7. Jack
JACK
Gus held the workshop door open for me, and I entered, blinking as he turned on the overhead light.
It appeared to be part plumbing shop, part barn, part storage place for items whose use wasn’t completely evident but probably made sense to Gus.
Coils of copper pipe hung on one wall and tools lined a pegboard in neat rows.
Saddles hung on racks near the back, a freezer hummed in the corner, and a desk with stacks of paperwork and a computer that had to be at least twenty years old.
“Doesn’t look like much, I bet,” Gus said.
“Looks fine to me. You support your family, so it doesn’t really matter how slick it looks.”
“My business may not be glamorous, but it’s kept us afloat for forty years now.
When I told my daddy I wanted to be a plumber, he nearly fell off his chair.
But I’d seen him spend his life trying to make a living with this old farm.
Turned him old before his time. I’d decided a profession that made a decent living was the way to go.
June was pregnant by then. We got married at the courthouse and moved in here with my parents.
Those were some hard days. Adults shouldn’t move back into their parents’ homes, but sometimes that’s the only choice. ”
“Did you all live together long?” I asked.
“A couple of years. I’d gotten a job with our local plumber after I was certified and started making a good living.
There was talk between June and me about finding our own place.
My dad had other ideas. He’d found a retirement community he and my mom wanted to move to.
Between us, we worked out a way for them to sign over the house to us in exchange for an agreement to pay for their new living situation.
It worked out well for all of us. My parents got to spend their last twenty years on the golf course, playing cards with friends, and enjoying themselves.
June and I got this old place where we could raise our family. ”
“Sounds like it worked out,” I said, baffled as to why he was telling me all this.
“It did. But I can tell you—twenty years old and my sweetheart tells me she’s pregnant?
Oh, Lordy, I’ve never been that scared in my life.
But June’s tough. She just looked at me and said, you in or you out?
I was in, obviously. My family’s been my sole focus since that day.
You can understand I feel protective of my baby girl. ”
“Yes, sir.” I shuffled my feet, wishing I’d brought a beer with me for this heart-to-heart. “I know it probably seems fast.”
“It is fast,” Gus said. “That doesn’t mean it’s wrong. June and I dated for two months before we got married.”
“I love her, and I’d like to marry her, with your permission.”
“Tell me more about your raising,” Gus said.
That took me off guard, but I drew in a deep breath and told him the truth.
“Single mother. Trailer park. Every resident as poor as the next. My dad left when I was eight. Mom worked as a waitress and cleaned folks’ houses to keep my little sister and I fed.
But that life taught me how to write a song.
It also provided me with a brother—Rhett Lawson. ”
“The friend who entered you in the contest?”
“That’s right,” I said.
“Interesting that he would do that. What does it say about your character?”
A trickle of sweat ran down the middle of my back. “Sir?”
“You had to have someone push you. Otherwise you’d still be in the trailer park?”
“That’s a question?”
“It is to me,” Gus said.
My stomach clenched, immediately defensive.
“The truth is, Rhett believed in me more than I believed in myself. And he had no business dreaming so big for us. The odds of any of this working out are too high to measure, I’m sure.
But I didn’t go to college, so I have no idea how to measure anything or put it on a spreadsheet.
All I’ve ever been good at is music. So Rhett went to college and I drove myself out to Nashville.
I spent four years playing at local bars, making demo tapes, the whole thing.
Rhett spent four years studying business, with one sole purpose in mind.
How could he make me into the star he thought I was destined to be. ”
“That’s a good friend.”
“Yep,” I said.
“Long-term relationships—that’s a good sign. I guess.”
This man wasn’t going to give me an inch.
“The boys in my band are also family,” I said. “We’ve been through the highs and lows together. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for any of them.”
“I know I may not seem like much, given my background and all. But I’ll take good care of Ivy.
She’s precious to me. I’ll always treat her as such.
That said, she doesn’t need me. She’s a superstar with a voice of an angel and a career she’s managed very well.
We’re equals. Equals who complement each other very well. I’d really like your blessing, sir.”
Gus set his empty beer bottle on the long workbench. “You asking for my permission is kind of old fashioned, isn’t it? She’s not really mine to give away. At least that’s what my wife tells me.”
“Ivy would say that too, but she wouldn’t really mean it. She wants your approval. What you and her mother and brothers think is important to her. It matters an awful lot to me too.”
“You’re brave, I’ll give you that,” Gus said, chuckling.
“No, sir, I’m not. But loving Ivy with all my heart’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done. She’s my home now. I didn’t know it was a person. All this time I thought it was something that looks like this.” I gestured toward the house. “But it’s not the house but the people in it that makes it a home.”
Gus studied me for a long moment. “She may look like a big star now, but I remember the little girl with big blue eyes who thought she was dumb. When the kids made fun of her or a teacher dismissed her as nothing, I understood why someone could murder another human. You ever make her feel small, son, and you’ll have to answer to me. ”
“With all due respect, that would be impossible for me to do. Not when I admire her the way I do. She’s the smartest, most gifted person I’ve ever known.
Then you combine all of that with her kind heart, her zest for life, that naturally bubbly personality—I’m a goner.
I didn’t see it coming, but the moment I met her I knew. Can’t imagine it’ll ever be different.”
“You might be surprised. Twenty years from now, you’ll love her more than you do today. That’s the way it was—and continues to be—for me. With every day that passes, June shows me more and more the kind of woman she is.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “That mean I have your permission?”
“Again, not mine to give, but I appreciate you coming out here with me.” He looked directly at me.
“Let me tell you something, young man, don’t you ever be ashamed of your raising.
Your mother did a fine job, even though it probably felt impossible to keep going from time to time.
You wear your background as a badge of honor, you hear? ”
“Yes, sir.”
“You have a ring?” Gus asked.
I reached into the pocket of my jeans where I’d stashed the solitaire engagement ring in a velvet pouch so no one would notice.
I took it out and showed it to Gus. “She told me she didn’t want anything gaudy.
” Madeleine had helped me choose it, guiding me toward a princess cut with a halo.
Apparently, my pretty girl loved the halo look.
He held the ring between his thumb and forefinger, squinting at it for a moment. “She’ll like it.”
“Madeleine helped.”
“She’s a smart cookie. And she understands Ivy. Sees how extraordinary she is.”
“That’s true. As do I.”
“When do you plan to ask her?” Gus asked.
“Tomorrow afternoon. Madeleine told me there’s a spot on the creek on your property that’s her favorite place in the world.”
“Sycamore Bend. That’s a good choice. June can help put together a picnic basket.”
“She won’t mind?”
Gus smiled, slow and easy, as if the test were over. “Son, she’s been praying for Ivy’s love to show his face since our baby girl was twenty years old. We weren’t sure she’d ever find someone who could keep up with her.”
“I’ll do my best, sir.”
“And you know with Ivy comes the rest of her family. Welcome to the zoo we call the James Family. You’re one of us now.”
We shook hands. “Thank you.”
One of us. I was now part of a second family, to add to the one I’d already made with my boys in the band. Now I just needed her to say yes.