Rock Chick Redemption (Rock Chick #3)(121)

“I know. Let’s have a party!” Al y announced.

I was beginning to realize Al y didn’t need much of an excuse for a party.

“My party is tonight,” Daisy pointed out.

“We’l have it Friday night,” Al y said.

“Works for me,” Indy put in.

“Me too,” Jet said.

“You makin’ those caramel chocolate brownies?” Uncle Tex asked Jet.

“What caramel chocolate brownies?” Dad asked.

Uncle Tex turned to Dad. “Loopy Loo’s brownies beat the f**kin’ shit out of your turtle custard sundaes any day.”

“Them’s big words, big man,” Dad threw down the gauntlet.

“Fuckin’ better believe it,” Uncle Tex declared.

“You’re on,” Dad replied.

“I better make the brownies,” Jet mumbled.

I noticed everyone had drifted over, Lee, Eddie and the rest of the Hot Pack.

“You boys have tuxedos?” Daisy asked.

Al their eyes turned to her.

Even Daisy blinked under the force of the Hot Pack Stare.

“Okay,” she gave in. “I’l let you al in with suits.”

“Tuxedos?” Mom asked.

“Formal party, my house, tonight,” Daisy announced.

“Everyone’s invited.”

Mom gasped, then she uttered the immortal feminine words, “I don’t have anything to wear.”

“That’s okay, Trish. I’l take you shopping,” Kitty Sue offered, having missed most of the show and not having any idea what she was letting herself in for. I should probably have warned her but there was no time, Mom was forging ahead.

“Herb, we better go now. We need to get you a suit. I hope we can find somewhere that does one-day tailoring,” she said to Kitty Sue, linking her arm through Kitty Sue’s and leading her to the door. “We need to go somewhere to get logs and blankets. And we need to find a big grocery store. Maybe a Kmart, or better yet, a Target. They have ritzier stuff. Hank needs some stocking up.”

“Logs?” Kitty Sue asked.

“I don’t want Roxie freezing to death during one of your blizzards,” Mom explained.

The bel over the door jingled as they walked out, Dad throwing an eye rol over his shoulder as he fol owed, carrying his latte.

Once they’d gone, Hank curled me so I was facing him and I looked up.

“I gotta go to work,” he said.

I nodded.

“What time’s Daisy’s party?” he asked me.

“Seven o’clock. Come with your bel y empty, I’m havin’ a secret buffet in the kitchen for VIPs,” Daisy answered before walking away.

I put my arms around Hank as he watched Daisy walking away.

“The Rock Chicks have claimed you. You’re stuck now,” he said, looking down at me.

“Funny, I was thinking that about you, being stuck I mean.”

He rubbed his nose against mine, clearly not feeling stuck.

When his head came away I said, “I need to talk to Annette, tel her what’s going on and I need to cal my clients. I don’t think I’l lose any of them. I don’t need to be in Chicago to do my work. After I got that award I recruited clients outside Chicago, in Des Moines and Cincinnati.

They should be cool. I need –”

“Award?” Hank cut in.

I waved my hand between us. “Nothing, it was just some design award.”

He grinned at me.

The way he was grinning made me feel funny, al warm inside, like I’d done something great.

“Stop grinning at me, Whisky. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“Any award is a big deal.”

“This one wasn’t.”

“Sorry, didn’t you say you recruited two clients because of it?”

“Wel , yeah.”

“Then it was a big deal.”

“Whisky –”

“Sunshine, quiet,” he said, then he gave me a light kiss so I’d do as I was told. “I’l see you, and your folks, at my house at six thirty.”

“Do you have a suit?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

He gave me a squeeze and started to let go but I held on.

“You hear anything about Bil y –”

His eyes locked on mine and he interrupted me. “Yeah.” I sighed. “For a while there, I forgot about him.” Hank’s arms tightened and his face dipped close.

“Sweetheart, I promise, soon he’l be a memory.” I nodded because I believed him.

My body fitted itself close to his.

Hank’s head came down the rest of the way, this time, not for a light kiss but for a deeper one.

When I was dizzy, he let me go and then he was gone.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Mom Bombed

I was looking out the window of the black Explorer processing my day and preparing for my night.

I was in Fortnum’s when Luke walked in ten minutes ago, eyes on me and he said one word, “Home.”

I guessed that meant he was my ride.

Annette and Jason had been spending the day casing the other head shops to check out the competition. I cal ed to tel her Hank and I had sorted things out and I was moving to Denver. She was ecstatic. We’d been trailing each other for seven years, Indianapolis to Chicago and now to Denver.