Ask Me to Stay (Honky Tonk Angels #4) (9 page)

“Oh shoot.” Callie realized her mistake when Jayce pulled up in front of the Sweets’ home.

“What?”

“I forgot to get Lily’s car-seat out of my car.”

“No problem. Give me your keys and I’ll run back to the bar and get it. I’ll be back by the time you’ve gotten Lily up and are ready to ride.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. Keys.” He held out his hand.

Callie fished her keys out of her bag, place them in his hand and, on impulse, leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you.”

“I’ll be back in a shake.”

“Okay.” She got out of the truck. Jayce pulled away from the curb as she started up the sidewalk. There were still lights on in the house, upstairs and downstairs, but Callie still tapped lightly on the door.

Stella opened it. “Callie, hi. Come in. How did it go tonight? Was the karaoke a success?”

“It was still going on when I left. I hope Lily didn’t give anyone any trouble.”

“Lord no. She’s such a doll. KC has her in the living room watching TV. Come on back.”

Callie followed Stella to the back of the house. Sure enough, Lily was snuggled up on the sofa with KC. “There’s my sweet girl,” Callie said.

Lily looked up and smiled. “My mommy back.”

She scampered off the couch and ran to Callie. As Callie scooped her up, KC rose. “Were you a good girl for KC and Mrs. Stella?” Callie asked.

“My good.” Lily nodded.

Callie looked at KC and KC grinned. “She’s always good. But she didn’t eat much and she wasn’t as energetic. Maybe that’s normal, I just wanted to let you know.”

“Thank you, KC. I so appreciate you taking such good care of her.” Callie dug out her billfold and paid KC.

“Thanks.” KC walked over to give Lily a kiss on the cheek. “See you soon Lily.”

“My be back.”

“I sure hope so.”

“Okay, let’s get your stuff together, Miss Lily.” Callie spotted Lily’s bag and knelt to pick it up.

“I think everything’s in there,” KC told her.

“Okay, great. Thanks again. And thank you, Mrs. Stella, for letting KC babysit for me. I hope it’s not an inconvenience.”

“Not at all. In fact, we all look forward to it. Even Billy. She’s taken to sitting on his lap while he watches the weather report and he gets such a kick out of it. Makes us miss having little ones in the house.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll have a house full of grandchildren one day.”

“At the rate my girls are going, I’m not so sure.”

“Yeah, I’ll be the first one married with kids,” KC said and laughed.

“Hush your mouth,” Stella said without any heat to the words.

“You never know,” Callie said. “Okay, well let us get out of your hair. Thank you all again. Say bye bye, Lily.”

“Bye bye.” Lily waved, then blew a kiss to KC and one to Stella. “My wubs you.”

“We love you, sugar,” Stella said and walked Callie out. Jayce was just pulling up in front of the house when Stella opened the door. She waved when Jayce called out a greeting then smiled at Callie. “Ya’ll be safe going home.”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”

Callie hurried to Jayce’s truck. Since he had a double cab, he’d put Lily’s seat in the back. Callie got her all strapped in, then climbed into the front seat.

“Ready to go home, Lily Belle?” Jayce looked back at Lily.

“My go home.”

“Well, all righty then. Here we go.”

For the first few minutes, there was silence. As they left town and headed for Cody’s ranch, Callie looked back at Lily. She was sound asleep.

“She must’ve been tuckered out,” Jayce commented.

“She normally falls asleep by eight. When she’s with KC she’s just so excited to be with
her girl
that she fights to stay awake.”

“Her girl?”

“Yes.” Callie smiled. “She calls KC ‘my girl’. We’re working on the word friend.”

“She’s a really beautiful girl. Almost as beautiful as her mama.”

“Why Jayce Weathers, you smooth talker.”

Jayce chuckled. “It’s not a line, just the facts. And honey, when you were up on that stage…” He shook his head and blew out a breath. “Damn, that was something.”

“Thanks, but I told you, I’m a good mimic.”

“No, don’t pass it off like that, Callie. I’m serious. You’re amazing. That whole place went silent and people couldn’t take their eyes off you. It was…well, it was amazing. A voice like that doesn’t happen often, but you have it. I’m surprised someone didn’t offer you a contract when you were in Nashville.”

“I guess it just wasn’t in the cards.”

“Well, selfishly, right now I’m a little glad.”

“Oh?”

“Well yeah. If you were a big singing star, you’d never have come to Cotton Creek.”

“You have a point. I just hope the thing tonight does as well as Hannah and Cody hoped.”

“You’re getting to be pretty tight with them, aren’t you?”

“They’ve been so good to me. And to Lily. Like Cody letting me stay at her place and them giving me a job. And then Stella and Billy letting KC babysit for me and introducing me to Mrs. Branch. You know Billy even paid the first week of Callie’s daycare for me? Honest to god, it made me cry. They’re such wonderful people.”

Jayce reached over and took her hand. “You talk like someone who hasn’t had a lot of kindness in her life.” Callie tensed at the comment and he must have felt it. “Honey, I’m not trying to pry and you don’t have to tell me anything about yourself or your life that you don’t want to. I’m just making an observation.”

She felt ashamed at her own reaction. “It’s not that I haven’t had people in my life who were kind. My parents were wonderful. My dad was the kind of man that would take half the groceries we bought to a neighbor who didn’t have any, or go without a new pair of shoes when his had holes because a kid in the neighborhood didn’t have a coat. He was a good man and always kind. So was my mother. I can’t count the number of meals she fixed for people who were sick or down on their luck, or all the cans of vegetables she’d put up every summer and take around to folks who were in need. They were good people and I was lucky to have them as my parents.”

“Yes, you were.”

Both of them fell silent for the rest of the drive. Callie thought about the evening. About singing on stage and how much she enjoyed it. About Riley Morgan asking her to join his band. And about the kiss. The. Kiss. She couldn’t stop thinking about that. It popped up between every other thought.

When they reached the ranch house, Jayce carried in Lily’s bag while Callie took her upstairs.

Lily never blinked as Callie changed her into her pajamas and tucked her into the bed.

When Callie went back downstairs, Jayce was sitting on the sofa.

“Want something to drink?” Callie asked.

“No, I’m good. Come on over here and sit down with me.”

Callie took a seat beside him and he pulled her closer. “Can I ask you something?” she asked.

“Sure, what?”

“Tell me about your family.”

“What about them?”

“Well, I know who your father is. I’ve met him a couple of times and he seems like a really nice man. But what about your mother?”

Jayce shrugged. “She’s a nice woman, but wasn’t happy with my father or life on a ranch so she left. She’s happy with her life now, so that’s good.”

“Do you see her much?”

“No, actually not at all. I was pretty young when she left—not quite six—so I don’t have a lot of memories of her.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I had dad and all my brothers so I never felt denied.”

“I hope you won’t get mad, but I heard about the show Jo did on your family and about that curse. Do you really think that’s why all your family ended up divorced?”

“Heck if I know. To be honest, we didn’t know all the details about the curse. Jo found out when she did the shows on the Nash family in North Carolina. They’re Dad’s nephews. Anyway, they’d discovered the details and knew the curse stemmed from the 1800s. It still sounds a little woo-woo to be honest.”

“So you don’t believe it?”

Jayce shrugged.  “I just know that until JD hooked up with Jo, none of us seemed to have much luck with getting women to stick around.”

“Well, I guess it’s like Jo said. That curse got blasted to smithereens.”

“It sure would be nice to think so.”

“Do you miss being married?”

Jayce’s eyebrows rose. “To Nathalie? No, honestly I can’t say that I do. I mean, I thought we were in love when we got married but it went south the minute she found out she was pregnant. But I’m honest enough to admit that I like the idea of having a family. I mean, I have Carson and it’s not that we’re unhappy, but it would be nice to have a wife and maybe more kids – a home that’s full and rowdy and full of laughter.”

“That does sound nice.”

“So you want to have more kids?”

“I don’t know..”

“Because Lily’s dad was a mistake?”

“Yes.”

Jayce looped his arm around her and pulled her against him. “I don’t want to upset you, but did he go to jail? For what he did?”

Callie was relieved that she didn’t freak out over the question. In fact, she found herself wanting to be open and honest. “Yes, I made sure of that.”

“You did? How?”

“Once I was conscious, I gave a full statement. The police found him and charged him with murder, attempted murder and arson.”

“Attempted murder? I thought you said—”

“He killed my mother. Yes. Then he shot me, left me for dead and tried to burn the house down with me and our child in it.”

She could tell from the tightening of his jaw that her statement hit a nerve. She wasn’t surprised. “I hope he rots there for what he did to you and your family.”

“So do I.” She squeezed his hand. “God, I can’t believe I just told you that. I haven’t told anyone what happened.”

“No one? Not even Cody?”

Callie shook her head and looked away. Jayce tugged on her hand. “Why did you tell me?”

That was the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question, and one she hadn’t realized she had an answer for. Callie turned to look at him. “Because I trust you. You saw me that day – when I freaked out. You held me and made me feel safe and then you didn’t run the next time you saw me. You’re here, right now and you didn’t hold it against me.”

“Callie. Honey, why would I?

“Well, it wasn’t pretty. That’s for sure.”

“But it’s nothing to be ashamed of. What happened to you was horrible and there are bound to be scars.”

“You have no idea.”

“Mommy!” A wail from the stairs had Callie and Jayce both jumping up. Lily pounded down the stairs, still bawling.

Callie picked her up before she reached the bottom step. “Hey, punkin. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

“My skeered no see you.”

“It’s okay, baby.” Callie hugged Lily to her and returned to the couch. Jayce reclaimed his place as well. Lily turned in Callie’s arms and saw Jayce.

“My sit you.” She wiggled off Callie’s lap and onto Jayce’s.

“All righty.” Jayce pulled her up against his chest and wrapped his arms around her. “I got’cha, pretty baby.”

Talk about something plucking at her heartstrings. Seeing Jayce holding Lily, with Lily’s head on his shoulder had something inside her turning to total mush. It also slapped her in the face. Callie had grown up with a father, a dad who had held her as a child, one she ran to whenever she was scared or happy, mad or excited. He had been there for her – to scold her or hold her, based upon what was needed. She’d had that.

Lily didn’t, and maybe never would.

That broke her heart.

Jayce smiled at her as he rubbed Lily’s back. Callie returned the smile. “She’s already asleep. Why don’t I take her back upstairs?”

“Sure.”

The moment Callie tried to take Lily from Jayce, Lily cried out and fought. “No, Mommy. My want Ace.”

Callie looked at Jayce and he grinned. “How about this?” he asked and stood with Lily in his arms. “Let’s both take her upstairs.”

“Okay.”

“Then lead the way, mama.”

Jayce followed her upstairs. He sat on the edge of the bed, then laid back, dangling his feet off the side and letting Lily lay on his chest. “Come on, mama. Snuggle up.”

Callie climbed onto the bed, snuggled up against Jayce’s side and put her hand on Lily’s back. “This better, Lily?”

“My go night night. My Ace go night night. My wubs Mommy.”

“I love you punkin.”

“My wubs Ace.”

“I love you too, Lily Belle.” Jayce kissed the top of her head and covered Callie’s hand with his.

Callie couldn’t speak and didn’t want to. Right now, she just wanted to live in this moment. To see her child, the person she loved most in the world feeling safe and protected with a man she wished she could have in her life every day. It was one of the nicest fantasies ever and she wanted nothing more than to indulge in it.