Hold on Tight

by Shelley Shepard Gray

  She smiled broadly. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear you say that.”

  “Don’t think you need my approval, Gen.”

  “I’m saying that I’m happy you said that because I want you to manage this place.”

  “What?”

  “What do you say?” Before he answered, she said, “Now, I know we’ll have to come up with contracts and everything, but we’ll take you off of hourly and put you on salary. Give you an insurance package, too.”

  “You’re serious.”

  “Of course I am. I’m moving to Texas, Jackson. I’ve got to get things in order here.”

  “Are you sure that I’m the right person?”

  “Positive.”

  “Hey, Jack. Give me a Bud.”

  “Sure thing,” he told the customer, then rang up the bill and put it in front of him. The guy was a regular who didn’t believe in running a tab.

  “Even though I’ll still own it, I’m not going to be one of those owners who’s going to make you run everything by me,” Gen said, her voice sounding more anxious. “You can make this place your own. Make changes. Hire, fire. Whatever you want.”

  “I appreciate that. Thanks.”

  “So … do you need a couple of days?”

  Did he? If he said yes, he was going to be a manager of a bar. That wasn’t what he’d intended to be. Not ever.

  But … he couldn’t exactly say that it wasn’t a good fit. He liked Bridgeport, liked everyone there, and liked the idea of more responsibility. He’d be managing again.

  It was also something that he and Dani were used to.

  “I want to talk to Dani about it. Just to make sure.”

  Her eyes brightened. “Does that mean what I think it does?”

  “I’m not saying a word.”

  She lifted her hands. “You’re right. Sorry. Seth told me to not be pushy, but here I go again.”

  Spying Kimmy and Melissa walking toward them, he said, “Thank you, Gen. For you to think of me? It means a lot.”

  Her gaze warmed. “You’re welcome, Cookie.”

  CHAPTER 35

  From Les Larke’s

  You, Too, Can Host

  a Poker Tourney:

  Other men have told me that they’ve

  found these few hours help relieve stress.

  Six Weeks Later

  “I can’t believe you’re going to call the bar Gen’s Place now,” Troy said as Jackson unlocked the door and ushered him, Ace, and Kurt inside. “It’s yours now, buddy.”

  “I know.” And damn, he was still feeling that little burst of pride inside him every time he thought about owning his own restaurant and bar. He was his own boss now, finally in charge of his own future. “But I wouldn’t have it if Gen hadn’t hired me in the first place. And now that she’s moving to Texas with Seth, she trusted me again to take the reins. I don’t want to forget that.”

  “I’m thinking you probably never will,” Kurt said. “She sold it to you for a song.”

  “Well, she and Seth are still investors. I just bought into it.” That was another reason he was naming the place after her. She would have made a lot more money if she’d sold to someone else.

  “Where are the light switches?” Ace called out from the back.

  “Under the cover. It looks like it’s locked, but it isn’t.”

  “Gotcha.” Two seconds later, the place was lit with a soft glow. “Hey, everything looks real good.”

  “Thanks. Me and Jeremy have been cleaning for two days. Dani, too, from time to time.”

  “We would have helped you more if you’d called,” Kurt said as he took a bar stool. “How come you didn’t reach out?”

  “Yeah,” Troy said as he joined them. “Did you really think we wouldn’t drop everything to help you?”

  “I knew you would.” Maybe that’s why he hadn’t called them. He didn’t want to be another duty in their already tight schedules. Plus … well, there was another reason. “As corny as it sounds, I guess I wanted to do the majority of the work.”

  Kurt nodded. “Make it your own.”

  “It feels good.” After the last couple of years he’d had, it had felt real good. Feeling more comfortable behind the bar than sitting on one of the stools, he walked through the opening and picked up a glass. “Anyone want a beer? I’ve got Rhinegeist on tap.”

  Ace smiled. “Sounds good, but you’ve gotta let us pay.”

  “Hell no.”

  “You won’t make much money serving free alcohol.”

  “I’ll charge you when I open in two days.” He poured four glasses and passed the other three to his friends. Then, because it felt appropriate, he lifted his own. “Here’s to y’all.”

  “And to Gen’s Place,” Troy said. “I wish you all the best, buddy. Nobody deserves something good to happen more than you.”

  “I appreciate that, though I have to tell you that I feel like I’ve been experiencing my own string of good luck lately.”

  “That you have,” Ace said. “You’ve got Dani and Kate and Jeremy.” Winking, he added, “Practically your very own picture-perfect family.”

  Jackson knew Ace was teasing, but he kind of thought that really was the case. His Kate was near perfect, Jeremy was a boy any man would be proud of, and Dani? Well, Dani, in a lot of ways, had made him whole again. “I’m grateful for all of them.”

  Taking a sip of beer, he said, “Y’all, too. If not for y’all, I would still be sitting in Spartan feeling sorry for myself.”

  “Aww, you needed that time, Cookie. I’m just glad you came out here and decided to give Bridgeport a chance. A lot of people wouldn’t,” Kurt said. “A lot of people don’t ever want to do anything different, no matter how bad things are.”

  Jackson knew Kurt was referring to his father, who had been so distraught over much of the same things that Jackson had been dealing with—the loss of a job and a wife—that he’d descended into depression. So much so, he was even willing to let his youngest son leave with Kurt.

  He shrugged. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but I guess I realized that things were better here. Kate was happy. Then, one day I woke up and realized that I was happy, too. And when that happened? I knew I wasn’t going to give that up.”

  “You held on tight,” Ace said.

  Jackson wouldn’t have phrased it that way, but he didn’t disagree. “Yeah. I wasn’t going to let that go easily.”

  Kurt leaned forward and rested. “So, you’re happy. All of us are happy.”

  “And paired up like bookends.” Troy grinned. “Are you really starting to think about who else needs to come out here?”

  “No. Well, maybe.”

  Ace laughed. “Got anyone in mind?”

  “No.” Turning to Jackson, he said, “Who do you know in Spartan who needs to get on out?”

  There wasn’t anyone. All the rest of the guys had either found good work or were so settled in Spartan, there was no way they were going to want to move. But then, all of a sudden, Jackson thought of Shannon Murphy. “I know someone else who just moved here that might need our help getting settled.”

  “Another guy from Spartan’s here?” Ace asked. “Who?”

  “It’s a woman. Shannon Murphy.” Looking at his buddies, Jackson said, “Do any of y’all remember her?”

  “I do,” Ace said. “She was a cheerleader, right? And on the homecoming court.”

  “Dani and I ran into her a while back. She just opened that dance studio two blocks from here. Dance with Me.”

  “Are you sure she owns it?” Ace asked. “Last I heard Shannon got a job working at the hospital. And her family is great.”

  Kurt shook his head. “Um, maybe not so great. I just remembered that I heard she’d just found out she was adopted—and that she has two sisters who
didn’t fare as well as she did. Someone told me she was really struggling.”

  “She was close with one of my sisters,” Ace said. “I’ll stop by the dance studio and see how she’s doing.”

  Jackson raised his eyebrows. “Just like that?”

  “Oh, I’ll play it cool,” Ace replied. “I’ll tell her about Meredith and the rest of us. Invite her to come over for supper one night soon. Reconnect with some old friends.”

  Jackson nodded slowly. “You know what? I think she might be up for that.”

  “I’ll keep you posted about what happens,” Ace said as he stood up. “Which reminds me. I told Finn and Mer I’d come home with everything to make a pot of chili. I better get on that.”

  One by one, they handed Jackson their glasses. He washed them and set them out to dry.

  Kurt got up. “You getting out of here, too, Cookie, or staying?”

  “I’m out, too.” He didn’t give them an explanation because he realized they didn’t need one. They understood that he had people who were counting on him.

  Just like he was counting on them, too.

  EPILOGUE

  From Les Larke’s

  You, Too, Can Host

  a Poker Tourney:

  All those reasons aside, here’s why I host poker nights: because with me, it’s never really been just about the poker … it’s always been about everything else that comes with it. That, my friends, is really all that matters at the end of the day.

  Dani broke off their kiss with a breathless gasp. “Jackson, stop. We can’t do this right now.”

  Her voice was husky, her eyes were bright, and that mouth that had drawn him to her from the start was slightly swollen. A pale pink flush highlighted her cheeks.

  All in all, she looked much like he felt—happy, relaxed, and more than a little turned on. Holding her in his arms, Jackson tried to clear his mind enough to figure out what she was having trouble with. They were alone in her hotel room, both of their kids were occupied, and he hadn’t done more than kiss her chastely in twenty-four hours. Surely, she’d missed him as much as he’d missed her.

  Maybe she simply needed a little more reassurance.

  “Sure we can, honey. All this is just right.” He nipped at her neck, smoothed the slight sting with slow kisses. Murmured in her ear, “It’s been so long, you’ve just forgotten how it’s done.” Leaning down, he claimed her mouth again. Smiled when she didn’t hesitate before opening her lips to let him deepen the kiss.

  Just like that, his body started humming—and started thinking of everything else they could be doing in an empty hotel room besides making out a little bit against a hotel room door.

  When she moaned, it practically made him forget why he’d brought her up to her room in the first place. Practically.

  And then he remembered. Yes, Dani Brown was gorgeous and very desirable, but that wasn’t the real reason he’d brought her upstairs and into this room.

  He’d also had some other plans that were getting put into play that very minute. Hopefully.

  But had they been upstairs long enough? Maybe he needed to keep her occupied for a little while longer? He ran a hand down her spine, curved it around her hip, and pulled her closer. “You feel so good, Dan. Perfect.”

  After one last kiss, Dani pulled away with a low laugh. “Jackson, we’ve got to get out of here. Jeremy’s going to come looking for us if we’re not careful.”

  He knew Jeremy wasn’t. “He’s with all his buddies. He doesn’t care where we are.” Plus, Jeremy was in on the plans.

  “He’s going to care if we don’t show up soon.”

  Her voice was breathless. Sounded almost like it had when they’d …

  He forced his mind to get back on track.

  Trying to sound aggravated, he murmured. “Are you sure we need to leave this room right this second? Because I know what’s waiting for us downstairs.”

  “Me, too. Fifteen fourteen-year-olds, including my Jeremy; assorted siblings, including your Kate; and double the amount of parents. All of whom have probably realized that both of us were definitely not needed to retrieve one purse.”

  Actually, he’d needed to take her up here, otherwise she would have run up and back down in five minutes. “Everyone also knows that we’re a new couple. They get it.”

  She chuckled as she walked in front of the mirror and started smoothing her hair and clothes. “If we don’t get down there soon, they may understand too much. We need to hurry, Jackson.”

  He walked behind her and looped his hands around her middle, liking how they looked in the reflection. Pressing his lips to her head, he said, “I promise you, no matter what, no one is going to think we’ve been doing nothing but necking in here. We might as well prove them right.”

  “That won’t do. Not today, it won’t.” Her pretty eyes met his in the mirror. “No way did we go to so much trouble to get Jeremy on the team just so they can think his momma is a floozy.”

  “Floozy?” He scoffed. “You’re with your boyfriend, honey.”

  “Mothers have to go by different rules.”

  “I don’t think so. And don’t even call yourself that. Nobody calls anyone that anymore. Wait, is that even a word?”

  “It is. And, despite women being all empowered and such, I promise you, where the conduct of teenage boys’ mothers is concerned, it’s firmly situated in the present day and not just in 1950.”

  Jackson thought about teasing her a bit, unbuttoning her shirt and asking if she could be his very own pinup model for a few moments, but he thought he might get his face slapped.

  Besides, enough time had passed. It was time.

  After kissing her temple once again, he dropped his hands and walked toward the door. “Let’s get going then.”

  She picked up her purse—which had been the whole reason she’d run up to the room—and smiled brightly. “If it’s any consolation, I miss you, too.”

  “Good.” He loved how her cheeks were a little pink, probably from both his teasing her in front of the mirror and the memories they’d recently made when he’d taken her to bed a few weeks ago. The experience had been everything he’d hoped—and a whole lot better than he’d dared to imagine.

  But one thing he hadn’t thought about was how hard it was going to be to find any privacy with both of them crazy-busy, one four-year-old and one traveling baseball teenager. The way things were going, he might be able to sneak some time with her next month.

  He held out his hand. “You know I’m only teasing you, right?”

  “I know,” she replied as she linked her fingers with his. “I have to say that I really am so glad that the kids seem to be handling us together okay.”

  “Me, too.”

  She kept talking as they kept walking. “And, who knows? Maybe one day, down the road, when we’re ready …” Her voice trailed off.

  “When we’re ready?”

  “Oh. I mean, you know. When we get more serious.”

  It was almost a crime to allow her to be so flustered. But it was also fun as hell. “When we get more serious, what?”

  “Um, well, I was just thinking, maybe by that time, the kids will be on board with our relationship.”

  “You worried about Kate, honey? Because Kate loves you and has since you watched Frozen with her three times in a row.”

  “I guess I was thinking about Jeremy.”

  He’d been having a lot of conversations with that boy, and he felt good about where they were at. “He knows you love him, too, Dan.” Resting his palm on the center of her back, he maneuvered her past the elevator to the stairs. “Let’s go down this way.”

  Obviously distracted, she looked up at him as they started walking down. “You sound so confident.”

  “That’s because I am. You should be, too.” Down they went, four more steps.
He moved to her side, because she kept looking up at him instead of where she was going.

  “All right. I will.” Still smiling at him, she said, “Now all we have to do is worry about tomorrow’s championship game. If the Bats win, they’ll win the whole thing.”

  “With your boy as their star catcher, too. It will be awesome.”

  Her smile got bigger. “I’m so proud of him.”

  “Me, too, honey. Now, slow down on these last two steps and watch where you’re going.”

  “What?” She turned to look, and almost fell on her face.

  Luckily, he grabbed her waist and prevented her from falling. “Careful, now. Everybody’s watching.”

  “Jackson, there’s got to be a hundred people down here.”

  “Thereabouts. Three more steps now.”

  She took another step but still didn’t watch what she was doing. “Jackson Koch, what is going on?”

  He leaned toward her. “I’ve got a little something planned for you.” Pressing his lips to her temple, he whispered. “Do me a favor now and act surprised, ’kay?”

  Just as she looked back at him, the whole room went crazy.

  “Surprise!” Kate squealed at the top of her lungs as she came charging forward. The minute she did, the whole room burst into excited applause.

  And there were a lot of people there.

  Jackson grinned as he saw all the baseball folks, and Kurt, Troy, Ace, and their girlfriends. And Gen and Seth. Even Mrs. Burridge, Dani’s Indian Hill client. So many people were there who cared about them.

  “What’s going on?”

  The room suddenly quieted. It seemed he was up. “Well, I got to thinking that it was time to do something, and I know you. You would want to be surrounded by our kids, and the people who we love. So …” He paused so he could kneel down on the floor in front of her.

  She gasped, staring at him. “Jackson, you don’t need to get on your knee …”

  “Yeah, I think I do. I promised myself if the Lord ever gave me another chance to fall in love, I wasn’t going to mess it up. And I’m not. Danielle, give me that hand, honey.”

  Still looking shell-shocked, Dani placed it in front of her. Pleased that she didn’t look upset and that her hand wasn’t so much as quivering, Jackson leaned forward and kissed her fingers.