harmony Cartwright,” he says when he gets close enough to her. I watch the man holding something in his hand and my pulse stops, ice fills my veins.
She must feel the same way because she closes the back car door, making sure her son is safe. “Excuse me?” she responds, and I’m at her side at the same time the guy stops in front of her. My hand goes out in front of her to stop him from getting any closer, as half my body moves at the same time to shield her.
“Are you Harmony Cartwright?” he asks again.
“Who the fuck are you?” I snap, my voice tight.
He moves his hand up, and I see a folded paper. “I’m looking for Harmony Cartwright,” he says, ignoring my question.
“It’s after fucking midnight,” I remind him. “You want to find someone, you come when it’s light out and not in the middle of the fucking night.” I advance on him; not sure I can stop myself from putting my hands on him.
“Listen, I’m just doing my job.” He must sense he’s one second away from me putting him back into his car.
“Who are you?” Harmony asks from behind me.
“I need you to confirm you are Harmony Cartwright.” He looks over me at her.
“I’m Harmony,” she tells him, and he nods.
“You’ve been served.” He reaches around me and holds the paper out to her.
“Excuse me,” she says, her hand coming up automatically to grab the papers from him.