If he had, he surely would have remembered her.
Tall. Slender. Dark hair pulled away from her face. An oval face that held a faint look of amusement.
In a sea of blue denim and pastel cotton, she wore black silk. Sexy black silk …
The crowd swelled, shifted, and he lost sight of her.
“You ready for this?”
“Ready for…?”
“The next bunch,” Travis said, jerking his chin toward the larger crowd ahead.
“The cheers of your million fans,” Caleb added, working hard for a light tone.
Jake forced a laugh, as he knew he was meant to do.
“Sure.”
Two lies in two minutes. Had to be a record, even for him.
“Then, let’s do it,” Caleb said. “’Cause the sooner we make it to the end zone, the sooner we can get those beers.”
A second laugh was more than he could manage. He smiled instead, took a deep breath and let his brothers lead him forward.
The crowd swallowed him up.
He shook more hands, returned more smiles, did his best to ignore the glitter of tears in the eyes of some of the women, said, Yeah, it was good to be back and Absolutely, it had been a long time and finally, mercifully, he, Travis and Caleb reached the long trestle table that held platters of barbecued ribs and chicken wings alongside tiny sandwiches and bowls of tiny grilled vegetables.
“Real food and girl food,” Caleb said, and this time, Jake’s laughter was genuine.
“And the holy grail,” Travis said, pulling three long-necked bottles from an ice-filled copper tub.
Jake took one, nodded his thanks and raised the bottle to his lips.
“Wait!” Caleb touched his bottle first to Travis’s, then to Jake’s. “Here’s to having you home, brother,” he said softly.
Was it time to point out that the toast was a little premature? No, Jake thought, and they clinked bottles, then drank.
The beer was cold and bitter, maybe what he needed to head off the still-throbbing ache behind his eye. Tension, the docs had said, and told him, earnestly, he had to learn to avoid stress.
Right, Jake thought, and took another long swallow.
“We’ve missed you.”
He looked at Travis. “Yeah. Me, too.”
“Hell,” Caleb said, his voice gruff, “it just wasn’t the same with you gone. This is where you belong, Jacob.”
Okay. Jake could see where this was going.
“About that,” he began, but Travis shook his head.
“We know. You’re not staying. But you’re here tonight. Let’s just celebrate that, okay?”
The suggestion was harmless; it changed nothing. And the truth was, right now, it felt good to be with his family.
“Okay,” he said, and then he smiled and touched his bottle to theirs again. “A toast to The Wilde Ones.”