He followed the instructions, “checked in,” and eventually navigated himself inside an elevator with a penthouse key card in hand. His fingers found the braille “P” next to the button that would ferry him up to the floor where the penthouse suites were located. But it had taken a little more groping than usual to work out that he had to insert the key card the hotel had given him and keep it in there while pressing the “P” button, in order for the command to go through.
Sooner than expected, he heard the elevator doors swish open and the eye saber was telling him his real destination, the one he’d used his family connection with the hotel to finagle, was only twenty steps away.
A few seconds later, he was finally there, standing outside the door to Colin Fairgood’s room.
But when he knocked on the door, he found it propped open, as if the occupants had been awaiting his arrival.
“Come on in,” Colin’s voice called from further inside the room. “We’re back here.” They must have been expecting somebody.
He turned off the cane. Not because he couldn’t have used it to navigate his way into the room, but because he didn’t want its automated voice in his ear when he spoke to Josie for the first time in six months.
Luckily there weren’t any obstacles in his way, and he stopped when he felt the sunlight on his face from the windows he knew from experience sat just beyond the sunken den seating area. He also easily guessed when it was time to stop walking, because Colin said, “You have got some ing nerve coming here.”
The faint smell of perfume hit him immediately. Expensive and sophisticated, very much the kind of scent a man would buy for his girlfriend.
Doing his best to resist the urge to punch Fairgood all over again, he turned toward the smell of perfume and said, “Josie, I know you don’t want to see me. But I had to see you.”
“And that’s who it’s all about, isn’t it? You!” Colin’s voice was full of venom. “All these years and it’s still about what you need from Josie.”
Beau tightened his hand into a fist, but then he said the last thing Josie probably expected to hear from him. “He’s right, Josie. I’ve been bullheaded and selfish and just about everything else. The truth is, you were right, I don’t deserve you. I’ve never been half the man Colin was when it comes to you, and that’s the reason I went crazy when he came looking for you. Because if it was a battle of who deserved you more, then I knew it was him no contest.”
“Finally something out of your mouth I can agree with,” Colin spat back.
“But when it comes to who loves you more, that’s also no contest, darlin’. It’s me. You two met when you were twelve, but I can’t even remember a time when I didn’t love you. First like a sister, then as something else. Everything good I’ve ever done has been because of you: Football, learning to get around blind… I just started a charity to teach blind kids sports here in Alabama, because you taught me how to stop feeling sorry for myself and use what happened to me to do good. Colin wants you. But I know for a fact he doesn’t love like I do. Not with his whole body, his whole…” He stopped and started back up again, “Josie, I should have told you this the night you left—I love you with my whole soul. You have no idea how much I love you, how much I’ve always loved you. But…”
He brought a velvet box out of his pocket and bent down on one knee. “But if you agree to be my wife, I will spend the rest of my life treating you like you deserve to be treated. I’ll make it all up to you, darlin’, just say yes.”
Complete and utter silence greeted his impassioned plea turned proposal.
“…please,” he added, hoping that might help.
“Oh, my God. That’s the sweetest thing I ever heard,” said a voice, soft and sweet with a hint of what he recognized as an Alabaman born-and-raised black accent.
He straightened. This definitely wasn’t Josie. “Who are you?” he asked, coming to his feet.
“A damn fool for staying quiet as long as I did, that’s who,” she answered.
And though he couldn’t see her, he got the feeling she was throwing a scathing look at Fairgood as she said this. One that was confirmed when she said, “I would’ve spoke up sooner, but Colin here motioned for me to stay quiet.”
Now Beau threw a scowl of his own in the direction of Colin’s voice. “Where is she?”
“None of your damn business,” Colin immediately shot back.
Beau was torn between wanting to pound Fairgood into the ground and the desperate need to know, “Did you already marry her?”
“No,” Fairgood answered. “Not yet.”
Beau smiled. “See what I mean. If I’d been you, I would have sealed the deal by now.”
“You know what? Fuck you, Prescott.”
But nothing could wipe the smile off of Beau’s face at this point. “You tried. You tried your damnedest, coming back to Alabama with your big music career and your platinum albums, and she still said no.”
“What she said,” Colin corrected, “was she wasn’t ready to be in a relationship.”
“With you,” Beau said.
“Because of what you did to her!” Fairgood all but hissed back.
“Let me talk to her.” Beau turned his head from left to right, straining to hear if she was anywhere in the suite, then when he didn’t hear her, he said, “If you were any kind of man, you’d let me talk to her—”
“She’s not here,” the sweet voice ured him.
“Shut up,” Colin said, his voice low and dangerous. “Shut up right now. This ain’t none of your business.”
“No, but it’s not necessarily any of yours either. And I’m not going to let you torture this guy just because he tried to beat you up once in high school after you stole his girlfriend.”
Beau frowned. This woman knew about that? How? And why did her voice sound so familiar, like a distant memory on the tip of his tongue? But before he could ask, she said, “She came by for the show yesterday, and he’s scheduled to meet her for brunch today. Colin was going to use me to make her jealous, but from what I’m putting together, that plan wouldn’t have worked out so well.”
“If you tell him, all those hopes and dreams of yours? Well, I’m going to make sure they never happen,” Colin said between what sounded like clenched teeth.
Beau crooked his head to the side. Apparently, Josie wasn’t the only one who’d undergone some changes since high school. Back then Colin had been easy-going and slightly goofy, but now it sounded like fame had turned him into a major . Not only was he trying to keep Beau from Josie, but he was obviously trying to manipulate this woman into making sure his plan was a success.
“Don’t listen to him,” Beau said, his voice strong and determined. “As someone who pinned all his hopes and dreams on getting his sight back, I’m here to tell you, none of that stuff truly matters in the end. I can live without my sight or football, but I am nothing without Josie. She is the love of my life. So please tell me how to find her.” Then just in case his impassioned plea wasn’t enough, he added. “Plus, whatever Fairgood is paying you, I will double it.”
“You can’t pay her what she’d be giving up if she says one more word,” Colin shot back. Then to the mystery woman, he said, “One more word and your career is over, I swear to God.”
He could feel the woman hesitating. “Please,” Beau said again.
Then he waited to see whose side she picked.
CHAPTER 22
“THANKS FOR THE RIDE, SAM,” Josie told her friend when they pulled up outside the Birmingham Grand.
“No problem, but you need to get a new car already. It’s always breaking down on you, and you know that’s not safe.”
“With what money?” Josie asked with a grin.
The money Beau had paid her for the one week they’d spent together before she quit had been well spent. It’d been enough to keep Ruth’s House open and allow her enough credits to complete her degree at UAB. But even living as frugally as she had for the last six months, there wasn’t enough left over to replace her junker car.
“I don’t know. Maybe you could ask Mr. Moneybags Country Singer in there?” Sam suggested. “You didn’t seem to have any problem hitting him up for that big donation last night.”
“That’s different. The money Beau Prescott donated will only take us so far, and we’ve got to keep hustling.”
Sam grinned. “And that’s why I can’t wait until you’re done with your summer classes and can come work at the shelter full time.”
“Me either,” Josie said, meaning it. She welcomed the idea of getting money from legitimate sources, ones she didn’t have to almost lie about. Sam knew that the money to keep Ruth’s House open came from Beau. But she had no idea what Josie had done to get it. “But right now I am so late, girl. I’ve got to go.”