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Sure, I’d dated other women. Even thought I was serious with a couple, but somehow, I knew deep in my soul that I hadn’t closed the book on Connie. I’d left that wound uncovered, and it had never healed.
I always thought I’d come back to Cricket and look her up. At least that was one of my fantasies. I’d been planning to do just that when Rascal called, telling me about the video. I couldn’t remember if this was his idea, mine, or Luke’s, but we all seemed to know this was the time for our reentry into Connie’s world.
Now or never, and I for one was happy we picked now!
Connie had grabbed hold of our collective hearts when we were just teens, and no amount of time apart seemed to want to break that connection.
When we’d first decided to take a chance and fly up to Cricket to talk to her about playing together again, I was the first one to nix the whole idea. Strange, considering I’d been thinking about doing just that, but when the reality hit of meeting up with her, I knew if I saw her again, I’d fall right back in love with her, and that had to be a no-win proposition. Especially since we all knew she’d always preferred Luke over both Rascal and me.
He was that favorite child parents always seemed to have. Luke was the chosen one, and for the life of me, I could never figure out why. Not that I gave their relationship that much thought over the years, but whenever I did, that fact always stumped me.
Hell, he wasn’t even the best looking of the group. That fact belonged to Rascal who always seemed to be her least favorite. Another puzzling situation.
Me? I always fell somewhere in the middle of her affections. A place I seemed to continue to hold.
Besides, we’d left her high and dry, mostly because of our own stupidity and that damn flood that pushed our parents to move. We’d wanted to apologize within a few months of what happened, but, well, we never did.
I’d like to blame it on the naiveté of youth, but I knew that didn’t cut it. I knew for me personally, I was scared, scared she’d tell me to go get fucked, and that would be the end of it. In my crazy mind, if I avoided her, then there would always be the chance that she’d forgive me… forgive us.
A total shit show if there ever was one.
I’d seriously believed this wouldn’t work. Never thought she’d ever talk to us, yet here she was, dancing and singing after only a few hours of us being here and making awkward attempts at convincing her to try it all again.
It was like some kind of miracle, and I certainly didn’t want to do or say anything to make her change her mind. I’d kept my distance and my mouth shut for most of the day, worried that I might say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing, but put a fiddle in my hands and everything changed.
Now we were harmonizing, laughing, and touching each other like nothing had gone down between us. Like we were still friends, and maybe, just maybe, we could be lovers… if she still had any real feelings for me or any of us.
All of that was way down the road. Right now, it was enough that we were making music together.
Rascal had known about this amazing music room and had mentioned it a few times, but none of us thought it would be anything like this, even Rascal. Dusty had told his dad about it when it was first put together, and his dad had even seen it while on a visit, but for some reason, he’d never taken any pictures of it, so we had no idea it was this incredible.
We’d moved onto another song, Miranda Lambert’sWe Should Be Friends,and this time, Connie took the lead. We knew it well, due to Luke’s obsession with Miranda.
Connie knew every word, and her voice rang out, sounding even better than she had on the video. The woman didn’t know how good she was, and we didn’t know how lucky we were that she was even in this room with us.
I couldn’t believe how amazing it felt to sing with her again, and how natural it felt. As if we’d never been apart, yet we’d changed so much since we last sang together, that it shouldn’t be this easy. Not really.
Yet, we were like a fine-tuned piano. Every note, every key one-hundred percent perfection.
Crazy how that worked.
The afternoon slipped by in a haze of great music, mostly filled with cover songs that we’d sung when we were teens, but a lot of new songs by Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, and Jason Aldean. He was one of our faves, and Rascal liked performing his hit songs.
The entire experience proved to be so much fun, that we lost complete track of time.
We’d just finished playing the third round of Miranda’sTequila Does,a song that fit Connie’s playful side, when Bobby opened the door and walked in once again. He’d been in and out of the room with drinks several times, and even sat and listened for a couple of numbers. Each time we finished a song, he’d whistle and clap as if we were the best band he’d heard in years.
“Dinner’s ready, folks, along with a couple of pitchers of cold margaritas. How about taking a break?” he asked.
“What time is it?” I asked no one specific as I slid my phone from my back pocket to check the time.
“Can you believe this? It’s seven thirty,” Luke said, getting to his phone before me.
“We’ve been playing for over six hours,” Rascal said, looking astounded. “This used to happen to me when I was in college, getting ready for a performance, but it hasn’t happened since then. Very cool.”
“That’s impossible,” Connie added. “It can’t be.”
“Funny how time slips by when you’re doing something you love,” I said, without thinking.
