Sweet Harmony (12 page)

“Personally, I don’t like my blessings to be in disguise. And when people say that shit, what it really means is that it’s a screwed-up situation and you’re just gonna have to make the best of it. That’s what you’ve got goin’ on here, my friend.”

Jeff closed his eyes and sighed. “You wanna jam over at Big Red?”

“It’s almost eleven.”

“I don’t give a damn what time it is. Give the guys a call. I’m heading over there.”

“Okay.”

“Snake, did I just screw up?”

“Your career or your life?”

“Aren’t they one and the same?” Jeff had wanted success for so long that nothing else seemed to matter. But right now all he was thinking about was the look of anguish on Cat’s face.

After a moment of silence Snake said, “I would say yeah, but I don’t think you’re talking about the music. Jeff, man, I’ve known you for a long-ass time and I’ve never seen you so tied in knots because of a girl. She means a lot to you whether you like it or not. When you admit it, things will suddenly become clearer. Anyway, I’ll make some calls and bring a twelve-pack. See you in a few.”

After Jeff hung up he walked over to the window and looked up at Cat’s cabin. He knew that Snake was right. But he owed it to South Street Riot to go ahead with the plans they’d made. His involvement with Cat was already creating havoc with his life and his career. His happiness wasn’t the only thing at stake. Being nothing more than friends was the smart thing to do—the
right
thing to do. Jeff swallowed hard and shook his head.

Then why didn’t it feel that way?

You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away

“C
AT, YOU’RE EARLY. THIS NEVER HAPPENS,” MARIA SAID, but then frowned when she saw the look on Cat’s face. “Something wrong, sweetie?”

“I can’t do the duet.”

Maria put her reading glasses down and came around to lean against her desk. She folded her arms across her chest. “You can’t be serious. Rick and I are really excited about releasing ‘Second Chances’ as a duet single. It’s not professional to back out of this, Cat, and you know it.”

“I’m sorry, Maria. I . . . I just can’t work with Jeff. We’re like oil and vinegar.”

“I happen to like oil and vinegar. And when mixed together it is actually delicious.”

Cat rolled her eyes. “Okay, we fight like cats and dogs.”

“The fact that you can only come up with tired clichés tells me that”—she grinned—“you’re grasping at straws.”

“Maria, he gave me the whole ‘Let’s be friends’ speech.”

“Ouch.” Maria pressed her lips together in sympathy. During songwriting sessions, she and Cat talked about
everything under the sun, and she was beginning to care for Cat like a daughter.

“Exactly.”

“And this bothers you because you want more than just friendship with Jeff. Am I right?”

“Yes.” Cat closed her eyes and nodded. “I’m not even going to try to hide it from you because you’ve got my number. You and Mia see right through me, so I might as well own up to it.”

“Did you tell Jeff this tiny bit of information?”

Cat raised her hands skyward. “Of course not! I’ve spent a great deal of my life humiliating myself. I’m not adding this to the list. Wait. I already did. Damn!”

“Maybe he needs to know how you feel.”

Cat crossed her arms over her chest. “I will suffer in silence.”

Maria tapped her cheek. “Oh . . . good song title.”

“Why are all of the amazing songs written when you feel like crap?”

Maria looked up at the ceiling and laughed but felt a stab of pain. “I am the poster child for that.”

“Seriously, you’ve suffered for all the years you were separated from Pete? That’s where all those amazing heartbreaking songs came from.” Cat shook her head. “I should have known.”

“Yes.” Maria tapped her chest. “From here. I missed him each and every day.”

“Why didn’t one of you just give in?”

Maria shrugged. “I was waiting for him to come to Nashville and drag me back home where I belonged. But he didn’t. It wasn’t until a health scare last Christmas that I knew I needed to make the move back to Cricket Creek.”

“And so will you get back together?”

Maria shrugged.

“I don’t get it.”

“I think I’ve forgotten how to be happy.” She snapped
her fingers. “Oh . . . lyrics.” She tried to smile but failed. After a moment Maria sighed. “I guess the reason I’m telling you this is that if you allow too much time to pass, it gets more and more difficult to repair the damage.” She shook her head. “I’m in my fifties now. Sand is slipping through the hourglass.”

“So Pete is the love of your life.”

“No doubt.”

Cat sank down onto the smooth leather sofa and looked at her. “But . . . you’re not even trying.”

Maria felt startled at Cat’s statement and her heart thudded. “Dear God,” she whispered and then inhaled a deep breath. “You’re right.”

“Why?”

Maria looked toward the window and then down at her feet—anywhere but at Cat.

“Maria?”

“I guess I’m scared. I’m just so used to clinging to the pain.”

“Well, that’s just silly. I mean, cling to hope instead.”

“It’s not that simple,” Maria felt compelled to argue.

“I think it is.”

“You’re not even thirty yet. How did you get so wise?”

“I’m an old soul.”

A laugh erupted in Maria’s throat. “Well, old soul, then let’s take a pledge, you and I.”

Cat groaned. “Not another pledge! Why doesn’t anyone understand that I just suck at pledges? Okay, hit me with it.”

“Let’s drive Pete and Jeff crazy. Make them come after us.”

“Ah-ha.” Cat nodded slowly. “I really like this plan of action. Go on.”

Maria started warming up to the spontaneous notion. She licked her bottom lip and then said, “Oh, make it subtle, Cat. A touch, a sultry look will get the ball rolling. Men are such simple creatures. Show a little leg, a bit of
cleavage and they are goners. They just need a bit of help now and then.”

“I’ve got the getting-rescued thing down pat.”

Maria chuckled. “Use it. Oh, and play the jealously card, but sparingly.”

Cat grinned. “This feels a little bit wicked.”

Maria laughed hard. “Doesn’t it, though?”

“And takes the whole humiliation factor out of the picture too. Wow, I love this.”

“Cat, trust me. Jeff doesn’t want to be your
friend
.” Maria rolled her eyes. “Come on now.”

“You really think so?”

“Absolutely.”

“Well, since we’re talking about it.” Cat scooted to the edge of the cushion. “Pete adores you, Maria. I’ve seen it in the way he looks at you with a complete puppy dog stare.” Cat demonstrated and Maria laughed.

“Like I said, all the man ever had to do was come after me.”

“Did you ever consider he might have been scared of getting turned away and never mustered up the courage, so he clung to the pain as well. Makes me think of the two of you hanging on to a piece of driftwood out in the middle of the ocean, when all you had to do was hop into the lifeboat.”

Maria chuckled. “Other normal people would think of that analogy as a bit out there, but we’re songwriters and that’s how our minds operate.”

“I wouldn’t know how to be normal if it slapped me across the side of the head.”

Maria angled her head at Cat. “Would you want to be?”

“No,” Cat whispered with a sense of wonder. She blinked at Maria for a moment. “No,” she said with more conviction, and then laughed. “Wow, this is liberating. I always longed to be more like, well, conventional . . . to simply fit in.”

“Cat, the only thing you need to fit in to is your own skin.”

With a whoop Cat jumped up from the couch and held her palm up in the air. “High five.”

Maria smacked Cat’s hand. “Are we gonna do this thing?”

“Yes!”

“It has to be subtle so they don’t catch on.”

“Oh . . . I’m not so good at subtle.”

Maria laughed again. “You know Rick said that along with taking on the role as your manager, I need to be a mentor. But you are teaching me some things, Cat.”

“I hope that’s a good thing.”

“It is.”

“Now what do we do?”

“First we write a song about this whole situation. Then we put our plan into action. You need to make Jeff think you’re buying into the whole friends notion. Then you maybe—oh, I don’t know—brush up against him by accident.” Maria demonstrated and they both dissolved into a fit of laughter.

“I’m likely to knock him over and fail.”

“Well, then, a little lick across your bottom lip. Twirl your hair around your finger. Little feminine things that appear natural, but just watch for the reaction you are going to get.”

“How do I not laugh?”

“Ah, for you that’s going to be hard, but you can do it if you set your mind to it, Cat.” Maria rubbed her hands together. “This is going to be such fun.”

“Think it will work?”

“Oh, yeah. And the beauty of it all is that they’ll never see it coming. Now let’s get to work.” Maria felt as if she had been looking at the world through dense fog that had just lifted. “From now on we’re going to be walking on sunshine.”

“And it feels good!” Cat giggled. “My whole life is related to lyrics. I thought I was the only one.”

“Oh, no. It’s like I have this chip in my brain that scrolls down to a song that’s relating to whatever is going on at the time. For me songs are emotion on the page.”

“I feel ya,” Cat said and smiled. “It’s the same way for me too.”

“What are you thinking? I see a sparkle in those pretty eyes of yours.”

“I’m thinking that I’m so glad that I had the courage to leave Sweetside Records and sign with My Way. It was a tough year but worth it. Cricket Creek is really starting to feel like home.”

Maria felt her eyes mist over. “And I’m so glad that I moved back. Let’s grab our guitars and head outside and sit by the river. The water always gets my muse going.”

“Me too,” Cat agreed.

Maria gave Cat a fierce hug and knew that she must miss her mother. “You’re a lovely young woman, Cat Carson. And if Jeff Greenfield can’t see that, there is something wrong with the boy.” She pulled back and said, “You’re going to go through with the duet, right? I won’t force you and neither will Rick. We don’t call this My Way Records for nothing.”

Cat nodded. “Yes,” she said softly.

“Good, because ‘Second Chances’ is going to be a smash hit.” Maria was rarely wrong about songs and she truly believed that it was going to be another crossover country song that was going to climb up the Top 40 charts too. The only problem was that Jeff might feel he was selling out when that happened. Maria knew that Rick felt the same way she did. Jeff and Cat could become huge if they wanted to combine their efforts and become an official duo. She and Rick had even come up with the name Sweet Harmony. But to achieve superstar status, they would have to give up their solo careers. Cat
would probably be willing to do it. But Jeff? Well, he was another story. But for now all Maria wanted to think about was heading out into the warm sunshine and penning a sweet love song.

To hell with heartbreak.

“Let’s go write a kick-ass song.” Cat gave Maria a fist bump.

“You’re on.”

“And what will we do with the rest of this glorious day of enlightenment?”

Maria raised her eyebrows. “What any red-blooded woman would do. We’re going shopping!”

Cat laughed. “I need to badly. Can we go to Violet’s Vintage Clothing? I’ve heard it’s a really cool shop.”

“Absolutely. Then we’ll go to Designs by Diamante for some unique jewelry. After that we’ll have to get a coffee and Danish at Grammar’s Bakery. No big malls for us. It’s going to be a perfect Cricket Creek day.”

“I’m down with that,” Cat said.

“Good. Let’s do this thing.”

Day Tripper

J
EFF ALL BUT SWALLOWED HIS TONGUE WHEN CAT BENT over to pick up the guitar pick that she’d dropped for the third time in less than fifteen minutes. With every retrieval of the pick, he got a tiny glimpse of the black lace peeking out above her hip, hugging painted-on jeans that flared out at the bottom. Her yellow blouse had flowers embroidered on the puffy sleeves, and she had several colorful bracelets gracing one wrist. Big silver hoop earrings dangled from her earlobes and swung back and forth when she talked. Instead of curls, her long dark hair draped over her shoulder in a simple but somehow oh so sexy braid. Jeff had the impulse to reach over and tug on the braid and then bring the fringy end up to her face and tickle her with it.

And then it hit him.

“You look like . . . a hippie.”

“I know. Isn’t it cool?” Her sweet laughter reminded Jeff of his mother’s wind chimes hanging from the front porch of the farmhouse. The soft, gentle sound always made him smile. “I got these vintage jeans at Violet’s.
They’re bell-bottoms, and this is called a peasant blouse. I sent a picture to my mother, and she said she wore this very same outfit back in the early seventies.” Cat looked down and then tugged it until the material hugged her shoulders, revealing lots of skin. The result was sweet and yet sexy at the same time.

“Are you supposed to do that?” He made a tugging motion with his hands.

“Yeah, but it keeps scooting back up. Violet said it’s supposed to be down on my shoulders like this.” When she wiggled her shoulders, the material slid back up, making her laugh, but she tugged it back into place.

“Oh.”

“Didn’t you hear Colin calling out to you a minute ago?”

“Uh . . .”
No, I was too busy staring at your ass and now I want to run my tongue over your collarbone and up your neck.

“He’s waving his hands at you this time.” Cat tilted her head in Colin’s direction.

“Jeff!” Colin called. “Hey, earth to Jeff! We’ve got to get this sound check done. Pete is going to open the doors soon.”

“I thought you needed to ring the room.”

“I did that,” Colin called back. “Quit being an asshat and get with the program.” He’d agreed to work the sound for them. Even though it was an acoustic set, the sound system still had to be just right.

“You wanna call me that to my face?”

“I just did.”

Jeff cupped his hand by his ear. “Oh, sorry. . . . What did you say?”

“Quit being such an asshat and check the cables. Make sure the mic clips are screwed into the stands while you’re at it.”

“All right!” Jeff grumbled with a good-natured grin. But when he looked at Cat, she was smiling at Colin.
Jeff’s grin faded and he felt an unwanted sharp stab of jealousy.

Cat leaned over and said, “Colin Walker is super cute. No wonder they pack Wine and Diner when he sings.”

Jeff really didn’t like where this was going. Was she going to ask for Colin’s number or something? “And here I thought it was his voice.”

“Oh, the fact that he can sing is just an added bonus.” She snapped her fingers. “Yes! I was trying to think of who Colin looks like and it just occurred to me. Adrian Grenier.”

“Who?”

“The actor who plays Vince Chase on
Entourage
.”

“I’ve never watched it so I don’t have a clue.”

“Oh, well, I’m a huge fan.” She flicked Colin another glance, making Jeff wonder who she was referring to: the actor or Colin? He decided he didn’t want to know. Cat leaned a little closer. “Are you nervous or something?”

Or something.
Jeff wanted to answer, but he was distracted by the sight of her cleavage peeking out over her . . . what was it? Oh, yeah, a peasant blouse. A delicate gold chain with a small heart nestled where he wanted to put his face. “Uh . . . what did you say?”

“Did you suddenly lose your hearing?” She gave him a perplexed look and then licked her bottom lip slowly back and forth. “Or is something wrong?”

Wow, she smelled so good. “I’m just distracted.”

“By what?”

By every move you make.
“Everything.”

“Oh, well, I can sympathize. Welcome to my world.”

“What? Oh . . .” He looked at her because he understood. “That must be tough,” Jeff said and meant it. “My sister, Sara, would get into trouble for things like leaving lights on and the garage door open. She was famous for leaving the tub of ice cream out, letting it melt. Since we only got ice cream as a treat every so often, we would all get really pissed at her.”

“She didn’t mean to do that. Once my attention is on something other than what I’m doing it’s almost impossible to return my focus back to the task at hand. It’s completely frustrating, but that’s how my brain is wired. Losing things is an everyday occurrence.”

“We know that now. We didn’t then. After Sara did it once too often, Mom wouldn’t let her have any the next time we got a gallon of chocolate chip.”

“Oh . . . poor thing. That was pretty harsh.”

“She’d been warned at least a dozen times, but Mom had had enough.”

Cat lifted her chin. “I would have snuck her some.”

“I did,” he said with a smile.

Cat put her hand on his arm. “You’re so sweet.”

“Not really. She had to do my chores the next morning,” Jeff admitted but then his smile faltered. “Had my mother known what was going on, she would have reacted way differently. My parents thought Sara was slacking off in her schoolwork and didn’t care. We didn’t realize that Sara would get sidetracked and forget or that taking a written exam was so difficult for her. Once Mom figured it out she did lots of things to help Sara get organized. Today, if you go into Sara’s house or car, there’s still mass chaos but also sticky notes everywhere to remind her of things she has to do. She has a pegged thing on the wall for keys and now always has a spare of just about everything she’s bound to lose. So I get it, and I sympathize.”

Cat shrugged. “Well, having ADD makes life an adventure, that’s for sure,” she said lightly. She also smiled, but there was a bit of a haunted quality in her eyes that told Jeff that she was glossing over something that had to be difficult to deal with on a daily basis.

“You’re frowning again. I asked if you were nervous. Do you want to do another run-through?” She reached over and put her hand on his thigh for just a second and then tilted her head, making her hoop earrings dangle
sideways. Jeff decided that the soft and sexy hippie style looked good on her but then again anything did as far as he was concerned. “I’m more than willing.” She gave his thigh another little squeeze, but just when he thought she might be coming on to him, she pulled her hand away and adjusted the bangle bracelets. He must be imagining things again.

“No, I’m fine. I’ve played Sully’s a million times,” Jeff answered in a rather grumpy tone.

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

In an empty bed
, Jeff thought, and when he realized he was scowling again, he softened his features. “Seriously, I’m
fine
and dandy. Okay, pretend I didn’t say the dandy part. My dad says that a lot.”

“My dad is fond of saying okeydokey.” She gave his shoulder a gentle shove and then ran her hand lightly down his arm. “I think it’s cute.”

Jeff nodded. “You do?”

“Yes.” She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded. When the full bottom lip popped back out, it remained wet and shiny. “Listen, if you’re still worried about the—you know—pledge, I’m totally down with it. That whole thing about backing out of the duet was just . . . low blood sugar or something. I get like that Snickers commercial when I get hungry and I morph into someone else. No worries.” She smiled, revealing perfect white teeth. “Okay?” She reached over and gave his thigh a tiny squeeze.

Jeff wanted to shout that it wasn’t okay and the friends-only thing was complete stupidity but now that she’d agreed he didn’t know what the hell to do. A little growl of exasperation escaped him and he had to try to disguise it with a cough.

“Jeff, you might not be nervous, but you just seem a little . . . out of sorts, I guess.”

“I didn’t sleep well last night,” Jeff admitted and then wanted to kick himself in the ass. Why had he said that
to her? “I had you on—I mean, a lot on my mind.”
God . . .

“Thinking about the performance tonight, then?”

Thinking about you.
“Yeah, I guess.” If Cat reached over and touched his thigh again, he might grab her and plant a kiss right on that shiny mouth of hers. “I’m not really nervous, though,” he insisted, not wanting her to think he got stage fright. “This isn’t my first rodeo.” Jeff wanted to smack his hand against his face for saying something so lame.

Cat pressed her lips together for a second. “I am.”

“What?”

“A bit nervous.”

“You get stage fright?”

Cat lifted one shoulder and seemed as if she wished she hadn’t revealed this bit of information to him.

“Cat?” he gently prompted.

She swallowed and then said, “It will pretty much be okay here tonight at this smaller venue. It’s . . . well, it’s mostly that I’m afraid of the dark and I get all jittery when the lights dim, but I’m okay when the lights come up.” She nibbled on the inside of her lip and then gave him a little shake of her head. “Silly, huh?”

“No, it’s not silly.” The thought of her standing there afraid and trembling bothered him. He suddenly wanted to reach over and take her hand, bring it to his mouth, and kiss it, but that was going to break the friends only pledge that he’d been stupid enough to initiate, so he gave her a reassuring smile instead. She glanced away as if she regretted revealing her weakness. Jeff understood. Sara had been the same way, using humor and wisecracks to hide her insecurity. But Sara had an entire family to rally around her. Although the farmhouse could often be chaos, Jeff couldn’t imagine being an only child. It must have been lonely for Cat sometimes.

“Colin is gesturing for you to go over to him,” Cat said and then stood up. “I have to go and freshen up before the doors open. He’s looking pretty frantic.”

“He’s such a diva. Okay, I’d better get over there.”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes. Save my seat.”

Jeff chuckled and then watched her walk away, forgetting all about Colin until he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder.

“I finally decided I might as well come over here and check the mics myself.” Colin shook his head and then gave Jeff’s shoulder a shove before letting go. “So does she know how you feel?”

“Who?”

“Come on.” Colin nodded toward the bathroom. “Cat.”

“We took a pledge to remain friends.”

“Are you outta your ever loving mind? A
pledge
? Did you raise your hand and shit? Who does that?”

“It’s a figure of speech.”

“If you say so.”

“Cat’s cool with it.”

“Wait. So you’re the one who came up with
being friends
?” Colin pointed an accusing finger at Jeff.

“Yeah,” Jeff answered glumly. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Now it sucked and he regretted it.

“How? I mean, look at her, for one thing. So she must have been interested for you to come up with this insanity.”

“Colin, we have to work together. Cat and I need to keep our personal lives separate.”

Colin placed his palms on the stool and leaned forward. “You don’t have to make out onstage, you know.”

“Yeah, but there’s more to it than that. I know how the band feels about me doing this with Cat to begin with. Y’all come first. I don’t want how I feel about her to influence my decisions along the way.”

“Wait. How you feel about her? So . . . how do you feel?”

“It was a general question. Hypothetical.” He shoved his fingers through his hair.

“Right, and you are hypothetically full of shit.”

“Really? Well, she just told me how super cute you were and that you look like some actor or something,” he mimicked in a high-pitched voice.

“Adrian Grenier?”

“Yeah, I think,” he said, still in high-pitch mode.

“Are you gonna sing like that? Who are you, Barry Gibb?”

Jeff responded with a shove to Colin’s shoulder. “I was imitating Cat.”

“She doesn’t sound like a Bee Gee.”

Jeff laughed. “Great. Now I have ‘Nights on Broadway’ playing in my head. But she did say you looked like that actor dude.”

“I get that I look like the
Entourage
guy once in a while. It’s the hair.” Colin pointed to his head and chuckled. “I always hated these damned curls. And I get a five o’clock shadow at, like, noon.”

“Apparently chicks dig it.” One chick in particular.

“Do you
not
know what’s going on here?” Colin pushed up from the stool and crossed his arms over his chest. “Seriously, dude.”

“When you say it that way, I guess not. So are you going to clue me in?”

“Jeff, Cat is baiting you and you’re swallowing it hook, line, and sinker.”

“I’m not following.”

“She’s playing an oh so subtle jealousy card. Cat isn’t interested in me, bro. She’s into
you
in case you haven’t noticed. I don’t think she’s buying into the whole ‘just friendship’ thing.”

“Now just how in the hell do you know this? She even told me she was cool with it.”

“I watch. Listen. Jeff, I play happy hour five nights a week at Wine and Diner. I can spot interest a mile away.”

“Really?”

Colin nodded. “I’ve heard every pickup line on the
planet. Tipsy women are hilarious when they talk about men. They don’t hold anything back. And it’s hilarious to see a pickup line epic fail. ‘I wanna live in your socks, so I can be with you every step of the way,’” Colin said in a fake deep voice. “‘I seem to have lost my phone number; can I have yours?’ Oh, and here is a favorite: ‘Your body is sixty-five percent water and, baby, I’m so thirsty.’”

“And those work?”

“Never—well, unless the level of intoxication is pretty high and the beer goggles are on, making for a pretty intense Coyote Ugly in the morning. Jeff, I’ve seen drinks tossed in faces and an occasional slap. But I can spot a look, a stare of baby-I-want-you in an instant. Cat has never even tried to make eye contact with me. And, Jeff, she was all over you.”