Page 18 of Storm Warning
When life gives you lemons, might as well make lemonade.
I advance in their direction. “Mornin’, Miss Daisy.” I bow my hat toward her before glancing at Kaylee. “Angel,” I toss the nickname out, hoping to catch a rise out of her.
“My name isn’t Angel, dumbshit.” Each word passes her lips with distaste, but even with those eyes narrowed on me, I can’t deny that she’s by far the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. Her feisty response makes me smile.
Chuckling, I ignore her insult. “My name ain’t dumbshit, yet here we are.” I watch her frosty pink lips, entranced by what it might feel like to have them all over me, what they might taste like. Daisy laughs, but Kaylee keeps the same smug expression she always does.
“So, Cowboy, your ears must be as big as your ego. We were just talking about you.”
I tear my eyes away from her mouth, surprised by her confession. “Is that so?”
“Yeah, but settle down. We were just talking about the fact that you had sent us to The Red Fern which helped Daisy spot a really good singer. Mr. Sawyer Mason. Is he the friend of yours that you were so eager to have us hear?” She crosses herarms, putting yet another barrier between me and any emotion she carries besides anger.
I choose to ignore it. “Yes, he sure was. Sounds like I didn’t have to tell y’all that though. Seems Miss Daisy here already knew. She told him to tell me hi.” I aim a smile in Daisy’s direction, truly happy that what I did worked and helped her and Sawyer both out, but my eyes find their way back to Kaylee’s.
“It was a good guess,” Daisy says shyly.
Glancing back in Daisy’s direction, I’m reminded that another win for Sawyer would be seeing her again. “Well, it’s lucky I’m running into ya. I was actually goin’ to call Telluride myself if I didn’t see ya tonight.”
“What… I mean... Why’s that?” Daisy sputters off her questions, and I realize what I said may have been taken as if I’m using Daisy for some kind of personal gain.
“Don’t ya worry. No more friends with talents that need agents or any sort of representation.” My tone remains calm and I hope that settles her suspicion, if she has one. “Cowboy’s honor.”
“Great.” Kaylee rolls her eyes so hard, they damn near get stuck.
What the fuck did I do?
“Hmm?” I push a questioning sound, but unfortunately, she doesn’t offer up another snarky response to keep our little game going, which I find surprisingly disappointing. I’ve come to enjoy our verbal sparring matches. She’s like a cat who got its tail stepped on, angry at the surface, but somewhere within is a softness. And I feel drawn to finding out what that side is like.
Daisy’s excitement in Sawyer is all I need as an excuse to dive a little deeper. “I talked Sawyer into goin’ out tonight. Not entirely sure which bar we’re headed to, or if we’ll be headed to a few, but I figured maybe he can sing or he can just sit backand enjoy himself for once. Y’all are welcome to join.” The invitation flows out of me just as easily as another huff flows from Kaylee. “Or not.” I wink at her, giving her one more reason to not only fume over me, but to continue to keep me in their conversation once I’m gone. “See ya, Miss Daisy.”
10
KAYLEE - JUNE 25, 2004
It only makessense that stupid Cowboy Casanova would end up inmyshop today. And even more so, that he would use my best friend’s crush as leverage to get us to go out with them.
I let out a breath, wishing she could see the mistake of having a crush on someone she wants to sign, but question if my inherent pessimism about all men is the reason I feel this way. So instead, I refrain from bringing it up. After all, who am I to say that Sawyer isn’t the one for her or whether or not the entire thing is a good idea? She’s a hopeless romantic, and it’s not her fault I only find hopelessness in it all. I ponder Rhett’s offer for us to meet them out later for drinks as we head toward my house. I’m not interested in his bullshit, but I do think Daisy and I both deserve a bit of fun to celebrate all we have accomplished since we met. After all, how many people get to live their dream or become successful at our age? Half the twenty-three year olds I know can barely wake up before noon.
“You know what? The girl I know came here for an adventure, so let’s give her one.” I’m excited to finally get to show my best friend what it’s like to enjoy a night out in Nashville.Yes, we’ve gone out plenty of times before this, but it’s all been for Daisy’s work, which consists mostly of her stressing over finding the next big country star. The one with the “spark”, as she likes to say. Tonight won’t be like that. Tonight will be about letting loose, enjoying the music, and learning to live a little. Being wild, crazy, and carefree for once in our lives.
Walking up to the steps to my duplex always brings me joy like nothing else. This is the first real home I’ve ever had. Something that is all mine. A sanctuary filled with everything that isme. I grasp the black handle on my hot pink door, jamming the key in before letting it swing all the way open. Tossing my purse onto my navy corduroy sofa, I sit down in front of the mound of magazines that splay across my coffee table.
“I just got this one yesterday. I think it had a best and worst dressed article in it. Let’s see if I have anything that will get us on the right side of that list.” My fingers glide over the magazines and I settle on aTeen Peoplemagazine to toss to Daisy. “Let me know if anything in here catches your eye. I bet I can match just about anything you find, but better.”
“Match?”
I just now realize I’ve never shown Daisy all the clothes I have. “I’ll show you in a minute, just look so we can get ideas.”
We both flip through the pages in silence until I land on a picture of an outfit I like. A black cropped tank with a mini skirt that laces up the front and matching boots. “Everything Christina Aguilera wears is sick, I don’t dislike a single outfit I’ve seen her in.”
“Now that you mention it, you’re kind of like her doppelgänger.” She laughs. “Like, you look so similar it’s scary.”
“Too bad our similarities don’t boil down to our bank accounts,” I tease. “She’s definitely where I got the black and pink hair from and the edge to my look, but most of the stuff Iwear has a little bit of a country element to it. Might as well embrace the city I’m in, right?”
“Are you telling me you own cowboy boots, Kaylee?”
I roll my eyes and laugh. “Of course, I do. Can’t let assholes have claim to things that look way cuter on me. At least, not all the time.”
