Pecan Pie and Deadly Lies (An Adams Grove Novel) (6 page)

“I’m not saying anything,” Pete said, then mumbled, “but you can’t call her from in here? Just sayin’.”

“I heard that.” Cody closed the door behind him and dialed Kasey.
Why do I feel so anxious about calling her?
Just as he got ready to hang up, she answered.

“Me again,” he said.

“Hey there. What’s up?”

She sounded happy to hear from him, but then she always sounded like that. “So, looks like we’re going to have a little more time between our last show and when we have to be in Dallas.”

“I bet you’re rescheduling the Virginia Beach dates. I was just talking to Riley and she said it’s a mess down there.”

“We’re just a little over an hour north of you. Still up for some company?”

“Absolutely. There’s plenty of room.”

“Jake settling into his routines at school?”

“We’ve got three days under our belts and we’ve both survived,” Kasey said with a soft giggle. “Thanks for asking.”

“Awesome. Then I guess we’re heading your way.”

“Hey? Cody?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not doing this because I sounded like I was losing it on the phone before, are you?”

Maybe a little, but the act of God helped with a good excuse.
“Of course not, and I promise we’ll stay out of your hair.”

“I’d love you to be in my hair… around. You know what I mean. It’ll be nice to see you, and if you’re going to be stranded, you may as well be with friends. It’ll be more fun that way.”

It would be way more fun stranded with you alone, and I sure wouldn’t want my band around if that were the case.

He hung up the phone then yelled out to Pete. “We’re on for Adams Grove.”

“Great. I’ll let my parents know I’ll be there sooner than I’d planned.”

Cody stretched up to check his look in the mirror across the room.
No silly-ass grin for Pete to make fun of. But damn if I don’t feel like I’m wearing one.

He walked back out to the living area and grabbed his guitar. When Pete got off the phone with his parents he updated the driver and then called back to the second bus to give them the update on the itinerary change.

“All set,” Pete said.

When the tour bus turned down Nickel Creek Road, Cody got up and stood next to the driver.

“Not sure how much room you’ll have to turn into the driveway,” Cody said.

The driver laughed. “Now you’re worried? Trust me, it can’t be as tight as some of the parking lots of those joints the past couple of weeks. It’ll be fine.”

He was right. The driver swung wide and pulled into the paved driveway with room to spare. The crew bus followed his lead with the trailer in tow. The two forty-five-foot buses and the equipment trailer filled the better part of the length of the driveway.

Jake and Kasey came out of the house as the bus door opened and Cody stepped out.

Kasey was carrying her camera.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her without that in her hand. I wonder if she sleeps with it too.

She met him halfway and gave him a hug. “It’s so good to see you again.”

He gave her a friendly kiss on the cheek. “You too. You look beautiful.” And that didn’t begin to describe it. “Y’all really didn’t get much weather up this way, did you?”

“Just a little rain.”

Jake tugged at the hem of his mom’s shirt. “Did you really ride around on that big bus?”

“Hey, sport,” Cody said. “Not this bus, but one just like it.”

Kasey gave him a funny look.

“It’s a new bus,” Cody explained.

“I thought the other one was brand-new.”

“It was a couple years old. We put a lot of miles on them in a year. I trade them up every couple of years.”

“That’s so cool, Mom.”

“It was fun,” Kasey said.

Cody added, “She’s been on my plane too.”

“The same airplane I was on with you?”

“The very same one.”

“I love that airplane,” Jake said, then turned to his mom. “Can we get an airplane someday?”

“Maybe when you’re all grown up you can buy one.” Kasey lifted her camera.

“Pose,” Jake said, putting on his biggest grin. Cody smiled that celebrity smile that he was known for.

She lowered the camera. “That’s not the good smile, Cody.”

“What?”

Jake said, “You have to think about the happiest thing in your whole life. Then it looks like a real smile.”

Cody laughed and swept Jake into his arms. Kasey snapped the picture.

“Now that’s a smile!” she said.

Cody put Jake down and they fist-bumped. “Does your mom take pictures all the time?”

“That’s my mom,” he said. “Always clickin’.”

“I’m beginning to remember that.”
And a few other things about her.

“Why don’t you tell the guys to come on inside and spread out. I got enough pizza for everyone.”

“You shouldn’t have gone to the trouble,” Cody said. “I could have sent someone out for stuff.”

“It wasn’t any trouble. I just made a phone call and picked them up.”

“We’ll do the dishes,” he said.

“Deal. I might have to get a picture of that,” Kasey said, knowing there’d be none since she’d gotten paper plates, but at least it would appease him.

“Fine by me.” Cody jogged back to the bus and pounded on the side and then walked back to the other one and leaned inside. The guys started filing out of the buses. The bus that pulled the trailer of merchandise and equipment slept twelve, and his trailer had a suite for him and three bunks. One for the driver, one for Pete, and a junk bunk.

By the time Cody walked back to Kasey’s side the guys were saying their hellos and hugging her. It felt like a family reunion and a few of the guys even offered up the latest pictures of their little ones at home. Cody had a sneaking feeling this was what the reception line at a wedding would feel like as he stood holding Jake’s hand next to Kasey. Surprisingly, it felt kind of nice too. He watched her interact with the guys.
She can dish it out. I remember some of those zingers we tossed back and forth.
Funny how he really hadn’t thought about that until just now. Maybe he’d pushed those memories back in his mind since she was off-limits back then.

He wasn’t the type to take advantage of a situation like her recent widowhood, although he sure had been tempted. That attraction was at the “wrong place, wrong time” back then, but Jake was home safe and sound, and it had been over a year since her husband had died. Maybe this year would be different.

He stood at ease for the first time in a long time as he focused on her interactions with the band. Sincere and warm welcomes intertwined. Not planned. Just the real deal. It was a refreshing change from the fake and manipulative world of music.

That restless feeling he’d been saddled with lately ebbed. Maybe it was Kasey. She’d come to him out of the blue and they’d shared an almost immediate bond on that photo shoot. His momma swore she’d been praying for a long-lasting and loving relationship. Momma did have a way with the man upstairs. She’d once told him that she’d prayed a hedge of protection around him, and he was darn certain that’s why his path to success had been unchallenged and free of some of the dark things that happened to others who tried to earn a living in this business.

As the last guy said his hellos and meandered inside, Cody placed his hand on the small of Kasey’s back and guided her toward the house too.

The smell of pizza hit them as soon as they walked in. She had a tub of iced Coronas and Miller Lites, and two pitchers of sweet tea on the counter. Pizzas were stacked five high in three flavors.

“You remembered what’s on the rider?” Cody said.

“I was paying attention.”

Pete walked over to Cody with a slice of pizza in one hand and a beer dangling between his forefinger and thumb. “Look over there, man.”

In a glass shadow box, a fancy one like someone might display a prized football helmet in, there sat the red-licorice-rope cowboy hat Mark, the drummer, had made for Kasey last Christmas. “She kept it.”

Cody tipped his head back and laughed. “No way. Hey, Mark. Come look at this, man.”

“Can’t believe you kept that thing,” Pete said.

“Hey, it was the perfect gift,” Kasey defended Mark. “I loved it. It was way too cool to eat.”

Pete nudged Cody. “After Mark had those licorice whips in his grubby drummer-boy hands for four days making it, I wouldn’t have eaten it either.”

“Can’t say that I’d blame her,” Cody said.

Mark punched Cody in the arm. “Shut up. It was the thought that counts.”

“Just sayin’.” Cody rubbed his arm. The pain wasn’t from the punch but a little pang of jealousy that Kasey had kept the hat Mark had given her from the tour. It was stupid. He knew that. It really was a cool gift. Mark was crafty like that. He was always making stuff out of nothing.

Mark and Pete went back for more pizza. “Need another piece?” Pete asked.

“No. I’m good,” Cody said, trying to remember what he’d given her for Christmas. He couldn’t even remember, but he did remember what she’d given him. A picture collage from the shows they’d played. It was propped up on the second shelf behind his desk.

“I have quite a few souvenirs from the tour,” Kasey admitted. “Speaking of stuff from the tour, have you and Lou spent any more time together?”

Cody shook his head. “Not alone time really. I flew her out to a couple of shows, but I’ve been busy. She’s been busy. It was…” He shrugged. “I don’t know. Fun, I guess.”

“But?”

“There isn’t the spark I expected there to be. It’s good, but not great.”

“What exactly were you expecting?”

He felt stupid and all of a sudden very awkward. “I’m not sure I want to tell you.”

“Try me.”

“I expected to feel like I couldn’t focus on anything but her. Like the rest of the world slid away when I was talking to her.”
Like it is right now as I’m talking to you.
“You think I’m silly, don’t you?”

“No. Not at all. That’s exactly how it was with Nick and me.” Her voice got quiet, and she shook her head. “So, no. I’m not going to call you silly, but y’all already know each other. That changes things a little, I think.”

“You don’t think I’m expecting too much?”

“No. I really don’t, but it’s probably not fair to judge a quick get-together at a concert. I mean, that’s your normal turf, but not most folks’.”

“True. I guess I hadn’t really thought about it that way. I’d been thinking about making a run down to Raleigh to visit her.”

Her eyes brightened. “You totally should. You can use my car.”

“I’ve got my bike in the trailer. I’m prepared.” Cody held up his fingers. “Like a Boy Scout.”

“I don’t know about that whole Boy Scout thing, but I do know that you’re a good man, and she’d be lucky to have you.”

“Don’t let that get around, because the bad boy in me makes a helluva living with that reputation.”

“Your secrets are always safe with me.” She turned and motioned for him to follow her. “Come here. Let me show you something.”

Cody followed her to her office in the back of the house. Light streamed into the space through the windows that lined the back wall. From here you could see the backyard, and out to the vast pastures. He could picture Kasey working while watching Jake play out back from right here. Long work spaces spanned two walls with storage underneath. Rows of neatly stacked colored mat board filled cubbyholes like a rainbow.

“See.” She pointed to the wall.

She’d matted the CD he’d given her with pictures from last year’s tour, one of them together and the picture they’d posted of Jake holding his Bubba Bear. The dark walnut frame accented the jewel-tone mat. “That looks nicer than the one I got for it going platinum,” he said, only half joking.

“Yep. You get to learn how to do it yourself when you take as many pictures as I do.”

“Nice work. I’ll have to get you to mat and frame my stuff from now on. I pay a fortune for framing and it never looks this good.” He stepped closer, smiling at the memories. “That was a good tour.” She’d been a big factor.

“There’s not a day goes by that I don’t reflect on this time in my life and thank God that he led you into my life when he did. You helped me keep my faith through it all. It would have been so much easier to just give up like everybody kept telling me to. But you didn’t. You believed in me, and you gave me strength when I needed it most.”

Cody opened his arms. She leaned into his chest and he tightened his arms around her, holding her… maybe a little too long. He didn’t want to let her go. When she leaned back, he looked into her chocolate brown eyes. Tears threatened to spill. He dropped a kiss on her nose. “You’re okay.”

“You’ve got a lot of love to give, Cody Tuggle.”

“You think?”

“I know.” She nodded, then tugged away and lightened up. “You need to surprise Lou. Go to her. Make the effort. She’ll appreciate it. Spend time with her on her turf. It’ll be different. Trust me.”

Where did that come from? I was thinking about you. Me and you. Not Lou.

“What are you waiting for?”

I’d rather be with you.
He longed to reach out. Touch the curve of her cheek. Run his thumb along her lip.
I’d promise you anything
. He dragged in a breath. Obviously that wasn’t where her head was. “Fine. I’ll give it another shot on her turf. Maybe you’re right.”