Chapter 5
CHAPTER
FIVE
Joey’s adrenaline seemed to spike a little higher with every step she took.
She had planned to meet Adam at the end of the sidewalk leading to her grandparents’ condo, not to have him come all the way to the door.
She knew her grandmother well enough to know that Grams would extend the dinner invitation that she had—but she hadn’t known how Adam would respond.
He’d seemed very unsure at first, and he’d looked to her a couple of times. Joey could admit her mind had gone blank, and she’d left him to his own devices.
“It’s okay if you cancel on dinner,” she said.
“Do you want me to cancel on dinner?” he asked.
“It’s up to you,” she said. “I just mean, you don’t have to feel like you have to come. It’s chicken in a crockpot with some noodles. It’s not that good.”
He chuckled, but when Joey looked at him, he barely had a smile on his face. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him smile, and she found it quite the feat to laugh without doing so.
“You went to the Culinary Institute in New York City,” he said. “I’m sure your chicken and noodles is extraordinary.”
“You still don’t have to come eat it,” she said, frustrated with herself and the conversation. “Grams was just being nice.”
“Was she?” Adam led her off the curb and over to a deep blue luxury SUV. Of course.
She’d managed to find out from Momma that Country Quad was paying Adam a million dollars a year to live in small-town Wyoming and manage their careers. She cast a glance over to her tan sedan, hoping Adam never had to see her drive it.
“I don’t mind coming to dinner,” he said. “But if it makes you uncomfortable, then I won’t. I could make something up.” He leaned closer, something dangerous riding in the air between them now. “Though my momma taught me not to lie.”
Joey scoffed, because surely Adam had reached an age where he didn’t consider what his mother thought of him. He opened her door for her and stood back so she could get in.
“You might not want to spend that much time with me,” she said. “Isn’t that why you started with coffee?”
The playful glint in his eyes extinguished, his jaw turning hard.
“I suggested coffee,” he said. “Because I always need a mid-afternoon pick-me-up, and I know you work two jobs.” He nodded toward the door.
“And secondly, I thought you might not want to spend that much time with me. So if you don’t, just say so. I’m not into playing games.”
Joey lifted her chin, energy buzzing through her veins like wildfire. “Good,” she said. “Neither am I.” She got in the car, and Adam closed the door behind her. She watched him walk around the front of it, a frown between his eyes and him muttering something to himself.
He got behind the wheel and said, “Look, I’m sorry. Sometimes I sound really harsh when I don’t mean to.”
“It’s all right,” she said. “Maybe I can….” She paused and thought for a moment, trying to find a way to say what she wanted without being dismissive or rude. “Maybe I can decide after we get coffee if I want you to come to dinner or not.”
His jaw twitched just once. “Fair enough.” He backed out of the space he’d parked in, and Joey expected him to take her back into town to Daily Grind.
Her grandparents lived on the edge of the center of town, and it was only five minutes away.
Instead, he headed south, and a slip of nerves moved through Joey.
“Where are we going?” she asked. “I don’t really care. I’d just like to know.”
He glanced over to her. “There’s a great coffee shop that just went in on the south highway,” he said. “It’s called Sip and Stay. They have a cute little storefront and lots of tables inside.”
She nodded and looked down at her phone.
She didn’t need to check to make sure that her location was turned on.
She reminded herself she didn’t live in New York City, and Adam wasn’t going to drive into the wilderness and do something he shouldn’t.
She looked up again, the brilliant blue autumn sky greeting her.
“My daddy just taught me to be vigilant,” she said. “Especially when I lived in the city. I promised him I’d pay attention to what was around me and who I was with—and always know where I was going.” She looked over to Adam and flashed him a small smile. He took it, but didn’t return it.
“I’ve been back for a while, but it’s still a habit.” She gave a light laugh. “I did date a guy with a serial killer name once.”
Adam blinked at her, clear shock running through his eyes. “Of course,” he said. “I should have told you. I apologize.”
Everything about him screamed professional and buttoned up, and Joey wondered what it would take to get him to relax and loosen up and show her who he really was. Since he’d opened the date with a no-games rule, she swallowed, trying to decide if she could say what she really wanted to.
They drove in silence with a quiet radio playing in the background, and just as he pulled into the parking lot at Sip and Stay, she found her courage.
“You know, you can be yourself around me,” she blurted out. “You’re not my band manager and I’m not your client.”
He looked over to her as he came to a stop right there in the middle of the driveway of the parking lot. “Am I treating you like a client?”
“Yes,” she said simply. “A little bit.”
“I didn’t mean to do that,” he said. He hung his head as his shoulders and hands and everything about him softened.
“I guess I’m always just a little keyed up.
And I just had a two-hour long meeting with the band and Harry and Bryce and then the dinner invitation.
” He sighed. “I don’t know. I’ll try to relax. ”
She smiled at him again as he raised his eyes to hers. “Is this something other people have told you—that you need to learn how to relax?”
“Maybe,” he said.
She giggled and reached to tuck her hair behind her ear. “Oh, I don’t think there’s a maybe anywhere in that, Mister Harmon.”
He chuckled too, and when Joey looked this time, he wore a smile. Oh, it was beautiful and glorious, and she wondered how much light it would beam out when he finally unleashed the full power of it on the world.
“You know what you need?”
“What?” he asked.
She reached over, feeling flirtatious and bold and so unlike herself. She brushed her hands through his hair, swooping it to the side where it already went. Pure shock coursed through his eyes, stinging through Joey as well.
“You need a cowboy hat,” she said. “Every man worth his salt in Wyoming owns a cowboy hat.”
“Do they?” he asked, that grin appearing again. “Well, as it so happens, Miss Young, I was planning to buy one this weekend.”
Giddiness romped through Joey like a herd of wild horses.
“Oh, I want to go with you,” she said. “In fact, we should go this afternoon. Then you can wear it tonight at dinner and use it to hide your face when Grams or Gramps asks you something you don’t want to answer.
” She giggled again. “That’s what cowboys do, you know. The hat has many uses.”
He looked over to the coffee shop and then into the rearview mirror, and finally eased his foot off the brake. He parked several spots down and turned to look at her.
“I want to get coffee first,” he said. “And then I might take you up on going cowboy hat shopping together. Maybe then I won’t get taken advantage of and walk out of there looking like a fool.”
Joey didn’t think Adam could ever look like a fool, but she buttoned that up and simply smiled at him as she got out of the car.
Adam met Joey at the front bumper, his movements so natural as he reached for her hand and secured it in his.
He ducked his head again, and oh, the man definitely needed a cowboy hat.
Joey managed to keep her smile contained, though she had not dated a lot and didn’t really know how to act around a man she liked as much as she did Adam.
They went into Sip and Stay, and Joey paused only two steps in, taking in the atmosphere. “You were right,” she said, plenty of awe in her voice. “This place is amazing.”
Shades of blue hung on the windows and in all the art on the walls—coffee cups and mugs and traveler containers.
One framed picture showed animals sitting at a table, chatting and sipping coffee, the bison, antelope, and foxes all sitting and sipping together.
The tables boasted cream with hardwood chairs, which brought together an inviting atmosphere with the rugged mountains where they lived.
“I want to come here every day,” she said.
Adam chuckled and took her toward the ordering counter. “We actually want our coffee to go,” he said. “Is that doable?”
“Yes, sir.” The woman there smiled at him. She had snowy white hair with a dark root shaved short on one side, where it hung long on the other. She glanced over to Joey and said, “Oh, hello, Joey.”
“Hi, Louisa.” Joey smiled at her mother’s friend. “I didn’t know you’d opened this place.”
“Turns out coffee sells better than tea,” she said. “At least in Wyoming.”
“Probably helps that the place isn’t full of cats,” Joey said, and thankfully, Louisa laughed.
“I honestly don’t know what I was thinking.” She smiled over to Adam. “What’ll you two have?”
She didn’t seem to think it was weird that Joey was there with Adam at all, but part of Joey rioted that her parents might find out about this date before she told them.
Of course she’d said nothing, and she’d reasoned it away, because she wouldn’t have told them about a first date with anyone, not just Adam.
“I want the extra-large Americano, please,” Adam said, and he turned to Joey, his eyebrows raised.
Joey glanced up to the menu, which seemed pretty standard for coffee fare. “I’ll have a mocha latte,” she said. “With a drip of mint.”
“Mint mocha latte,” Louisa repeated. “Extra-large Americano. Can I interest you guys in any pastries?” She moved down a step and indicated the case there. “We have cherry focaccia today, as well as a pistachio croissant, and it looks like we only have one of our orange scones left.”
Joey’s mouth watered, and she said, “I would love the croissant, please.”
“Nothing for me,” Adam said, already pulling his wallet out of his back pocket.
He wore black slacks and a polo the color of a pale tangerine whip that Joey had once made to go with a duck breast in one of her classes.
The polo had four buttons, and he had three of them done up.
He wore black loafers with the pants, and he seriously could have been an alien who’d crashed here in the Teton Mountains while on the way to LA.
The thought made Joey smile as Adam paid and Louisa set about making their orders. She collected napkins while Adam went to get the raw sugar packet he wanted.
“Do you really want to go cowboy hat shopping?” he asked.
“There is nothing I want more,” Joey said, glancing over to him.
“You know her?” he asked next.
“I grew up here,” Joey said. “I left for a year to go to Wyoming State, and then I went to New York City to the Culinary Institute for a year. So yes, I know her—and probably every other person in town.”
She smiled, though that wasn’t quite true. “My stepmother owns a bookshop on Main Street.” She raised her eyebrows, clearly asking him if he knew that.
Adam nodded. “Yes. I’ve been in there and bought some books for my nieces for Christmas.”
“She knows a lot of people who own shops, which is how I know them,” Joey said. “Plus, I work for Pork and Beans, and we do a lot of catering, and that puts me in contact with a lot of people as well.”
“And do you like people?” Adam asked.
“Yeah,” Joey said, genuinely. “I actually do. I know I might seem quiet, but—”
“I wasn’t saying you were quiet,” Adam said.
Joey blinked and tried to figure out what he was saying. Her family was so large that if she wasn’t doing the worm on stage during a country music concert, she could be considered quiet.
“You like cooking?” he asked next, and Joey nodded.
“I love cooking. I love reading. I love soaking up the sunshine. I’m basically an indoor cat.” She laughed and glanced over to him. “You seem like more the outdoor type.”
Near the end of October, he’d have spent all summer outside, and his forearms did bear a tan to indicate as much. “When I have time, I can admit I like to go for a hike,” he said. “This part of the country is so beautiful, and I wasn’t sure how long I would be here.”
“Do you know how long you’ll be here now?” Joey asked.
Adam lifted his gaze to meet hers. “I think I reckon I’ll be here for a while now,” he said. “My contract with Country Quad is three years, and then we’ll renegotiate after that.”
Joey nodded, her chest suddenly tight with the mention of her father’s band. “And….” She let the word hang there, glancing over her shoulder to see where Louisa was in their coffee prep. One cup sat on the counter ready to go, and it looked too big to be her mint mocha latte.
“How do you feel about…?” She couldn’t seem to string more than two or three words together. She finally exhaled, boxed her shoulders, and looked him straight in the face. “I’m not saying we’re going to start dating or anything, but let’s say we do. What are we going to do about my dad?”
Adam blinked at her, his eyes widening a little bit. Then he leaned forward, and with his lips practically brushing against her cheek, he murmured, “I’ll follow your lead on that, Joey. We’ll do whatever you want.”
“Joey,” Louisa called, and Adam stepped back and turned away in one fluid movement. Joey had no idea what she wanted when it came to Adam Harmon, but it definitely involved buying a cowboy hat, going out with him again, getting to know him better, and telling her father about them…eventually.