Harmony shook her head and looked away. “I don’t think so, Nolan.”

“Oh, okay. Have a nice day, then.” Thankfully, he turned away without pressing for any further explanation as to her rejection.

Abigail frowned but didn’t pester her, either. Nolan was the literal last man on earth Harmony wanted to date, other than maybe her ex, Alan. It might not have directly been Nolan’s fault, but it was his sister—his very flesh and blood—who had made school especially hard for Harmony. Megan Murphy was the meanest of the mean girls, and she never let Harmony forget where she’d come from or where she belonged.

Which was to say nowhere.

She hoped it wasn’t a bad omen that she had found a Murphy so soon after returning to town…

Chapter 8

Harmony

Harmony stood beside Abigail as she rang the doorbell beside the large mahogany door fitted with stained glass panels.

“Just you wait. I’m coming!” an older voice called from inside. A moment later the door eased open to reveal a woman with white-blonde hair on her head and a string of plump pearls around her neck.

“I have a boarder for you, Mrs. Clementine,” Abigail said, immediately handing her baby to the older woman who immediately broke out in an enormous grin.

“Well, isn’t that nice? And you must be her.” The woman turned to Harmony and stuck out her free hand in greeting. “Name’s Virginia Clementine, and who might you be?”

“I’m Harmony. Thank you for agreeing to take me in,” she mumbled. No matter how many times she rented a spare room from some widowed blue blood or middle-aged blue collar, it never got any less embarrassing as she was first getting settled. She felt like an imposter that day, just as she always had in the past when rotating between foster homes as a child.

“Honey, you’re the one doing me a favor. It’s been awfully lonely since Mr. Clementine took his promotion earlier this year. They have him on a new plane across the country just about every single week. How do you like that?”

Harmony nodded and smiled. She didn’t know the first thing about working jobs that would actually pay for you to travel. From the looks of the grand hall before her, the Clementines earned a pretty penny for their troubles.

Some trouble, seeing the world!

“Muffin’s coming with her, too. I hope that’s all right.” Abigail motioned to the little dog who’d already started sniffing around the cupboards in search of a spare crumb or some other such dog-approved treasure.

“That’ll be just fine,” Virginia said. “Any chance you’ll be leaving little Owen, too?”

“Not a prayer,” Abigail answered curtly, and both women laughed as if falling cue cards.

“I’ll just go get Muffin’s things,” Harmony said, feeling like the odd one out in what was supposed to be her new home, however temporarily.

It took two trips to get all of the Chihuahua’s things inside and only one to grab her own. Figured.