TWELVE
Adam could not believe where he stood and what he was doing. Joey wore a black, witchy dress that felt soft under his hands. He moved them into her hair, which felt like silk gliding along his fingers, and his whole body sighed as he finally relaxed in a way that he never had before.
He couldn’t believe he’d kissed her, and now he couldn’t stop. He’d been pulled under, and yet somehow, he could still breathe.
A noise sounded behind him—it could have been a mug breaking or a chair squeaking—and Adam became aware of it. That got him to pull away. He dropped his hands back to his side and backed up a step, his chest impossibly tight.
He drew in a breath and then another, trying to find the center of himself again—the man who didn’t panic in asnowstorm, who hadn’t walked into his non-girlfriend’s mother’s house and kissed her within the first ten seconds.
Joey reached up and touched her fingertips to her lips gently. Then, someone said, “Joey,” from behind her.
Adam turned toward the woman’s voice, hoping with everything he had that Joey hadn’t been wearing lip gloss. If she had, he certainly would be. He met a similar pair of blue eyes as hers, instant recognition flashing through him.
“You must be Joey’s mother,” he said, striding toward her. In a small space, it only took two steps, and he reached out and grabbed her hand. “Thank you so much for letting me stay here. It iscrazyout there.”
Joey moved to his side. “Momma, this is Adam Harmon,” she said. “He’s Daddy’s band manager.” She looked up at Adam, and he glanced down at her superficially.
“Oh, sure,” her mother said. “I heard your daddy was getting a new manager.” She smiled at Adam and gestured at him to follow her into the kitchen. “Do you want something to drink? Coffee, tea, hot chocolate?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Adam said. “It’s freezing out there.” He followed her into the kitchen, putting more distance between him and Joey, somehow needing it.
“Lauren, come sit down,” another woman said.
“This is my mother,” Lauren said. She sighed as she sank into a recliner in the dining room. “I’m afraid I have worn myself to the bone today, but you can make yourself anything you want in the kitchen.” She indicated the kettlesitting on the stovetop, as well as the coffee pot, which had brew in it.
“I’ll help Joey make up the couch,” her mother said, and she flashed a smile at Adam as she left the kitchen. He watched Joey go down the hall after her grandmother, and part of him really wanted her to come back. He felt somewhat thrown to the wolves, and he didn’t even know why. He’d walked away from her only a moment ago.
“I’ll just have coffee.” He started opening cupboards to find the mugs, thankfully locating them on the third try.
“Sugar is in the cupboard next to the microwave,” Lauren said. “And there’s cream in the fridge.”
“Thank you.” Adam calmed as he spooned in two tablespoons of sugar and stirred everything together. The dining room table only held two chairs, and the remnants of dinner sat on the stovetop, and he took a sip of his coffee and smiled over to Lauren. “How long have you lived here?”
“I moved here right after Otis and I got divorced,” she said thoughtfully. “So about fifteen years now.”
Adam nodded, a lump in his throat that the half coffee did not push down. “I can clean this up,” he said, and he turned around to start putting aluminum foil over the chicken pot pies on the stove.
“Oh, Joey will do it,” Lauren said, and that only made Adam press his teeth together tighter.
“What about you?” she asked. “Where do you live?”
“I’ve got a place in Coral Canyon right now.” He ripped off a piece of aluminum foil. “But I’m looking for new houses. That’s why I was up here in Dog Valley.”
“I imagine you’ll be in town for a while, then,” Lauren said. “Now that you’re managing Country Quad.”
“Yes,” Adam said. “At least a few years.”
And if he bought the house he wanted, he’d only live a few blocks away from Joey’s mother. He wondered if that would be a strike against him, and his face flushed as he remembered the kissing incident from only moments ago.
He heard Joey and her grandmother talking in quiet voices in the other room, so when he finished up with putting away their dinner, he took his mug and went to see what he could do to help.
“This will have to do,” Joey said when she saw him. He took in the twin sheet she’d fitted around the couch cushions, the four pillows, and the enormously puffy blanket.
“This looks like plenty,” he said. “I’m probably gonna sweat to death out here.”
“Oh, you won’t.” She patted his arm as she moved past him to take a pillow back down the hall. “My mom keeps the house really cold.”
“We’ll be lucky if we keep the power for much longer,” her grandmother said.
