Page 23 of Lady Sings the Blues

“Elise,” I whisper. “Open your eyes, darlin’.”

She does. Those bright, beautiful eyes stare right into mine. “Wow,” she says, swallowing. A lump bobbin’ up and down in her throat. “I…um…I need to apologize to your friends.”

That earns her a smile and a kiss as I roll to pull out. “Brothers,” I remind her.

“Brothers,” she repeats on a hitched breath.

“You know when I told you that last night I didn’t really expect it to work.”

We both bust out laughing. This I like. Easy with Elise. Except one minute she’s laughing, the next she’s as serious as I’ve ever seen her. “I don’t understand this.”

“What’s to understand, darlin’?”

“Everything. And it scares me. I’m burying my father on Monday in a town full of people who hate me because of something I had no control over as a teenager. And here you come being a friend to me exactly when I need it, telling me how you loved me in high school. But I can’t remember you from high school and then I find out you’re sensitive enough to own a blues bar and offer open mic night, but you’re part of a biker gang.” She stops to take a breath, and sits up, bent knees, tugging the sheet up around her breasts. “Yet despite all this, there’s this connection between us that I haven’t felt in years and I haven’t been in town long enough to feel that. So I certainly shouldn’t be considering asking you if you’d like to try long distance with me, yet the thought of leaving you behind is kind of freaking me out.”

“That all?”

“Isn’t that enough?”

Before I tell her what she needs to hear, I wrap her back in my arms where she belongs. Elise Manning just admitted our connection. For a man used to hearing the blues, those words—music to my ears—are anything but.

“As for buryin’ your father, darlin’ you’re still allowed to be happy and live your life. It don’t make you a bad daughter, and I know your pops would want you to find both peace and happiness. That’s all he ever wanted for you.

“And this town, you don’t need to leave. Are there some narrow minded people here? Yes. They just ain’t figured out their happiness yet. But there are good people as well. Tommy. Maryanne. Two of the best. You weren’t at their weddin’, but they’ll sure as hell be at ours.”

“There you go, saying that again. You really think you’re going to marry me?”

“Baby girl, don’t think it.Knowit. I’m not sayin’ it’ll happen tomorrow, but now that I’ve had you, you really think I could let you go?”

“You don’t have to let me go. We could make it work. Chicago’s not that far.”

“Whatever,” I murmur. “Back to your points. We’re a club, not a gang.”

“Is there a difference?”

“Fuck yeah, there is. We live with more freedom than most allow themselves, but we don’t trade in guns or drugs or flesh.”

“Flesh? As insex trade?” Her voice rises, sounding horrified.

Since we’re not a part of that shit, I nod. “We’re legit. I own the bar where some of the men work. Chaos owns the tow company. Duke owns the garage where your car is right now, and we all own a stake in the shippin’ business.”

“So you own the bar and a shipping business?”

“How am I supposed to afford a wife and a family someday without work? You wanna live with my parents? That’d be fun.” I give her a playful squeeze. “You’re in the bedroom screamin’ ‘Oh, god! Oh, god!’ while they’re prayin’ for us in the living room with Billy Graham reruns playin’ on the TV.”

“No. I don’t think I’d like that. Will I meet them, your parents?”

“Don’t think you’d like that either.”

“Okay.”

She looks sad now. If she only knew. I take the opportunity to kiss her cheek then. “Back to your points. And this, I think, is the most important. Our connection. Love takes as long as it takes. People put too much pressure on themselves. Honestly, I think the people who insist it takes a long time to develop only believe that because they ain’t with the right one yet. They’ve met someone with checks in all the other correct boxes. So instead of cuttin’ that one loose and goin’ for the right one, they wait it out, tellin’ themselves love is cultivated over time. You might wake up tomorrow morning havin’ fallen in love with me. And even if your head don’t remember, you’ve known me a long time.”

“How?”

Not yet. Not ‘til she admits she loves me. “Get this,” I answer instead of answering her question. “You’re mine. I’m yours. I’ll give you a good life, I promise.”

“When I say I’m scared, I really mean terrified. I gave my heart away once before and look how that turned out.” she admits, quietly.

“Darlin’ you were young. Didn’t know you were givin’ it to the wrong man. He was too young to know he shouldn’t take it.”

“But you were young then. If I’d have given my heart to you instead of Logan, would you have taken it?”

“Absolutely. Because when I met you I was old enough to see that you’re the right one. Benefit of being older than you and Logan, I guess.”

“It doesn’t change anything. I’m still heading home after my dad’s funeral.”

“We’ll see.” I warn.

We make love two more times, once in the bed and once in the shower, before we finally make it out of the house. She said she needed to apologize to my brothers and I intend to hold her to that. But not before we stop for breakfast. Crow don’t taste nearly as good as steak and eggs.

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