“You think?”
“Oh, yeah.” She pushed her hair from her face with the back of her arm. “We’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
He grinned and made his way to his truck. The pink glow of the princess room shined from Lottie’s window and matched the glow in his chest.
The kid had a fan in him too…and didn’t that just complicate the hell out of everything?
Hailey over-poured a Jack and Coke for the next order. The call from Marla Yates asking her to organize a father–daughter dance for the PTO had her mind reeling.
This was a volunteer opportunity that she could get behind. It would be good for Lottie to have Derek take her, and he would. It was an opportunity for him to be seen in public and therefore be the center of attention.
Also, this was a big deal to the PTO and the school. It was the largest event the organization put on every year. A small flicker of hope that she could put all the ugliness of the past behind her for Lottie’s sake glowed through her whole body.
True, Marla had asked her because the original organizer’s husband got a new job and they were moving, but it was still a damn sight better than cleaning up after the paint-a-thon.
“Whatcha grinnin’ about?” Beau slid onto the barstool in front of her. “Thinkin’ about me?”
She placed the drink at the end of the bar for the waitress, along with the ticket. “As a matter of fact, no, I’ve not thought of you all day.”
“Liar.”
“I’m not.”
“I think you are.”
“Then you’d be wrong.”
He leaned his arm on the bar and cocked his head. “I met May, and she said you’d told her to be careful of me, so clearly you were talking about me.”
She rested her elbows on her side of the bar. “I warned her that you were living in the slut hut in case she saw a strange man wandering around my backyard. That’s not the same as thinking about you.”
“We’re really going to have to give that place a new name. How ’bout the stud hub?” He turned his head to the side and posed.
The look of pure mischief was more adorable than it should’ve been. As hard as she tried to control it, a laugh bubbled up her throat. “You are incorrigible.”
The contents of a peanut shell disappeared into his mouth. “Tell me why you were smiling when I came in. I need a distraction from my day.”
She slid a beer across the bar to him. “That bad?”
“Thank you.” He took a long pull.
She cursed her eyes for watching his Adam’s apple as it moved up and down. Damn him, even that part of him was edible. How did a man get to be that hot? “I’ll tell you about my day if you’ll tell me about yours,” she said.
The beer bottle tipped toward her. “Deal.”
“You first.”
His long finger threaded through his hair, and he held it away from his face. “Today we started auditioning female backup singers.”
She grabbed a couple of highball glasses. “What’s the problem? None of them could sing?” Drinks mixed, she pulled the ticket and set them on the end of the bar for the waitress.
“I have no idea if they can sing or not.”
She stopped what she was doing to look at him. “I don’t understand.”
“The first round of auditions was just a get-to-know-you meeting.”
“Uh-huh.” She had a feeling where this was going.
“To see if the women could be around me without…” He made a waving motion with his hand. “You know.”
Oh, this was classic. “No.” She cocked her head. “I don’t think I do.”
“You’re going to make me say it?”
“’Fraid so.”
The look he gave her from under his long bangs should’ve burned her alive. “To see if they could be around me and…stay professional.”
“You mean, not come onto you?”
“I guess.”
She choked on a strangled laugh.
“It’s not funny.” He scrubbed his face. “Jack, Luanne, and Gavin were also making sure I could resist…” He made a rolling motion with one hand. “You know.”
“Being your normal heartbreaker self?”
“Yes.”
The flat line of his mouth matched the tone of that word, and she did laugh then. “How’d that go?”
His big hand wiped over his mouth, but not before she saw the smile behind it. “How do you think it went?”
She lost it. “Ba…” She couldn’t catch her breath. His tortured look was hilarious. “Bad?”
He turned his head, refusing to look at her. His lips twitched and puckered, but he finally lost the battle and laid his forehead on his crossed arms. The laughter shook his shoulders and made a little wheezing noise come from his mouth. Then he sat up and smoothed back his hair. “It was so bad, Hay. Some of them were incredibly uncomfortable, and my default is to flirt and flatter women to make them feel better. Then some made me incredibly uncomfortable, and my default is…” He shook his head.
“The force of The Heartbreaker. It’s a mighty powerful thing.”
A pink flush spread across his cheeks and Lord have mercy if that didn’t up his appeal about a million percent. “Shut up.” He took another sip of his drink. “Your turn.”
“Marla Yates called me today.”
“And you told her to shove whatever shitty job she had for you up her uptight ass?”
She rolled her eyes. “No. The PTO is having a father–daughter dance this semester. It’s going to be their big fundraiser for the year.” She flipped the cloth she’d dried the glasses with over her shoulder. “Anyway, she asked me to organize it.”
“And this is a good thing?”
“Yeah. I mean, it’s a big job, but not a crappy job.”
He shrugged and grabbed a handful of peanuts. “If you say so. It sounds like a lot of work to me.”
“It is, but it’s a good thing. Also, it’ll be good for Lottie and Derek. No way he’d miss something like that, so I know he won’t let her down.”
“So what do you do at a father–daughter dance, besides dance?” He chucked a few peanuts in his mouth. “I mean, what will you have to coordinate?”
She adjusted the bun on top of her head. “The volunteers, food, a DJ, decorations.”
“So, basically, it’s like a mini prom?” He deposited his empty peanut shells into a small galvanized steel bucket that sat on the bar.
“I guess.” She grabbed another glass and dunked it into the soapy water. “I wouldn’t know.”
“Ha! Were you drunk during yours? I know I was.”
Her arms went across her chest. The bite of memories never got easier. “I didn’t have a prom. When I got pregnant with Lottie, I dropped out of school. I got my GED after she was born. So, no prom, no graduation, no normal high school stuff.” Derek hadn’t let her hire someone to keep Lottie during the day. Hadn’t let her… Truth be told she hadn’t fought him very hard. There’d been nothing but contempt waiting for her at Zachsville High.
“Hailey…” He reached across the bar, but she kept her arms crossed and took a step back. She didn’t need his pity.
“It’s not a big deal. I got Lottie. I also got to see what people are really made of, and I got this place.”
“Still, it must’ve been hard.”
She reached for another dirty glass and dunked it into the water. “We all have to do hard things, Beau. I just had to do some of them sooner than most.”
“You’re a hell of a woman, Hailey Odom.”
The desire to crawl over the bar and bask in the genuine admiration in his eyes was so strong that she took another step back. She dried her hands and looped a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “Thank you.”
The wooden surface of the bar divided them, but it didn’t matter. The caress of his gaze locked her into place and refused to let go of her. Their unspoken conversation couldn’t have been clearer if they’d used a bullhorn.
&nbs
p; You and me…
Bad idea.
Terrible idea.
Yeah.
Finally, he wrenched his eyes from hers and knocked his knuckles on the bar. “Then congratulations. Let me know if you need any help.”
The air between them discharged, and she could breathe again. “Thanks.”
“Can I get something to eat and another beer? I almost begged May to let me eat with them.”
She handed him a menu. “You should’ve. She’d have loved that and so would my daughter.”
His long fingers slid the menu back to her. “I’ll have a burger and fries.”
“You got it.” She rang it up and got his beer.
“You’re not gonna believe what I saw when I got to your house.” He cracked another peanut and tossed the shell into the bucket again.
“What?”
He ate the nut. “Evidently, Walter was barking, so Lottie went to rescue him. She told May that he was in prison.” He chuckled. “Where does she get this stuff?”
The glass she’d been washing went on the drying rack. “I have no idea.”
“Anyway, when I got there she and Walter were in her room. The dog was on the floor. Lottie was using him as a pillow, and she was listening to my song. Actually, she was singing my song.”
She wiped the bar down with a wet cloth. “Poor Walter.”
“He was lovin’ it. If not he would’ve moved away from her.” He took a drink of his beer. “She had a guitar with her. Does she play?”
“No, she got it for Christmas last year. I was going to get her lessons, but she lost interest.”
“Hailey, she can sing.”
There was no stopping the smile that split her lips. “She’s always been able to. Even as a toddler she could carry a tune, funniest thing you’ve ever seen.” She stuck the rag in her back pocket and popped the top on two beers for another order. “I taught her to harmonize, though she didn’t need a lot of help.” She handed the beers to two customers next to Beau.
“You sing?”
Crap. Crap. Crap.
Heat crawled up her neck in a stinging, fiery path and settled in her cheeks. “No… Well, I guess I used to like to sing, but not anymore. Derek used to call it caterwaulin’.” Her hands disappeared into the soapy water to hide how they shook. Singing was what she did for herself. No one knew how much she loved it, and that’s how it was supposed to be.
“I’d like to hear you sometime.”
A bell dinged in the window between the kitchen and the bar. “Order up, Hailey.”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.” She dried her hands, retrieved Beau’s food and set it in front of him. “Funny story. Charlie and I were supposed to sing a duet in a talent show when we were in third grade. We were singing a Reba McEntire song.”
He wiped his mouth with the paper napkin. “Excellent choice,” he said around a bite.
The dry glasses hung in a row as she slipped them in the overhead rack. “Anyway, we were about to go on, and I totally chickened out.” She laughed, but the little girl inside her cried like a baby. “Charlie went on by herself and the rest is history. That’s when her mom started putting her in all those talent shows and cartin’ her around everywhere to sing. So, you see, I’m not a singer.”
He didn’t say anything, just chewed his food and watched her.
The silence was like a truth serum. “I mean, I sing around the house a little, or in the car.” She shrugged. “But who doesn’t? That doesn’t make me a singer. Sometimes I drive fast, but that doesn’t make me a race car driver. I cook for Lottie and me, but that doesn’t make me a chef.”
When she finally wound down, he still only stared at her and chewed.
“It doesn’t.”
“Mm-hm.” A long pull on his beer, another bite, and still he didn’t look away.
She ignored him and went about her business. There were dirty glasses to wash, and she put all of her focus on those tumblers and not the country singer inspecting her like a bug.
After a few minutes, the routine of dunking the mugs in the soapy water followed by the clean rinse relaxed her muscles, her mind blanked, and she got lost in the song coming through the speakers.
“Alto or soprano?”
“Alto, but my range covers an octave and a half.” Her head jerked up, and she locked eyes with the man who’d just tricked her.
He stood and threw some money on the bar. “Thanks for dinner, Hailey Not a Singer Odom.” His teasing grin covered the lower part of his face. “See ya ’round.” He left with one of her biggest secrets stuck in his back pocket.
Damn the man.
Chapter 15
What a difference twenty-four hours made. Beau exited the truck in Hailey’s drive with a spring in his step. They’d found a backup singer who was talented and professional. Thank God.
He made his way to the stairs to his apartment. Walter was whining at the door when he opened it. “Hey, bud.” The dog’s tail swung back and forth, slapping the wall with a thunk, thunk, thunk while Beau rubbed him behind his ears. “Ready to go outside?”
Walter nearly bowled him over trying to get out the door.
“I guess so.” Beau laughed.
The dog took care of his business, then took off like a bullet to Hailey’s back porch.
Once Beau had disposed of Walter’s business he noticed the sullen little girl sitting on the porch with her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hand, ignoring the dog trying to get her attention.
“Hey, Lil’ Bit, if you keep ignoring Walter, he’s going to sit on you.” Beau made his way to the porch steps and sat next to Lottie.
One hand went to the pup’s back, and she rubbed him from head to tail. Still, she didn’t speak.
“What’s up, girl? You haven’t asked me for a trip to the park, a movie, or the ice cream shop since I sat down. Are you sick?”
“No.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
She placed her elbows on the step behind her, stretched her feet out, and looked up at the sky. “Nothing.”
He matched her position and rubbed Walter’s ears. “It doesn’t look like nothing.”
“I’m just thinkin’. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
He would not laugh. It was an effort, but he kept it in. “I understand. I’ve got a lot on my mind too. Do you mind if I think with you?”
She went back to her original position with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hand. “Nope. It’s a good thinkin’ spot.”
Long minutes passed and neither said anything. The back door opened, but Beau caught May’s eye to let her know everything was alright. She nodded and went back inside.
After he felt he’d given Lottie enough time to do her thinking, he leaned forward and rested his elbow on his knees. “I didn’t know you had a guitar.”
She scratched her shin. “Yeah, I got it last Christmas.”
“Can you play it?”
A long-suffering breath that sounded more like a ninety-year-old than a nine-year-old blew through her lips. “No, I never learned how.”
“Wanna learn now?” As the idea took shape in his head, he liked it more and more. “I could teach you.”
Her head slowly rotated, so she was facing him. A hint of the girl he knew danced in her eyes. “You’d do that?”
“Sure.”
“Okay!” She jumped up so fast she startled the dog, who’d given up trying to get her attention and was now stretched out in the sun, napping. “Sorry, Walter. I’ll be right back, Beau.”
He chuckled. “I’ll go get my guitar. See ya back here in five.”
By the time he got back, she was sitting on the stairs with the instrument across her lap, talking to Walter.
“That’s a nice-lookin’ guitar.” He walked past her on the steps and took a seat on one of the patio chairs. Come on up here, so you can look at me.”
She took the seat across from him.
He set his guitar on the ground and held
out his hand. “Here. Let me have it.” He took the smaller instrument and began to tune it. “The first thing we do is tune the guitar.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know how to do that.” She fidgeted with her hands in her lap.
He chuckled. “Don’t be sorry. How would you know to do it? That’s something I’m gonna teach you.”
She grinned. “Okay.”
Once he had the guitar sounding the way he wanted, he handed it back to her. He spent the next hour showing her the correct way to hold the instrument and pick. Then a few basic chords to get her started and not overwhelm her. When May poked her head out the door to give her a ten-minute warning for dinner, he was surprised that so much time had passed. “You practice those chords, and we’ll have another lesson in a few days.”
“I will.” Her skinny legs dangled from the chair, and she swung them back and forth.
He placed his guitar in its case. “What were you thinking so hard on earlier?”
She worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “Today at school Piper was talking about the fishing trip my dad took her on.”
Ahhh, now he got it. That asshole father of hers had hurt her again. “And that made you feel left out?”
She raised her blue eyes that shimmered with tears. “Why doesn’t he like me?”
Oh, good God, he wasn’t prepared for this, but he couldn’t just let her hang in the wind. He took her into his arms and hugged her. He also wouldn’t lie to her. “Honestly, Lottie, I don’t know if he dislikes you or not. But I do know that if he doesn’t like you, then he’s crazy. You’re one of the coolest people I’ve ever met.”
That seemed to straighten her spine a little. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He ran his big hand down her hair to her back. “Sometimes grown-ups are selfish and only think about themselves. I think that’s what your dad is doing. I don’t think it means he doesn’t like you, or that he likes Piper more.” He caught the lone tear that rolled down her cheek with his thumb. “The truth is, he likes himself better than anyone. It’s wrong, but it has everything to do with what’s wrong with him and nothing to do with you. I don’t know if that makes you feel better, though.”
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