Or more like Honky Tonk Hell.
For the last three days, until the wee hours of the morning, she’d been working her fanny off with the Hennessys trying to meet the deadline. The Hennessys had cleaned up the smoke damage, repainted the ceiling in the bar, and replaced the fire-damaged flooring by the kitchen in the days before Tully started helping.
But that still left so much to do.
Once the electrical issues were resolved, they had planned on hiring help to redo the kitchen while they worked on getting the bar ready. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find any framers and drywallers to come out on such short notice. So Tully had learned to frame, drywall, tape, and plaster.
With only four days to go before the deadline, they still weren’t even close to finishing their long to-do list. They needed to paint the kitchen and redo the flooring. Not to mention all the boxes of chairs and tables and glasses that needed to be unboxed and the liquor that needed to be stocked on the shelves behind the bar.
A bar that wasn’t there.
The mahogany bar Tully had ordered was scheduled to arrive today, but she had just received an email. Now she had to give the Hennessys the bad news. She tried to keep a smile on her face as she looked around at all their faces, but it was impossible when her heart was breaking.
“I just got some bad news.”
Jaxon immediately walked over to pull her into his arms. “It’s okay, Tully. Whatever it is, baby, we’ll handle it together.” He kissed her and she melted into his arms for a second . . . before Poppy interrupted.
“I think I just threw up in my mouth. Would you stop mauling her, Jax, and let her get to the bad news?”
Tully drew back and turned to Jaxon’s siblings who looked as tired and beat as she and Jaxon did. “The mahogany bar was lost in shipment.”
Dawson stared at her. “What the hell? How do you lose an entire bar?”
Tully swallowed hard. “I don’t know . . . but we need to come up with a different plan. What about the walnut one you found, Poppy? Could we get it here on time?”
“Maybe. But I thought it wouldn’t be Honky Tonk Heaven without a mahogany bar.”
Tully shrugged and tried not to show her disappointment. “Walnut will be just as?—”
“I can make it.” Huck cut in.
Tully stared at him. “Oh, Huck, that’s so nice, but that’s a pretty big job. We’d still have to order the wood.”
Huck grinned. “No, we wouldn’t. I was out in Daddy’s old woodworking shed the other day and discovered a big piece of mahogany wood. I think Mama bought it for this exact reason. She planned on having someone make another bar top for Honky Tonk Heaven just like the last one.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Dawson asked.
Huck shrugged. “Because we already had a bar ordered.”
Poppy flopped down on a box that held chairs. “But if you’re busying making the bar, then that leaves us with a manpower shortage. I think we need to face facts. There’s no way we’re going to meet the deadline after this set back.”
Dawson joined Poppy on the box. “It’s about time y’all figured that out.”
Tully waited for Huck to jump in with his usual optimistic outlook. But he didn’t. He just jerked his work gloves off and tossed them down before walking out the front door.
She glanced at Jaxon, but all she saw was sad resignation.
Which made it official.
The vote had been taken and majority ruled. It was time to give up. It wasn’t as heartbreaking as she thought it would be. Probably because Jaxon placed an arm around her and pulled her close.
She smiled up at him. “Like Birdie always says, there’s an entire ocean of dreams out there just waiting to be caught. If one doesn’t work out, there are plenty of others to catch.”
Jaxon tucked one of her wayward curls behind her ear. “I already caught the dream I wanted most.”
She planned on echoing his words when Huck came striding back in the door with a huge grin on his face.
“Y’all aren’t going to believe this.” He stepped out of the way and people started filing in.
