“She’s pulling your leg,” Bo said with half a giggle. “The juke box will be playing old songs all afternoon. Karaoke night isn’t until the following weekend. Maybe y’all can come back then and sing a duet.”
“Only if you want us to clear out the bar in record time,” Knox said on his way out of the room.
Lottie felt like the only chicken at a coyote convention when the room went silent as a tomb. Everyone seemed to be staring at her, expecting a speech or, at the very least, a complete sentence. Her mind went blank, and she pretended she was alone in her trailer with her cat.
They’re sizing you up,the voice in her head said.
Someone say something. Anything. About any subject. Everyone can even talk at once. Just make noise. This quietness is deafening, she screamed without making a sound.
“Are your parents in the building business?” Joe Clay finally asked.
“No, but my mother’s brother, Jack, is, and he gave me a job when I was in high school. I went to college, and when I graduated with a business degree, my three brothers offered me a job in each of their businesses.” She didn’t tell him that she was more comfortable around a bunch of carpenters than she ever was in a dorm full of giggling and whining young women who were only interested in their makeup and shoes. Thank God, her parents had sprung for a private room, or she would have checked out after the first semester and gone straight into the construction business.
“But you liked the construction business better?” Bernie asked.
“Yes, I did,” she answered.
“Okay, folks, y’all can ask her more questions tomorrow,” Bo said as she stood up. “Thanks for supper. The brisket was amazing, like it always is, Remy. I appreciate you making a plate for me to take to Maverick. I hear Knox coming back downstairs. See y’all tomorrow around noon.”
Knox poked his head around the corner. “Y’all ready, or are you going to stand around and talk for another thirty minutes?”
“We would have already been there if you hadn’t taken time to comb your hair and put on fresh cologne,” Bo fussed at him.
Knox crossed the room and took Lottie’s hand into his. “Hey now, a guy has to do his best when he’s got a beautifulgirlfriend. All the customers at the bar will try to take her away from me.”
“I’ve only got eyes for you, darlin’.” Lottie played along with the charade with only a smidgen of guilt, but her insides were a jittery mess of tightly bound nerves.
Knox let go of her hand when they reached his truck. “I apologize for my sister dragging you into this.”
“I’m glad she did. I wondered all through supper if I had something on my face,” Lottie said. “And when you left, everything got quiet and…”
Knox helped her into the truck and patted her on the shoulder. “They couldn’t help staring at you because you are beautiful.”
She fastened her seat belt and crossed her arms over her chest. “We’re alone. You don’t have to keep up the fake stuff.”
“I’m tellin’ you the truth.”
“Then thank you,” Lottie said, and part of the tension left her body.
“What did Bo do before she bought a bar?”
“She spent several years in Nashville trying to break into the country music scene. When she got tired of that, she came home and went to work for Aunt Bernie in her matchmaking business. She fell in love with Maverick, and they settled down in Nocona to run the bar.”
“Do they all have happy-ever-after stories?” she asked.
He backed the truck up and followed Bo’s vehicle down the lane. “Pretty much. Some of the stories got a little stormy at times, but when the obstacles were cleared, theyall seem happy now. You’ll probably hear all about them tomorrow.”
“We should be absolutely sure that we’ve got our stories straight if you’re going to leave me alone with all of them.” The tension got so tight in her shoulders that they ached. How did getting a fake boyfriend become so complicated?
“Just divert their attention if things get too tense. Ask them how they met their spouses. Audrey should be able to entertain you for hours. And then Willa Rose can step up and tell you how that…” He stopped talking.
“How what?”
“Those are all their stories to tell,” he said.
For the next half hour, she wondered how the sisters would react toherstory. Actually, she considered it boring. Work, a few short-lived relationships, and holidays trips to wherever her parents lived at the time, and some weekends if the job was close enough. Certainly nothing entertaining like setting a pig on the table in a café.
“You sure are quiet,” Knox said as he turned into a gravel parking lot. “You have been in a bar before, haven’t you?”
