Page 6 of Red Hot Harmony

Friday sounded as good as any night.

Dante: Snowflake says hi.

There was a puppy emoji too.

My lips stretched into a smile at the memory of the soft, warm ball in my lap, a nice moment, a vision of what could be. It made my chest ache with longing for something I’d never had.

A little flustered, be it from the hot weather or otherwise, I set my fork aside to type a response.

We’d never done this before—text each other random stuff couples usually did. Truthfully, I hadn’t had much experience with such things, because there hadn’t been a man in a long time to begin with, and the only person I felt comfortable sending messages to whenever I wanted was Harper.

Now, hand in the air, hovering above the screen, I suddenly didn’t know what to say. My heart hammered. There was a substantial pause before my fingers finally touched the digital keyboard.

Tell Snowflake I said hi too

Silence.

Three tiny dots materialized beneath my text, indicating that a person on the other end was typing. Seconds stretched on and on. Finally, the message popped up, not nearly as long as I’d expected it to be.

Dante: You should come by and tell him yourself.

A let out a long breath, the one I’d apparently been holding all this time. Relief never came. Only more anxiety.

Tonight?

I have no idea why I asked that. I regretted it the moment I clicked the sent icon, but deep down, I knew that one way or another, I’d end up in his bed. I wanted to.

Dante: He’d love that. Me too. But perhaps when you feel up for it?

Is that an invitation?

Dante: It is. You know what we say. Mi casa es su casa.

And it went on and on and on. The exchange was a mix of silly things and innuendos, never really crossing that line that would push us into uncomfortable territory, and when we finally agreed that it was late and we both needed sleep, it was nearly midnight.

And Ally wasn’t home.

I realized that as I entered the house, the box with the food in my hand. No light came from her room when I walked down the hallway and stood in front of it.

As a parent who respected her daughter’s privacy, I knocked first, but the answer was silence.

My pulse spiked. I felt its thrum in my throat and my temple.

Pushing the door open, I reached for the switch. Bright light spilled over the poster-strewn walls. The bed was still made and the school textbooks, heaped on the desk, were in disarray.

Empty.

The thought hit me like a rock.

I rushed to the living room to grab my cell phone and call Jules.

“Pauline is already home,” she said, sounding surprised. “Ally left hours ago.”

“What time?” I was shaking now. But I didn’t know if the reason was fear or irritation yet. My daughter was very capable of simply ignoring her curfew, but she’d never done it before. Not in this capacity. Not on a school night.

What if something happened? What if someone took my kid?

“Around eight thirty,” Jules drawled as if the memory wasn’t clear in her mind and she needed to concentrate to access the information. Somehow, this reminded me of the old, bulky computer that used to stand in Dream Bride’s office, taking up all the space and doing very little work.

---