“Don’t apologize to me,” he said angrily. “I’m so mad at myself for letting you fall out of touch like that. And over a stupid wedding invitation. Played right into that er’s hands. And now you’re working for Beau, which means you must be really hard up for money.”
“It’s really not that bad,” she started.
But he shook his head. “Don’t try to sugar coat it for me, Jo-Jo. I know you’d rather crawl over broken glass than work for Beau Prescott. Why didn’t you call me? If it was money you needed, I would have bailed you out.”
She opened her mouth to answer, but he smacked himself on the forehead. “What am I saying? Of course you couldn’t call me. You didn’t have my number.” He took her by the hand. “But that’s okay, I’m here now, and I’ve got my limo outside. Let’s go.”
He started to lead her out the door, but she dug her heels into the ground. “Colin, I can’t just leave.”
“Why not?”
She shook her head at him. “Because I work here.”
“Tell Beau to find another housekeeper.”
“I can’t just—” She stopped and lowered her voice. “I’m not supposed to be telling anybody this, because I signed a confidentiality agreement, but Beau’s blind and he’s not taking his rehabilitation seriously. So he doesn’t just need me to cook and clean, he need needs me.”
Colin squinted at her as if she had gone crazy. “This is Beau we’re talking about, right? Beau Prescott? Made both of our lives miserable in high school? The one you swore you’d never talk to again after he announced in front of the whole school that he’d tricked you into getting with him—”
She held up her hand to stop the barrage of unkind Beau Prescott statistics. “I know, Col, but he’s still a human being, a blind human being now.”
Colin scanned the foyer, his eyes suspicious. “So he has you at his beck and call every day. Doesn’t even give you any time off?”
“I get time off,” she said, wondering how she had suddenly been put in the weird position of defending Beau Prescott against her oldest friend.
“When?” he asked, obviously not believing her.
“I get Friday and Saturday nights off,” she said, realizing only now how stingy that must sound to someone who didn’t know about the real deal she and Beau had struck.
Colin’s mouth twisted into a sardonic frown. “You’re right, Jo-Jo. The man’s a real saint. He gives you two whole nights off a week.” He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small business card, handing it to her. “How about meeting me after you get off tonight then. I’m staying at the Birmingham Grand. We could grab a drink and a bite to eat at their bar.”
She glanced down at the heavily embossed card from Birmingham’s most expensive hotel. “The Grand, really? Wow.” She grinned up at him. “You and your fiddle have come a long way.”
He grinned back. “Whoever thought I’d get this far, right?”
Now her smile turned softer. “I did. I always knew you had it in you to do amazing things.”
But what was meant as a hearty congratulations on her part became something much more dramatic when he took her hand and clasped it like a prayer in between his. “Then let me help you,” he said. “I know you’ve had a tough time of it since we last saw each other, but you’re better than working for Beau Prescott.”
“Josie,” Beau suddenly yelled out from the kitchen. “What’s taking you so long?”
Colin looked over her shoulder toward the kitchen door. “That him?” he asked. Then before she could answer. “I think I’m going to go reintroduce myself.”
But she shook her head frantically and stopped him from coming inside the house with two hands on his chest. “No, Colin. Not like this. I’m so happy to see you again, but I have to get back to work, so I need you to go now. Please.”
He shook his head. “But this conversation ain’t over.”
She was now full on straining to keep Colin from moving forward. Man, he was a lot stronger than the skinny kid she’d grown up with. “I’ll meet you later on, I promise. But now isn’t the time or the place.”
Colin immediately stepped back as if he’d merely been waiting for her to promise to come see him. “Fine. I’ll see you tonight. But if I don’t hear from you by eight, don’t think I’m not coming back here. I worked too hard to find you.” He took her hand in his and kissed the back of her fingers. “And we have a lot to talk about.”
“Josie!” Beau called again, before she could answer.
She took her hand back from Colin. “See you tonight,” she said, before closing the door in his face.
She would never say she was glad Beau was blind, but she was happy she didn’t have to try to hide how nonplussed she was by Colin’s sudden reappearance, because she didn’t think she would have been able to if she tried.
It had transitioned from dusk to night while she’d been going back and forth with Colin at the door, but Beau was now standing by the kitchen table, his ever-present sunglasses covering his eyes.
“What took you so long?” he asked.
And she stood there, trying to decide how much to tell him.
CHAPTER 19
SHE SHOULDN’T HAVE TOLD HIM ANYTHING, she thought to herself less than an hour later. She had tried to play off Colin’s coming by the house as a fun coincidence, keeping her voice light when she told him he was in town and decided to look her up.
But Beau had crooked his head to the side and asked, “Is he in town for a concert?”
“I’m not sure,” she answered, though she suspected he wasn’t. “I would think that would be the most likely case.”
“Yeah, you were always a little naïve where Fairgood was concerned,” he said.
“The main point is he asked me to catch up over dinner later on. He’s staying at the Birmingham Grand.”
Beau went still. “He asked you to meet him at his hotel?”
“Not in his room or anything. In the bar. We’re just grabbing something to eat.”
Beau gave her a humorless smile. “That sounds fine to me.”
“Really?” she said, trying to keep the surprise out of her voice. It wasn’t like Beau to acquiesce this easily.
“Sure,” he answered. “I’m looking forward to catching up with Fairgood. In fact, we can go now if you want to. Just give me a few minutes to get changed.”
Josie’s face fell, but she hadn’t been able to come up with a response that would get her out of the house and keep him from coming with her. And that was how she ended up at a table for three in the Birmingham Grand’s main bar and restaurant with Beau, waiting for one of the biggest country stars in America to meet them.
To Colin’s credit, he played it cool when he’d come downstairs to find Beau playing third wheel. He only paused for a second before dropping into the half-circle booth beside her.
“Hey, Josie,” he said. “See you decided to bring a guest along with you.” His eyes then landed on Beau. “Sorry to hear about your accident, man. Saw the replay on SportsCenter. That take down was brutal. And losing your sight on top of that. I don't even know how you're managing right now."
Something ticked in Beau's jaw but he kept his voice calm and casual when he responded, "I'm managing just fine, thanks."
Colin lazily signaled a waiter for three beers. "ESPN must have called it wrong then,” he said. “They had a doctor on there saying your career was over and your eyesight wasn't ever coming back."
Another dangerous pause before Beau said, "Wouldn't be the first time they got something wrong."
And Josie threw Colin a look that clearly conveyed, Stop it. Stop it now!
But Colin either didn't see her censorious look or was determined to get into it with Beau, because he said. "I mean, yeah they've gotten a few things wrong. Like when they called the Suns to go beyond the playoffs last year, but I ain't never seen them say a player's career was finished when it wasn't."
Before Beau could answer, Josie jumped in. "Well, Mr. Prescott's doing better than expected under the circumstances. Can we change the subject now?"
But Colin lifted his eyebrows at her. "Mr. Prescott, is it?"
Beau frowned in her direction. "I told you to call me by my first name," he said to Josie.
Colin leaned forward then, with more viciousness than she remembered his eyes containing. "Thing is, she shouldn't be calling you anything. I don't know how you convinced her to come back to Alabama and play nursemaid for you, but I can clearly see you're taking advantage of her."