Page 60 of Red Hot Harmony

“You sound really sexy when you say ‘wholesome.’”

“Why, thank you, mama.”

“I miss you. I can’t wait to show you off.”

“Oh, I can’t wait to see your parents’ faces when you introduce me.”

“My mother will have a heart attack.”

He laughed softly.

I did too.

Somehow, despite the world being literally on fire and my kid being literally a stranger, Dante Martinez made me believe everything would be all right.

My mother ruined my elaborately crafted plan of showing up for the anniversary dinner with a hot rock star on my arm.

She’d always been extremely independent regarding organizing family events and had never included me in the process nor asked for my opinion, so when I received a panicked phone call from her at six that morning, demanding my immediate presence on account of some mishap with her dress, I thought it was a dream.

A nightmare, to be exact.

“I need you here right now, Camille.” She was speaking to me in that stern voice of hers that I’d feared so much as a kid. It meant that whatever came out of her mouth was nonnegotiable.

“You want me to come over at this hour?” I asked, my mind racing. I’d booked a hair stylist. Not something I usually did, but I was dating a celebrity who was very good at giving me orgasms and I’d recently rediscovered my sexuality, so I simply wanted to look beautiful and feminine.

Now my mother was making me go to Porter Ranch at the crack of dawn to probably fix two stitches in an underarm area where no one would see it anyway, and knowing her and how bad traffic was with the road closures… This could take me hours. My entire itinerary for the day was getting screwed up.

“I’m sorry. I know you were going to be here this afternoon, but the other seamstress isn’t available and I have no one else to ask.”

I almost wanted to ask her why she couldn’t fix her own damn dress, but then I remembered that no matter how invincible my mother was, she wasn’t a superhero. There was such a thing as arthritis, which made sewing difficult.

“You can change here and we can have Willy pick up Ally after lunch,” she continued brazenly as if she hadn’t just destroyed all my plans.

“I booked someone to do my hair.”

“That’s okay. You can use my girl. Marla.”

I had no idea who Marla was and what she could do, but knowing how picky my mother was, I trusted this woman would do a decent job.

So I conceded. “Okay. Let me just brush my teeth and pack up, and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Fifteen minutes later, I knocked on Ally’s door, then pushed it open and popped my head in.

“What?” she grumbled from beneath her blanket.

“Bug, grandma has an emergency and I have to go to Porter Ranch now. Willy will pick you up after lunch.”

“What about my hair? Is Clarissa still coming?”

“We’ll do it at grandma’s.” I hated when people canceled at the last minute, and I made a mental note to pay her anyway.

My daughter made a dissatisfied noise that sounded like a growl. “What about Dante? Why can’t he pick me up?”

“He doesn’t need to be there that early. I’m sure he’ll be fine driving up on his own.”

I made a mental note to text him in a couple of hours when he woke up to let him know about the change of plans.

“Okay, bye.” Ally pulled the blanket over her head, indicating that she’d gotten all the information she needed and this conversation was over.

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