Even though his life at the moment was everything he’d always dreamed it to be, the fact that he was about to start up a bona-fide relationship with Dani Harrison was something he’d had on the back of his mind for more than two years now. When they were inside earlier talking to her father, Dani’s reaction to seeing him made Jake believe whatever had happened in Yuma was water under the bridge, but the passionate kiss they shared in the barn made that assumption fly right out the window. He knew she was in a relationship with a famous singer and had no idea how he was going to compete with that but, as she pushed open the back door and stepped outside, he felt that he could overcome anything. He watched her willowy figure as she walked up to the passenger door and opened it.
“You ready?” She climbed in, then slid all the way across the bench seat to sit next to him.
Jake beamed down at her. “You have no idea.”
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled in front of the Watering Hole Bar to find it open, most likely because the NFL football game had not ended yet. Once inside, they found the ‘crowd’ consisted of Charlie and four customers in the small, run-down shell of a building.
Dani kept up a running dialogue to tell him the bar had originally operated as Harold’s Full-Service Gas Station and Garage. The building fell into disrepair after Harold died of a heart attack while filling up a car outside, and to say the new owner didn’t put too much money into the business was an understatement. There was only room for eight stools at the bar; eight tables with chairs crammed the small floor and every inch of wall space was filled with dusty neon signs advertising every beer on television. The smell of stale cigarettes mixed with the scent of dirty oil from years ago. The four other customers were all seated on the bar stools, their undivided attention focused on Monday Night Football.
“Hey, Charlie,” Dani waved, sitting at one of the small tables by the far wall.
Charlie wiped a glass dry with a bar towel. “Hey, Dani, looking good.”
“Thanks.” She watched Jake order, then come back to their table with a couple of cold Budweisers in one hand and two shots of Cuervo Gold tequila in the other.
“So…” started Jake as he sat down, “if you still live in Phoenix, what brings you back home now?”
“Well…” Dani replied uneasily, “Brandon’s been busy in Austin recording a new album, so I decided to come see my folks. Plus I hadn’t seen Trey for a while and we’ve always been close.”
“That’s what he said.” Jake took a sip of beer. “How’d you wind up in Phoenix, anyway?”
“My daddy,” Dani answered.
Jake took a drink of the beer, then propped his elbows on the small table, clasping his hands around the beer bottle.
Dani continued, “It’s a long story, but the short version is Brandon moved out there a couple of years ago, so I talked my daddy into buying me a house not too far from his. I moved there just a few months before I met you in the bar that night.”
“Really?” Jake took another sip of beer.
“Yep,” she said. “I thought it would be a good idea to be close to Brandon but, since he’s on the road so much, I might as well have stayed home.”
“You knew when I met you in Yuma there were a few leaking holes in your relationship with him, didn’t you?” Jake gave her a direct stare.
“Yes, I did.” Dani sighed. “Look, Jake, I’ve done a couple of really foolish…”
Jake knew where she was going, but he cut her off. “What do you do for a living out there?”
“I have an antique furniture store.” Dani looked relieved to change the subject.
“That’s interesting,” Jake said. “How’d you get into that?”
“Daddy again.” Dani smiled. “He bought out the previous owners. I found a really nice, honest lady who runs it for me. I go in a couple times a week to check on things, but the store kind of runs itself. It’s not much, but it pays the bills.”
“What’s the name of the place?” asked Jake.
“Dani’s Treasures,” she answered.
“I like it; sounds nice.” Jake hesitated, then asked, “Sorry, but I have to ask, what’s it like to be the girlfriend of the hottest country singer in the business?”
“It’s fun.” Dani shrugged. She took a sip of her beer. “The upside is there’s a lot of traveling, seeing new cities all the time, partying with famous people. You know, just a couple of weeks ago I was at this really nice house in Hollywood where I met Clint Eastwood, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. They were all really fun and behaved just like they do on TV.”
“That’s exciting,” said Jake.
“It was. But I guess my favorite part of it is I really like watching Brandon entertain a crowd. He’s really good at it.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Jake nodded. “I’ve never seen him but, judging by the hits he keeps putting out, he must be.” He smiled. “And what’s the downside?”
“That’s an easy one.” Dani looked down at the rough table top. “The worst is not knowing if Brandon will actually marry me. We’ve been engaged for going on three years now and I honestly don’t know if he’ll ever set a date.”
“Why wouldn’t he?” asked Jake.
“I have no idea.” She shrugged again. “He keeps telling me he has all this work to do and now’s not a good time, but I think he either doesn’t have the nerve to go through with it, or he really doesn’t love me. One of the two, and either one is just as bad as the other.”
“I’m sorry.” Jake took another sip of his beer before setting it back on the dirty table top and added with a smile, “What the hell am I saying? I’m not sorry. Not at all. At least not for me anyway.”
Dani broke out laughing. “I see your point, and so far you’re the only person on the planet who has found a way to make me laugh about it.” She held up her beer for a toast, allowing a little smile to cross her face. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Jake clanked his beer to hers.
Dani stared into Jake’s eyes for a long moment before she continued, “Jake O’Brien, I know a lot more about you…and your family…than you think I do. I’ve been following you for a long time.”
“Really?” Jake leaned back in his chair. “So…maybe I’ve been on your mind, too?”
Dani fluttered her lashes at him. “You could say that.” She fidgeted in her chair a moment before reaching for her shot of Cuervo, adding, “Come on, let’s quit being so damned serious and do these shots.”
“That sounds like a mighty fine idea.” Jake grabbed his off the table. Just before they downed the alcohol, a cheer went up from the people watching the game. Jake turned to look and realized Earl Campbell just scored his second touchdown to put the Oilers up 37-34 over the New England Patriots. Time expired with the extra point, which brought about another round of applause from the small crowd at the bar.
“Shit. Earl Campbell,” said Jake under his breath, shaking his head.
“What?” Dani raised her eyebrows, glancing toward the TV.
“Oh, nothing.” Jake looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “Just something Willie used to be a pain in the ass about.” He raised his glass in a toast, then added, “Here’s to crossing paths again.”
“Cheers.” Dani downed her shot. “What about you now?” she asked, biting into her lime wedge. “What brought you into town…out of the blue and all.”
Jake chuckled. “You see, it’s like this. I ran into this girl a couple of years ago and I never could get her out of my head. I came into town looking for her.”
“Why’d you wait so long?” Dani followed the tequila with a sip of beer.
“I got my reasons,” Jake paused and shrugged before adding, “the biggest of which was, I didn’t want to show up here and sweep her off her feet if I didn’t have a pot to piss in. I wanted to get to the top first.”
“Well, you’ve certainly done that,” Dani said with a smile. “I’ve been watching you pretty close. That run of yours in Houston this year
was amazing.”
“You were there?” Jake looked at her with surprise.
“Yeah, I was.” Dani set her beer back on the table.
“Why didn’t you try and find me?” Jake slumped back in his chair and answered his own question, “Oh…I get it. Brandon Clark played that night, didn’t he?”
Dani nodded. “Yes. I was with him…still am. But it doesn’t look like we’re getting married any time soon.”
“You know,” Jake said, drumming his fingers on the table, “I don’t mean to be an asshole or anything, but I was just wondering, have you ever been in a relationship where you weren’t in between?”
Dani sat up straight as she looked at Jake. “Ouch!”
Jake leaned in and put his elbows on the table. “I’m sorry. What I mean is, have you ever really been in love? You know, when you look at somebody, and your knees want to buckle out from under you, and you can see unborn kids and grandkids in those bright blue eyes?”
Dani chuckled as she let out a long slow breath. “You know, I was about to get really pissed at that last remark, but you talked your way out of that jam in record time.”
“I do everything fast.” Jake smiled and took a sip of beer. “It’s what I do.”
Dani played with her right earring and smiled. “If memory serves me right, you don’t do everything fast.”
Jake stood. “I have an idea.” He walked over to the juke box, pulled some change from his pocket and spent the next minute or so picking songs from the playlist. When he finished, he turned and walked back to the table just as Willie Nelson started singing, “My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys.” He reached out to pull Dani out of her chair, then led her over to the small empty space in the corner used as the dance floor.
Dani put her arms around Jake. “You trying to make a point with this song?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jake grinned as he led Dani in a slow dance. They danced without speaking for a minute before Jake looked down at Dani. “Seriously, have you ever really been in love with anyone? Someone you wanted to spend every day of the rest of your life with?”
“Damn.” Dani’s laugh held a nervous edge. “I thought I was able to dodge that question.”
Jake only shrugged and waited for an answer. She continued, “I’ll tell you, but you can’t make fun of me…plus I get to ask you a question, too. Fair enough?”
“Sure…anything.” Jake nodded, his tone serious.
Dani put her head on Jake’s shoulder. “When I was a little girl, my brother Trey’s best friend was a boy named Casey Wilder.”
“You were in love with your brother’s best friend?” Jake didn’t know why he was surprised.
Dani pulled her head off Jake’s shoulder to look up at him. “You said you weren’t going to make fun.”
“I’m not.” Jake kept his face serious. “I promise. Go ahead. I want to know.”
Dani put her head back on Jake’s shoulder before continuing. “You see, Casey and I had pretty much decided we were going to run off and get married after we were old enough. He was going to be a rodeo cowboy…like you…and we were going to see the world.”
Willie Nelson sang on in the background, “Pursuing the life of my high riding heroes, I burned up my childhood days.”
Jake asked, “How old were you when y’all decided all that?”
“Oh, geez…I don’t know.” Dani sighed. “Casey was part of the family since I was old enough to remember. I figure we were about ten or eleven when we first started talking about it.” She laughed. “We tried our best to keep it from Trey, though. Once, he and Casey got into a full-blown ruckus over it.” She chuckled again as the memory rose to the surface. “Trey was always trying to keep the boys away from me…even if it was his best friend.”
“Did they ever work things out?” asked Jake.
“Oh, sure,” replied Dani. “The next day it was like nothing ever happened.”
“What happened…to Casey, I mean?” Jake slowly spun Dani around, “Did he move away? Did he ever try getting out on the circuit?”
“No,” answered Dani. She paused a brief moment. “He died.”
Jake stopped in his tracks, pulling away to look Dani in the eyes. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.”
Dani pulled him back into her embrace and put her head back on his shoulder. “How could you have? Don’t stop dancing…it’s all right.”
“That’s horrible.” Jake put his arms back around her, “Can I ask what happened?”
“Car crash.” Dani sounded sad. “He was fourteen at the time. Trey was in the truck with him, as a matter of fact…walked away without a scratch.”
“Holy shit. I’m sorry,” Jake stammered. “I shouldn’t have asked.” He listened to the words coming from the jukebox, “Sadly in search of, and one step in back of” before adding, “What was he like?”
Dani smiled against his shoulder. “Well, he was handsome…had big plans…hell of a roper. Did everything a mile a minute and wasn’t scared of anything. Loved adventure, and had the cutest smile I ever saw.”
The music went quiet, but they kept dancing in silence as the juke box changed records. “Kind of like yours. You remind me of him,” Dani added as the sound of Kenny Rogers singing “Lady” filled the bar.
“No kidding?” Jake gazed down at her, smiling softly, caught in the moment.
“No kidding,” Dani answered. “The first time I saw your picture, I think it was in the Abilene newspaper, I nearly fell over.” She chuckled. “I literally did a double take. It was like I was looking right at Casey but, at the same time, I wasn’t. It was weird.” Dani took a deep breath, then exhaled. “I did spend the next hour or two sitting on the floor doing nothing but looking at your picture and thinking about being a little girl again.”
“How long ago was that?” Jake asked.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she answered slowly. “How long has it been since they took your picture?”
“Long time.” Jake laughed. “That was when I was a sophomore in college, back in seventy-five, I think.”
Dani lifted her head from Jake’s shoulder and gazed deep into his eyes. “It’s been five years then.”
Jake stopped dancing and, even though he kept both hands on Dani’s waist, he stepped back, wide eyed. “So you’ve known about me for that long? I thought the first time you and me…was…was when I saw you in that red Mercedes out on the road.”
“Nope.” Dani smiled.
Jake looked into her eyes for a long minute, then, without saying a word, he strode over to the bar. “Hey, barkeep, gimmie my tab.” In seconds, he was putting his wallet away as he made his way back to her. Silently, he grabbed her hand and led her to their table. She retrieved her purse and they headed for the door.
* * *
Charlie closed the door behind him, then locked it with one of the keys dangling from a key chain at his hip. “See you tomorrow, Lou,” he said to the old man who was the last customer to leave.
Lou turned around to wave goodbye. “Sure thing. I’ll pay you the ten bucks I owe you then. Those goddamned Patriots can’t beat anybody.”
“Sure they can.” Charlie laughed as he returned the wave. “They just can’t beat Earl Campbell and the Houston Oilers, that’s all.” He watched Lou get in his beat-up GMC pickup, then turned and walked to his own car parked in the dark on the side of the small building.
Charlie turned off the Watering Hole Bar neon sign before he exited the bar, so the only illumination came from the lone street lamp on the other side of the building. It took his eyes a few seconds to adjust to the darkness but, as soon as they did, he noticed a light-colored pickup in the empty grass lot behind his bar with its lights off and the engine running. No doubt it belonged to the cowboy with Dani, because he got a glimpse of it outside the bar when they’d opened the door to come in. The truck was rocking from side to side.
“I’ll be damned, Dani Harrison,” muttered Charlie with a laugh. “Looks
like you got some slut in you after all.” He stood and watched for a few seconds. “I sure as hell can’t wait for tomorrow, ’cause this little bit of information should be worth a few customers when it gets passed around town.”
He chuckled again as he opened the door to his 1966 red, rusted-out Volkswagen Beetle and climbed in. “I don’t know who the hell that guy is, but he’s been giving it to her for a hell of a while. They left the bar an hour and a half ago.”
* * *
“Come on, wake up.” Dani stood next to the sofa, shaking Jake’s shoulder.
Jake opened his eyes, then looked up at Dani and said as he scratched the top of his head, “Hey, good-looking, what time is it?”
“It’s 7:30, and it’s time for you to get up.” Dani was already dressed in a white blouse, boots, and jeans. Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail.
Jake lay on his back and stretched, then tossed the blanket aside. Sitting up, he said, “What’s the damned hurry? I thought we were going to sleep late, then saddle up some horses later.”
Dani fidgeted a little, pausing to bite her upper lip. “Well.” She held her right thumb and forefinger an inch apart. “We had a slight change of plans.”
Jake reached over and grabbed his shirt, draped over the arm of the sofa. “How slight?”
“Well…” Dani rubbed her hands together. “I don’t know how to say this…and I’m really sorry, but I’m going to have to ask you to…”
“Leave?” Jake stood to put his shirt on.
“I’m really sorry.” Dani stepped close to him and put her hands on his chest. “It’s just that I got a call from Brandon. He’s on the way over.”
“I thought I heard the phone ring.” Jake started buttoning up his shirt. He looked around. “Where is everybody?”
“Momma went into town to check the receipts from the restaurant.” Dani handed Jake his jeans. “And Daddy is out with Trey. They’re checking on cattle.”
“Damn.” Jake pulled his jeans on, tucked his shirt into his pants, then buckled his belt. He added with a laugh, “Looks like everybody in this house gets up too damned early.”
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