“Isn’t that chip supposed to fix that?”
Harmony didn’t want to waste her breath explaining that the chip didn’t cure 100% of all anxiety. Having a half-dead child in your backyard would fall under the category of “unexpected” so it was impossible to prepare for that kind of occurrence.
“Do you work tomorrow?”
“Yes. I can’t stop working.”
“I would think that this would be an exception.” Wendy Latham held out her hands, palm side up in a pleading gesture.
“I’m going to bed now.”
“Are you sure you don’t need any dinner?” Her mom’s critical tone softened as she said this and so did Harmony’s heart.
“No, thank you, Mom. I just need sleep.” She reluctantly hugged her mother but knew that was the only way she would get some alone time.
“I hope you sleep well.” Wendy peered into her daughter’s face as she ran her fingers through her daughter’s unruly curls and smiled softly.
Harmony returned the smile. “Thanks. I plan on it.” Her mom walked down the hall to her own room and Harmony shut her door.
Harmony’s childhood room should have felt familiar but it didn’t. She had always assumed her memory was worse than other people’s. The room had all the things a girl’s room should have, but she couldn’t bring back memories of sleepovers, doing homework, playing, or having her first kiss in this room. She walked to the bed without turning on the light and ran her fingers over the pink comforter.
Weariness radiated across her whole body and she knew she needed sleep. It had been a terrible day. Reluctantly, she pulled back the blanket and a whiff of vanilla reached her nose as she did so. She removed her jeans and bra and snuggled under the covers. Rufus joined her at the base of the bed.
She hoped that the mother of that little girl had found her. She hoped the girl was merely injured and hadn’t lost her life. She hoped the mom wasn’t up late worried about where her precious daughter was. Harmony wasn’t a natural with kids, but she could imagine how it felt to be a scared parent. She’d been scared her whole life.
When Harmony finally did sleep, her mind was fraught with nightmares that she woke with no recollection of. Waking at 7 am as groggy as ever, Rufus barked at her demanding to be fed. She pulled her pants on and wobbled to the kitchen. In a sleepy haze, she let Rufus into the backyard to pee. As he bounded around outside, she filled a bowl with dog food and a separate bowl for water. When that was done, she turned around to survey the dining table where her mother usually sat drinking coffee. To her disbelief, Lyric was sitting there as handsome as ever, drinking coffee with her mother.
“Harmony,” Lyric said silkily as he inclined his head towards her.
“Good morning.” She mustered and glanced over at her mom. “Did you call my job?”
Wendy looked shocked that Harmony would even assume she would do something like that. “No, I didn’t. He graciously came over to check in.”
Harmony wondered how he had found out. She hadn’t called or notified him of anything. She was planning to go to work like she was supposed to. She also didn’t know how he knew where her mom lived.
“I’m still coming in to work today.”
“I’m here to let you know that you don’t need to come in today. I think after something so traumatic, you should take time off.” Curling his pointer finger, he directed her to join them at the table.
She joined but still kept her arms crossed over her chest defensively. She was examining her mother’s face. “Had he threatened her? Was he controlling her?” She couldn’t figure out why her mother was so calm. She usually hated unexpected company.
A sudden surge of courage overtook her and she blurted out, “If this is about what happened in the meeting yesterday,” Lyric was already shaking his head as she finished, “it won’t happen again.”
“Of course not. That was only one infraction. You are a valuable and unique employee. We would not be able to lose you.”
While the words mollified Wendy Latham, Harmony was digesting what had been said very carefully. It would have made much more sense for him to have said “we wouldn’t want to lose you” or “our office wouldn’t be the same without you” but the words he had chosen sounded perfectly curated to absolve him from being called an outright “liar”. Something was being omitted. The thing that Harmony couldn’t figure out was what. She had never been this suspicious before, but Lyric’s presence seemed too coincidental to be an accident.
“Well, this is where I leave you.” Lyric stood and flashed a smile at her mother which was received with a giggle and a duck of the head. He then turned to Harmony. “Rest. We will see you Monday.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Harmony did not dare ask any more questions for fear of truly losing her job to somebody more intersectional. She knew she was on a tightrope even if Lyric did not say so.
“Do you need any breakfast for the road?” Wendy asked, rushing to open the door for him.
“No thank you.” His canines winked beneath his dark red lips and he stared meaningfully over Wendy’s shoulder at her daughter. “I am satisfied.”
He left and the heaviness evaporated. Harmony stood immediately and opened the back door to let Rufus in. She then rushed back to her bedroom where she still had her phone plugged in. Rufus whipped his head around and began to bark and follow her.
“Some good you are. You didn’t even bark at the stranger.” Harmony muttered as she unplugged the device and rushed back into the living area.
“He seemed very nice.” Wendy said pointedly.
Harmony didn’t answer but simply nodded her head as she began to research.
“He’s not at all how you described him.”
“Mom, I’m busy.”
“You should go out with him.”
This cut into Harmony’s thoughts and she glared at her mother. “That’s not going to work.” As so often happened when she thought of Lyric in a work setting, her heartbeat quickened and her upper lip began to sweat. This was a type of anxiety in her life that was more of a rush and she didn’t want to resolve it. It was the only fun work had to offer anymore. The forbidden romance was still going strong in the modern era.
Wendy crossed her arms and said, “Why?”
“I’m not the right kind of person.” To signal the end of the conversation, Harmony plopped down on the couch and Rufus joined her by jumping up beside her and laying his head in her lap.
Wendy’s exasperation could be felt, but Harmony was able to tune it out easily after years of therapy and chip treatment. She couldn’t pinpoint why she was feeling so uneasy, but it all seemed to be connected to last night.
She Googled information about “dark black patches” which only brought up information about skin conditions. She then looked up information about mysterious murders in Kimber but no results populated. A couple of armed robberies and a missing person’s report for a woman about her age, but no missing children. Finally, she looked up information about black holes. This gave her much more information to look at but it was mostly about outer space and some man named Zion Jones who studied the stars. From what she could tell, he sounded crazy. He was a creationist and that alone made her doubt his credibility. Despite this, Zion was celebrated by scientists like Dr. Preston Winston who was somebody Harmony had heard of. He had donated several millions to the chip project and he was why she was able to afford to get the chip implant for her anxiety.
