Page 20 of Red Hot Harmony

“We’re committing a crime, for god’s sake,” I hissed at him. Worry tightened my stomach.

“We’re getting my baby back,” he countered, eyes fierce and determined.

From around the corner, came the rumble of the Camaro.

Here we go.

“Be ready.” Harper’s index finger ping-ponged between me and Ally. Then he pulled out the beanie, slipped it over his head, and disappeared into a narrow alley separating two properties.

When the shadows devoured his silhouette completely, I slid into the driver’s seat and stared at the side mirror, where Dante’s reflection emerged.

The Camaro was sitting in the middle of the street, right in front of the house we were about to rob. I noted the phone in the curl of his palm as he strode to the door. Wide, certain yet leisured steps. He wore his jeans low and his black shirt was unbuttoned with an equally dark and somewhat tight tank underneath.

My pulse slammed against my eardrums. I could hear my own nervous breaths.

What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing?

Ally leaned up out of the car, searching for a view of Dante. The trees obscured his form. He knocked, then waited.

We waited too, my heart beating double-time. I pushed myself up from the seat and watched Lucas open the door. It was too far away and there were too many obstructions for me to make out his expression. But I felt giddy from sick excitement as soon as I noticed him nearly running from the porch and in the direction of the Camaro.

“I wish I could see his face when he realizes he’s been duped,” Ally muttered, angling herself to get a better look at what was going on. For a moment there, I thought she was going to fall out of the car, but she held on.

Taut seconds ticked by. Dante’s voice, deep and raspy, carried from the distance, but the conversation was only a trickle of indiscernible bits. There was laughter, though, which meant Lucas had been charmed.

It was working. The plan was working.

“Mom,” Ally called moments later, waving in the direction of the alley.

I turned my head and saw a half-crouching form coming out of the darkness.

Harper.

Wide-eyed and positively spooked, Tallulah was with him.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said through gritted his teeth, handing the cat to Ally before taking his seat next to me.

I changed gears from Neutral to Drive and peeled out of the parking spot. Dante’s reflection slid across the side view mirror as we drove away, his silhouette fading into the night. The plan was to meet back in Woodlands Hills at the restaurant Harper had picked.

He was squealing with delight while recapping the details of how he’d gotten inside the house through the kitchen door. Apparently, it was almost never locked if someone was home. He and Ally laughed and shouted over the hum of the engine and the whoosh of wind while I listened to their mingling voices, struggling to contain the sudden surge of my own adrenaline that filled my veins.

I’d helped my friend commit a crime.

My mother would kill me if she found out.

And I had my daughter accompany me. Wonderful.

Parenting 101. Fail.

Tallulah was still shaken by the change of surroundings and I did my best to drive carefully and avoid unexpected maneuvers. It helped that we weren’t on the freeway and couldn’t go faster than forty miles per hour. Several long minutes later when the neighborhood was far behind, a text alert rattled my phone and I asked Harper to check to see who the message was from.

“Your boyfriend says he’ll see you soon and that he’s hungry.”

“I’m hungry too,” Ally blurted out from the back, hugging Tallulah’s carrier bag.

When we pulled into the restaurant parking lot, it struck me that I’d never been here before tonight, so I wasn’t sure what awaited us inside, but outside looked quite busy.

“This place is popular,” I pointed out as I steered the Jaguar past the endless rows of vehicles, searching for an empty spot.

---