Good Time Bad Boy (7 page)

Wade choked on his tea. “Look, I get you’re in a bind. Family, man.” He shrugged. “What can you do?”

“Me, I try to go fishing every chance I get.” Randy let loose with a gusty laugh.

Wade joined in, even though he wasn’t really feeling it. “The thing is, this is my fault. If I’d behaved myself, she never would have gotten fired. What should have happened is, he should have thrown me out and told me not to come back. At least made me apologize.”

Randy stabbed that finger in the air at Wade. “That’s for damn sure what would have happened if I’d been here. It’s one thing for people to talk a little mess, flirt and whatnot, but I don’t let my girls get harassed. They know they don’t have to take that shit off customers when I’m around.” He leaned forward and poked Wade in the chest, hard. “What the hell were you doing putting your hands on a waitress, anyway? You know better.”

Wade lowered his head in shame, and he didn’t have to fake it. “I had too much to drink. Things have been kind of rough for me lately. But that’s no excuse and I owe this girl an apology.”

“Her name’s Daisy, and damn right you ought to apologize.”

Wade straightened in his seat and met Randy’s gaze. “But what I’d really like to do even more than apologize is get Daisy her job back.”

Randy sighed, the sound loud and billowy, a cloud of exasperation.

“We go back a long way, Randy. I got my start here. I sure wouldn’t mind doing a show or two on that little stage again.” He could practically see the numbers being added and subtracted in that ledger the old man had for a head.

“Well, one or two shows might be nice but I don’t know if it would be enough to get the ladies off my back.”

“Break it down for me, Randy. How many shows will it take to get Daisy her job back?”

“You got to understand, to justify this at my dinner table I’m going to have to have a guaranteed winner. Things have been slow lately. There’s a new place opened up out at the lake. They got Cajun food and a bigger stage and they been getting some of my weekend business.”

“Cajun food, huh?”

Randy stared at him for a long moment. It gave Wade an uncomfortably graphic image of bait being put on a hook. “I heard you got fired from one of them casinos in Mississippi.”

God damn internet. “We parted ways.”

“So how long you free for?”

Wade stared into his tea glass and gave the ice a shake. He wanted to lie, or just get up and walk out the door. Walking away had gotten easy for him over the years. Too easy. Maybe a little penance would be good for him. He was tired of feeling ashamed of the things that made him walk away, the things that he screwed up and refused to even try to fix. This was something he could fix. He didn’t know this girl, but he did know that she didn’t deserve to lose her job over him getting drunk and losing what little good sense he had.

So he made his decision and it only hurt his pride a little. “As it happens, I’m free all summer.”

Randy continued to watch him, the fingertips of one hand moving restlessly over the surface of his desk. “I won’t put up with you being drunk on stage. If you can handle a beer or two, that’s fine. But you need to mind your limits.”

“Yes, I do. And I can. I know it may not seem like it but I’ve been doing a lot better. It was just...” Wade shook his head, the words drifting away.

Randy softened his tone. “I heard about Kristin. That’s got to bring back a lot of memories.”

Wade swallowed, not sure how to handle the concern in the older man’s voice. “How’d you hear about that?”

“She and your momma keep in touch a little bit. My wife ran into your momma and they talked.”

Holy shit, small towns. Wade took another drink of tea to give himself something to do while his brain spun. “I can play, Randy. I can stay sober and I can play good shows. I can do it all summer.” He placed the glass on the corner of the desk. “I can even do it for free, but I will have to insist on one condition.”

Randy grinned. “I got to hear this. What is it?”

“I will not sing
Empty Rooms
.”

Randy slapped the desk. “Damn it, boy. All the awards that song won, and you won’t sing it? How are people supposed to go for that?”

“They’ll be too busy having a good time to want to hear that one.”

Randy made a pained, disbelieving face.

“That’s the deal,” Wade said. “I play for you for free all summer, every weekend. You give Daisy her job back. I won’t sing
Empty Rooms
and your grandson stays out of my way and out of Daisy’s way.”

“That’s more than one condition.”

“Somebody once taught me how to drive a hard bargain. I haven’t forgotten.”

Randy’s big booming laughter filled the small space. “No, you sure hadn’t.” He offered his hand. “You got yourself a deal, Wade.”

Wade shook his hand.

“Welcome back to Rocky Top,” Randy said.

Wade did his best to smile. Now he was stuck in Brittain all summer long, and he couldn’t even get drunk to ease the pain. That damn waitress had better be grateful.

He wasted as much time as he could with Randy before the old man got wise and kicked him out with strict orders to go see his mother. Bright mid-afternoon sunshine greeted him as he walked out of Rocky Top and headed two blocks over to Tennessee Valley Bank and Trust. The air conditioning in the bank chilled the sweat that had glued his t-shirt to the small of his back. He’d left his hat at the house but wore his aviator sunglasses like a shield. Reluctant to lower that shield, he took them off slowly and hooked them on the front of his shirt.

A teller who’d worked here part time for years called out a greeting. Wade turned on his automatic smile and returned the greeting. “Mom in her office?”

Miss Janine said, “She’s free too, a couple just left. Go on in, she’ll be so excited to see you!” The grandmotherly woman gave him an encouraging smile.

Wade wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d offered him a lollipop. He’d been coming in this bank since he was a little boy and his mother was a teller. Now she was a loan officer with a sizable office. He knocked lightly on the door then pushed it open. “I need to get my truck fixed. Who do I talk to for a loan?”

Marlene Sheppard hopped up from behind her desk and rushed at her eldest son. “Wade!” She enveloped him in a hug that warmed him all the way through. “I’ve been waiting for you to come see me. What took you so long?” There was no accusation in her voice, only love and a hint of exasperation.

“I’m sorry, Momma. You know I get sidetracked easy.”

She broke the hug, took his face in her hands, and gave him a good hard look. He tried not to squirm beneath her probing gaze but failed. His mother didn’t miss much and wasn’t afraid to tell him what she saw.

Today was no exception. “You look awful. Are you sleeping?”

Wade shrugged. “Not always well.”

“You look puffy too, like you’re drinking too much again. Do we need to get you into rehab again?”

“Do you and Becky coordinate your attacks or are you two just sharing some freaky telepathic wavelength or something?”

Marlene swatted his shoulders and stepped away to return to her seat. She waved him into one of the wing chairs in front of her desk. “Becky’s a smart woman. If she’s worried about you, she’s right to be. You’ve been avoiding my calls and emails.”

Wade swallowed a protest. “You’re looking lovely as ever, Momma.”

“Thank you, dear. That’s nice of you to notice. Why have you been avoiding me?”

“I’ve just been busy, that’s all.”

“Busy getting fired? Or getting other people fired?”

“Shit, Momma.”

“Watch your language, boy,” she said good-naturedly. “Chris said he asked you to talk to Randy Tucker. Did you?”

“Yes, ma’am. Right before I came here. We worked things out.”

“Well?” She looked at him expectedly.

Wade gritted his teeth. “I’ll be playing at Rocky Top on the weekends this summer.”

A happy smile lit Marlene’s face. “All summer long?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He figured the less said, the better, since she was clearly in a combative mood. She may have fought with smiles and terms of endearment, but she still drew blood.

“I’m so glad you’ll be home with us. And all summer long, at that. I think it’s for the best for you right now.”

Annoyance rankled under his skin and he forgot his decision to keep his mouth shut. “You know I’m an adult, right? I’m forty-one, not fourteen. I don’t need a caretaker.”

“Any time you feel like acting like an adult, I’m happy to treat you like one.” She softened, concern shadowing her features. “I know Kristin and her husband had another baby. I’m guessing you know it, too.”

Wade leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. “I’m happy for her. I mean that.”

“I know, honey. I am, too. It just made me think, is all.”

They were both quiet for what felt like a long time. Wade stared at his boots and the frayed hem of his jeans. Over the years he’d seen other people’s relationships with their mothers and always been amazed. Polite conversation, the expected back and forth of two people who knew each other well but hadn’t seen each other in a while, the usual questions and the unsurprising answers – that was not how Wade and his mother related to each other. They saved the small talk for the family dinner table and went right to the bleeding heart of the matter when it was just the two of them. That was the reason he’d been avoiding her, and she knew it.

He gathered his courage and spoke. “I’m happy that she’s moved on with her life, and so well. I know she loves this guy, Jed, Jared, whatever.”

Marlene smiled. They both knew that Wade knew his replacement’s name.

Wade continued. “It’s not that I’m jealous, or that I’m still in love with her. I think my problem is that I never figured out how to move on, too.”

“You never stopped running long enough to figure out how to live your life again, honey. You’ve been on the road for so long, playing whatever Becky could get you. I wonder if you remember how to live at all.”

Wade sat back and slapped his knees. “Well, I’m not gonna be on the road this summer.”

A conspiratorial grin took decades off Marlene’s face that already didn’t look old enough to have a son his age. She tapped her desk with a single manicured nail. “You’re coming for dinner tonight.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“There’s a couple of gyms in town that are real nice. At least one of them was built new since the last time you were here.”

“You want me to join a gym?”

“I know where they have an AA meeting at the hospital if you need that.”

“Alcohol’s not my problem, Momma.”

“You’re coming to church with us on Sunday.”

“Damn it, Momma.”

“Watch your language or I’ll insist on Wednesday nights, as well.”

Wade laughed, the feel of it soothing and cleansing, as if something cold and hard that had been stuck inside him finally released. “This is gonna be a great summer. Next thing I know you’ll be trying to set me up with some divorced schoolteacher. Maybe a librarian.”

“Oh, Wade, I may be your mother but even I know better than that.” Her grin widened. “That new gym has a Zumba instructor who might be more your type.”

Wade rose. “That’s my cue to run far, far away.”

Marlene stood and came around the desk to embrace him again. “I’m so glad you’re home, honey.”

She still smelled of the same light floral perfume he recognized from childhood. “Thank you, Momma.”

She eyed him as he strode to the door. “You may not be glad to be home yet, but I’m hoping you will be.”

He paused with his hand on the door knob. “Me too, Momma.”

W
hen Randy Tucker called to offer Daisy her job back, she barely managed to wait ten seconds before answering with a resounding yes. To hell with what her mother thought of her working at a bar, Daisy liked Rocky Top and she liked Randy. So she didn’t get along with Josh very well, so what. For a decent job that didn’t make her feel like something was sucking the life out of her, she could deal with Josh.

What she didn’t count on was having to deal with Wade Sheppard. Apparently this has-been, washed-up country singer, who’d gotten his start at Rocky Top, was now going to play there again on the weekends through the summer. Randy let her keep her original schedule for that week, giving her Tuesday and Wednesday off, so when she came back to open up on Thursday she was greeted by a new poster of the drunk redneck’s smiling face.

Daisy tried to put it out of her mind as she did her prep work. It jumped back to the forefront when he came in carrying a guitar case. He stopped in the middle of the main room, facing the small stage. She watched him as he took off his sunglasses. The cowboy hat was nowhere in evidence. He wore a gray t-shirt and faded jeans with cowboy boots. He didn’t look like a superstar. He looked like a normal guy. An unusually good looking normal guy, but still normal. He also looked nervous, which didn’t make sense. How could he possibly be nervous about playing in a little place like this? If anything, he should have felt it was beneath him, that he was going backward in his career.

She braced herself for major diva attitude and approached him. “There’s an amp and a microphone. Some lights. That’s it.”

Wade continued to stare at the stage. “That much hasn’t changed.”

Daisy rested her hands on her hips. “You and I need to get some things clear.”

“What’s that?” He sounded distracted and still wouldn’t look at her.

“For one thing, you don’t touch me. There’s a lot I’ll put up with working here, but guys putting their hands on me is not one of those things. If you’re gonna be playing here all summer, then we need to get along. So you need to know the ground rules right from the start.”

“Ground rule number one is no touching.”

“That’s right. Once I have a problem with somebody, there’s more rules.”

“Do tell.”

He wouldn’t look at her. Why the hell wouldn’t he look at her? It was basic courtesy to look at someone when they were talking to you. What the hell was this guy’s problem? “No flirting. At all.”

“Uh huh. What else?”