Page 15 of Daddy's Little Charmer
“I don’t have any left. I mean, I have Roberto, the man who manages Christian’s strip club, but he isn’t really my uncle. He and my dad were in the Army together, so he feels responsible for me for some reason. But otherwise, I don’t have any family.”
Harmony pushed away from the disparaging feeling she always got when she thought of it. There was nothing she could do but make the best life she could for herself.
“Are you ready?” Harmony asked and stood. She took a sack from the owner and tried to pay. The three left the small shop after another disagreement over who was paying, which Nico won again, just barely, and headed back to her place.
A few times, the men would stiffen when people would approach her. A group of men who sat around on a stoop called out to her. She smiled and waved to them, then spoke to them in Spanish.
Close to the apartment, a prostitute came up to hug her.
“Guys, this is Sunny. She befriended me the first day I moved in.”
“Sunny, this is Nico and Connor, friends of mine.”
“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” both men replied respectively and nodded.
They could tell the woman was a bit taken aback by their politeness. Both men were shocked when Harmony handed her a wrapped burrito and then dug a few items out of her grocerybags and handed them to her. They hugged again and walked off.
They caught sight of a guy they thought was the pimp leaning against the building, staring at them and smoking a cigarette.
“Does he ever bother you?” Connor asked.
Harmony knew who they were talking about. He was the only one in the neighborhood she didn’t like. He treated Sunny horribly and was the laziest person she’d ever met. Instead of getting a job, the jerk put a woman on the street to support himself.
“At first, he tried to sweet-talk me, but that group of guys we just talked to...”
“The gang?” Nico asked.
“Yes, I think so. Anyway, I think Sunny said something to them, and they said something to Porter, the pimp, because he hasn’t bothered me and actually stays away from me.”
Nico and Connor kept glancing at each other. Harmony went straight down the first-floor hallway instead of up the flight of stairs to her place and knocked on one of the doors. A very old, tiny woman answered.
“Hello, Mrs. Owens.”
“Oh, you are such a dear,” she said with a smile and then moved out of the way to let them in.
Harmony handed the last burrito to the woman and then had the men put the bags down so she could go through them. She pulled out bread, milk, oatmeal, and a few other things and set them on the counter. The older woman hugged Harmony.
The guys glanced at each other. The older woman was as tiny as Harmony, but much frailer. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun at the base of her head. Her clothes were old, along with everything else they could see, but everything was spotless.
“I don’t know what I would do without you.”
Harmony smiled. “I’m the one who’s lucky to have you.I’ll bring some spaghetti by later.”
“Oh, my, I love your spaghetti. Are you boys staying with her?”
Harmony answered before the guys could. “Yes, these are friends of mine, Connor and Nico. Guys, this is Mrs. Owens. She’s a retired teacher.”
“Such handsome boys. You take care of my girl.”
“Yes, ma’am,” they both answered and followed Harmony back to her apartment. They set the bags down on the counter in her small kitchen and then moved out of her way and into the living room.
Nico made sure the door was as secure as the flimsy thing could get, while Connor checked the windows. They both looked at each other in disgust. The locks wouldn’t keep a toddler out of her apartment.
The guys sat on the long sofa and the old chair and listened to Harmony hum as she gathered ingredients and started her sauce. They looked around her small, but very neat, apartment and could tell she’d tried to make it look as nice as possible by throwing blankets over the old, faded chair and sofa and lace doilies on the tables to cover up scratches and other marks.
Nico’s eyebrows rose, and he glanced at Connor, who looked just as confused as he felt at what Harmony was saying in the kitchen.
The guys got up and went to the doorway when they heard her having what sounded like a conversation with someone instead of just talking to herself. Both men stiffened in shock.
