“None of these.” She waggled her phone in herhand. “Closed set. Phones at the door. No public evidence of the show…andnocommunication to Sloane about it. Our show. Our terms.”
“Done,” Ash replied without hesitation. “Ourshow.Ourterms.”
Chapter 23
At ten that night, Willow and Ash stood just behind Midtown Tavern’s swinging kitchen door. They decided that a late-night set would work best since families often came in during the earlier evening hours when the kitchen was still open.
“I know your music is kid-friendly enough,” she’d told him. “But they might not be the most willing audience if they have to hand over their electronic devices to yours truly.”
So they waited now as Casey walked out with an empty milk crate that would soon be packed with cell phones and tablets.
Willow wanted to be at peace with the fact that any sort of connection to Ash Murphy meant a connection to a very vocal public. Logically, she knew that what strangers said didn’t matter. But she was made of more than that. Sometimes the mind outweighed the heart, but sometimes the heart made you forget that logic even existed. Tonight she’d settle for home-field advantage…or, in Ash’s case, hometown.
“If there’s one thing I can promise you,” Casey assured her. “It’s that Meadow Valley takes careof its own. The surrendering of devices is only a formality.”
Ash grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, pulling her back to the moment. “You okay?” he asked. “Say the word, and we can run out the back door just as easily as we came in.”
She smiled. “I’m good,” she assured him. She even picked up her loosely sneakered foot and wiggled it in the air. “Even standing on my own two feet!”Afterstaying off of it for the rest of the day after their ride to the clearing. Rest and pain medication at regular intervals had done the trick enough that she could stand while she played or perch on one of the two stools Casey and Boone set up for their performance.
She squeezed his hand back, this man she fell for years ago. This morning everything about him had seemed so complicated. But tonight, when he smiled at her from the kitchen of a small-town bar, he just looked like a guy with a guitar about to do the thing he loved.
“Thank you for your cooperation with the devices!” they heard Casey call out to the crowd. “We have something very special in store for you all tonight. While he’s been keeping a low profile on his family’s ranch, I know some of y’all might have seen a certain Murphy brother around town these past few weeks.”
“We see Eli Murphy every day!” a man’s voicecalled in reply. “That’s nothing new!”
Ash shook his head and chuckled as laughter bubbled up from the tavern patrons. “Once an asshole, always an asshole, huh, Boone?”
Even when they were separated by a door, Ash’s brothers brought a smile to his face that Willow hadn’t seen before their time in Meadow Valley.
“NotEli, darlin’, but let’s give it up for my husband, the dad-joke comedian!”
Ruefulooohsfollowed Casey’s remark, which only made Ash’s smile grow.
But the anticipation was building. Willow’s pulse quickened. This was always the part where she was the most nervous, right before the audience knew she was heading out onstage. Everything after was cake, and shereallywanted to get to the cake.
“Should we put her out of her misery?” Ash asked, and while he was referring to Casey, Willow understood.
Either he could feel her hand go clammy in his, or he just knew that she needed to burst through the door—to rip off the bandage—now.
She nodded, and without another second of hesitation, Ash pushed the door open and nodded for her to take the lead. But this washistown, and she wanted him to get the welcome he deserved… One that maybe didn’t involve blunt objects being aimed at his head.
“You go first,” she told him. “I’m right behindyou.” He hesitated for a moment, but she shooed him forward. “This isyourhomecoming, Murphy. Go get it.”
He answered her with a swift nod and pressed his palm to the door, but when she loosened her grip on his other hand, he only squeezed her tighter.
“Oh, no you don’t, Morgan,” he told her. “This isourentrance.”
Ash might have been the one to stride through the door first, but he made no move toward their makeshift stage until she was standing beside him.
Whistles and hollers erupted from the crowd, and Casey spun to see that her time as emcee had just ended prematurely.
Sorry!Willow mouthed, but Casey answered her with a beaming smile.
“Well, folks!” she called over the din. “I should have known he’d upstage me. Let’s welcome—well, I guess you already are—Ash Murphy and Willow Morgan!”
Colt and Jenna flew up and out of their seats. Eli, Beth, and Boone followed as Casey joined the group at a table right in front of two wooden stools and two mic stands, otherwise known as the stage.
Ash started playing before they’d even made it to the mics, and Willow waited for recognition and then reaction. The credit went to Jenna who yelped with laughter and backhanded an unsuspecting Colt on the shoulder right as he was about to takea sip of his beer.
