Country gold, p.4
Country Gold, page 4
That was true. The B&B only served breakfast. Of course, she had a small kitchen in her cottage and could certainly offer him some food. She didn’t know what it said about her that right now, she’d rather see him starve.
It says you’re a bitter woman, and sooner or later the songs are going to dry up if they haven’t already. Stop. Just stop.
“If there’s one thing I know about Luke it’s that he can take care of himself. And maybe you haven’t considered this, but his being here is going to bring us attention we don’t want,” Lexi said.
It had taken the better part of a year, but finally photographers and bloggers had finally stopped coming to town on the chance they might catch another indiscreet photo of Sabrina to sell to the highest bidder. The nude photo published all over kingdom come had earned the seller six generous figures. It would be a wonder if Sabrina ever took her clothes off again, but one thing for certain: she’d never text a naked photo of herself to a man she’d been flirting with over text messages from the road. A man she’d met at a recording label party whom she believed she could trust. Her beautiful and naïve little sister had never met a stranger. Unfortunately.
Gran shook her head. “Sabrina made a mistake, but we’ve all forgiven her and moved on.”
“Forgiveness is one thing, but being forced to relive it is another.”
“Are you worried about Sabrina or yourself?”
Lexi shook her head. “One of the reasons I love it here is that it’s quiet and peaceful. I feel safe here. Now we have the biggest star in country music staying with us.”
“It’s a week. I can see why you want your privacy, but we must still welcome him. After all, it’s up to us Wilders, as the hospitable people that we are, to make sure we set the tone for everyone else.”
That was obviously a dig at Lexi. “What did Olga tell you?”
“She said you seemed to be angry with Luke.”
Had Gran forgotten how much she’d cried over him? “Gran!”
“I know you decided it would best for the two of you to be apart, but that doesn’t mean you should be rude. You’re the face of Wilder Sisters B&B. We all are.”
Yes, God forbid a Wilder be rude! On the other hand, at the prices they’d been forced to charge for their rooms just to break even, they couldn’t afford to lose a single customer who was willing and able to pay.
Lexi bit her lower lip. “Right.”
“Besides,” Gran said. “He could have stayed anywhere else, but he’s here. There’s a reason for that, honey. I bet he still loves you.”
Lexi ignored that. “You’re right. None of this means that I have to be rude.”
“That’s my girl.”
After giving Gran a kiss on the cheek, Lexi headed back to her cottage. Once inside, she set her guitar in its stand by the black kettle wood-burning fireplace. The cottage wasn’t much but it suited all her needs. A one-bedroom, she had one hallway that led to the small kitchen at the back of the house, one tiny bathroom, and a small living area in the front which was separated from the bedroom by classic French doors. The entire décor said beach from the weather worn book case painted sky blue to the wood paneled walls in the bathroom.
She’d stuck a loveseat and her guitar stand near the kettle fireplace for the cold nights. It was a fact of life in Whistle Cove that nights were chilly even during the summer. Now they were headed into autumn and that chill would fall on them and pierce with its sharp sting. She didn’t have anyone keeping her warm these days, which was just fine with her. It didn’t matter that Luke had always kept her cold feet warm, or that he’d always slept with one arm slung over her waist and she’d never felt safer. She didn’t need that anymore.
Lexi made herself a shrimp salad for dinner, wondering what Luke would have. He’d probably gone into town to get some of his favorite clam chowder soup by the wharf. Either way, it wasn’t her problem. After dinner, she tried her hand at writing again but came away with nothing. She didn’t know what she would do if she didn’t come up with something to demo soon. Her few contacts in Nashville wouldn’t wait forever, and she couldn’t afford to miss this opportunity.
When a soft knock sounded on her cottage door, she hoped it wasn’t Luke. She didn’t want to write with him again, and she could sense he was about to suggest it. Who wouldn’t want country gold to strike twice? He might not need her for much else, but they’d created something special with one song. It was only human to want that again. Which might be exactly the reason he’d come here in the first place.
Warily, she opened the door slowly to find her sister Jessie behind it.
“Hey!” Jessie pushed past, followed quickly by Sabrina bringing up the rear.
Jessie carried a paper shopping bag. “I brought desert.”
“And I’ve got a movie,” Sabrina said, grinning and holding up a copy of P.S. I Love You.
Oh snap. Just what she needed. A tear-jerker.
Desert was a molten lava chocolate cake from the Death by Chocolate bakery in town. Lexi’s favorite. “Wow. Thanks. What’s this about?”
It wasn’t like they didn’t often get together and eat themselves into a sugar coma, but that was usually while watching the CMA Awards. Or a Chris Hemsworth movie.
“Because I hope this isn’t about Luke,” Lexi said as she pulled out spoons from the utensil drawer. “Gran and I talked about it. I’m okay with him staying here. It’s only a week.”
“Oh, yeah! We know you’re okay,” Sabrina said. “You’re so okay that you can’t listen to the radio. But now, he’s right here at the B&B, and you’re just super.”
“I am!” Lexi protested, desperate to believe it. “This morning, I caught him helping Olga in the kitchen. He looked really good up on that ladder, all manly and muscular with his sinewy forearms, and you know? I didn’t even care.”
“Yeah?” Jessie handed everyone a spoon. “That’s good to hear.”
“Sure, it’s good to hear,” Sabrina said. “But too bad it’s not true. Sinewy forearms? How can we just let her get away with this?”
“Get away with what?” Excuse her, but Lexi thought she’d done very well not drooling over Luke, thank you very much.
“With your incredibly humongous boat load of denial!” Sabrina accused.
“Okay, first of all, that’s what we songwriters like to call hyperbole. And I’m not in denial,” Lexi said.
“No?” Sabrina went one hand on hip and wiggled a finger. “Then let me give you the 411. The fact that you didn’t care about how hot he looked this morning? The point is, you noticed.”
“Anyone would! So did Olga, and she’s a happily married woman.” Lexi wanted this to be true. She hadn’t noticed those brawny arms and broad shoulders, for instance, because she was still in love with him. She’d admired them because she wasn’t blind. End of story.
“Hm. She has got a point,” Jessie said and absconded into the bedroom with the cake.
Jessie was wise. She knew how to get people to follow her. Lexi and Sabrina did just that and flanked Jessie on either side of the bed to dig in.
“Which one of us has a point?” Sabrina asked, licking her spoon. “Me, right?”
“Both of you do.” Jessie pointed to Lexi and then to Sabrina. “She’s right that anyone would notice, and you’re right that she noticed. See how I did that?”
“That’s some of your best work, Jess.” Lexi sighed.
They didn’t call Jessie the family mediator for nothing. The chocolate was warm and sweet and gooey. It slid down her throat like a sparkly, silky dream. Maybe she should think about marrying this cake instead of a muffin. So much sugar, so little time…
“So, are you ever going to like…forgive him?” Sabrina said.
“Ooh, good question!” Jessie turned to Lexi.
“First, he’s not going to be around that long. Second, I don’t have to forgive him. I’ve moved on. See how I did that?” Lexi rolled her eyes.
“Except that if you had really forgiven him then maybe you wouldn’t still be so angry.” This was from Sabrina, always wiser than she looked.
“Let me see if I can explain this.” Lexi would have thought the two people who knew her best in the world would buy themselves a clue, but okay. She’d help them along. “Look, Luke is famous right now. And I don’t know if you guys considered this, but his being here, even temporarily, is going to bring us some attention.”
“Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing?” Jessie said. “I mean, we have vacancies to fill, and that would do it.”
“As long as they’re coming here to see Luke, and not just to look over our…okay, my train wreck,” Sabrina said. “We’ve had enough of that.”
Lexi would have to agree. She’d enjoyed this past year, living in the quiet and solitude of the beach. Now that Luke had chosen to grace them with his presence, how long would the peace last?
“I’m happy for him, but I don’t want to be near that crazy tour and performing schedule anymore. He’s going to live the rest of his life very much in the public eye, and I’m not. Ever again. He and I want different things now.”
“Okay. That makes sense. I have to admit it.” This from Jessie, the voice of reason.
“But how do you know you both want different things if you won’t talk to him?” Sabrina said.
“Huh. That makes sense, too,” Jessie said.
“And you’re both awesome songwriters. You write beautiful music together,” Sabrina continued.
A fleeting thought occurred that she didn’t want to believe or accept. Pain sliced through her at the thought maybe he’d come here for another hit song. From her.
“We wrote one great song.” One awesome song. Luke had the melody and she’d come up with words straight from her bleeding heart. “And I want to try writing on my own again for a while.”
“Hey, I’m sorry I was nice to him yesterday when I checked him in, but you know me,” Jessie said. “I have a hard time being mean. If you want me to hate him, I’ll do my best.”
“And I’ll bring it home because I have no such problem being mean. We’ll hate him together. Sister power!” Sabrina held out her free hand for a fist bump.
Lexi returned it. “I don’t want you to hate him. But it’s nice that you offered.”
Jessie and Sabrina had her back. Always would. And she would have theirs. Once, Luke had her back too. But it was different with her sisters. They’d endured five nights a week of band practice for years, a few teenage heartbreaks, outdoor performances in the Bay Area way before country music was popular in the Bay Area, ten tours, five albums, and of course, The Scandal.
It was safe to say that if she didn’t hate her sisters by now, she never would. If Lexi had nothing else, she had Jessie and Sabrina.
And for now it would have to be enough.
That evening, Luke decided he was starving. For affection, for attention from Lexi, and also for some actual food. Hindsight being twenty-twenty, he probably shouldn’t have come to the B&B. There were plenty of other places he could have stayed, some that might even have appreciated him. He’d been a little too optimistic coming here, which quite frankly didn’t sound like him at all. Now, he was too tired and hungry to be positive, so he immediately rejected his first inclination to ask Lexi to dinner. He wanted to eat with her, wanted to talk to her, wanted anything with her at this point. Because he missed her like his right arm. Missed talking to her. Missed her advice and honesty. Missed her back rubs, and…missed a lot of other things, too.
He climbed in and started up the rental, a BMW sedan that Gary had waiting for him at San Jose International Airport when he’d arrived. Luke felt ridiculous driving the car. It would be the car for a lawyer, or a real estate agent. Not for a country musician. Luke had wanted a truck or an SUV, but one hadn’t been available. He would even have preferred his old green Ford Ranger pick-up, which had ripped seats and happened to have a lot of pleasant memories attached to it. On second thought, best to keep those thoughts away.
Traffic was light as he drove to the wharf and parked. He wasn’t concerned anyone would recognize him as a star. Country music wasn’t all that popular in Whistle Cove, and his fame was new enough that, unless one caught the weekly country countdown on CMT channel, they wouldn’t know who he was at all. Even so, he’d brought a Giants baseball cap he pulled low on his head. There might be others who would recognize him for a very different reason.
His past on the wharf involved being on the other side of the docks. Working alongside Reggie since he was twelve or so, he’d been on the supplier side, bringing in the catch of the day. He’d rarely been the customer and certainly not from any of the more expensive restaurants. If he had anything at all to worry about, it might be running into one of Reggie’s friends in town. Those people who had insisted Reggie was not guilty of murder, and Luke was nothing but a bad son. He didn’t fear any of them, hadn’t even when they’d threatened him for testifying against his father.
Luke shook his head clear of the past. The ghost of a raw and painful memory was alive and well here, but it couldn’t touch him anymore.
He walked by the expensive restaurants lining the pier, offering the best seafood, along with tourist trap gift shops for everything from kitchen magnets to fleece sweatshirts. The taffy shop that displayed the taffy rolling through the old-fashioned machine in the front pane window was still a personal favorite of his. Lexi also loved the saltwater taffy here. He found himself inside the shop, where he ordered an assorted flavors bag. The teenage clerk gave him funny look, but Luke paid in cash, hoping she wouldn’t be able to figure out where she might have seen him before. She was too young to know him from his days working the boats alongside Reggie.
Carrying his bag, he walked the pier feeling more alone than ever. Success wasn’t supposed to look like this. Shouldn’t he be happier now that he had money? He hadn’t signed up for this raw emptiness he felt churning in his gut. Hadn’t realized when he’d signed a contract, recorded an album, and left on a tour, that he’d lose Lexi. The one person other than Maggie, his mother, who’d always believed in him.
He’d gotten busy, and let’s face it, somehow screwed up his priorities. Not like he’d ever known what success looked like so it hadn’t been easy to handle fame when it arrived. The attention, from beautiful women in particular, had been addictive and flattering. Before Lexi, any woman worth the trouble wasn’t interested in him. If they had been it was because they were slumming it. Rich Bay Area girls who liked to piss off daddy with the local bad boy who had a record for street racing.
He continued to walk along the pier, trying to shake off the memories that lingered. It was a slow night on the pier in the middle of the week, and some waiters were standing in front of their establishments with samples of crab and shrimp cocktails, trying to lure patrons inside. One even had a coupon for 10% off.
“Sold,” Luke said when the waiter offered one to him.
Didn’t matter how much money he had, safe to say he’d always like a bargain. Without thinking, he removed the ball cap and followed the waiter to the back of the restaurant, where he was seated at a table facing the window overlooking the boat dock. Luke’s first job had been cleaning shrimp from the nets of his father’s boat. Not where he wanted his mind to go right now. Memory cells were cruel.
“I’m sorry, but you look so familiar.” A woman at the table next to him turned to stare. “Are you…oh my God, aren’t you Luke Wyatt?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He smiled and nodded.
“I love your music! Especially Falling for Forever.”
Color him surprised that was her favorite. Not. “Thank you.”
He signed an autograph on a cloth napkin, posed for a selfie, which led to many more photos with some of the other customers.
“Let him eat!” The waiter finally said and then slipped him a slip of paper to autograph. “For my sister.”
Luke ordered the clam chowder and a lobster tail. He wasn’t going to drink, but people kept sending them over. First a German beer, then a glass of local Cabernet, and champagne flutes on the house. It would be rude not to accept, so he drank some from each. By the time he finished eating, paid, and took a selfie with the cook, Luke thought he might have to be rolled out of the place.
Holding his bag of taffy, he strolled to the BMW, evaluating his condition. No, he wasn’t shit faced. But he was something. Clearly, he couldn’t drive back to the B&B. What most residents didn’t know about him was that he was far from being a bad boy. After a few mistakes as a stupid teenage kid, he’d mostly toed the line with authority. You didn’t grow up in the shadow of a man like his father and not learn a thing or two. Luke didn’t take chances with the law anymore. Ever. He rarely drank and never smoked. All he needed was to get pulled over and fail a sobriety test and not only would he be indeed his father’s son, but he’d be the country star with a drinking problem.
Cue the man in black, everyone, for round two. He was already compared to a modern Johnny Cash who sounded like Thomas Rhett. The record label had packaged him that way to sell records.
It was working.
He broke out in a cold sweat just thinking about jail, just thinking about being his father’s son, and whether the son was doomed to repeat the mistakes of the father. He pulled out his cell and dialed Lexi.
This time she actually picked up. “Luke?”
“Yep, it’s me. I need a ride because in my current condition I shouldn’t be driving. Do you also perform that service for your guests, or should I call a cab?”
Silence for a moment, then she spoke.
“Just tell me where you are, and I’ll come get you.”
Chapter 5
“If you mess with the big sister, there’s always a younger, crazier sister right behind her. That’s who you don’t want to mess with!” ~ Meme
When Lexi pulled into the wharf’s parking lot, it didn’t take her long to find Luke leaning against a blue sedan. His arms were casually folded in front of him, and he gave her an easy smile when he caught sight of her truck. Oh, boy. How exactly did he manage to look sexy and badass even when she had to come rescue him?
