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“Only if you’re good,” Penny answered with a slap to her wrap-covered ass.
It was no use resisting.
She went limp and hung like a wet noodle, swaying from side to side as Raz left the bakery.
“Sorry about this, Harper,” he said under his breath.
“Oh, you’ll be sorry, Erasmus,” she whispered-shouted, but it wasn’t his fault. This cockamamie idea could have only been cooked up by her three insane besties.
It didn’t take long before Raz stilled, and she stared at an upside-down turquoise Jeep.
“Penn, is that your old car?”
“It sure is. We had her repaired and tuned up. She runs like a dream.”
Raz maneuvered her off his shoulder and placed her in the back seat.
She was about to hurl a few zingers his way when she ran her hands across the upholstered seat and settled into the spot that had been hers since she was sixteen. Her frustration gave way to a sentimental rush of emotions. How she loved Penny’s Jeep. They must have racked up hundreds, maybe thousands of hours cruising through Denver. Laughing and chatting, Penn and Char sat upfront while she and Libbs reclined in the back and allowed the wind to blow through their ponytails. She was starting to feel that welcoming sense of calm Libby mentioned. There might just be something to being hauled around upside down while forgoing undergarments. She inhaled a steady breath, then coughed and gagged when she spied the items on Libby’s spot.
“Zip ties?” she exclaimed. “You guys brought zip ties?”
“Bonbon her,” Penny commanded from the front as Libby hopped into the back and shoved a chocolate into her mouth.
“Wha—tha—foo,” she blurted through the hunk of deliciousness.
Libby dropped the zip ties onto the floorboards. “We only had them in case you tried to run.”
She swallowed the bonbon. “What if I screamed?”
Charlotte held up a roll of duct tape.
She shouldn’t have expected anything less from her girl gang. “You guys really thought through this whole abduction thing.”
“I have some experience in the kidnapping department. I was abducted by Mitch,” Char replied as Libby handed the redhead a bonbon.
Penny shook her head as they sailed out of the parking lot. “No, Char, you thought you were abducted.”
“In those brief moments when IthoughtI’d been abducted,” Charlotte clarified, “I thought a lot about abduction.”
“No, sweetie, you were just a hungover ex-mermaid traveling in a luxury RV suffering from a mind-body disconnect,” Libby corrected.
“How many people can say they’ve done that?” Penny mused, reaching back for Libby to bonbon her. “I should write that on a sticky note. If you ever want to write a memoir, Char, you should totally put that in a book.”
God help her! These crazy girls!
For a beat, nobody spoke, and it was as if they’d been transported back in time. The muscles in her neck and shoulders relaxed, and she laughed for the first time in days. She laughed, and the warm vibration soothed her heart and her weary soul. Libby was next to join the giggle party, followed by Penny.
“What is so funny?” Char demanded. “I was terrified, you guys. I thought I’d been taken by a serial killer,” she wailed, but the woman couldn’t stay mad. It wasn’t her nature.
It didn’t take long before the redhead joined their giggle-fest, and for a few blissful seconds, she forgot about the hole in her heart.
They cruised through the Baxter Park neighborhood, and she glanced at the passing street signs.
She slipped on the ass-covering wrap and pegged Libby with her gaze. “What’s the plan, Libbs? Where are you taking me?”
A coy smile bloomed on her friend’s lips. “What makes you think we have a plan?”
“The outfits, the zip ties, the duct tape. The fact that you brought your beefcake of a fiancé along to throw me into the Jeep—oh, and Charlotte yelling for you to stick to the plan,” she sassed back.
