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“That’s exactly why we’re here. Sweet Whiskey’s been crazy like that since we were kids. You know that. Nothing’s changed. Plus, the town’s bigger than Cricket now. And the folks there may have gotten a little crazier over the years, but in a good way. At least that’s what we think. Here’s the thing… there’s a new country dance hall opening in a few weeks. It’s going to hold at least three hundred people, maybe more when they finally finish it the way they want to. Anyway, the owners heard you sing at the funeral and well, one thing led to another, and now they want our band to open the place.”
I didn’t think I heard him correctly. “What? Could you please repeat that?”
“They want Hot Sugar to open their new dance hall.”
Hot Sugar had been the name of our band. I still liked that name, despite all the shit that went down between us.
“That’s ridiculous. We don’t have a band. We barely have a friendship!”
“I’m hoping, or rather, we’re all hoping, we can fix both of those things. And it’s not ridiculous. The new owners were friends of Dusty’s, and apparently, Dusty told them all about us, all about you. They contacted Rascal and gave him a stellar offer. The money is amazing, but what’s even better is we get to perform together again, the four of us. Just like we did when we were kids, only on a real stage, in front of a hell of a lot of fun people.”
My throat threatened to slam shut just listening to him. Sure, I sang at Dusty’s funeral, but that was different. Singing in front of a real audience gave me a stomach ache.
I couldn’t do it.
Wouldn’t do it.
“And how is this better? We didn’t do so well the last time we tried to perform in front of a large group. Well, maybe you guys did, but I choked, and you walked. Not a good combination.”
I’d have to have rocks for brains to think of hooking up with them again. They abandoned me when I’d needed them most. I had no doubt that if I choked again, which I knew I would, they’d abandon me once more; only this time, I didn’t know if I could ever recover. The blow would be too hard.
And there you had it. My real reason. My authentic self, taking center stage, and I had no idea if I could face any of it.
“ARE THEY EVER going to leave?” Jen asked when she approached me as I stood in front of the pie case.
“You’ll have to ask them,” I told her, trying my best to avoid the issue with anyone who asked. And so far, the entire waitstaff, which included five of us, and several of our more frequent customers had already asked me about the guys who didn’t seem to want to ever leave.
Luke, Rascal, and Josh had been sitting in the same booth all morning. They’d ordered a couple of fancy coffee drinks, several more pie slices and were now looking over our lunch menu. It was going on noon, and except for a few trips to the bathroom, they hadn’t moved.
My shift was almost over, so they weren’t my problem anymore. I liked to take Sunday afternoons off and lounge around my apartment, reading a book or watching something on one of the streaming channels. Sunday afternoons were mine, and I didn’t intend to allow anyone or anything to disrupt that ongoing plan.
“Tell me, are the guys on table six stalking you or what?” Lexi asked as she approached. “They’ve been sitting there for almost four hours. What gives?”
“I think they want to order lunch,” I told her.
“Why are they here, Connie? What do they want? You’ve been on edge ever since they arrived. Do I have to go over there and kick them out or what?” she asked, her hand on her hip. Every table in the place was occupied, and the waiting list reflected all the people mulling around out in front. Despite us having opened the other side, the wait list was still at least a half-hour long.
I knew I had to do something.
“I’ll take care of it,” I told her, hating having no choice but to confront them.
“If you have any problems, I can do it,” Jen offered. “Or I can join you, if you want me to.”
“That’s okay. They’re nice guys. It’s just that… well… they’re here for a reason, and I don’t have time, nor do I want to participate in their… reason. It’s complicated, but I’ll settle it before I leave,” I said, then squared my shoulders and marched over to their table.
When I arrived, ready for battle, Rascal cut me off. “I’m sorry if we came on strong, Connie. We were merely happy to see you again. It’s been way too long, and each of us wants to tell you how sorry we are that everything ended the way it did. We’d love to talk to you about it more if you have the time. If you don’t and want to tell us to all go to hell, that’s fine too. It’s what we deserve. This is your call, Connie. We’ll do whatever you want us to do.”
Well, that took the damn air out of my fighting sails.
Rascal had singlehandedly ripped my anger and my hurt right out of my chest, tossed it on the floor, and stomped on it until that damn world of hurt was on life support. After all this time, all I’d ever wanted was an apology, and now that I had it, I didn’t want to be angry anymore.
Anger wasn’t a vice I liked carrying around. It only weighed me down.
“Look,” I began. “I’m getting off now, so unless you guys want to order a sizeable lunch… which I can’t see how any of you could be the slightest bit hungry… we can go back to my place… and talk.”
“We’d like that,” Josh said. “Thanks.”
“That would be great,” Luke offered, looking apologetic.
