Silas Dupree:
Of course. I’ll keep you posted.
“Good news?” Madden asked, watching me. “It must be a girl. Is it Anna?”
“Yeah. Sort of.”
“Sort of?” His brow was cocked like he couldn’t imagine why a “sort of” would make me happy.
“It’s the bestsort ofI’ve had in four years. I’ll take it.”
“All right, then.” He smiled and gassed it again.
CHAPTER 4
anna
Ipushed the button on the trunk of my white CRV, Stella, but it wouldn’t open. “Dag-gone-it,” I muttered. I felt around again, hitting the plastic padding right in the middle. Still nothing.
“You gotta buy a new car.” Brooklyn dropped her duffle on the ground like it might kill her to have to carry it for another second. “This one is falling apart.”
“No it’s not.” I glared. She knew better than to dis Stella like that. She’d been my mom’s car. And Mom had “bequeathed” her to me in her will. I was going to drive Stella until I couldn’t get another mile out of her.
Tally held onto her backpack straps, patiently waiting. “Do you think it’s wise to drive Stella? What if she breaks down?”
I jammed the key into the lock of the trunk, forcing it to open manually. “She won’t. Gramps helped me change the oil last time I was home. And he had the tires rotated, aligned, and balanced.Andhe made sure the mechanic checked everything and topped off all the fluids. We’ll be fine.”
Tally nodded, looking relieved. “Okay. Good.”
The trunk finally opened and we heaved our bags inside. As I was closing the trunk, my phone rang. I pulled it from my purse.
“Hi, Uncle Ford,” I said with a smile.
“Hey, girl,” he said in his sultry country-pop-star voice. He only had one tone these days and this was it. Like if he broke out of character he’d never find his way back. And for the lead singer of Whiskey and Women, country’s hottest, up-and-coming group, the tone was a necessity, according to him. Granny teased him all the time about how he better rein it in if he didn’t want every little old lady in the grocery store to fall head over heels in love. I was more worried about the younger ladies. We’d already had one stalker torment my Uncle Holden. We didn’t need any more psychos. “You guys on your way yet?” he asked.
“Just about.” I walked around to the driver’s side and got in. “You remembered not to tell anyone, right? Didn’t say or text anything that might tip them off?”
Brooklyn’s brow cocked.
I held the phone away from my mouth and whispered to her and Tally, “Uncle Ford.” Tally nodded like I may as well have been talking about some rando passing on the sidewalk. But Brooklyn let out a twitterpated sigh. Good grief. She’d known him for more than a decade. But now that he was rich and famous, suddenly he was “fire.”
“Of course,” Ford chuckled. “What do you take me for? I was the king of bad choices in high school and Granny and Gramps never found out.” I didn’t even know what to make of that statement. His bad choices and mine weren’t even in the same galaxy and I was pretty sure Granny and Gramps had found out about plenty of them. Even if they hadn’t back then, they surely knew about the ones he was making now. The whole world knew. They were all over the news and social media. Let’s just say, Whiskey and Women had been aptly named. And all of us Duprees were fairly sure Uncle Ford was a functioning alcoholic. I could hear a tiny bit of slur in him right now.
I clicked on my seatbelt. “It’s not a bad choice. I’m doing it out of necessity.” I gave him my rote speech. The same one I’d given Brooklyn and Tally when I’d told them I was heading to Knoxville to watch Blue play. Of course, they’d wanted to come. “Jonah isn’t going to ease up until I do.”
“Pfft.” Ford snorted. “Jonah needs a class on how to keep a woman. Tip number one: You don’t send her to see her ex-boyfriend. Especially if he’s the starting quarterback for Knoxville.” Brooklyn swiped up on her phone and connected the car adapter, cueing up the playlist the three of us had painstakingly put together last night.
“M-kay.” I rolled my eyes. Uncle Ford knew how togetwomen. Keeping them was another thing. He said he didn’t want to keep them. He liked moving on, over and over again. But I didn’t know how anyone could live like that. Uncle Holden used to put on the same show. We’d all known he was full of it too. Thankfully Aunt Christy came along and he realized she was a woman worth settling down for. He’d been much happier ever since. I tucked the phone between my ear and my shoulder. “We’ll meet you at the game? Full disguise. I don’t actually want Blue to know I’m there.” Jonah had said I needed to “see” Blue. He hadn’t been specific. I was doing my due diligence. Technically. But if anyone spotted Uncle Ford, we were done for. The whole stadium would know. I just needed to jump this hurdle—clandestinely—and then I’d be back in Jonah’s good graces, and more importantly, his arms.
“Yup. I’ll keep an eye on the Find My Friends app. No worries. I got y’all a hotel room, right next to mine.”
“I’m going to pay you back, Uncle Ford.” I was. I didn’t know how, or when. Those dang ticket prices were outrageous. Seemed to me that the University of Knoxville forgot they were a college team and not a pro team. I didn’t even want to think about the cost of the hotel room. But I’d work all Christmas break for Gramps on the ranch to pay Ford back if I had to. “Just tell me how much.”
He chuckled like I was being silly. Maybe I was. I’m sure he’d made more than triple the cost while he was chatting with me on the phone. “Nah. I’m good. You just worry about getting here safely. No speeding. Well, you can go six over. But no more.” I could practically see his finger wagging. He might be a fancy superstar, but first and foremost, he’d always be my uncle. He’d made that clear many times. “And call me if anything hap?—”
I screamed when someone yanked my door open.
Uncle Ashton.
