Page 45 of Nashville Cowboy
“Oh! A mojito,” Daisy said, jumping up and down.
“Challenged accepted.” Lucy ducked under the bar and came up with vodka. “It’s a good thing I dropped by the store to pick up fruit, olives, and mint. It’s always such a challenge being the only bartender at a party.”
“Is it?” Daisy rolled her eyes. “The weight of the world?”
“Y’all, you know what I was just thinking?” Sadie said, sliding Eve a look. “I’m so glad I waited and took my time to find the right man. It was worth the longwait. Lincoln would never hurt me. From the start, when we got together, I knew it would be a forever thing with us.”
Eve should follow Sadie’s lead. But suddenly she didn’t want to play. Because Daisy should know the whole story and not just the pretty-packaged version of love and romance. Daisy should know that not all men were after love, or even sex. Some craved control. Possession. And if they couldn’t have you, they wanted to make certain that no one else could.
“I agree,” Eve said. “Sadie and Linc are made for each other. But Daisy, first make sure the man you’re with isn’t just with you because he wants to control you.”
Daisy snorted. “Controlme? Who would even dare?”
“Eve’s got a good point.” Lucy shook the tumbler filled with crushed ice. “I myself am done with men. All they want to do is call the shots. ‘Wear this, cut your hair like that, don’t talk to that man. Is that your ex texting you?’ No thank you.”
“And our men know better than to fool with that controlling business,” Eve said.
“Then why’d you bring it up?” Lucy said.
“You want to see real men, you should come by my daddy’s ranch sometime,” Daisy said with a wicked grin. “Some of the rodeo cowboys are ranch hands off season. Oh good Lord, the way they fill out them Wranglers.”
“Back to what I was sayin’. Eve’s right about the control thing, but you also don’t want to be with a man that’s just going to drop you when the next pretty young thing comes along.” Sadie gave Eve a significant look. “Know what I mean?”
This conversation was making Eve’s eye twitch. Once, she’d found the perfect man in what might be viewed as a haystack of men. It could happen.
“I think Daisy needs to date some more men to find out whether Wade is as great as she thinks he is. Because you know, he might be, or maybe not. How would you know?” Eve said.
“That’s right.” Sadie elbow nudged Eve. “Listen to Eve. She knows what she’s talkin’ about.”
Daisy crossed her arms. “Is that why you left mybrotherat the altar? You weren’t sure he was the right man because maybe you hadn’t tried everyone else?”
The silence and sudden tension in the room was thick and swift. Lucy stopped pouring drinks. All eyes were on Eve.
“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Eve muttered.
“Let’s go have some of those drinks!” Sadie said, moving toward the bar. “I am so thirsty. Whew!”
“Y’all are going to love my mojitos.” Lucy started pouring. No one had yet noticed or questioned why Sadie wasn’t drinking with the rest of them.
Daisy stood, arms crossed, more hostile than Eve had ever seen her before. She’d been a teenager then and one of the bridesmaids for their wedding-day fail. She and Daisy never talked about any of this.
“Well?” Daisy pressed.
“I was younger than you are now. I’d never dated anyone before Jackson. I was sixteen when we met. How could I know that I’d met my soul mate in our Podunk town?”
“Aww,” Sadie and Lucy said at once.
“And Wade could be my soul mate.” Daisy flipped her hair. “How do you know he’snot?”
“Hecouldbe. I don’t know. Just make sure he wants the same things you do. Just because y’all are soul mates, that isn’t always the case,” Eve said.
A few minutes later, the other women were enjoying their cocktails. Except Sadie, of course. Eve, too, remained sober as a nun. She’d never been much of a drinker, and in college she hated the alcohol excess she’d witnessed. They ordered off the room-service menu, an impressive presentation of hamburgers and crunchy, warm French fries rolled in on a white cloth-covered cart. It made their junk food look fancy. Lucy and Daisy were staring with rapt attention as Tatum Channing danced on the plasma TV in the first of their marathon movie-night selections. Sadie was alternatively staring dreamily between her sparkling one-carat diamond ring and the TV screen, a dopey smile on her face.
Eve interrupted whatever dream her best friend was caught in. “I lost my hearing aid yesterday and I don’t think I’ll have a new one in time for the wedding. So just make sure if you have something you want to whisper, be on my right side.”
“Oh, okay. How’d you do that?”
Eve explained how Levi was trying to give a difficult cow pony some retraining, how she’d gone after him, and dropped her hearing aid.
