Restless Heart (7 page)

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Authors: Wynonna Judd

BOOK: Restless Heart
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“Back in the Saddle,” Nessie said. “That reminds me—how did your set go? I hated to miss it, but the shop was open.”
“You didn’t miss a thing.” Destiny felt her cheeks warm up. “Mandy showed up after all and so Ralph let her go ahead and sing.”
Nessie pressed her lips together. “Why, if I looked in that man’s ear I’d see daylight clear out the other side,” she said fiercely. “If his brain was dynamite, he still couldn’t blow his nose.”
Destiny laughed. “Thanks, Nessie. You’re my number-one fan. Oh, wait—my
only
fan.”
“Yeah, well, it might seem like you’re on the back side of hard times, but it’s not gonna be for long, girlie. I’ve heard your golden pipes and beautiful songs that come straight from your heart.” She tapped a red fingernail to her chest to demonstrate.
Destiny glanced at Seth, wishing Nessie hadn’t said quite so much. “Yeah, well, all I need is a little bitty break.”
“You’ll get one. Remember, the sun don’t shine on the same dog’s butt every day.” Nessie rubbed her hands together. “Well, I’d better get back to my inventory.”
“It was nice to meet you, Nessie.”
“Same here, Coach.” She turned and gave Destiny a quick hug. “You hang in there, hear me? Talk to you tomorrow.”
“Sure thing, Nessie. Oh, and thanks for Mike’s mouse. You’re the best.”
“Don’t I know it?” She made kissing noises at Mike, who was trotting back over with the rubber toy in his mouth.
“Off I go,” she announced breezily, but when Seth turned his attention to retrieving the mouse from Mike’s mouth, Nessie eased up on tiptoe and said in a stage whisper, “Mercy, he sure is hot stuff!”
“We’re just friends,” Destiny whispered back, hoping Seth couldn’t overhear.
“Well, now, see, you gotta work on that! My oh my, I just want to dip that boy up on a chip. And he sure looks at you with big brown adoring eyes.”
“Oh, go on with you . . .” Destiny scoffed, but her heart hammered at the thought.
Destiny watched her meddlesome but well-meaning friend disappear back inside, then turned to see Seth looking after her as well.
“Whew! That little gal whips around like a hurricane-force wind.”
“She sure does.”
“Looks like she keeps an eye on things around here.”
“You mean, on me?” Destiny nodded. “I couldn’t have survived living here without her humor and encouragement, that’s for sure.”
Seth nodded and rocked back thoughtfully on his heels. “Um, I don’t want to put you on the spot, but can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
“I won’t be offended if you say no.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Our game tomorrow is in the morning, and if we win, we stick around to play again the next day—and the fellas will have to rest up. If we lose, they’ll head back on the bus, but . . . either way, I have my own car.”
“That’s nice.” Destiny wanted to reach over and shake whatever he was trying to say out of him.
“You’re not going to make this any easier on me, are you?” Seth plucked a blade of grass and gave her a grin that did funny things to her stomach.
“Sorry, but . . . you kind of lost me.” He hadn’t really, but she wasn’t about to go out on a limb here and assume he was trying to ask her out.
“If you’re okay with it, I thought maybe we could have dinner tomorrow night. It would be fun to catch up.”
“Of course I’m okay with it. Why wouldn’t I be okay with it?” It was all she could do to keep her voice nonchalant.
“You might have plans or a boyfriend who might not like the idea.”
“Well, I’m off tomorrow, so . . .” She shrugged.
“What about the last part?”
“Huh?” Her heart pounded.
“The boyfriend part.” Seth arched a brow and pointed to her shirt. “Says right there that you only have half a heart. Where’s the other half?”
“There’s nobody special in my life . . . you know, right
now
.” She didn’t bother to tell him that she’d recently dated yet another struggling musician for a few months before he moved on.
Nashville was full of interesting men, but its population was fed by a transient industry. It seemed that all the guys Destiny had dated and the women she’d befriended eventually gave up altogether or found a promising gig elsewhere.
“That bartender of yours wasn’t too happy about me coming here,” Seth said.
“Max? He’s just a friend.”
“Well, I’m glad he looks out for you.”
“Yeah, Max is a good guy. Protects me just like Mike, here. Listen, if you want to come in right now for a cup of coffee or something . . .”
Or something?
Like tea?
Or me?
“Maybe I will. Just for a little while.”
FOUR
A
s Destiny led the way over the threshold, Seth took in the loft-style apartment. Admiring the high ceilings, hardwood floors, and exposed brick walls that gave it a rustic appeal, he commented, “Nice place.”
“You sound surprised.”
He was, given Cooper’s and Annie’s descriptions. But they hadn’t visited her here in years, he realized.
“Were you expecting a dump?”
“Maybe not a dump, but not . . .” He trailed off.
“Garage-sale chic—that’s what I like to call it.” She indicated the mix-and-match decor with a wave of her hand. “Don’t mind the mess.” Destiny buzzed over to the kitchen area, hurriedly throwing away junk mail scattered on a butcher block.
“You don’t have to clean up for me.”
“Sure, I do. I don’t want you going back home and telling the whole town I’m a total slob.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone anything they don’t already know about you.” He grinned, but she didn’t return it. “I’m just kidding, Destiny.”
“I know.” Something flickered in her eyes, and was gone.
There was a pleasant clutter to the place, he decided, noting the details of her musician’s life: guitar case and amp, stacks of CDs beside the stereo.
“So this place needed a lot of work when I moved in,” Destiny chattered as she stacked dishes from the sink into the dishwasher. “I scrubbed it from top to bottom, buffed the hardwood floors, and painted the kitchen cabinets . . . By the time I was done, it looked so much better that Kenny wanted to increase the rent when my year lease was up.”
“Kenny’s your landlord.”
“Right.” Destiny rolled her eyes.
“Not your favorite person, I see.”
“Trust me—I’m sure the feeling is mutual.” She gave a meaningful sigh.
Before he could ask what she meant, she went on. “Anyway, I had gone through my savings and couldn’t afford one more cent. Nessie, God love her, pitched a fit and threatened to leave if he raised my rent and so he backed off. She told Kenny that he owed
me
for all of the improvements I made to the place.”
“So did he lower the rent?”
“What, are you kidding?” Destiny wrinkled her nose. “He’s kind of a jerk sometimes. He’d freak if he knew about Mike.”
Seth said hotly, “Listen, if that guy gives you any trouble you just let me know, okay? Seeing her smile, he felt embarrassed. “Sorry. I promise not to beat on my chest.”
“It’s nice to know that you still care.” She reached out and squeezed his hand.
He knew it was just a simple gesture of friendly reassurance, but it affected him on a much deeper level.
She let go too quickly and pointed at the tan faux-suede sectional in the living room area. “Why don’t you have a seat? It’s ugly, but comfy. Got it at a scratch-and-dent sale when I first moved in.”
He went over and obediently sat down. Mike tagged along and scrambled up beside him, wagging his tail.
Suddenly, a plastic statue of Elvis on the end table started moving its head and gyrating its hips, singing “You Ain’t Nothin’ but a Hound Dog” in a voice that sounded less like Elvis than it did like Alvin from the
Alvin and the Chipmunks
.
“What the . . .” Seth stared.
“He’s motion-activated,” Destiny said with a laugh, as the kitschy mechanical King brought the song home with a high-pitched “Thank you. Thank you very much!
”
Gaping, Seth tried to think of something to say and settled on a lame, “Where did you get him?”
“He was a gift from a friend. From Nessie. She gives me all kinds of cool things.”
Nessie
. Seth found himself relieved that it was a friend-friend, and not a . . .
friend.
As in boyfriend.
“She gives you all kinds of things like . . . ?”
“You really want to know?”
“I really do.”
Destiny closed the dishwasher and crossed the room to open a closet. She pulled out a box and started rummaging through it. “Hmmm . . . let’s see if you can still catch, Caldwell.” She tossed a rubber chicken at him.
Seth caught it easily and threw it back with a grin. “What else you got?”
“Chinese finger trap, whoopee cushion, laughing mirror, dirty face soap, fuzzy jumping spider, relighting birthday candles . . .” She held up a pair of plastic glasses sporting a fake nose and bushy eyebrows. “You name it, I got it.”
“Yeah, I can see that, but . . . why?”
“See, Nessie gives me a gag gift every time I . . .”
She trailed off, toying with the glasses.
Seth prompted, “Every time you what?”
Instead of answering, Destiny slipped on the glasses and tried to laugh. The sound that bubbled up was more of a gurgle than a giggle, though, and she tried to hide it with a cough.
Seth wasn’t fooled. He got up, walked over to her, and lifted off the glasses. With his thumb, he gently wiped away a fat tear that was starting to roll down her cheek.
“Hey,” he said softly, “what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“You might be a terrific singer, but you’re a lousy actress.” Seeing her stricken expression, he quickly said, “Hey, I’m just kidding.”
“About my being a terrific singer?”
“No, about—” He realized there was a hint of a smile in her teary eyes. “No one would ever call you anything but a terrific singer.”
“Wow, you really haven’t ever been in Nashville before, have you?”
“Destiny—”
“No, Seth, listen. I
know
I’m good. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe that. But I will fully admit that it hasn’t been easy. Everybody and his brother seem to be here in Nashville for the same reason. A lot of them—maybe most of them—are good. You have to make yourself stand out from the crowd, and . . . I guess I haven’t been able to do that. Yet.”
Yet
.
He’d been taken aback by her attitude until she gamely tagged on that last word.
Ah, there was the Destiny he knew.
“If anyone can make it here, you can,” he assured her.
“That’s not what you said when I left.”
Maybe I didn’t want to see you go.
“I don’t think it mattered what I said. You were so pumped . . .”
“On the outside. Inside, I was a mess.”
“I had no clue.”
She waved a dismissive hand at him. “Trust me, I hid my fear very well.”
“But you stuck it out.”
“Yeah, well, my father said I’d be home by that first Christmas.” She grinned. “It was close enough to a dare for me to dig in my heels and do anything I could to stay.”
“Like I said earlier—some things never change. Hey, you still haven’t told me about Nessie and the gag gifts.”
“Oh. Right. So there I was, not long after I moved in, feeling homesick and having a good cry out on the fire escape. It was a warm night and the windows were open, and I guess my voice was carrying . . .”
“You
guess
?” Back in their adolescent days, Seth frequently teased her about hearing her loud, dramatic sobs resonating through the neighborhood.
“Sometimes I like to have a good, old-fashioned cry, you know?”
“Yeah,” he said wryly. “I know.”
“Caterwauling, Daddy used to call it. Whenever I got sad, it was like a dam burst behind my eyeballs and these huge loud wails would just erupt. Grace was the same way.”
“Maybe it’s a genetic thing.”
“No—my mother is one of those silent weepers, and it didn’t come from my father’s side. I’ve never seen my daddy cry. Ever. I don’t even know if he can.”
“A lot of men can’t,” Seth told her. He himself wasn’t among them, but he wouldn’t be surprised if Colonel John Hart was.
Seth had always been intimidated by Destiny’s tough-as-nails father. The man had served countless tours of duty, moving his family all over the world before retiring in Wilmot to please his wife—a compromise, really.
Destiny’s mother, Sara, had grown up in Mississippi and longed to return to her roots. John, however, couldn’t tolerate the humidity of the deep South. He’d served on a base in Kentucky years ago and grown attached to the Bluegrass state; that was as far south as he’d go when it came time to settle down.

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