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“Somebody remind me to send Natalie and Bernard a ton of flowers,” I said, basking in the pure bliss of amazing sex.
“Sure,” Cody said. “But what for?”
“For their incredible stacking abilities,” I said, giggling. “I think we just mastered the technique.”
Then I rolled up over them, and we all piled up on top of each other, laughing like little kids, proving once and for all that stacking does work… for fucking everything.
Cody – Epilogue
If anyone would’ve told me that my band would be sharing a stage with my mother, my aunt, my dad, and the woman I loved, I’d have told them they were crazy dreaming. Yet, here we all were. One big, happy family, for the most part, performing our last song of the night at Dirty Coyote, our home venue.
In the past six months, our lives had done a complete one-eighty, and truth be told, I couldn’t be happier.
My sister Natalie refused to accept any of this, and therefore, she was no longer welcomed at our family functions or when we performed.
Her loss.
The door remained open to her, but only if she could curb her nasty judgmental ways.
Our mom made that quite clear, as did our dad who once again picked up his guitar and had joined Mom and Aunt Tammy in their new country band, Heartfelt. The ball was in Natalie’s court now, and so far, no matter how many olive branches we extended to her, she always came back with a pair of sheers.
“That was pure fun,” Gabe said as we all headed backstage.
“Too much fun for this old gal.” Tammy walked arm in arm with my mom. I loved seeing them like this, loving on each other, having fun singing onstage. And they were good… really good. There’d been a couple of labels that wanted to sign them, but they were dragging their feet. They liked their lives now and didn’t want that to change… at least for a while.
It was the two-year anniversary of opening Dirty Coyote and tonight, the dancehall celebrated with a family night event. Dustin, Gabe, Emily and I now called Sweet Whiskey home, so we’d cleared our calendars to make sure we were ready for tonight. Even my mom and dad had bought a house in Sweet Whiskey and seemed to love the change. Dad already had a Friday night poker group, and Mom liked to pour drinks behind the bar with Tammy on Friday nights.
She only cooked on occasion now and hired a fulltime housekeeper. Mom’s life had drastically changed, and she was loving it. Especially since she and Tammy performed at Dirty Coyote every Tuesday night. They had a huge following and even put out an album, Going Places, that already had over a hundred-thousand downloads.
But the biggest change was with Emily. Not only did she go on tour with us and sing backup, but she ended up being our opening act for the last few months. Our fans absolutely loved her, and when we released ‘Till This, which featured her joining us for a heart-wrenching love song, well, her career as a solo country singer took off into the stratosphere.
“Okay, all I want now is a full week lounging by our pool without any distractions,” she said as we all walked into the talent waiting room backstage. Whenever any of us played this venue, we liked to meet afterwards and celebrate in private before we went out front. Uncle Jimmy made sure it was well stocked with all the drinks we liked, along with a few snacks.
We’d bought a house not too far from Dirty Coyote. Our neighbors, the Austin Sentry Band, had turned out to be the absolute best neighbors anyone could have. Emily and Liberty had become fast friends, which turned out to be one of the best things ever. Boone, Kasey, and Austin gave us some pointers when we went to build our own sound studio in the back of the house.
And their kids… they were the best and made me want a houseful of our own. Gabe and Dustin felt the same way, but Emily wasn’t quite on board yet. She was more focused on her career, and none of us could blame her for that. We were all willing to wait until she was more established, but in the meantime, we were learning to appreciate and enjoy our new lives.
“That sounds boring, doll,” Tammy told her. “I could no more lounge by a pool than I can watch TV for more than ten minutes. My time’s too precious.”
“You got that right, sister,” my mother said. “But Emily’s young. She’s got her whole life in front of her. She can take a week to do nothing. We’re in a different space.”
“That’s for damn sure,” my dad said, grabbing a bottle of beer off the table that had been set up for us. “Sleeping is a problem. It takes up too much damn time.”
“Amen,” Tammy said, before she drank down some of her beer. “So, how’d everybody do tonight? What did you think of our song choices? Did you think the audience liked the show? And what about…”
Tammy’s voice faded into the background, and I couldn’t hear her anymore. My thoughts drifted to Emily, and when that happened, there was no one else in the room… just Emily and me.
I hated when we couldn’t be together, like when she went on her own mini-tour or when Wilder and Days’ events conflicted with hers. Not that I would ever try to halt her success or pass up a good opportunity for my band but being without her killed me every single time.
Gabe and Dustin felt the same way, but we never talked about it. None of us wanted to admit how much she’d become such a part of our lives that living one hour without her nearby tore us up every single time.
“Can we get out of here?” Emily asked, walking up next to me. “We can talk about the show another time. Right now, I just want to cuddle up with my guys on the sofa and fall asleep watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix.”
“Again? Haven’t we gone through that series like a hundred times?” I asked, knowing damn well that whenever she felt the least bit overwhelmed, she’d turn on Gilmore Girls.
“More like two hundred, but who’s counting? I don’t feel very well, and this glass of wine isn’t helping,” she said, placing her full glass down on the makeup table.
“Sure,” I told her. “Let’s go.” I plunked my beer down next to hers and took her hand. “Everybody. Sorry to interrupt, but Em isn’t feeling too good tonight, so we’re going to head on home, if that’s okay.”
