Being in a new house in LA was weird. They were still in Calabasas but they had moved to a different house because her mom said that her and Trey were separating and she didn't want to stay in the house that they had. Everyone got new rooms and new decorations and they all had to adjust to living under the same roof when they had never done that before. Her mom and her dad had completely different rules and getting them to agree on one thing was a very tedious task.
Harmony heard a knock on her door and called for the person to come in. Isabella came running in and hopped on her bed, resting her head in her lap as Harmony continued to play around on the new phone that her dad had finally gotten for her.
"What's up?"
"I don't like it here. All of my friends are in Florida. I don't know anyone here," Isabella complained, looking up at Harmony with a small pout on her face.
"Well when you go to school you can make new friends," Harmony replied but Isabella shook her head.
"It's not the same. I'm glad mom and dad are together but why did we have to move? There's cameras everywhere and the people that take the pictures are so mean," Isabella explained as Harmony finally set her phone down.
"I know a lot has changed but mom and dad only want the best for the both of us and they'll protect us from the people with the cameras, okay? You'll get used to it and I promise that you'll love it here," Harmony leaned down to kiss her forehead as Isabella released a long sigh but ended up nodding anyways.
"Thank you for dinner, Mallory," Wilmer thanked her after she cleared their plates away to wash them in the kitchen. Mallory was surprised because Demi and Harmony hardly used to thank her at the old house but she accepted his gratitude before rushing off to do the dishes.
"Isa and Harmony, why don't you guys go help her?" Wilmer suggested, gesturing towards the kitchen. Harmony cocked her eyebrow and looked over at Demi who had her eyes half closed.
"Okay first you make us eat dinner as a family," she put air quotes around family before continuing, "and now you want us to go do the dishes? Mallory is the maid for a reason, dad."
"Just because that's her job doesn't mean that she couldn't use some help," Wilmer had told Demi over and over that even with a maid, the girls should still have some responsibilities but she never enforced that rule. Back in Florida, Wilmer didn't have a maid. Him and Isabella did the dishes together, she cleaned her room and her bathroom and even the living room when it got too messy. Harmony clearly had no cleaning to do and Demi wasn't even trying to make her.
"Well then we can hire another one. Either way, I'm not doing dishes when she's more than capable," Harmony rolled her eyes and pulled her phone out as Demi cleared her throat.
"I just want the girls to focus on school and dance. They have plenty of responsibility," Demi stated, under the impression that her word would be final like it always was.
"Yeah Isa knows the meaning of responsibility but what about our other daughter Demi?" Wilmer fired back. Harmony made eye contact with Isabella and gestured towards the stairs. Isabella nodded and they both slid out of their chairs and headed up to their rooms so they wouldn't have to hear their parents argue again.
"I really don't want to get into this with you because it's clear we have very different parenting styles and we need to find a common ground. Mallory is here for a reason, to help with keeping the house clean and sometimes cooking for us. If you want the girls to clean little things here and there or just simply clean their rooms by themselves we can arrange that," Demi breathed out.
She was tired of arguing with Wilmer. He was still mad at her for sending Harmony to England even if she was back now. He was upset about her deciding not to sleep in the same bed or have sexual relations within him until her divorce was finalized. He was constantly criticizing her parenting techniques. She was just tired of all of the fighting. She wanted them to work out for good this time but how was that supposed to happen when they couldn't go an entire day without screaming at each other?
"If you don't change the way you parent Harmony and demand some respect from her, things aren't going to change. She isn't going to change," Wilmer said. That was the only point that he was trying to prove. How could Demi possibly expect Harmony to change when she used the same lazy parenting techniques on her? He wasn't trying to call her a bad mother, because she wasn't, she just needed to change her ways.
It was quiet for a while and suddenly Demi released a broken whimper and used her napkin to cover her face. Her shoulders began to tremble and she choked on her own sobs as Wilmer furrowed his eyebrows and looked at her from across the table.
"Demi, what's wrong?" Wilmer questioned as Demi shook her head but still continued to cry.
"Harmony said that she hated me in therapy and she talked about how she blamed me for everything and I don't want to be hard on her because I don't want her to hate me even more than she does now," Demi sobbed. Wilmer stood up and walked to her end of the table, helping her up from her chair and taking her into his arms.
"It hurts. I'm such a terrible mother. I hid Isabella from the world, I'm surprised she doesn't hate me too," Demi cried. Wilmer rocked her back and forth before pulling away and looking straight into her eyes.
"Demi, you are not a terrible mother. Your girls, all three of them, they love you so much. Even if Harmony says that she hates you, she loves you Demi. Maybe the way you parent isn't perfect, no parent is, but you love those three girls and would die over and over for them and that's enough, Demi. You do so much for them all of the time. You are an amazing mother, especially after everything that you've been through," Wilmer wiped her tears away with the pads of his thumbs as she sniffled.
"But you're always yelling at me about how I treat Harmony and stuff," she choked out as Wilmer sighed and kissed the top of her head.
"Because you know I don't sugarcoat when it comes to things like that Demi. I want Harmony to grow up to be the best person that she can be, and a good person at that, and I want you to be the best parent that you can be. I just want what's best and I know I'm not that great at communicating that but it's all I want," Wilmer combed his fingers through her scalp as she nodded and rested her head against his chest.
"I miss sleeping in the same bed as you," Demi admitted as she chewed on her bottom lip.
"I miss sleeping in the same bed as you too but those are your rules," Demi wiped her face clean and heavily exhaled as Wilmer pulled away from her.
"I'm gonna go check on the girls and then call Lyric to tell her goodnight," Demi stated before heading towards the stairs.
"What is this, a sister sleepover?" Harmony and Isabella were in Harmony's room in her bed watching Clueless.
"Yeah since she missed the one with me and Lyric," Isabella said, pausing the movie as Demi nodded and cleared her throat.
"Well make sure you girls actually get some sleep okay? Maybe next time we'll have Lyric come over," Harmony and Isabella both nodded. Demi smiled at her daughters as she walked into the room and both kissed them on the head.
"I love you guys," she reminded them. Isabella instantly replied but Harmony was caught up in her phone. Demi pursed her lips before exiting the room and heading down the hall. To her surprise, Wilmer was inside of her room instead of in the guest room where he was supposed to be.
"You look like you're about to get into my bed. Why?" Demi asked. She wasn't mad she was just...confused.
"Because we bought this house together and we have a chance to try things out again so I am going to make love to my beautiful girlfriend in our brand new house and our brand new bed because we are looking towards the future but living in the present, in the now, in the is," Wilmer walked around the bed as Demi giggled but shook her head.
"I don't want us to be messy, Wilmer."
"Baby, we have made the biggest mess in history, which we have yet to clean up, but who cares? Unless we wanna film this moment, which I think would be stupid because we already learned our lesson about that, no one is gonna know. It's just me and you, and this is us, and this is now, and right now, I want to show you how much I love you," Wilmer said as Demi released a giggle and walked into Wilmer's open arms.
Wilmer used his remote to turn their speakers on and instantly Until The End of Time by Beyonce and Justin Timberlake began to play. Wilmer began to sway them around the room, massaging Demi's sides before slipping his hands up her shirt and tugging it off of her body. She shivered in the dimmed light and cuddled even more into him.
"You know I've got you right?" Wilmer asked and Demi nodded against his chest.
"And you know I love you right?" He reminded her. Demi smiled up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck before capturing his lips in a sweet kiss, allowing him to relax her heart and her mind, finding safety in his arms just like she always had.
Sick and tired of trying to save the world. I just wanna spend my time being your girl. And what you give me lets me know that we'll be alright.