She waved away his comment and hurried into the kitchen portion of the big open room, talking ninety-miles-an-hour. “I’m going to bum something to drink. I’m dying of thirst. Been painting the bathroom at the store and breathing the fumes all day.” Her jeans sported a perfect rose-colored hand print beside the left hip pocket.
Wade grinned, barely refraining from laughing out loud. “Did you get any paint on the walls?”
Grant stepped through the door, glanced at Wade, then focused on Dawn, who was digging around in the refrigerator.
“Yes, I did, smarty,” she said. “It’s impossible to use a roller without a little splattering.”
Grant nudged the front brim of his hat up for a better view, then looked at Wade again and silently asked if this was Andi.
Wade shook his head, aware that from his angle, Grant couldn’t see Dawn’s blond hair. His friend looked surprised, then instantly curious, and turned his attention back to the woman who was half-hidden by the refrigerator door.
“Wade, don’t you have any grape soda?” Her voice was muffled as she moved things around in the fridge. “Don’t you ever clean this thing?”
“No, to both questions.”
“All you’ve got left is root beer.” She shuddered delicately. “Can’t stand the stuff. Ick!” She popped out of the refrigerator and tossed a half-wrapped chunk of fuzzy green cheese into the sink. “Branching out into pharmaceuticals?” Her upper body disappeared again inside the refrigerator. Seconds later a plastic bag flew into the sink. “That cucumber is swimming in slim. When did you cut it, a month ago?”
“Probably six.”
She straightened, shut the refrigerator door, and started opening cabinets. “Guess I’ll have to settle for water. Where are all your glasses?”
“In the dishwasher.”
She shrugged gracefully. “Makes since. Why bother to unload it when you know where everything is.” As she zipped over to the dishwasher and plucked a glass from inside, Wade glanced at Grant. His friend stood transfixed, staring at Dawn with a mixture of amazement, bewilderment, and admiration.
“Did you have a special reason for trying to find Andi, or did you drop by to clean out my refrigerator?”
She took a long drink and refilled the glass from the tap. “Kyle needed to talk to her right away, and she left her cell phone at the house because it needed recharging. I tried to call here, but no one answered, and I didn’t know when you’d get around to checking your machine if I left a message. Besides, the last time I left a message on that thing, it cut me off before I said my name. I figured you were down at the corrals, and it would be better if I dashed out and told her in person. But that didn’t work, since she’s not here. Good thing I left her a note.”
Wade glanced at Grant again. He was frowning and absently scratching the stubble on his jaw. “Why would you leave her a note when you were coming out here to see her?”
“The way you two haven’t been talking lately, I thought she might have already left. I might not meet her on my way out from town if she went some place else, and if she got home before I did, she could go ahead and call Kyle.”
Wade met Grant’s gaze with a smile. It made sense, in a Dawn sort of way. His buddy appeared to be trying to sort it all out.
She took another drink and glanced at the clock on the stove. “Grandpa’s whiskers! Is your clock right?”
“Yep.”
“I’ve got to go.” She slammed the plastic glass down on the counter, knocking it over in her haste. “Drat!” Grabbing the dishrag from the back of the sink, she mopped up the water. “I have to be at the City Council meeting in two hours, and I still have to bake cookies for the missionary bake sale and take them over to Velma’s tonight.”
She rushed out of the kitchen, drilling Wade with her gaze. “You are planning to take Andi to the dance next Friday, aren’t you? Since word got out that she’s singing a couple of songs, our tickets have been selling faster than popcorn at the county fair. But she won’t feel like singing if you don’t start behaving yourself. And she’s going to throw a party for the townspeople and sign autographs at my store on Wednesday afternoon. We could use a few bodyguards to keep the screaming hordes in line. Call the woman and put her out of her misery. Better yet, go see her.”
Dawn came to a screeching halt about a step-and-a-half shy of plowing right into Grant. He grabbed her upper arms to steady her. “Oh, excuse me!” Her face instantly turned scarlet, which clashed with the orange T-shirt and rose paint. “I didn’t know Wade had company.”
Wade observed his two friends with amusement. For a gal who supposedly had sworn off men, and a man who put women in the same category as rattlesnakes, they were sure staring at each other. He was astonished to see a tiny smile crease Grant’s face as he slowly lowered his hands.
“What kind of car are you drivin’, ma’am?”
“A blue Ford van. Why?”
“Does it have auto-pilot?”
Dawn laughed and shook her head. “No, but the road’s straight. All I have to do is point it toward town.”
“Glad I’m goin’ the other direction.” Grant’s smile widened minutely. He touched the brim of his hat politely. “Grant Adams, ma’am.”
“Dawn Carson. Andi’s cousin, and occasionally Wade’s friend.” Her pointed look told Wade this might not be one of those occasions. “It’s nice to meet you, and I’m glad I didn’t run you down, but I really do have to go.”
Grant stepped aside, allowing her to pass.
“Bye, Wade. Call Andi, will ya? I’m sick of hearing the blues.” She dashed out the door at full speed, letting the screen slam behind her, mumbling “of all the times to look like something the cat dragged in and the dog won’t eat.”
“Whew! Is she always like that?” Grant asked softly, staring out the front door.
Wade chuckled. “Pretty much. Dawn’s a regular whirlwind.”
Grant turned away from the door and shook his head, but a glimmer of admiration lingered in his eyes. “More like a three ring circus.”
“But a sweet one, and she’s single. She’ll be at the dance next Friday.”
“But I won’t be. I’m not interested, even if she is pretty.”
“Why did you come back?”
“I thought I’d swipe another grape soda for the trip home.” Grant started for the door.
“You can have the root beer.”
“Can’t stand the stuff.” Grant made a face and walked out the door, letting the screen slam behind him.
CHAPTER 14
“Yes, Kyle, I know she’s fantastic.” Andi held the phone with one hand and pulled the flour canister out of the cabinet with the other, setting it beside the sugar container on the counter. After spotting Dawn’s “to do” list, the cookie recipe, and four sticks of softened butter, she’d decided to help out with the baking. “Give her a chance to rest. I doubt if she slept at all last night, and she’d never flown before. She’s probably a nervous wreck.”
“I know.” Kyle laughed softly. “She still blew me away when she sang, even though her hands were shaking so bad I was sure she’d hit the wrong string on her guitar. Actually, she’s curled up asleep on the couch in my office right now. I’m using Lisa’s phone.”
“Why, Kyle, you do have a heart.”
“Maybe.” There was an odd note in his voice. “After she sleeps awhile, I’ll buy her dinner and take her to the hotel so she can crash. We should be able to get rolling on Monday. Jake’s lining up a backup band, already found a drummer and a bass player. He’s auditioning a couple of keyboard guys tomorrow and has some calls out for a lead guitarist. When do you go back to the doctor?”
Andi measured a cup of sugar into the mixer bowl. “I saw him today. Everything is back to normal. He’s released me.”
“You coming back tomorrow or Saturday?”
“Not so fast, buster. I need more time. I promised Dawn I’d sing at a benefit dance next weekend.”
“I c
an live with that.”
“Can you try to hold things off even longer?”
“I’ll try, but I may not be too successful. We don’t have much option on most of the tentative dates. Are you still seeing Wade?”
“I haven’t for a few days.”
“But? What are you not telling me, hon?”
“I’m in love.” She smiled at Kyle’s groan. “And to be honest, I don’t want to leave at all. I want to stay right here forever.”
“Andi, you can’t. You’ve got commitments. I have almost all the concerts rescheduled. And you’ve got another album to do before your contract is up.”
She pictured him digging in his pocket for antacid tablets. “I know, and I intend to fulfill my obligations, but my career isn’t the most important thing to me anymore. Don’t get an ulcer yet; the big lug hasn’t said anything about marriage.”
“But he loves you?”
“I thought you didn’t believe in love.”
“We’re talking about Wade, not me.”
“He hasn’t used words to say he’s in love, but everything else he does tells me he is.”
Kyle groaned again. “Why do I see my career, not to mention my fortune, evaporating?”
“That’s one reason I sent Nicki to you,” said Andi, realizing it was true. “You can take her to the top just like you did me. And I’m not going to fire you, nor do I want to quit completely. I just want to slow down.”
“How much?”
“I haven’t figured that part out yet. Actually, I think Wade is scared of the whole thing, so nothing may happen.”
“Hi there,” said Kyle softly, sounding as if he were no longer speaking directly into the phone.
Andi blinked, not only at his words, but at the tenderness with which they were uttered. The only time she had heard him speak so gently to anyone was when she woke up in the hospital.
“Do you feel better after your nap?”
Andi’s mouth dropped open. Sinking down on a kitchen chair, she listened to Nicki’s sleepy reply and his soft chuckle. Even his laugh sounded sweet.
“You’ll be all right after some dinner and a good night’s sleep. Andi’s on the phone. Do you want to talk to her?”
Seconds later, Nicki came on the line. “Hi, Andi.”
“Hi, kiddo. How are you?”
“Tired, but I made the trip okay. I didn’t get sick on the plane or lost in the Dallas airport.”
“Good for you. Sounds like Kyle is being nice.” She shook her head at the understatement.
“Yes, he is. He gave me a copy of his proposed contract and suggested I look over it tomorrow when I’m not so zonked. He thought I might want to read it to Dad before I sign.”
“That’s a good idea.” And an unusual display of patience and consideration from Kyle. “Call me if you have any questions. I’m sure it’s basically a standard contract and fair, but it never hurts to ask.”
“Thanks, I will.” Nicki yawned. “Sorry. I’m really out of it. I’d better go wash my face and try to wake up. Kyle wants to talk to you again.”
“Call me tomorrow.” When Kyle took the receiver, she blasted him. “Okay, Wilson, what are you up to?”
“Nothing. Just mellowing out like you asked. I haven’t yelled once.”
“I bet you haven’t. You also said you wouldn’t be a lecher, remember?”
“I remember, and I’m not.”
Andi had seen the man in action many times, and she deeply regretted letting Nicki go to Nashville alone. The girl didn’t stand a chance. “Kyle—”
“Don’t worry, Andi. I’ll be on my best behavior. I’m not going to take advantage of her. Neither is anyone else if I can help it.” His voice was quiet, yet intense. “You have my word on it.”
Andi relaxed. Kyle’s word was his bond. He never broke it. “Well, don’t sweep the kid off her feet.”
“I think the opposite may be true. I’ll talk to you in a few days. Gotta go. I’ve promised a pretty lady dinner at Happy Burger.”
Andi laughed as she hung up the phone, wondering how long it had been since her manager had actually set foot in a burger joint. Power lunches in high-class restaurants were more his style, along with the heartburn that went with them. “I never expected this. Lord, please take care of them both and don’t let either of them get hurt.”
“Are you talking to yourself or praying?” Dawn burst through the front door, tossing her purse on the couch.
“Both. Kyle seems to be quite taken with Nicki, and I don’t mean just as a singer.”
Dawn’s eyes widened. “The Kyle I know? Our sweet country kid is charming Mr. Sophisticated?”
“Right out of his socks. He’s even taking her out for a hamburger.”
Dawn whooped. “Oh, I wish I could see that. Do you think he will wear his expensive suit?”
“Probably, although she might convince him to take off his tie.” Andi laughed and went back to the counter, dumping the butter in with the sugar. “Did you see Wade?” She turned on the mixer, thoroughly blending the two ingredients.
Dawn poured some chocolate chips from the package into her hand and leaned against the counter. “Thanks for taking care of the cookies.” She rotated her head slowly, then each shoulder. “Yes, I saw him. He told me you had gone to Sidell. What did Doc have to say?”
“That I’m fine. Everything is back to normal. I’m free again. No more doctor visits. He wants me to have a blood count done in a month.” Andi scraped the creamy mixture off the side of the bowl. “What did else Wade have to say?” She cracked two eggs and dumped them in, tossing the shells in the garbage.
“That he hadn’t called because he has some things to work out. I think he may call tonight. He had dark circles under his eyes. I don’t expect he’s been sleeping, either.”
“He isn’t sick, is he?”
“Confused, yes. Sick, no. Ornery, definitely.”
Andi set a cup of flour down on the counter, really looking at her cousin for the first time since Dawn came home. “Good grief! Did you get any paint on the wall?”
Dawn glared at her. “That’s what that no account boyfriend of yours said. And in front of Grant Adams, too, I expect.” She rolled her eyes. “Oh, Andi, it was awful. I went flying out there, looking like a thrift shop reject, and go digging through Wade’s refrigerator, throwing things out and nagging him like a fishwife. When I realized how late it was, I dashed for the door and practically knocked him down.”
“Wade?”
Dawn impatiently shook her head. “Grant Adams. The absolutely most perfect cowboy I’ve ever seen.”
“Wade is the perfect cowboy.”
“True, in a good-guy sort of way.”
“And Grant is a bad-guy cowboy?” Andi crossed her arms. Dawn usually dated the polite, easy going, boy-next-door-type.
“Well, I hope not really, but he made me think of an outlaw. Black hair, a little shaggy. Dark stubble, more like he just didn’t bother to shave this morning than five o’clock shadow. Dusty jeans that were kinda worn, denim shirt, and a beat-up black hat, but he looked like a hard working man, not a bum. Handsome in a rugged kind of way, with the most beautiful, vivid blue eyes I’ve ever seen. And he did hold me up,” she added, her eyes twinkling.
“To keep you from falling, I suppose.”
“Aw, quit being so sharp. He even smiled at me.”
Andi went back to making the cookies. “That’s not unusual. People smile at you all the time.”
“I know, but I had the oddest feeling that he didn’t want to but couldn’t help it. And then he teased me. When I glanced at Wade, he was staring at Grant with his mouth open, totally amazed.”
Andi laughed. “Obviously being covered in paint wasn’t such a big deal. I thought you had given up on men.”
“A passing phase.” Dawn grinned. “I am trying to quit worrying about finding Mr. Right and let God take care of it. Chances are, I’ll never see Grant Adams again, but it’s still nice to meet som
eone interesting. Well, I’d better go chisel off this paint. If those good ol’ boys down at City Hall see my pink hair, they’ll think I’ve turned into a floozy and won’t give us a cent. Are we having anything besides cookies for dinner?”
“How about my specialty? Microwave frozen entrees.”
“Sounds delightful. I’ll take the fake Chinese stuff.”
By the time Dawn left for her meeting, taking a box of chocolate chip cookies to drop off along the way, Andi had begun to worry that her cousin was wrong, and that Wade wouldn’t call. For the next hour, she sat curled up in the big yellow chair, morosely flipping television channels. She finally settled on a nature show about penguins. When the phone rang, she swallowed a half-eaten bite of cookie and washed it down with a swig of milk.
Wade sounded relieved when she answered. “I thought you might have gone out.”
“Where? To the City Council meeting? I’d rather channel surf.”
“Find anything interesting?”
“Penguins sliding on the ice, just like kids going down a snow covered hill on inner tubes. Looked as if they were having just as much fun, too. And the shopping channel has an elegant, white brocade sofa cover for only three hundred dollars.”
“Just what I need. How did it go at the doctor’s?”
“Everything is back to normal. I’m officially well.”
“Good.” He paused and cleared his throat. “So when will you be leaving?”
“Not until after the museum benefit, at least. I asked Kyle to delay things as long as he can.” Please take the hint. “He knows I want to take Nicki on tour with me, so he’s finding a band for her. She’ll need some time to put together a show and rehearse.”
“Dawn said you were throwing an autograph party on Wednesday.”
“I want to thank everyone for being so kind and for respecting my privacy. I think practically everyone in town knew I was here, but not a soul bothered me.”
Love Song Page 14