3. Knox #2
“I may be a hick, but I don’t live under a rock,” I said, reaching for my beer.
Blake spoke up from behind her raised phone, sounding a little sheepish. “Can I play, or is this wedding party only?”
“You’re one of us for the month,” Ivy said. “Fire away.”
Blake seemed to think about it for a split second. “‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.’ The slow, kind of sad version.”
I let the first line come out soft and blue, the way that song’s supposed to be played, and the whole circle went quiet. Even the fire seemed to settle. When I let the last note hang, nobody rushed to fill it.
“That one always gets me,” Holly said quietly, into the hush. “There’s just something so lonely about it. Like a lot of people are at Christmas.”
“I think so too,” Blake said.
“For sure,” Madeleine said.
“All right, we need a happy one now.” Rhett clapped his hands, resetting the vibe. “Somebody bring the cheer back.”
“Jingle Bell Rock,” Beck offered.
I gave it to him with a little extra swing.
Holly smiled, clapping her hands. “I love that one. Makes me want to dance.”
“Holly’s a great dancer,” Rhett said.
“I seem to remember you had some moves yourself,” Holly said.
Jack laughed. “These two used to choreograph dances back in middle school. I never could get why, but they loved it.”
“Oh yeah, we spent hours on the porch of your mama’s trailer, remember?” Holly asked.
Rhett nodded. “Makes me miss the old days.”
“Are you kidding?” Luci said. “You don’t really miss it?”
“Not some parts, but others, yes,” Rhett said, darting a glance in Holly’s direction. “We had nothing but time back then.”
“Always looking for something to do that didn’t cost money,” Holly said.
“All right, I’ve got one.” Jack leaned back, grinning. “Sleigh Ride.”
“Now that’s more like it,” I said. “Sleigh Ride” actually made a guitarist work—a lot of bounce and skip to it, the melody hopping around like a Mexican jumping bean.
I gave it to them fast and playful, the way it should be executed, and, when I got to the end, I did the little slide up the strings that came out sounding just like a horse’s whinny.
Holly laughed and clapped. “Do it again!”
I did it again. Couldn’t help myself. Somewhere in the back of my head a voice that sounded like Gramps said, “About time you showed them you’re not a total stick in the mud.” I silently told him to shush, I was concentrating.
“Grant.” Jack turned to him. “Stump the man.”
Grant considered it for a long, slow moment, firelight moving on his face. “‘Blue Christmas.’ The Elvis one.”
“That one’s so sad,” Luci said.
“Yeah, it is,” Grant said.
I played the first few lines. “There you go.”
“See?” Grant said, when I finished. “Told y’all. Can’t be stumped.”
“There’s got to be one,” Ivy insisted. “Madeleine. You’ve known him longest of anyone here besides the band. Get him.”
Madeleine turned her head and looked at me. She appeared more relaxed than I’d ever seen her as she lifted her glass to finish the last of her wine.
“River,” she said.
“Ooh, good one,” Ivy said.
“Shouldn’t be a Christmas song. Way too sad,” I said.
Madeleine crossed one jean clad leg over the other, leaning forward slightly. “That mean you can play it?”
“Um, heck yeah, I can play it,” I said.
“River” had that little “Jingle Bells” line woven through the front of it so people often labeled it as a Christmas song, but underneath it was about wanting to skate away from everything after hurting the person she loved.
I bent my head over the strings and played it sad and slow under my fingers the way Joni meant it to be.
“Keep going,” Madeleine said under her breath.
So I did, picking my way through it, figuring someone would start to sing but no one did. The notes drifted into the cold night until there were no more.
When I was done, no one said anything for a second or two.
“How do fingers do that?” Holly asked finally.
“Tell me about how the band formed,” Blake said, coming to sit next to Luci. Her cameraman continued to record, but already I hardly noticed him.
“It’s all Rhett,” Jack said. “He found them, one by one.”
“I went around town listening to bands and hand picked these knuckleheads,” Rhett said. “Best in the business, every one of them.”
Conversation continued but I wasn’t really listening. Jack told the story about the first time we all played together and that we’d all agreed it was magical.
When tongues were tired, we gathered dirty glasses and bottles to set on the drink cart for the staff to take inside. I fell into step with Madeleine as we headed toward cabins one and two.
“Thanks for indulging me,” Madeleine said.
“I’m always more at ease with my guitar in hand, so it wasn’t a big deal.”
“It was the perfect way to start our month here. All of us around the fire.”
“I have a feeling there are more of those in our future,” I said.
We reached her cabin. My good manners forced me to stop and make sure she got inside safely. “I’ll wait until you get inside.”
“That’s not necessary. I take care of myself,” Madeleine said.
“What if a coyote got you and dragged you out to the forest?”
She raised both eyebrows, glancing around behind us. “Are there coyotes here?”
“I’m assuming so.”
“You’re just saying that to scare me,” she said, glaring.
“Is it true what Ivy said about you tonight? That you grew up poor.”
“I don’t talk about my past.”
Okay, then. Good old Madeleine Price, cold as a Montana winter day.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because it’s no one’s business but mine. Goodnight, Knox,” Madeleine said.
“Sweet dreams.”
I watched her walk up the steps and across the small porch. When she reached the door, she glanced back and gave me a little wave.
I nodded, then headed to my own cabin, not fifteen feet from hers. This was going to be a long month.