Page 126 of Dark and Dangerous

Amber giggles at that. “You look like a princess too.”

She steps out of my arms, and we all stand while she looks over us, one by one. “You all look like princesses!”

Admittedly, my friends and I may have taken the wholegetting ready together thinga little too far. What started as a simple plan turned into a trip to Odessa to buy gowns and get our hair done.

“Amber!” Connie yells. “Don’t run away like that again!” She approaches us, her brow furrowed until she realizes who Amber is talking to. Her smile lights up her eyes. “Aww, you girls look fantastic!”

“We went a tad overboard,” I admit. “But since the school doesn’t do any dances, we thought, why not go all out?”

“I love it!” she beams.

I gesture to my friends. “This is Jeannie and Sammy. Guys, this little one is Jonah’s sister, Amber, and his mom, Connie.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Jeannie says, and Sammy…

Sammycurtsies.“Pleasure, ma’am.”

Jeannie and I stifle our laughs.

“You girls have a lovely night!” Connie says. “I’m sure we’ll see you later.”

We wait until she leaves with Amber in tow, and I turn to Sammy, shaking my head. “You’re downbadfor Jonah.”

She grimaces. “I know. I hate it.”

We start for the dance floor, getting stopped every few steps, mainly by little kids who’ve had parties here. They call meMiss Harlow, and my friends think it’s the cutest thing. “Oh, you’re popular,” Jeannie notes.

I spot Lana serving drinks at a table and tell my friends, “I’ll be right back.” Then I approach carefully and gear up for something I should have done days ago. “Lana,” I say to her back.

She turns, her smile slipping just a tad. “Hi, Harlow.”

“I wanted to apologize to you—for taking off the way I did and not giving you as much notice as I should’ve. I wanted to speak to you onThursday, but you weren’t here, and I should’ve called, but I didn’t, and I’m sorry.”

“So you’re not quitting?”

“What? No!”

“Oh, thank God!” She gives me a one-armed hug around the neck, and a giggle pours out of me. “I thought that’s why you came over here.”

I shake my head. “No, I love my job. I don’t want to lose it.”

“Good,” she says. “Because you, my girl, are the sole reason we’ve had triple the kids’ party bookings we’ve had compared to last year.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” she says, then motions to the dance floor. “Now go have fun with your friends.”

“Okay, thank you!” I start to leave, but she calls my name, stopping me.

“You look amazing!”

By the time I get back to my friends, Jonah has joined them. Dressed in dark denim held up by a thick leather belt, a plain white tee, and a cowboy hat, he really took the theme of the night seriously. And Sammy… Sammy is eating it up. Though he might not know that going by her feigned show of disinterest.

“You look so good,” I tell Jonah, coming up behind him.

His immediate reaction is to hug me around the waist, lifting me off my feet and spinning me in a circle. After setting me back on my feet, he tips his hat, putting on a thick accent as he says, “It’s a good ol’ Texas hoedown, ladies.”

“Who you calling a hoe?” Sammy jokes.

---