Nicole Edwards - Chasing Dreams

Here she was, four years later, slinging beers and dodging more than a few wandering hands night after night in the place she’d come to feel was her second home. The Rusty Nail was nothing more than an eight thousand square foot, remodeled old barn that had at one point been a feed store years and years ago. At that time, it had received an enormous overhaul which included an exterior facelift of metal walls and reinforced steel beams on the inside to support the roof as well as bear the weight of the two hundred square foot office upstairs. Not much had changed after her father had purchased the place and converted it into a bar until Adam came along and set up the stage.

Speaking of the stage, she could only hope the band showed up soon because there was an excellent chance things were going to go from bad to worse if they didn’t. If Adam left her to handle the fallout like he had the last time, she was going to give him a piece of her mind, followed by a good swift kick in the ass.

Glancing down at her watch, Tessa realized she had a few more minutes to spare, so she pushed off the wall and headed back inside. She disappeared into the restroom, using the free minutes to take care of business before washing her hands and pulling her hair up into a ponytail. While she was standing in front of the mirror, two women slammed in through the door in a flurry of giggles followed by “Ohmigod! Ohmigod! Ohmigod!”

Tessa didn’t turn to face them, but she could see them through the reflection in the mirror. Since they were effectively blocking the door, she waited for the ladies to move on so she could sneak out and get back to work. She smiled at her reflection, trying not to laugh at their giddy excitement.

“Ohmigod! Did you see him? He winked at me! Winked!” one of the ladies squealed, the other jumping up and down by her side as though this were the biggest news to hit Devil’s Bend since Jessica Sanderson told the Devil’s Bend Gazette that she was having triplets.

“He’s going home with me tonight if I have anything to say about it!”

“Oh, he will. Maybe we’ll just surprise him. You know, tag team,” the blonde woman exclaimed, giggling between words like a school girl.

Figuring she wasn’t going to be able to outlast their elation over meeting another famous singer, Tessa turned around, smiled at the ladies before squeezing past them and out the door. Once she was in the dark, narrow hallway, the familiar noises and the perfume-slash-cologne mixture assaulted her senses, and she pasted on another smile as she turned the corner.

“Holy crap,” she muttered to herself, pushing through the wall of bodies as she tried to finagle her way back to the bar.

An influx of women had descended upon them during her short reprieve. Tessa sighed as she wove through the commotion, realizing that tonight was going to be one of those nights. If anyone ever thought men were high maintenance in a small country bar, they clearly hadn’t met the women Tessa had. Especially when there was supposed to be a hunky, big time country music star in their presence.

With her back to the stage, she made her way through the throng of people to the bar on the other side of the room, smiling at Eric as she approached. “What the hell happened while I was gone?” she asked, not expecting a response.

“You have him to thank,” Eric said, nodding his head in the direction of the stage. Due to the sheer volume of people filling every available inch of floor space, not to mention her height deficiency, Tessa couldn’t see who he was referring to, but she could pretty much guess.

“Hey, can we get some beers over here?”

Tessa glanced over, nodding her acknowledgement to a table of women who looked as though they’d prepped themselves for prom. Wow. This guy certainly had quite the following.

“Why didn’t you come get me?” she asked, grabbing her apron before turning toward the first customer she came to.

Within seconds, Tessa felt frazzled. Unlike Eric, who was standing just a couple of feet away, looking just as cool and confident as ever although the oversized bar with its hardwood top scarred from years of customer abuse – her favorite part of the entire place – was completely engulfed by people.

“What? You think I can’t handle this?” Eric laughed and, once again, heads turned. Geez, these women were easy.

“Hey, Katie!” Tessa had to raise her voice over the din of the now overcrowded section. “Can you check on that table? They want beers, and Miranda is not here yet.”

Katie Clarren was one of the two waitresses that Tessa employed. Young, beautiful, and almost too smart for her own good, Katie was also one of the best servers she had. Not too long ago, Tessa had been under the impression that her younger brother, Jack, actually had an interest in Katie. According to Katie, she didn’t have time for dating, although she seemed flattered.

As it turned out, Katie was juggling college and another part time job outside of the bar, so her days and nights seemed to be full. Considering Jack’s history with women, she was actually grateful for Katie’s busy schedule. No need to have another broken heart left behind in her brother’s wake.

“Sure,” Katie said sweetly, her long, silky black hair swinging behind her as she nodded energetically.

For the next few minutes, Tessa didn’t have a chance to look up from the horde of people demanding drink after drink. Just when she was beginning to think she would need to call in some backup, a gruff voice echoed through the speakers, causing the noise to dim as everyone turned toward the stage.

“Howdy, y’all,” the deep southern drawl, followed by a rough, raspy chuckle, silenced the rest of the chatter.

Tessa spared the voice a glance, but she couldn’t see over the sea of heads standing around, so she returned to pouring beer, taking money and making change.

The disembodied voice continued talking, and Tessa smiled at the sweet, sexy drawl that drifted through the room. He gave a brief introduction, followed by casual conversation with a few people in the audience, and Tessa decided immediately that she liked the intimate sound of his voice. Especially his laugh. Hearing his voice in person was a lot different than on the radio.

Managing a bar in the middle of nowhere, Tessa had the pleasure of meeting a few future hopefuls, but not generally anyone who actually had made a name for themself. Tonight’s entertainment was an exception. Granted, in the last year, Adam had raised the bar on the talent he brought in, but to have set it this high, Tessa was amazed.

Screaming and carrying on from the cowboys and cowgirls reacting to Cooper’s presence was once again quickly building to a dull roar and Tessa forced herself to tune out the noise. Over the years, she’d become successful at drowning out the steady rumble of voices and music, mainly because her sanity required her to. She couldn’t help but wonder what kind of guy could garner this much enthusiasm.

From what she knew of Cooper Krenshaw, thanks to the stories Adam had told her, he was an old friend from college. Even though Cooper had made it big in the country music world, Adam still kept in touch with him on a regular basis. Adam never did give her a viable reason why Cooper was in Devil’s Bend though. Seemed odd that he was just passing through their tiny neck of the woods or that he was just craving the scenery. And she seriously doubted his busy schedule would just allow him to make the trek this far south to play here.

But she didn’t really need a reason, and based on the scene in front of her, the crowd was more than thrilled that he’d made an appearance. The women obviously liked him if their screams and catcalls were anything to go by. Tessa knew of Cooper Krenshaw, had seen pictures in magazines, but since she wasn’t much into music – country or otherwise – she couldn’t have named even one single song of his. Most of her downtime was spent listening to the comforting serenity that being outside in the country afforded her. After nights like this, her eardrums thanked her for it.