Page 12 of An Engagement for Erica

“Yes,” his mother said. “No need to scare me. My heart can’t take those things.”

“Been there and done that,” he said.

His mother frowned. “Are you talking about that young woman that you had to call the ambulance on at work months ago?”

His mother rarely forgot anything.

“Yes,” he said.

“Whatever happened to her?” his mother asked.

“I just spent the day with her,” he said. “She’s my new consultant.”

His mother started to laugh. “And that is why your day went so well. Norman, I might be getting my grandbaby sooner than I thought.”

Tucker choked on his next bite of food and started to cough, but his mother only laughed.

5

NO ONE STAYS THE SAME

“Well,” Harmony asked Erica the next morning. “How did it go?”

“Not horrible.”

“What does that mean?” Harmony asked, making a coffee and enjoying it at her father’s table.

Their brother, Theo, had lived in this house with his fiancée, but since Theo was spending half his time working in New Haven, they purchased another house on the water so that Theo’s commute was only about thirty-five minutes and Daisy’s under thirty.

A nice compromise in their eyes.

But that left their father’s summer home open, and since her father rarely came to stay and she needed a life change, their father offered it to her.

That meant Harmony couldn’t afford a place on her own and together they decided to both start their respective businesses.

She referred some of her clients to her sister who was focusing on social media, marketing and content creation.

If her sister had any free time, she was helping her out. They were making it work and living in a gorgeous house neither of them could afford at this point in their lives.

“It means that it wasn’t horrible,” she said, sipping her tea and pursing her lips. She missed coffee, but she was limiting herself to one a day.

“That isn’t good enough after you told me he was hot. I’m going to need more. What did he say when he saw you?”

Erica frowned at her tea, took another sip, and looked at her sister. “He said I looked good.”

“Which could mean all sorts of things,” Harmony said.

“I took it as the last time he saw me I was face down on a conference room table. Anything was an improvement from that.”

Harmony giggled and then slapped her hand in front of her face. “Sorry. I’m so happy you are back to cracking jokes and the old you.”

“Not sure it’s the full old me or that I’ll be that person again. No one stays the same. But I do feel calmer. More relaxed than I did going in there yesterday.”

“And why is that?” Harmony asked, taking a long sip of her coffee and then letting out a sigh. “No, you can’t have anymore. You had your cup.”

“Decaf tastes like crap,” she said. “Even decaf tea. I think I’m going to give up and stick to water.”

“You’ve been doing so well. Going from four cups in the morning to one has to be hard.”

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