Comfort Side Of Heaven

by Vera Quinn

  “Our ranch doesn’t raise thoroughbreds but we always have a place for you too. I can always use a partner to work with and I am sure Dad would be open to some sort of arrangement. He’s always thought of you as one of his sons anyway.” Trask knows I have been trying to get him to consider the proposition for months.

  “Thank you both and it’s good to know I have options; now why don’t we all go over and get some cookies, so I can get back to work.” Trask is going to let it go but I know he’s getting tired of doing all the work and be taken for granted. Who wouldn’t?

  I pull Lyric away from everyone and pull her into me. I give her a short soft kiss on her lips and when I pull away, I am rewarded with a beautiful smile that takes my breath away. “That was a little presumptuous of you.” I know Lyric is being playful, but I like this look on her.

  “I can take it back if you want me to, but it may take a little longer taking it off than putting it there and everyone may get a big show.” Lyric tips her head back and laughs again.

  “Are we really doing this? I mean us? I must confess that I wasn’t sure I liked you at all. You are a bit intense at times, but I don’t know your past like you didn’t know mine, so you may have a good reason.” I know Lyric must have heard rumors but tonight we need to have that talk and before I do that, I need to have a long overdue conversation with my brother, Hawkins.

  “I agree—I can be intense at times—but I do have a reason. I am going to take care of that this afternoon with a phone call to my brother and then tonight you and I can clear the air between us and enjoy the meal you’re going to make us. You can cook, right?” Lyric laughs.

  “I can cook. The cook we had at home taught me when my mom was gone. I wanted to be able to make my dad a real homecooked meal when he came off the road from touring. All the other band members had wives and girlfriends that would cook big meals for them when they came home. My mom never did. After a few undercooked meals and burnt meals I finally mastered a few things and it made my dad happy He and I started cooking together. We would watch cooking shows and then make the dishes they showed us. My dad was a very good cook and I can get by.” Lyric’s eyes glow when she talks about her dad.

  “You really miss your dad, don’t you? He was your hero just like you said,” I ask and hope I don’t make her sad.

  “Yes, he was a great dad and just like I told you before, this farm is for him and me—I will make it successful or die in the dirt trying.” I admire that in Lyric. My eyes have been opened that Lyric is a genuine person with no hidden agendas. I am lucky that she is even talking to me now and I intend to show her every day just how lucky I am. I know I am getting ahead of myself, but I just have a feeling that Lyric is going to be the woman I can’t walk away from and right now, all I can do is smile about it. My fighting against it is gone.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sage/Lyric…

  We walk into the diner and it only takes one look around to see there is plenty of empty tables. Haddie walks towards one in the back corner. We follow behind her, but that woman has no slow speed. The only thing I am thinking of is the kiss between Botie and I. He took my breath away. Just bam! I know I initiated it all, but it felt so natural and yet so freeing. I don’t have a lot of experience with men or boys for that matter. I never dated in high school. My dad always warned me not to let a boy too close for the wrong reasons. I know he was trying to keep me from getting hurt by someone using me to get close to him. It’s not the entire reason I pushed people away from me—I just didn’t fit with most teenagers. I was not searching for the new fun thing, the latest rage, or my next high. Zane was really the only real friend I had. Sure, there were girls that said they were my friends, but they just wanted a glimpse at my famous dad. I never felt like they were real friends, but they loved to shop and come over to stay the night. I am not much of a shopper; I would rather be reading from my tablet or have a paperback in my hands. All in all, Zane was my only true friend. I shared my secrets with him and he shared his with me. Zane and I were the oldest of the band member’s children—the next one closest to our age was five years younger. I miss Zane and I want him and my entire band family to come visit very soon. I need to make that a priority. I called Zane over the years, many, many times and we have stayed close, but a phone call does not replace our long talks. I know Zane has both a boyfriend and girlfriend now. Zane has always been very open about his sexuality and I think that is one reason we bonded so closely. We could talk about anything and neither of us judged the other. We just accepted we loved each other like brother and sister even if he was my first kiss and I was his. We laugh about it now. I just want one of his big, bear hugs. I bring myself out of my thoughts and sit beside Haddie and the men follow suit. It doesn’t take long before the waitress comes over and starts to give us menus.

  “I called in the order just a little while ago. It’s under my name and I would like an iced tea to go with mine, please,” Haddie tells the woman.

  “I’ll have the same, Miss,” Roger says.

  “I’d like a root beer,” Nick chimes in, then all eyes are on me.

  “I’ll just have water, please,” I say, not even paying much attention. When the waitress looks up at me her eyes get big and I’m guessing news of the interview has already blasted around town. At least people will know who I am now. Not my exact plan but no turning back now. She walks away but keeps turning her head to look at me.

  “You might as well get used to that from the townsfolks, for a little while anyway. You are the hot news—you won’t have anyone sticking a camera in your face—but they may get you with their phones and heads will turn when you walk in a room. If you ignore them the next hot story will come along. Nothing new-breaking but maybe some pigs or cows running through the town. The ladies get upset when their flower gardens are fertilized the natural way and their flowers trampled.” Nick is always looking on the bright side. I don’t know if I want to laugh at the idea of a pig or cow upstaging me or thank my lucky stars.

  “We can only hope.” I can’t help but laugh.

  “Lyric, be on guard, you know the media vans will be here soon and your mom is not going away,” Roger tells me, and I know he’s right.

  “I ordered everyone chicken salad sandwiches with potato salad. It’s fast and they put the chicken salad on a buttery croissant.” I look at Haddie and know what she’s trying to do. She always tries to get me out of the hot seat.

  “It’s alright Haddie, I am fine. Roger needs to discuss a few things with me before he goes back to Dallas and since I have no secrets from you and Nick and I respect both of your opinions it’s a good idea to discuss it now.” Haddie nods her head at me, understanding I have prepared myself for this.

  “Moving forward then.” Roger stops talking, and I see the waitress is back with our drinks and the other waitress is right behind her with our food. I don’t see how that second woman doesn’t drop something. After everything is on the table, the second waitress leaves and our waitress looks at me and then lets her eyes fall on Haddie.

  “Can I get you anything else for now?” I read the waitress’s name tag and I smile at her. I look around the table and everyone looks good for the minute.

  “We are good Carly. Thank you.” I want to be liked and to be able to fit in here. I need to stop being so standoffish to people. Carly walks away. “Alright. Roger as you were saying.” I take a bite of my sandwich and Haddie is right, the croissant is very good. I pick up my napkin and put it in my lap.

  “As I was saying, the press is inevitable. I can try to get a court order to keep them off your property, but as you know that doesn’t work very well. I mean out here the sheriff’s department is small, and their response time can’t be that fast in the country, or so I would guess. You could hire security but that defeats your purpose of being away from the big city.” Roger stops and waits for my input. I didn’t know I was so hungry. I have been scarfing down my food. I stop and think about it a few minutes.
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  “No, I don’t want any of the spot light. I have had enough in my life The media is looking for a sensational story. I am going to have a state-of-the-art security system put in my house. I don’t want anyone in my house or inside my fences, but they can come take all the pictures they want of me working in the dirt. I will post no-trespassing signs as the law requires but if they have long lenses, they can get pictures in some spots. I will prosecute anyone that comes on my property but if me dirty is what they want to see let them spin it as they want. I won’t be giving quotes or anymore interviews. It’s just like Nick said about the pigs and the cows, another hot story will come along, and they will get tired of seeing me work. Yep, I like it. If I am boring, they’ll forget me.” It makes sense to me.

  “You know when we start the foundation in your dad’s name, you’ll need to do some interviews,” Roger reminds me.

  “I know, and I will but only about business and I want the band involved with the music part too. It will be good publicity when they get the first album without my dad released. They have waited long enough. My dad wouldn’t want them quitting because he’s gone and if I have anything to say about it—they won’t.” I believe Dad would want the band to carry on with someone else singing and Zane would be the perfect person. He has a beautiful voice. “What do you think Nick?”

  “I think it’s a clever idea, not that I have any experience with this at all. If you have a problem, we can get Botie to come over and check it out.” Nick eyes me for my reaction but I give none and Haddie is all ears and she winks at me.

  “Then again you and I can always stay a few nights. I haven’t had a vacation in years.” Nick looks at Haddie and then at me.

  “We could do that,” Nick says. “I still have my old shotgun and that will keep anyone out of the door.” Nick is serious.

  “We don’t want any deaths on anyone’s conscience but if you have some rock salt that might work.” I see Nick knows I’m joking.

  “We’ll see.” Nick gives it back to me.

  “I’ll let you handle that then. Next thing, I didn’t think you would need to deal with this Collins thing until after your inheritance was completed.” Roger looks disturbed his time schedule was changed. “Your paternal grandmother, Sybil Collins Dade, was from a very wealthy family. They disowned her when she married your grandfather—Edward Travis Dade. Your grandfather was a good man, but he worked for a living when they first met and then married. Her family disowned her before the wedding, but she was wealthy from money given to her by her grandparents. Her family couldn’t cut that money off from her. She was over twenty-one and living on her own—her future was secured—but when your grandfather married her, he wouldn’t use a penny of her inheritance. Her family accused him of only wanting the marriage for her money and he was a stubborn man.” Roger stops and takes a drink of his tea. “Since your grandfather would not use the money—your grandmother vowed—she wouldn’t either., She put it in two trusts, one for your father who received most of it and the other for his children. Your grandfather went on and made a great deal of money on his own from his machine shop and some machinery he designed himself. You still receive royalties from those designs.” My dad never told me any of this. “Your dad decided if the Collins family couldn’t accept his dad then he didn’t want the money either. The money you have had access to is the money your dad set aside for you until you turned twenty-one. The money your grandfather left you, you received when you turned eighteen. I took care of all the paperwork since it wasn’t left originally to your name, only Baby Dade. When you turn twenty-one, you will not only get the inheritance from your dad but his trust from his mom as well. When you turn twenty-five you will receive the trust left to you from your grandmother.” I swallow the last of my sandwich and take a drink of water. That is more money than I can even think about. I consider my options.

  “I agree with my dad. I don’t want it either. I want you to find a way to not owe the government a ton of money and find a beneficial use for it—maybe set it in a trust for my children—if I ever have them. Something my grandmother would have liked if she left the money for us. I didn’t know the woman. My grandfather supported my dad in his music but that is about all I know about him except he loved my dad and my grandmother. Dad said he started his music when he was fifteen and both his parents would go and watch wherever he played but his parents had him in their later years and when dad was still sixteen his dad died of either heart failure or a heart attack—I am not clear on which one. My dad turned seventeen soon after the death and his mom died right after that. He said his mom died of a broken heart because she had lost her soulmate.” That’s the kind of love I want. I know I keep telling myself that, but I want to be sure that I remember it always and I don’t want to ever settle for less. I just need to be patient. I hope this thing with Botie is something. It feels like nothing I have experienced before but I will not rush the two of us or force it. “I don’t need to make these decisions today or even this year, but I want to do my will and a living will. That’s about all the decisions I can make for a while. I don’t even know why Branton brought the Collins thing up and how did he know about something I wasn’t even aware of?”

  “I would say it had to do with your mom. I was watching her like a hawk and she was enjoying you in the hot seat,” Haddie informs us.

  “Katrina was made aware of the Collins’ inheritance as it was stated in the pre-nup. I did a very thorough job to make sure she couldn’t take anything more than they agreed upon—which brings me to something else I would like you to consider.” Roger looks at me and makes sure he has my full attention. “You know your dad would have paid Katrina if they had divorced. Travis was generous in the amount he awarded her because she agreed to leave any children born into the marriage. What if Travis’s estate awards her the amount she would have received if Travis and she had divorced. She would need to sign a written statement stating she is giving up and rights to your estate should anything happen to you. Then you could relax a little when it comes to your mom.” Roger makes sense, but I need to think about it. I have made so many decisions the last few months, I am going into overload and I don’t want to make a wrong decision. I know I will never let my mom get hurt. I don’t approve of some of the things she has done—who am I kidding? I don’t approve of most of the decisions she makes but I need to remember I am not her judge and jury. To love someone, and I do love my mom, is to accept their strengths and their shortcomings.

  “Roger, can you look into it all? Is it even legal? I mean it sounds a bit morose but if you believe it will save me a headache, then iron out the kinks and we can go back over it. I know I’m putting a lot on your plate and you have other clients that need your assistance. If you need to hire someone to help then, please do, and you can cut a check from my account.” I don’t want to overwork Roger and take advantage of him.

  “Lyric, I think what Roger has suggested might be in your best interest.” Nick gives his opinion.

  “I agree.” Haddie looks a bit concerned.

  “Don’t worry about overworking me Lyric. That’s why I have assistants and at the end of the year I will be closing my private practice. I’m not getting any younger but if you agree, I will be your personal attorney exclusively for the next few years. I will bring in another attorney so when I retire completely you will have an attorney already in place that you have worked with. Meg and I have bounced this idea around for a few months, but she still has four years left on her contract. She loves her work and I would never ask her to step away early. We can discuss this later. I know you need time to take in everything that has happened. I need to head back to Dallas. I will be out next week to visit your new home and discuss anything I have found. I want to make sure everything follows the letter of the law. The lunch was wonderful, but I need to get on the road.” I know I have no worries with Roger taking care of things. I wipe my napkin over my mouth and then put it on the table.

  “Please excuse
me for a minute.” I walk away from the table and find our waitress to give her the money for our lunch along with her tip. I know either Roger or Nick would have grabbed the ticket so I beat them to it. I thank Carly and head back to the table.

  “You know you’re going to need to get used to gentlemen paying for your food around here, right?” Haddie asks me as soon as I get back to the table.

  “It was my turn to treat everyone. My money spends as well as everyone else’s.” Nick laughs.

  “Well, thank you little lady. I can’t wait until I tell all my buddies tomorrow that I had a pretty young lady buying me lunch today.” I never know what Nick will come up with next.

  “Yes, Lyric, thank you. I can tell my lady friends that a pretty young lady bought me lunch today too. I’ll be the next scandal in Comfort. See, I can do my part—the heat will be off you sweetie.” Haddie and everyone laughs. Hearing Haddie call me Lyric is weird, but I like it. Everyone stands up from their seats and we leave. I have shopping to do for dinner.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Botie…

  I have not been this nervous for a dinner since my first one-on-one date. Growing up in a small town and being a teenager can be difficult especially when half the adults you know treat you like they are your parent and then the others half will be on the phone with your parents when they see you do something wrong. You know you are in deep shit when you get home or even worse if they come to pick you up. We didn’t have non-chaperoned dates until we were sixteen when we got our driver’s licenses, everything before that was done in groups with parents dropping us off and picking us up. We were able to steal a few kisses here and there but by the time I was sixteen, I was a horny teenage boy and ready for more than a few pecks here and there. I don’t know why I had the fool idea of dating the prettiest girl in town, who also happened to be the preacher’s daughter. Our first few dates were youth activities at our church. Jenny and I didn’t even kiss at the end of those dates but once I was good-standing with her parents, we were allowed to go on our first date by ourselves and I was nervous. The male in me knew I wanted to explore that girl’s body, but I wasn’t raised that way and the manners my parents instilled in me kept me in check. After we had gone to the Dairy Freeze to eat and we were back in my old truck, Jenny asked if we could go to the lake and sit and talk for a little while before she had to be home. I almost swallowed my tongue. Everyone knew the lake is where everyone went to park, and by park, I mean make out. She didn’t need to ask me twice. I headed outside of town and found us a nice place to park that wasn’t too close to any of the other cars already there. I no more than turned the truck off and Jenny was all over me. I was the one trying to slow her down. The whole thing would be over in seconds if she kept on and I thought we were going to do the good part when someone tapped on my window. Jenny and I both grabbed for clothes, but it was too late—the door was opened with both Jenny and I half-dressed. There stood the sheriff and Jenny’s Dad. Jenny and I remained friends at school, but her dad never spoke to me again. The sheriff followed me home and explained to my dad and when the sheriff left, I was reacquainted with the woodshed and I lost my truck for two months. After that night, the lake was never a safe place for anyone to go parking. Jenny’s dad took it upon himself to visit it frequently and call the parents of the kids he found there. It took me a while to find out how the preacher knew Jenny and I were going to the lake. It’s not something we planned but Mr. Cedars had seen my truck passing his house and called the preacher himself. I was lucky he hadn’t called my dad or I would have been caught with my pants down by my own dad. Jenny and I can laugh about it now, but we were both mortified that night. The memory calms me down a little. If I can get through the sheriff and the preacher seeing my white ass, I can do this. I have flowers from my mom’s garden and Mom prettied them up for me. She also made a couple of her fried blackberry pies for dessert. Lyric isn’t old enough to drink wine, so I left that out. That’s another thing that has me nervous, Lyric is only twenty years old—alright in a few weeks she will be twenty-one—but I am thirty and it won’t be long until I’m thirty-one. That’s a ten-year difference in both age and experience. Will we have anything in common or anything to talk about? I know we have a physical attraction but that isn’t what this is to me. All afternoon my whole outlook has changed and every thought of what I want in my future has Lyric in it too. I know it’s crazy, but it’s the damn truth and I won’t deny it to myself.