“Are you going shopping or for dinner?” I laughed.
Mom smacked me upside the head. “You say that now until you get home tonight and tell Harlyn to bring you home a cinnamon roll when we go.”
She was right. You really couldn’t beat a cinnamon roll from the mall.
“I really don’t want to impose. I know you have other things to do than babysit me while Remy is away.”
Mom tsked. “Puh-lease. Since I quit my job and help Lo at the shop, I really don’t have much to do.”
“Uh, you could actually make it to work every day at the shop. That might give you something more to do.” Mom technically worked at the bike shop, but you were lucky if she was there two days a week and before noon.
“Like Lo really needs me there. Half the time, he yells at me for all the suggestions I make.”
Harlyn cleared her throat. “Like painting his bike purple?”
Mom sighed. “Purple passion paradise, you mean. And yes, that is exactly what I mean. The man wouldn’t take one of my suggestions if it knocked him upside the head.”
“I am not painting my damn bike purple, woman!”
Mom’s jaw dropped, and she stepped to the screen of the porch. “Yes, you are, and how the hell did you hear me?”
Lo walked around the corner of the house with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. “Your voice carries, babe. A lot.”
“That’s a load of crap,” Mom protested.
I stood up, pulling Harlyn up with me. “Well, we’re gonna get headed back, Mom. We both have to be to work in the morning.”
“But it’s only six-thirty,” Mom whined.
“And it’s a four-hour ride for them back to Leeds Square, Meg. Hug the boy and let them go,” Lo ordered.
Mom stomped her foot. “No. I don’t want to. You need to tell Brooks Cummings he needs to move his shop to Rockton. There is so much more to do here, and well, I’m here.”
I pressed a kiss to the side of Mom’s head. “And I’m sure the selling point will be you live here.”
Lo laughed, and Harlyn let out a little giggle.
Mom wrapped me up in a hug and squeezed tightly. “Don’t make me have to come kidnap your girlfriend again so you’ll come visit,” she warned.
“I thought it wasn’t a kidnapping,” I wheezed. Mom had one hell of a bear hug.
She gave me one last squeeze, then let me go. “It wasn’t,” she grumbled. She moved to Harlyn and gave her the same hug, but she also whispered something to her I couldn’t make out.
“Let the kids go, Meg,” Lo called.
Mom begrudgingly let Harlyn go and collapsed into the chair I had just been sitting in. “Go. Just leave me all alone.”
“Christ sake,” Lo rumbled. “We need to get you a cat, or I don’t know, hang out with the twenty friends you have.”
Mom flipped him off and wiped a stray tear from her cheek. “You’re being a butt.”
Lo moved to walk up the steps of the porch, and I knew it was time to get out of there. I grabbed Harlyn’s hand and tugged her to the screen door.
Lo opened it and moved past it with a pat on the shoulder to me and a quick hug for Harlyn. “Stay out of trouble, and call your mother,” he said quietly. He always told me the same thing every time I came to visit.
Harlyn sniffled behind me, and I turned to see she had a couple of tears falling. “Lordy, not you too, baby.”
I pulled her down the steps and over to the Challenger. I opened the door and helped Harlyn into the car.
“I don’t know why I’m crying,” she hiccuped when I slid into the car and reached over to buckle her seat belt. By the time I pulled out of the driveway and pointed the Challenger in the direction of Leeds Square, her tears were coming faster.
I leaned over and draped my arm over her shoulders. “Baby, you’re fine. You’ll see her in a week or so.” Harlyn had said she liked my mom, but I didn’t realize she had gotten so attached to her.
“You probably think I’m a weirdo.” She sniffled, trying to stop crying. “I mean, I really don’t know why I’m crying.”
“What did my mom whisper to you?” I asked.
A small smile touched her lips. “She said to balance my crazy and classy but to make sure you always know my crazy is there.”
I busted out laughing. That would be something my mom would say.
“And also she couldn’t wait to go get a cinnamon roll with me. I think that was when I started crying. I haven’t had a mom to do stuff with for a while.”
I threaded my fingers through hers. “I don’t know if you’re with me because you like me, or if you like my mom.”
“Um, it’s both, but I like you a teeny tiny bit more.” She held up her finger and thumb and squinted at me through the small space between them.
“I guess I’m going to have to work a little bit harder to widen that gap.”
She leaned her head against my shoulder and sighed. “I really don’t think it’s going to take much.” She smothered a yawn with the back of her hand. “Though you might have to wait until we get back to my place. I need a nap right now.”
I found a station on the radio and relaxed into my seat. “Sleep, baby. I’ll wake you when we get home.”
She sighed, content, and snuggled into me.
Pop Evil played quietly on the radio while Harlyn fell asleep, and I couldn’t help but think that there wasn’t anywhere else in this world I would rather be.
*
Chapter 28
Harlyn
He took a step closer to me and brushed his fingertips against my arm. “Hello, Harlyn.” His voice was low, and the deep timber sent shivers down my spine.
“Hi,” I whispered. That was all I had in me. It was taking all of my thought and concentration to not close the gap between us, and I prayed to God he would wrap me up in his arms. The man had only said my name, and I was ready to be putty in his hands to mold and play with.
I had woken up in the car when Remy pulled into my driveway. I sleepily rubbed my eyes and looked over at him after he shifted the car into park. I could feel his desire and need coursing through him. While I had slept, I could tell he thought about the things he planned to do to me when we got into the house.
“Tell me what you are thinking, baby.”
I shook my head slightly. Not a chance he was going to know.
“I’ll tell you what I’m thinking, if you tell me what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours.”
So tempting. His proposition was what every girl wanted to know when trying to figure out what the hell she was doing. Knowing what he thought would help me to figure out if he’s into me as much as I’m into him.
“Only if you go first.”
He closed the gap between us and goosebumps spread over my skin as he nuzzled his face close to my ear. His lips brushed against my ear. “I’m thinking I missed you.”
Ding, ding. His thoughts were right on track with where mine were. We were pulled to each other, and neither of us understood it. “Um, I might have missed you, too.” He was obviously open to whatever was going on.