Chapter 28
CHAPTER 28
FORD
I look down on a sleeping Emmy, curled up in the middle of our bed beneath a light blue comforter, long blonde hair splashed over the pillows surrounding her, and my heart physically aches.
“You’re so beautiful it hurts.”
My words are a whisper, a throwback to the first day I realized she’d somehow taken up residence inside my heart without my knowledge. I sigh happily, like the lovesick fool I am, as I toss my dirty clothes in the hamper before tiptoeing from the room.
Having carried through on my promise, we’d gotten almost no sleep whatsoever, so upon returning home in the early hours of this morning, I’d showered us both before carrying my weary Tink to bed.
She’d been out like a light, and like a thief, I’d stolen thirty minutes to watch her sleeping, allowing my eyes to drink their fill even though I know it’ll never be enough.
Though I’m tempted to join her, I slip into the hallway beyond our room, intent on helping Sully in the corrals. Working with Sidewinder, the dark brown rescue horse, has eased the sting of discovering Marshal’s passing last spring, but the regret of not seeing him one last time tastes bitter on my tongue.
“Did you stay out all night?”
Faith’s voice chimes from her bedroom as I pass her door, and my feet stop, backtracking until I can make out my sister’s profile.
I lean against the door frame, folding my arms over my chest as I watch her for a beat. She’s raiding her wardrobe, throwing every stitch of clothing inside of it onto her bed with a look of determination plastered to her face.
“Sure did. Not that it’s any of your business, Pest.”
She takes a second to shoot me evil eyes before returning to her clothes.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for something.”
I roll my eyes at her abstruse remark, stepping farther into the room to see the mess of discarded clothing is even bigger on the opposite side of the bed.
“You better not think you’re bringing this much crap into my apartment in September.”
But rather than answer, her movements still before she gasps in delighted triumph. “Found it!”
I focus on a microscopic black handkerchief in her hands, my brow puckering in a deep frown. “And what’s it exactly? Dental floss?”
It’s her turn to roll her eyes as she opens the material in her hands, and it takes me several solid blinks before I realize it’s not a handkerchief or even dental floss.
“Have you worn that?”
My tone is incredulous as my eyes move from the bittiest little black crop top I’ve ever seen up to her guileless ones.
“It’s fashionable, Fordy. I’m sure Emmy has worn similar.”
“Emerson is a grown-ass woman?—”
She cuts me off with a dangerous tilt of her chin. “ I’m a grown-ass woman, or did that go unnoticed?”
I clench my jaw, trying again. “What I mean is, Emerson is a grown-ass woman who can make those kinds of decisions, but you…”
She looks at me expectantly, raising one eyebrow as though ready to do battle, until I trail off, realizing belatedly how flat my excuse is about to fall.
I sigh wearily, my shoulders falling forward in defeat. “You’re my sister, Faith. It’s my job to protect you, you know?”
Her eyes soften before she closes the distance between us, tossing the top onto the pile on her bed so she can hug me around my waist. With her head pressed to my chest, my arms encircle her shoulders, and we stand like that for a beat until Faith breaks the silence.
“Your heart is in the right place, Fordy. But your little sisters have done a lot of growing up in the time since you left.”
Her words make my chest ache, even as I feel the truth of them in my bones when she pulls out of my arms, eyeing me reproachfully. “And I’m wearing that dental floss tonight when we go to Rebels.”
I snort a laugh as I ruffle her hair, laughing harder when she jumps back. “Okay, you wear that dental floss.” Her smile is as shit-eating as they come until I continue. “’Cause you’re not going near Rebels.”
“You can’t stop me?—”
“True, true. I can’t, but as soon as I let the staff know you’re underage, they’ll kick you out.” A deep frown creases her forehead, and I chuckle internally at the consternation in her big brown eyes. “Or is a grown-ass woman like you forgetting you’re not even twenty yet?”
Leaving Faith to mutter her complaints in relative peace, I continue toward the kitchen, stopping short when I spot Fallon at the griddle.
“Mornin’”
She doesn’t so much as glance around, her eyes laser-focused on the job at hand, but that doesn’t deter me.
“I’m going to Rebels for open mic night later with Emmy and Lissie. Planning on asking Sully and a few of the hands to come along, too, if you wanna join?—”
“Momma?” Fallon cuts me off as though I’ve not said a word, and I clench my jaw before I can say something harsh.
Our mother’s blonde head appears in the doorway, a basket of freshly picked vegetables in her hands. She smiles in greeting before moving to Fallon’s side at the griddle, shaking her head.
“I asked you to watch the bacon, Fal, not incinerate it.”
My sister passes her the tongs with a shrug. “You know I can’t cook for shi—” At Momma’s nudge, Fallon clears her throat and redirects her sentence. “You know my expertise lies in handlin’ horses, not bacon.”
She gives me a surreptitious glance before shucking Momma’s spare apron and hanging it on the hook by the door. “I—I um…already ate.”
Then she ducks out through the back door, and I move to the window, following her with my eyes until she disappears into the main barn.
“I see conditions have heated up to a balmy ten below.”
“I’m at a loss here, Momma. I don’t know how I can make it right.”
“Fallon’s always known her own mind, Fordy. You know that. She’ll come around when she’s ready and not one minute before.”
I exhale a sigh, but before I can continue, there’s a knock on the front door. As I rise from my chair to go check who it is, Finley flies past me, calling over her shoulder, “If I kill some time talking to whoever’s knocking, I’ll avoid calculus.”
Momma chuckles from her place at the griddle with a shake of her head until Fin’s scream sees both of us rushing out of the kitchen to find her open-mouthed in the hallway. Her eyes are fixated on whoever or whatever is on the porch, so I open the door wider.
“What the hell?—”
I grind to a halt when my eyes land on none other than the asshat himself as he pops a sarcastic brow.
“Good to see you, too.” He winks broadly before pressing a button on the car keys in his hand, and locking a shiny red sports car that looks ridiculously out of place at Whispering Willows.
“How did you even find us?”
Lawson drops his keys into the pocket of his stiff, seemingly new light blue jeans with a shrug. “I was concerned, so I asked Hayley where you guys had disappeared to.” A mischievous light dances in his dark eyes. “I mean, she didn’t want to tell me, but I can be quite persuasive.”
I deadpan with a sigh. “A simple text would have sufficed, you know.”
He places his palm dramatically over his chest, eyes blowing wide. “What? And do myself the disservice of missing the sheer pleasure of your company, Mr. Holloway?” His mouth lifts in a lopsided grin as he quirks an eyebrow. “ Never !”
As I’m internally rolling my eyes, I make a memo to exchange some stern words with Hayley, when Finley gasps audibly. “Are you Lawson Wilde?”
He nods smugly, opening his mouth to elaborate, but Fin cuts him off.
“Why is Lawson Wilde on our doorstep?” My youngest sister’s incredulous eyes lift to mine, blowing wide before she whispers, “Oh my God, he’s come to win Emmy back from you.”
Before anyone can say a word, Finley grabs the door and slams it closed in Lawson’s surprised face.
“Finley Rose Holloway!” Momma’s voice is brimming with reproach as she steps around her youngest daughter to reopen the door, finding a confused-looking Lawson frozen on the other side.
“My apologies for Finley’s outburst. Please, come on in.”
Finley opens her mouth to speak again, but I slip the palm of my hand over it, tugging her back against my chest. Lawson steps over the threshold, watching everything with skeptical eyes until there’s movement in the kitchen behind me when Emmy strolls into the hallway.
“Law?” She walks closer, glancing from Fin and me to Momma and then back to Lawson. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, I’m starting to ask myself the same question.” One eyebrow arches wickedly. “Though I can see I was right about you and the good egg sharing a history.”
EMERSON
“You look beautiful, Lissie.”
Ford’s sister smiles prettily. “Thank you, Em. You look beautiful, too.”
I return her smile as we walk side by side to Sully’s waiting truck.
We’ve both chosen to wear simple summer mini-dresses that come to mid-thigh length. Mine is pink with tiny white flowers peppering the material, while Lissie’s is a plain but striking dark blue.
I feel awful for her. She’s hardly eaten all day, her nerves making her too nauseated to stomach any food, but even so, she’s been adamant that she doesn’t want to disappoint Ford.
“You’ll do great.”
I bump my shoulder against hers, and her smile wobbles a little.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous.”
Lissie pushes her hair behind one ear, a frown covering her pretty face.
“I recall feeling like that before every single audition.”
Her eyes widen as she lifts her incredulous gaze to mine. “You did ?”
“Mmhmm.” I nod excessively. “My palms would get sweaty, my voice would tremble, and everything would feel as though it wasn’t really real , you know?”
At her smiling assent, I continue. “But sometimes, in order to have the things we love, we must do the things that scare us.”
My own words give me pause, and I blink several times, allowing them to sink in as we reach Sully’s truck.
“Momma says I came out singin’.” Lissie’s softly spoken words refocus me, and I glance up to find a dreamy look in her eyes. “Couldn’t stop me even then.”
We both chuckle before she opens the rear passenger door, gesturing that I should climb in first, which I do with a nod of thanks.
She follows me, continuing once we’re both settled. “I’ve dreamed of being a singer longer’n I can recall. It’s been my dream…”
Her brow creases when she trails off, staring at the hands folded on her lap. “But dreamin’ is different than this. Because tonight, I’m not dreamin’ from the safety of my room where no one can hear me, and it doesn’t matter if my pitch is off or I forget the lyrics. Tonight, I’m doin’ .”
She swallows roughly, lifting her eyes to meet mine. The golden flecks amongst the deep blue of her irises are shining, and there’s an energy vibrating off her tanned skin that I could almost reach out and touch when she whispers, “And the thought that I could mess up in front of so many people scares me to death.”
“The question you need to ask yourself is, does the thought of never having tried to follow your dream scare you even more?”
I reach out, clasping her hands in mine and squeezing them reassuringly as Sully jumps in the driver’s side. He shoots Lissie an encouraging smile in the rearview mirror as Ford and Law appear in the doorway of the house.
When I woke from my short nap this morning, I was shocked to come downstairs to find Lawson at the front door. He endeared himself to everyone when he announced that he had made the trip to make sure I was okay following the events at the ICON gala.
He even won Finley around, citing that he and I were just really good friends.
Ford, on the other hand, was less than thrilled to see the asshat , as he insists on calling him.
The man in question slips into the front seat beside Sully, leaving Law to climb in beside me. But before we can leave, Faith comes rushing out of the house, wearing skintight, high-waisted black leather pants and a crop top that’s more like a bikini. Her long blonde hair is in a braid hanging over one shoulder, and a broad-brimmed black cowboy hat is perched atop her head.
She looks amazing , but there’s no doubt in my mind that her choice of clothing has made my lover’s blood pressure skyrocket.
Lawson whistles under his breath, sniggering when I shoot him a quelling glare.
“Not the time to rile Ford up, idiot.”
Thankfully, Ford and everyone else in the truck are so focused on Faith that no one witnesses our interaction as she marches closer, her big brown eyes filled with determination.
“Momma called Rebels, and Riley told her I could watch from behind the scenes.” She reaches Ford’s window, a smile as wide as the Grand Canyon on her cheeks. “So long as I don’t set foot in the bar, I can come along with y’all.”
“ Christ almighty .”
Ford’s low expletive makes Law chuckle, and I elbow him to be quiet even as I stifle my own grin.
He hops out, ushering Faith in between himself and Sully before climbing back in himself.
The conversation is light, maintained mostly by myself and Sully as we make the twenty-minute drive to Rebels, and my eyes widen when we pull into a parking spot beside the enormous bar.
It’s both an indoor and outdoor venue, with a colossal main stage covered by a canopy lit up like a Christmas tree, complete with a full house band. Tables are dotted around the main dance floor, which takes up almost as much space as the stage, and there are two outdoor bars, one on each side of the space.
“The inside is just as big.” Lissie’s voice is quiet at my side, and I meet her doe-eyed gaze.
“Not a regular open mic night then, is it?”
A tiny half-smile plays across her mouth as she shakes her head. “Everythin’ is bigger in Texas, or didn’t you know that?”
A chuckle parts my lips as everyone moves to exit the vehicle, and I slide out behind Lissie, giving her shoulders a reassuring squeeze before whispering for her ears only, “Time to chase those dreams.”