Brave the Storm, Season 2, Episode 3 (Rising Storm) (3 page)

But despite wanting to drown himself in a glass of whiskey, Chase knew it would interfere with his medication. To keep his secret from his brother and Alice, he’d need to keep that in mind.

“A beer would be good.”

“Any particular?”

Chase smiled and looked at Logan. “Give me your best.”

Logan tapped the bar top with his fingers. “Sure thing, Chase.”

To Michael, Chase said, “You’ve got a full house tonight already.”

“Usually is on a Saturday night. There’s not much to do around here so most everyone wanting company ends up at Murphy’s.”

“Same as always.”

“That’s the way I like it.”

Someone from across the room caught Michael’s attention. He waved to whoever it was on the other side of the room and then said, “Excuse me. I have to see about a pretty girl.”

Logan dropped a napkin in front of Chase and then placed his beer on top. Chase put a twenty down on the bar to pay for the drink and took a sip of his beer. By the time he put the glass down again, Logan was back with his change, which he placed on the bar next to the beer.

The person on the stool next to him vacated the seat and dropped a tip on the bar. He waved to Logan when he left.

“Thanks!” Logan said, then turned back to Chase. “If you want something to eat, the kitchen is still open. I can get Dad to make you a sandwich or something.”

He lifted his hand and shook his head. “This is fine.”

Then Logan disappeared to the other end of the bar where there was a lot of noise and laughter.

Another song came on over the jukebox. Chase could barely hear it over the laughter and chatter around him. He loved the sound. Always had. It was second only to the feeling of being on stage and it made the lonely feeling of going home to an empty bed a little more tolerable.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see his nephew Tate behind him.

“How far ahead of me are you?” he asked Chase.

Chase picked up the beer and said, “First one.”

“I don’t have far to go to catch up to you then.” Tate slid onto the empty stool and raised his hand, peering down the length of the bar to get Logan’s attention.

“Logan’s filling in for Uncle Aidan, I see,” Tate said. “I wonder what’s up with that?”

“He said his dad is back in the kitchen.”

Tate chuckled. “The kitchen? Not to sound sexist but that’s best left to Aunt Sonya, unless Uncle Aidan is making a roast beef sandwich.”

Logan appeared in front of them. “What’ll you have?”

“Same as Chase.”

“Sure thing.”

“Ever since he broke up with Ginny Moreno, Logan’s looked a bit lost,” Tate said, watching his young cousin work the bar.

“He seems pretty quick on his feet here.”

“You didn’t see him when he returned from Afghanistan.”

Chase took a sip of his beer. “I’m sure that was rough.”

Tate looked around the room quickly.

“Meeting someone?” Chase asked.

“Maybe.”

“Would that someone be a girl named Hannah?”

Tate gave him a sidelong glance as Logan set down his beer. Chase took a ten-dollar bill from the change Logan had given him earlier to pay for his nephew’s beer. Tate then lifted his glass of beer and gestured a thank you to Chase before taking a sip.

“What do you know about Hannah Grossman?” Tate asked.

“Well, it’s been a long time, but I know the family. I know she’s a pretty girl. And I know that the two of you were an item for a time.”

His jaw clenched. “We still would be if Tucker hadn’t seduced her.”

“Ah, so that’s the reason for the chill at dinner the other night.”

“It’s best you stay out of this, Uncle Chase. It’s between Tucker and me.”

“True enough. But what about Hannah? She was part of it too. Seems to me she couldn’t have been taken by Tucker against her will.”

“I really don’t want to talk about this,” Tate said.

“Okay, fine. So I’m guessing you’re not here to see Hannah. So who is it?”

“I was supposed to meet with Mary Louise Prager this afternoon but I got caught in a meeting so I told her I’d meet her here for a drink.”

“Mary Louise Prager. Is that George Prager’s little girl?”

Tate smiled. “She’s no little girl anymore. We weren’t all caught in a time warp while you were away.”

He shrugged. “I suppose not.”

But it sure felt that way to Chase. The lines on his face showed he’d aged, but in his mind Anna Mae had stayed as young and beautiful as she was the day he’d left her. After seeing her at the barbeque, he knew she was still as beautiful. But life had taken away some of that spark.

Michael had returned to the back of the bar and now he stopped in front of Tate and Chase.

“Are you talking about Mary Louise?” Michael asked. “I was just talking to her. She mentioned she might meet you here, Tate. She’s over there with her aunts.”

Both Tate and Chase turned in the direction Michael was pointing. Chase couldn’t believe that he hadn’t seen Anna Mae when he’d walked into Murphy’s. She had to have been here when he’d arrived. There was no way he could have missed her coming through the door.

Tate picked up his beer and slid off the stool. “I’m going to go say hello to Mary Louise. Good to see you, Uncle Chase.”

He looked in the direction Michael pointed. He couldn’t see the back table given the movement of people in the room. But he knew where to go.

“I think I’ll join you, if you don’t mind.”

Chapter Four

They made their way through the crowd to a booth in the back near the tiny stage. Chase felt a tug in his chest when he saw the small spotlight shining on the chair and empty music stand. That was his place. That’s where he felt most like himself. But not tonight.

“You were hiding from me,” Tate said when he reached the table where Mary Louise and her aunts were sitting. The smile on Annie’s face collapsed when she saw Chase.

She might not be happy to see him, but he didn’t share that feeling. It surprised him just how much he’d wanted to see Annie again.

They both were a lot older than they’d been when they’d been lovers years ago. Her blonde hair had turned to gray and the long curly locks she used to wear hanging down to the middle of her back were gone. Her hair was short now, making her curls even tighter. Her eyes were still that gray blue that had driven him wild as a young buck and her laugh, well, that had always been his undoing.

But she wasn’t laughing or smiling now. She climbed out of the booth and stalked over to the jukebox before he could utter a word.

“Sorry about that,” Mary Louise said with an embarrassed shrug.

“Why? You didn’t do anything,” Chase said. “It’s good to see you again. And you too, Rita Mae.”

Rita Mae’s smile was tight. “Tate, why don’t you have a seat?”

He would have laughed at the way Rita Mae was blowing him off, but he didn’t want to sit anyway.

“I have to see about a girl,” Chase said.

He didn’t wait to hear Rita Mae’s protest. Instead, Chase made his way through the crowd in the direction where Annie had disappeared. He found her over by the jukebox looking at the songs. She gave no indication that she’d heard his approach. However, when he was finally standing behind her, she glanced up at him and didn’t seem surprised at all that he’d followed her.

“Find anything good?”

“What are you doing here?” she asked. Gone was the anger she’d had last week at the barbeque when they’d talked briefly.

“Same thing you are. Looking for a dance partner.”

She laughed cynically. “You flatter yourself.”

“You’re as beautiful as you were before I left for Nashville.”

He’d meant the compliment, but her stricken expression made him question voicing his thoughts out loud to her.

“Don’t say things you don’t mean.”

“Since when have I not meant that?”

“I wouldn’t know. It’s been a long time and I’m sure a whole lot of women between then and now.”

One of the things Chase had always loved about Annie was that despite the fact that he dwarfed her small stature, she had a spitfire personality that hadn’t changed over the years. She turned to walk around him but he caught her by the arm. She glanced at his hand but didn’t pull away.

“There’s never been anyone like you, Annie. I wouldn’t lie about something like that.”

Her bottom lip trembled. Chase longed to brush his thumb across it and then follow with a kiss.

“Don’t do that,” she whispered.

“Do what? I have no illusion that I can change the past. But I don’t want you thinking I left here for something that wasn’t true. It wasn’t other women. I’m not going to say that I was a saint because I’d be lying.”

“I don’t want to hear it,” she said, shifting her feet and looking away.

“Don’t do that.”

“You have no right to tell me what to do. You’re the one who left me.”

“You didn’t stop me. You told me to go.”

She paused for a second and then took a deep breath. “Yes, I did. I didn’t want you to resent me for wanting you to stay.”

“I could never resent you.”

She shook her head and her curls bounced, making her look like a young woman again.

“You say that now. But I know what it’s like to give up on dreams. I did that, remember? If my parents hadn’t died the way they did and Rita Mae…well, I probably would have stayed in New York and…”

He finished her sentence for her. “We never would have fallen in love. I hope that’s not something you regret. Because I don’t.”

The song that Annie had chosen on the jukebox started to play. It was an old Temptations song they used to dance to. By the look on her face, she was lost in that memory.

“I don’t want to talk about this, Chase.”

“Dance with me.”

Her eyes widened. “Here?”

He took her by her hands and started swinging to the music. “Why not?”

“Are you crazy?”

“Yes. But that’s beside the point.”

She straightened her back and pulled her hands from his. “I don’t want to dance. I have to go.”

She took off through the crowd and Chase didn’t follow her. It was just as well. The music was being eclipsed by the noise in the room and wasn’t having the healing effect it always had. Dancing was good therapy for Parkinson’s patients. But he wasn’t thinking about therapy. He was thinking of his Annie being in his arms.

But not in the condition he was in now. As the moments went on, he felt the trembling in his left leg and his hands increase. When he danced with Annie again, if he ever had that pleasure to dance with her again, he didn’t want her to see a broken down old man. He wanted her to see him like he saw her. Young and full of life. Beautiful.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and slowly made his way through the bar.

“Uncle Chase?” Tate called out to him. But Chase ignored him. He kept walking because as much as noise and confusion and music had been part of his whole life, both here and in Nashville, he could feel the man he was slipping away.

* * * *

“You’re here bright and early this morning,” Hedda Garten said as Marylee and her beautiful granddaughter Brittany walked into the flower shop. “Are you here for a special occasion or just for a splash of color in the house?”

Marylee’s trip to the flower shop had been for a reason, but it hadn’t been for the sole purpose of purchasing flowers. Ever since the disastrous events on the square, Brittany had been in need of some attention. The humiliation caused by the scandal of having her best friend and her father’s affair front and center on everyone’s mind made her cling to her relationship with Marcus Alvarez. It was high time Marylee intervened. Enough was enough, and Brittany could certainly do better. She was a Rush, after all.

 While at Probst Pharmacy the other day, she’d heard from Kristin Douglas that Hedda Garten’s great-grandson and a handsome young friend were visiting Storm. It was just the distraction Brittany needed.

“Every house needs some daisies. Don’t you think, Brittany?”

Brittany looked around the shop but seemed uninterested in anything Marylee had to say.

“Brittany? Did you find anything, dear?”

“I don’t know what you want, Grams.”

“You have an opinion about so many other things, just give me your opinion on which flowers to choose.”

“I ordered some new exotic flowers and had my great-grandson pick them up from the flower market this morning,” Hedda said. “He’s in the back room unpacking them with his friend Scott now. Would you like to see those?”

“Oh, do ask them to bring the flowers out here. I’d heard your great-grandson was visiting. I’d love to meet him,” Marylee said.

Brittany rolled her eyes and went to the cooler where Hedda kept the ready-made arrangements. Hedda went into the back room. Marylee could hear talking, but couldn’t make out the words. A few minutes later, two young men came out front. Each of them held a box of flowers.

“Marylee. Brittany. You both know my great-grandson, Max, and his friend Scott Wallace. Don’t you?”

Marylee looked at both of the boys. They both looked to be about the same age as Brittany.

“Yes, we do. Max and I went to college together,” Brittany said.

“Hello, ma’am,” Max said.

Brittany smiled. “Max, why didn’t you text me you were coming to town?”

“Just got here. I let Ginny know. I thought for sure she would have told you.”

Marylee cleared her throat. “I do believe we might have met at Jacob Salt’s funeral? Is that right? I’d forgotten you were Jacob’s roommate.” Marylee pushed aside her disappointment; after all, there was still another young man. And that meant another chance of distracting Brittany.

“I haven’t had a chance to see Ginny yet,” Max said to Brittany. “How is she doing?”

Brittany blanched. “She’s fine, I guess. We don’t really talk much anymore.”

Max had the good sense to look embarrassed. Anger filled Marylee. Did that girl know everyone on the planet?

“What about you, Scott?” she asked, before the conversation strayed too far. “Do you go to UT, too?”

Scott shook his head. “I grew up with Max. But I go to A&M.”