Chapter Seven
“Hey, Smoke!” Kenzie grinned at him when he pulled up a seat at the bar. “What can I get you?”
“I’ll take a nice cold beer.”
“There you go.” She placed it in front of him. “How are you? How’s the wedding planning coming along?”
“Kind of like a tornado,” he said with a smile. “It’s all just a crazy whirl, but it’s moving fast.”
“That sounds like a good thing to me. I can’t imagine you and Laura taking months and months to plan things and set them up. You’re more like us; just decide it’s time and do it, right?”
“I guess so. It seems like we waited forever, but now it’s all systems go.”
“I can’t wait.”
He frowned. “Are you going to be able to make the reception in the evening, or do you have to work?”
“You think I’d miss it? No way! After everything you and Laura did for me getting me here and stopping me from leaving? There’s no way on earth I’d miss your wedding. Ben wouldn’t do that to me. In fact,” she grinned, “you’re making history.”
“How’s that?”
“He’s taking the night off, I’m taking the night off, the band is taking the night off.”
“Shit.” Smoke hadn’t thought about that, he felt bad.
“I know! Isn’t it awesome?”
“I was thinking the opposite. It’s going to screw him over. It’s going to cost him a Saturday night.”
“No! He’s really looking forward to it. We’ve got the bar covered, and there’s a couple of guys staying at the resort who’ve been jamming with Chase and Eddie. They’re good, and they offered to step in.”
“That’s great.”
“Hey, Smokey. Kenzie.”
“Hi, Jack. What can I get you?”
“I’ll take the same as Smoke.” Jack sat down beside him and smiled. “I thought I was late. I couldn’t get Isabel to go down.”
Smoke raised an eyebrow.
“Emma’s writing again.”
“Oh! So, you’re on baby duties?”
Jack grinned. “Yeah, it’s awesome. I love it.”
Smoke laughed. “Most people look miserable and wiped out when they’ve got a small baby, but you look like you’re blooming.”
Jack shrugged. “I am. I can’t explain it, but I just love her so much.”
He gave Kenzie a sheepish grin as she put his drink in front of him and she laughed. “Hey, I’m not saying anything. I get it, you love your little girl. I just don’t feel the same way about babies, that’s all.”
“You will; just you wait and see. One day you and Chase will be just like Em and I are now.”
Smoke had to laugh at the way Kenzie shuddered. “I don’t think so. Anyway, moving swiftly on, is it just the two of you tonight?”
“No,” said Smoke. “Jack’s rounded up Pete and Nate as the organizing committee for my stag night.”
“Ah, I see. What about Laura? What’s she doing? Has she had chance to organize anything?”
“Not yet. We hadn’t even talked about bachelor parties.” He narrowed his eyes at Jack. “Until he started bugging me about it. I talked to her last night, and she said she’ll figure something out when she gets back at the weekend.”
“Well, tell her I’d love to help her organize.”
Pete and Nate came sauntering through the bar to join them.
“Hey, guys.”
“Hey,” said Pete. “Have any of you eaten? Do we want to have dinner?”
Kenzie handed them menus, and they moved to a booth.
“So, what’s the plan?” asked Nate.
Smoke shrugged. “Something low-key and an early night?”
Pete laughed. “Seriously? You don’t want to go to town?”
“Not in any sense, no. I’d like to hang out with you guys and the rest of the gang. Have a few drinks, maybe something to eat, then I want to go home and be all tucked up for a good night’s sleep by midnight.”
Nate laughed. “Is this still the same Smoke who used to raise as much hell as he could any time he wasn’t flying?”
Jack nodded. “Well, he looks like Smoke, and he talks like Smoke, but he doesn’t act like Smoke. Maybe we need to start calling him Cole?”
Pete nodded. “Maybe we do?”
Smoke shook his head. He had changed a lot since he’d met Laura, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to go back to using his given name. He didn’t want to be that open. Everyone he cared about knew him well enough to know his name, and they used it when they wanted to. He smiled thinking about the way Laura liked to call him Cole in bed.
Jack laughed. “I’m not even going to ask what you’re thinking about. The look on your face tells me I probably don’t want to know.”
Jack sure was perceptive sometimes.
The server came and took their order. Once he’d gone, Pete looked around the table. “So, are we settling for a quiet meal at Giuseppe’s on Friday night?”
“Yep,” said Smoke. “That’s something I can look forward to and not stress about. Nothing can go wrong enough with that plan to keep me away from the chapel on Saturday afternoon.
Jack frowned. “Don’t say that. It sounds too much like tempting fate to me.”
“You’re like an old woman sometimes, Benson,” said Pete.
Jack grinned. “Maybe so, but there’s a grain of truth to every old wives’ tale.”
Nate laughed. “I have to agree with Smoke. It sounds safe enough to me.”
“Okay. I’ll get on it then,” said Pete.
“Thanks,” said Smoke. “Sometimes I appreciate your need to take over and plan everything. This is one of those times.”
Pete shrugged. “I know. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m trying to get better about not taking over unless I know my assistance is wanted. You’ve got enough on your plate, so I figured I was safe to step in. Is there anyone you want me to invite? I reckon you’ll want all the usual suspects—us, Dan, Ben, Michael and Gabe, but what about Chase and Eddie?”
“I’d like them to be there if they can, but I imagine they’ll be working.”
“I’ll ask,” said Pete.
“What about the guys from the airport?” asked Jack.
“Just talk to Jason. He knows I want everyone there. He can let them know the when and where.”
“Will do,” said Pete. “Anyone else? I assume you’ll tell Cameron when you talk to him?”
Smoke pursed his lips, but couldn’t help smiling. “Yep and I’m going to call my dad and ask him if he wants to come.”
The others all grinned at each other. They knew how far he’d come with his family in the last couple of years.
“That’s awesome.” Jack punched his shoulder, and Pete and Nate nodded their agreement.
“It will be if he wants to come.”
“You know he will!” said Pete.
“What about your dad?” asked Smoke. “Do you think he’d enjoy it?
“I think he’d love it,” said Pete.
“Then ask him?” He turned to Jack. “And what about Gramps and Joe and Missy’s dad. Do you think they’d want to come?”
Jack grinned. “I’ll bet they would.”
“Who else?” Smoke grinned around at them all. He was getting into the spirit of this, thinking about all the people who’d become a part of his life here. People he’d grown to care about. “Oh, I know. Doc! He’s awesome.”
Pete chuckled. “He is, and I’m sure he’d love to come.”
“What?” Smoke scowled at Pete. “What are you looking at me like that for, Hemming?”
“Like what?” asked Pete innocently.
“You know damned well.” Smoke turned to Jack. “He’s doing it; he’s got that smug I-told-you-so look on his face.”
Jack and Nate laughed. “Sorry, Pete, but you have.”
Pete shrugged. “I know, but I think I have every right to look this way.”
“Go on then, tell me.”
“It’s just pretty damned cool to see you not only settled down, living in one place and getting married, but on top of that the list of guys you want to come out shows how much a part of this community you’ve become—how many friends you’ve made and how many people are important to you. I love it. Especially considering how you told me that you’d come up here to the lake, but you didn’t see yourself staying long.”
Smoke shrugged, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t dare try because of the lump in his throat. It was true. This place had come to be his home, and the people had become like family to him.
Jack smiled. “You’ve joined right in the spirit of the place. Missy always says the generations party together here.”
“Always have done, always will,” added Pete.
“I love that about this place,” said Nate. Smoke laughed, glad to lighten things up and deflect the attention away from himself. “You’re following me down the same path from debauchery to domesticity.”
“Yep.” Nate grinned happily. “Only I think it will take Lily and me a little longer to plan our wedding. I wish her family would come around like yours have.”
Smoke raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing bad, just that they can’t get over the whole big society wedding thing. That’s what they want for both their little girls.”
“And you couldn’t stand that,” said Pete with a laugh.
“Honestly, I’d do it for Lil, if it was what she wanted. But she doesn’t. They’ve tried to control and direct her whole life. She isn’t having any of it when it comes to our wedding.”
“You’ll figure something out.” Jack gripped his shoulder encouragingly. From the look he gave Nate, Smoke reckoned there was more to the story than Nate was letting on, and it was something he’d discussed with Jack before this evening. He felt bad that he didn’t get to see as much of Nate these days. He’d have to make time to visit with him soon.
~ ~ ~
Laura couldn’t help but smile when she saw Carson standing beside the limo waiting for her. He was out of his uniform and dressed in jeans and a T-shirt—and he looked every bit the country singer, just as she’d known he would.
He opened the door with a smile when she reached him.
“Good evening. Are you ready to have a great time? It’s going to be awesome.”
“I am. Are you?”
He nodded eagerly and gestured for her to get in before climbing into the driver’s seat. “I can’t wait. I’m going to be in the same room as Lawrence Fuller, Clay McAdam, Shawnee Reynolds and Matt McConnell.”
Laura grinned. “You certainly fell on your feet when you got a job driving for Lawrence, didn’t you?”
“Absolutely! He’s awesome. I know how lucky I am.”
“I’m sure you’ve earned it. The way I understand it, there must be hundreds of hopeful singers in this town who’d kill for your job; but instead, they’re working in bars. Lawrence must have seen something in you to have chosen you.”
Carson gave her an odd look in the rearview mirror before pulling away from the hotel. If she had to describe it, she’d say he looked almost guilty. She didn’t have time to wonder what it might be about before he started chatting away.
“I know you’re not big into country music, but do you know who Matt McConnell is?”
“No,” she said. It sounded vaguely familiar, but then all these country singers’ names did.
Carson let out a little laugh. “I’d better fill you in on the guest list, hadn’t I? Matt’s awesome, but some of the others expect everyone to know who they are. Matt’s probably the hottest ticket in Nashville right now. He’s only been around a few years, but he’s hit it big. Clay has a lot to do with that since he signed him to McAdam records. I thought you might have heard of him. He dated Sheena Layfield, and they had a very public breakup, then he hit the headlines again when they said he was dating that heiress, Hope Davenport.
“Oh!” Now she remembered where she’d heard his name before. She’d seen a couple of news reports about Hope and Matt. Missy had been worried sick about Chance because Chance had been seeing Hope around the same time.
“You know who he is now?”
“Yes, I still don’t know much about him or his music, but I do know Hope.”
Carson grinned at her in the rearview mirror. “That figures. I guess you classy California ladies have your own circle, just like country singers do.”
Laura laughed. She couldn’t help it.
“What?”
“Nothing, sorry. It just makes me laugh that you see me as being like Hope.”
“You’re saying you’re not?”
Laura thought about it. “No, I don’t suppose I am really. Where I am in life and where she is? We really are the same. What makes me laugh is comparing where I come from to where she came from. Her father is a billionaire. I never knew mine. She grew up in a very privileged lifestyle. I grew up in a trailer in a small town in Texas.” She had to smile at the way his eyes widened at that. “If I’d been into music, I might have ended up here, but I was into jewelry, so I ended up in California.”
“That’s awesome. That’s why you understood about chasing your dream and never giving up when I talked about the people who come here hoping to make it big, right?”
“I suppose it is. I know you never fail until you give up. I’ve never given up, and you know what?”
“What?”
“I need to say thank you. You just made me stop and think about how far I’ve come. It’s been on my mind lately, but you saying that I’m like Hope—that hit home. I am like her. And I’m proud of myself.”
“I’m proud of you, too. You’re an inspiration.”
Laura laughed. “Maybe someday you can write a song about a barefoot Texas girl who made it big.”
“Hey, don’t laugh. My brain’s already working on it. Something about barefoot girls to diamonds and pearls.”
Laura’s eyes pricked with unexpected tears. “Now that would be awesome.”
A few minutes later, Carson turned into a driveway and pulled up in front of another huge brick mansion. They seemed to be the thing for country singers. Before he got out, he looked over his shoulder at her. “Can I make you a promise?”
“Of course.”
“I’m not going to give up until I can fly out to California and play my hit song about a barefoot girl from Texas for you.”
“I know you’ll keep that promise, but do me a favor and don’t just show up as a surprise?” She could just imagine how Smoke would react to that. “Let me know you’re coming, and the man I’m going to marry next week will be thrilled to meet you. Show up out of the blue, and you’ll get a very different reception.”
“Sure! I didn’t mean … I mean.”
“I know. It’s fine. I’ll be so happy when that day comes.”
“Me too, and you’ve inspired me to work my ass off even harder to make it come sooner. But right now, I’d better take you inside and introduce you.”