Be Here Now: A Cedar Creek Novel (9 page)

“I’d have to agree with Loreley, son. We’re all glad you finally got your head out of your ass. And not just because Ivey makes fabulous desserts,” Betty said as she looked at her son. He transferred his glare to her, and a knowing grin spread across her face. Pete chuckled.

Betty turned her grin to Chris and asked, “What about you, boy? Figured out what you want yet?”

Ivey’s eyes went to her plate, a smile playing around her lips.

Pete’s chuckle grew louder while Cal muttered, “Here we go,” under his breath before he looked at Chris and said, “Advice, listen closely to what she’s got to say and then go out and follow her instructions to the letter or you’ll never live it down.”

Chris’ mouth opened to reply, but Betty got there first.

“He’s not quite ready to listen yet,” then her eyes went serious and searching as they were locked on Chris. “Soon, though.”

“Fucking fantastic. Maybe you can focus on that instead of riding my ass,” Cal kept growling. Ivey’s shoulders started shaking with silent laughter. I joined her.

“Baby, I’m not finding anything funny.” Ivey lifted her eyes to him. They were shining with amusement.

“Well, that’s tough, honey, ‘cause I do,” she said through her laughter. And just like always, that was all it took for Cal to lose his annoyance as his face turned soft on his wife.

“You know, Betty, this should freak me out, but I’m actually looking forward to it,” Chris said. He looked to Cal and Ivey who were still smiling at each other. “If you know how to get me what they have, I’m game.”

“Oh, I do. But as I said, you’re not quite there yet. And anyways, I believe it’s Loreley’s turn first.” I whipped my head around, not sure I had heard her right.

“My turn?”

“Yeah, your turn.”

I shook my head at her, saying, “That’s not gonna happen.”

For the third time today, Betty studied me with her searching and soulful eyes.

“Mark my words, baby girl, something is in the air, which is good, since you’ve been living under that dark cloud for too long. I can see it’s lifting, but my girl deserves more than that. She deserves sunshine, pure and bright sunshine. And she’ll get it. Soon,” she said with a conviction that scared me. I was nowhere near ready to start a relationship with anyone. I had just found my way back to me, and it had been a long and hard fight, so being with someone was not going to happen anytime soon. I shook my head at her again then dropped my eyes to my plate and the dessert on it. My appetite had vanished.

“Loreley,” I heard my name called from across the table. It was my dad. Slowly, I lifted my eyes to find his on me.

“I’m proud of you, sweetheart.”

I swallowed. Then I nodded, knowing what he meant. “Thank you, dad.” My dad had always been proud of me, no matter what I did, and had always showed me that he was. He was proud of me for being strong, for fighting my way out of the sorrow and finding my way back to me.

My dad returned the nod then continued to devour his dessert. I felt Chris squeeze my leg under the table, took a deep breath, and gave him a small smile.

We all ate our dessert in silence for a few moments before sweet Tommy tried to lighten the mood, but in doing so, created a tension so thick you could cut it with a knife.

“Ivey and I met a rock star yesterday,” he said excitedly. I froze.

Oh shit. My eyes grew wide while my brain tried to come up with a distraction but failed miserably. I looked at Chris. His eyes on me, telling me “I told you so.”

“How so?” Cal asked him.

“He’s renting the house. Ivey and I went up to meet him and give him the keys.”

Cal’s head turned to look at his wife. “A rock star is renting our house?”

“Yup,” she answered, “a true world famous rock star is renting our house. I was surprised myself when we met him. His assistant was the one filling out all the paperwork, so I didn’t know it was him until we met him at the house.”

“Well, he better not trash the place,” Cal muttered.

“Don’t worry, honey. I upped the deposit for that eventuality. It’s substantial and he paid it without blinking. He seemed like a nice guy when we met him, though. I don’t think he’ll be any trouble. Probably just wants some quiet time away from all the craziness of worldwide fame.”

“Who is it?” Chris asked. I glared at him.

Tommy answered, still excited. “It’s the front man of
The Crowes
. His name is Jason and Ivey is right. He was supercool and real nice. We listened to his album after we knew he was renting the house. His music is awesome. Ivey thinks so, too. Do you know him, Lore? You know all about music.”

I didn’t answer him.

I turned my head slowly as I felt the air grow tense.

“You have got to be shitting me.” That was Cal’s low growl. “That fucker is renting my house?”

I stared at Cal. He was beyond mad.

“Dad?” Tommy asked at the same time Ivey asked, “What’s going on?”

He answered neither of them. His eyes were fixed on mine. And they were filled with rage.

“You don’t seem surprised by this news, Loreley.” Uh oh. He was calling me Loreley. That never boded well.

I swallowed and said, “I’m not.”

“And may I ask why that is?”

I sighed, resigned to the fact that I wouldn’t be able to come up with a plausible lie. So I told him. “I know he’s in town. Have known it since yesterday. He came to the bar last night and tried to talk to me and then I ran into him again this morning.”

“So not only have you known that asshole is in town, he has approached you, and you didn’t think of telling me any of this?”

“No, I didn’t. I didn’t tell you because it doesn’t matter, Cal.
He
doesn’t matter.”

“I’m guessing you knew, too?” He asked Chris without looking at him.

“I did. I was there last night when he got in Lore’s face.” I narrowed my eyes at him once more. Chris was making this worse than it already was.

Traitor.

“He got in your face?” Cal exploded. He got up and marched towards the front door. “I’ll teach that motherfucker a lesson he won’t soon forget.” I was up and out of my chair and running after Cal.

“No, Cal. Stop. He’s not worth it.”

“He’s not, but you are. He’s got no right to come here and get in your face. But I’m glad he did. Gives me a chance to finally kick his ass.” I got to him and planted myself in his way, forcing him to stop.

“I don’t want you to do that.”

“I don’t care.”

I glared at him. He glared back at me.

“Chris, dad, help me out here,” I called without taking my eyes from Cal’s.

Nothing. Great.

It was Betty who came to my rescue. “Sit your butt down, son.” He didn’t. “Cal,” she urged him again when he didn’t move.

“He puts one finger on you or gets in your face for whatever reason or even so much as talks to you when you don’t want him to, I am up on that mountain and I will kick his ass, Loreley. You hear me?”

I nodded.

Cal turned and went back to sit in his chair.

“Would someone mind telling what is going on?” Ivey asked. Her voice had gone from sweet to angry and suspicious.

“Remember I told you about that asshole that cheated on Loreley and broke her heart in college?” Ivey’s eyes narrowed with understanding. “Yeah, Jason fucking Sanders is the asshole that did that to her. And now he’s living in our fucking house.”

“Is he the one that—”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll call him right now and tell him he needs to find alternate accommodation,” she said as she was starting to get up. Cal’s hand on her arm stopped her.

“I’d rather you didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I hate that that prick is staying in our house, but I’d rather know where he is when I need to find him.” Ivey’s eyes flashed, then she nodded and grinned knowingly.

“Works for me,” she said.

All the men at the table chuckled. All but Tommy.

I heard a weird sound coming from the direction where Tommy was sitting and my eyes found him. He had his head bowed and his fists clenched on the table.

“Tommy,” I whispered. He shouldn’t have heard any of this.

He looked at me with the same rage I had seen minutes earlier on his dad’s face. Then before I could say or do anything, he trained his eyes on Ivey and said, “He sucks. And so does his music,” before he pushed his chair back, got up, and left the room. A few moments later, we heard the door to his room slammed shut.

I started to get up from my chair to go after him when Cal said, “Leave him. He needs a moment.” I nodded but didn’t sit back down. It was time to go.

“Loreley,” Cal called. I turned back to him and saw that Chris had gotten up and was coming towards me. I looked at Cal. He was worried. Looking around at the people that were my family I saw concern in all their eyes.

“I’m okay. I told you he doesn’t mean anything.”

“I know that’s what you said, Loreley, and I know that’s what you want to believe, but I’m your brother and I’m gonna find out why he is here and give him a good reason why he should stay out of your life,” Cal told me.

“Don’t, Cal. Don’t give him reason to believe he has any importance in my life. He doesn’t.”

“I see you want to believe that, too. You do what you gotta do to protect yourself, I’ll do what I gotta do to protect my sister from more pain.”

I stared at Cal and Cal stared back at me. The look of determination on his face and the rigid stance of his body told me that I had no chance of changing his mind. This was something he needed to do for me as much as he needed it for himself.

“I’m not gonna be able to talk you out of it, am I?” Cal shook his head, his jaw clenched. I sighed.

When Chris made it to me he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door. “I’ve got her. Don’t worry. Cal, you go see him, you give me a call. I’ve got a score to settle with that fucker, too. I’ll let you know if he shows up again,” he said over his shoulder. He opened the door and guided me through. Just before it closed, I heard Cal’s growled, “You got it.”

“Really, Chris. I appreciate what you and Cal are trying to do, but I think we should just ignore him.” We were in my Mustang on our way to Cooper’s. Chris was driving. We had both been silently brooding until now.

“He’s confronted you twice in two days and it looks to me like he’s following you around. I think the only reason why he didn’t approach you earlier today, is because he knows I won’t let him near you. He’s trying to get to you when you’re on your own. Cal and I will make sure that he stays away from you. And, Lore, we gotta do this, so you’ll let us.”

“You know, having protective Alpha males in my life is getting really old.” I sounded like a petulant child even to my own ears.

“I care. Cal cares. Every man in your life cares and wants to know the whys so we can kick his ass and he leaves town. The way Tommy reacted, I bet even
he
wants to go kick his ass.” I sighed. Yes, Tommy’s reaction indicated exactly that. He was way too observant for his age and was protective of the people he cared about. Just like his dad.

We were both silent as Chris drove into town.

“You know, I could never wrap my head around him cheating on you. It wasn’t like him at all. I didn’t get it then and I still don’t get it now. And don’t get me wrong. He’s an asshole for doing that to you. What he did to you makes him the lowest of the low. But before that, he’d always been a decent guy, loved you to distraction, was protective of you, would have thrown himself in front of a bus for you. I never got it.”

I was looking out the passenger window but turned my head at Chris’ words. “What does it matter how he used to be? He did what he did and that’s that. Nothing can change that, Chris.”

“I know, Lore. I’m not trying to make excuses for him. I’m just trying to understand.”

“I told you, Chris. I. Don’t. Care. Whose side are you on?” Chris grabbed my hand and looked at me. “Yours, Lore. Always. Never doubt that.” His voice was sincere and so were his eyes. I believed him. Of course I did. He was on my side. He always had been and always would be.

I nodded and took a deep breath to let go of the annoyance that had started to rise within me. His hand gave mine a quick squeeze before he put it back on the steering wheel and he faced the windshield again.

Both of us stayed quiet for the rest of the drive.

The music was blaring and the sounds of a really busy bar welcomed us as we walked into Cooper’s. We looked at each other. I shrugged my shoulders at Chris’ eyebrows that were raised in question. We walked through the crowd to the bar. Mark spotted us when we were five feet away, relief showing on his face.

“What’s going on, man?” Chris asked him.

“No clue. A big group came in about an hour ago and it kept going from there. I was about to call you to come in early.”

“Well, you’re in luck. You got both of us. I’ll just stow my stuff and be right out.” I went into the back hall that led towards the office, so I could stow my jacket and my purse. Chris was right behind me.

“Looks like the summer season is starting earlier this year. I meant to talk to you about that last night. We need to put an ad out and hire at least two more waitresses and one more bartender.”