“Not that much, actually. Sean said Jake played drums back in high school, but for some reason he decided to drop out when they were offered a contract with their record label.” Shannon brushed her auburn braid back over her bare, freckled shoulder, looking pretty in her strapless blue maxi dress.
Apple nodded and squinted against the sun glare, wishing for an instant that she had on big-ass sunglasses instead of her big-ass tortoiseshell prescription frames. Oh well, can’t have everything perfect all the time, right? “He did, yeah. It was sometime during the year after they graduated. But he’s never told anybody why he quit the band.” She had always suspected it had something to do with his family though.
“Sean told me they were huge. Like really huge.” Shannon glanced at her man with an adoring expression, then back. “Jake would have been so famous.”
“Ridiculously so,” Apple agreed. “The band made it huge all over the globe, just like Pearl Jam back in the day. They got compared to them constantly. Which wasn’t off base. Only Elijah’s taller than Eddie Vedder—not that that’s all that hard to be,” Apple quipped and then instantly felt disloyal for making a height joke. Like she was one to talk.
I’m so sorry, Eddie, she instantly mouthed in karmic apology.
Shannon looked a little awed. “That’s amazing. Why are they playing the blues fest though?” She turned her attention back to the stage where Elijah was strapping on his guitar, standing in front of the microphone, and she gestured at him. “His name is Elijah?”
“Yeah.” Apple nodded. “Elijah Goldman.”
“I met him this summer at the donut shop and have been calling him The Guy in my head ever since.” Shannon’s nose scrunched a little, and she shook her head with a small laugh. “My sister’s crazy about him.”
Apple snorted. “Yeah, her and every other female around the globe.”
Shannon just chuckled. “Trust me, that wouldn’t stop her.”
“I believe you. I met that firecracker named Colleen.” She glanced back at the band. “Mostly the guys play here because it’s home. But also because their last few albums have been bluesier and more acoustic.”
Just then the Bachelors stopped by the two of them.
“We’re heading up onstage.” Jake looked at Apple over the top of Shannon’s head, and her stomach flip-flopped excitedly. His eyes were bright and eager. And damned if the guy wasn’t grinning full out, looking downright happy.
“Go get ’em, hot shot,” she said.
He winked, and she felt it down to her toes. Who knew a simple wink could have so much heat?
“Thank you, everyone, for coming out this afternoon to our favorite little town in all the world to celebrate music and beer. And to most importantly, have fun!” Elijah said into the mic, his rough voice full of confidence. “As some of you know, we’ve started a new tradition here at Fortune’s Blues and Brews. For those who don’t, put your hands together anyway because you are all in for a real treat. Everybody, let’s welcome to the stage, Fortune’s darlings and our personal friends, the Bachelors of Fortune!”
Aidan slapped Jake on the back. “It’s go time, brother.”
The crowd went nuts as it parted to allow them through, the guys thoroughly enjoying their time in the limelight. Or maybe it was just getting to play with the Rockstars. Shoot, that would be enough to have Apple grinning.
The Bachelors joined the band onstage to the sound of a very excited audience. And Apple couldn’t help the butterflies that launched in her belly at the sight of Jake settling down behind the drum set as Heath moved off to grab the harmonica. Picking up the sticks, Jake spun them in his palms and did a quick tap on the snare, grinning wide.
Aidan took up a spot next to the bass player, Dylan, his guitar at the ready. Then he leaned into the microphone and said, “Let’s hear it for the Redneck Rockstars for allowing us the privilege of being up here onstage with them.” The crowd clapped, and Aidan threw back his head laughing after Dylan said something in his ear. Finally, Sean took up residence behind the keyboard.
“It still amazes me that your man plays so many instruments, Shannon.”
“I know, right? But he says it’s because of growing up in the Dublin theaters with a lot of time on his hands and being surrounded by artists who were keen to teach him things.”
“And yet he was a bare-knuckle boxer and is now a horse breeder?” Apple crossed her arms and slid Shannon a glance, smirking. “Interesting man you picked there.”
Her friend laughed good-naturedly. “Oh, I know it.” But then she added more seriously as the band began to play, “And I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Six months ago, she would have felt a pang of envy over a statement like that. But not now. Not when the man she loved was up onstage in front of a thousand people playing music and having the time of his life. It was so hard not to jump in the air, shouting, “That’s my man!” Apple felt like giggling, her life was so perfect and wonderful.
Suddenly a conversation that had been going on behind them began to break through her musings. “I heard Jake has a thing with the librarian.”
What? Wait. That was her they were talking about! Glancing over her shoulder confirmed that it was the busybody owner of the Roots hair salon.
And she was talking to another notorious gossip. That was never good.
“Why don’t you scoot up some, hon? I need to grab my shoes, and I’ll join you in a minute,” Apple said to Shannon, although what she really wanted was to take a step backward and eavesdrop because she swore she’d just heard one of them say her name this time, and she was instantly worried it was more of that damned gossip about her and the library. If it kept up she was in real peril of losing her job, and she loved being Fortune’s librarian. Just flat loved it.
Shannon moved up toward the stage, leaving her to listen.
Turned out she was right.
One of them was saying, “I don’t know what that Apple is doing with Jake, but it certainly isn’t something for the library like she said. I mean, have you even seen an announcement for a Bachelors event?”
“I haven’t, no,” said the other quietly.
“That’s because there isn’t one, I tell you. I think I overheard those two agreeing to something else entirely. Something more like . . . ” An extended pause. “You know. I really think she might be exchanging goods, if you know what I mean, for the library.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. Why do you say that?”
The voice lowered to a whisper. “I’ve been hesitating to say anything, but my son told me he saw her through the back windows at the library late one night, with a man who couldn’t be anyone else but Jake.”
“Really! My, my.”
“Mmm-hmm. And he said it didn’t look like any business meeting he’d ever seen, if you get my drift.”
Apple’s stomach dipped. Great. Just what she needed.
She heard a disdainful sniff. “Well, if that’s true then somebody should tell her boss. That’s no way to appropriate equipment for a public institution. But beyond that, somebody should warn that girl away from that no-good jerk before he leads her on and then breaks her heart.”
Misappropriation, her ass.
Apple scowled and felt her nails dig into the palms of her hands. She had to clench them because she was tempted to wring the woman’s neck for talking about Jake like that. Just like he didn’t matter.
“Who knows, maybe she’ll be the one to change him,” Apple heard the other woman say and straightened her spine. Darn tootin’, she was the woman for the job.
Barbara Keeley laughed, the sound surprisingly bitter. “Oh, honey, you and I both know that if there’s one thing that men just don’t do, it’s change. That girl’s in for a world of hurt if she’s messing with Verle’s son. Good-looking he is and good for a fling, but love? If that’s what she’s after, then she’s going to be out of luck.”
“You speak like you’re talking from experience.”
She sighed, long and slow. “Let’s just say there was once a time I got the notion that I could fix Verle, sober him up and give him love. I can tell you I was wrong. And, well, the apple just doesn’t ever fall that far from the tree.”
Tears stung Apple’s eyes, and she swallowed around the hard knot in her throat, forcefully ignoring the instant self-doubt that rose in her, even as she fumed over the attack on Jake’s character. Stepping away, her hands still clenched into fists, she notched her chin and went to find Shannon. While she weaved through the crowd, she told herself exactly one thing, because it simply had to be true: they were wrong.
They didn’t know what they were talking about, so screw them.
Apple was keeping on. And damn it, her love was powerful. It was the mother f-ing bomb.
And it could change a person.
Just wait and see.
If there was a tiny little part of her that worried there was some truth to their words, she was bent on ignoring it. She was bent on ignoring the aching uncertainty they stirred up inside her. And she was most definitely bent on ignoring the sharp darting pain they created in her chest.
Why?
Because her heart couldn’t handle it being any other way.
Chapter Sixteen
THE CONCERT HAD just ended and everybody was making their way through the dirt parking lot, but Jake lingered behind with Apple behind the rest of the bunch. Sean and Shannon were directly in front of them, his arm wrapped around her and hugging her close. Thinking that looked like a swell idea, Jake was just stretching out his arm when he thought he heard someone from behind call his name.
“Did you hear something?” he asked Apple, his brows drawing together. “I swear it sounded like my old man.”
Apple’s sexy little lips puckered as she tilted her head and listened, hands on her lush hip. Damn she was cute. “I don’t think so, sorry.”
Jake ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. Okay. Maybe he was starting to hear things. God, hopefully he wasn’t starting to go crazy now too. “Never mind.”
They’d just started walking again when someone behind them called, “Jake!”
Stopping, he spun around and came face-to-face with his father. When he saw his pop’s expression, his shoulders relaxed and tension eased. He smiled, noting automatically that Verle’s eyes looked clear. “Hey, Pop. What are you doing here?”
Verle shifted from one Chaco-covered foot to the other, gently wringing his hands together. “I-I came to watch my boy play music.” His lean, tan face broke into a grin. “I’m so proud of you, Jake. You always had such talent.”
Caught off guard by the unexpected emotions, Jake cleared his throat and glanced over his shoulder at Apple, who was standing quietly by his truck, her gaze averted to give them privacy. “Thanks, Pop. But I didn’t think you remembered that I used to play with Elijah and the guys. That was so long ago.” And yeah, it had bothered him some, but he’d gotten over it. There were worse things in the world than one’s dad not being able to remember he’d almost been a rock star.
Verle’s dark brown eyes filled with emotion, and his lips pressed together in a thin, tight line. He crossed his lean arms, hugging them close. “I-I’m sorry, Jake. I’m so, so sorry I took that away from you. I know I did.”
Saddened and not really up for taking all of that heaviness on right then, Jake held out his hands to his father. Besides, it didn’t matter anymore how he really felt anyway.
“It’s okay. Really. Hey, Dad,” he said when Verle started to blink rapidly, trying to snap him back before he was lost completely to wherever he went when he had his episodes. “You didn’t take anything from me. Look at me, I’m fine,” he ended, placing his hands on Verle’s slender shoulders.
It shocked him a little to remember how robust and muscular they’d been in his youth. Had his father been slowly slipping away since then, or was this a more recent development? Shit, was Verle not even eating properly without Harvey to look after him?
Before he could explore that new and very real concern, Verle pulled him in for a fierce hug. And just like always, Jake was filled with love, acceptance, and—at the same time—a profound weariness. “You should have had that life, Jake,” his father said quietly.
The thing was, he really shouldn’t have. He knew that 100 percent. His father really didn’t need to worry about that. It had worked out exactly as it had been meant to because bottom line, Fortune was his home. Straying over to Archer State to get his chemistry degree had been the farthest he’d ever roamed, and that had been plenty.
Besides, sticking around had just kept things simple.
“I’m happy, Dad, really. You don’t have to worry about me. I’ve got the brewpub and the cabin. Friends. Look, I’m even seeing someone.” He hooked his thumb toward Apple. “Remember Marty Woodman’s girl?”
His father caught sight of Apple and abruptly pushed Jake away. “What is she doing here?” he demanded, his eyes going round and paranoid. Panting all of a sudden like he’d just ran five miles, he stood with his shoulders hunched protectively.
“She can’t have it!” he yelled. His whole body began to shake terribly, his coloring going blotchy red. “She knows, Jake. She knows, and she’s going to take it.”
While Jake wracked his brain for a way to calm his father down, a part of him realized the scene his father was making. He hadn’t missed the dirty looks. The furious whispers as concertgoers passed.
Ah well, fuck them.
They were the ones who didn’t know a goddamn thing about real love.
“Pop, she’s not going to take anything from you, really.” He glanced over at Apple, who was busy chewing her bottom lip, her eyes huge and filled with worry. “Isn’t that right, Apple?”
Hopefully affirmation from her would be enough to snap his dad out of it.
She gave his dad a friendly smile meant to be disarming. “That’s right, Verle. I’m not interested in taking anything of yours. Promise.” And she stepped toward him, raising her hand to her chest. “Cross my heart.”
“Liar!” Verle launched himself at Apple.
“No, Dad!” Jake yelled. Moving quickly, he stepped between the two of them, to protect her.
Suddenly Verle’s face registered shock as the color drained from it. Then he jerked to a stop and bent over in one single motion, clutching his hands to his chest.
He fell to the ground just as Jake reached him. “Pop!” Crouching down next to him, he placed a hand on his father’s shoulder and yelled to Apple, who was already pulling her phone out of her purse, “Call 911!”
“Doing it now. Hold on, Verle!” she called, raising the cell to her ear.
Locking out the panic he felt slamming at him, Jake focused on the Red Cross emergency training he’d obtained a few years back and checked his father’s breathing. A crowd gathered around them, and Sean, Shannon, and Aidan had pushed their way through.
“What can I do?” It was Aidan, his face set in concerned lines.
“I think he’s having a heart attack.”
That’s exactly what was confirmed at the hospital by the emergency room doctor later, the whole hour or so in between a blur to Jake. But as he stood in the hospital waiting room listening to the doctor explain to him that his father had suffered a mild coronary and he would be okay, he didn’t feel better. He didn’t even feel relieved.
Because the doctor had pulled him aside and privately told him something else. Something that Jake had been suspecting for a while because of the increased erraticism of his father’s behavior. The physician had given him that practiced sympathetic doctor face and dropped the bomb: “Your father is going to be fine from the heart attack, but his glioma has grown to a dangerous level. You know from the last time you came to me and we discussed his condition, it’s inoperable because of its location.” The silver-haired doctor had paused, cranked up the fake sympathy. “Jake, I’m sorry to say this, but your father has only a few months. Maybe less.”
With a heavy heart, Jake had thanked the doctor and went back to the waiting room, glad that he was surrounded by the support of his friends.
Seeing them all there, for him and his dad, filled him with gratitude. He was a blessed man, surrounded by such support. Yet it didn’t stop the pain, the hollow ache in his heart at the knowledge that he was losing his father. Deep down he’d known this day would come, and he’d thought he’d prepared emotionally.
But he hadn’t.
His heart was weeping.
All the worrying. All the waiting in trepidation, every single day. Jesus, even all the internal bracing of mind and spirit he’d done, preparing for that one sad, heavy day. Turned out there was just no preparing for the death of a loved one.
It’d been a hell of a weight to bear.
Yet, he had to be honest and admit that he’d hated the waiting game of seeing what was going to get his old man first: the booze or his brain. Considering how much effort Verle had put into the first part, it was more than a little bit of a surprise that the tumor was going to be the thing that did him in.
Apple came over and hugged him. “I’m so sorry.”
“We’re here for you, brother.” Aidan placed a hand on his shoulder. “Anything you need, you just say the word.”
Jake nodded, grateful. “Thanks, man.” Knowing there was nothing else to do, he looked down at Apple with his chest aching and knew he needed her tonight. With a depth and intensity like he’d never known. “I’m going to just go home.”
It was like she understood what he wasn’t saying. Her eyes never left his as she nodded. “I’ll ride with you.”
A little while later after saying their good-byes, Jake and Apple were at her place putting a kettle on for tea.
“I’m so sorry about your dad, Jake. How are you holding up?” she asked, her blue eyes filled with concern.
He took a look around her pink kitchen and blew out a breath, feeling fried. “I don’t know, honestly.”
She placed a small, soft hand on his arm. “That was tough, baby. It’s okay to feel off.”
Talking Dirty Page 17
