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“Are you guys exclusive?” Minty inquired.
Junie nodded. “We talked about that on Saturday night, too. He brought it up. Told me he didn’t introduce me as his girlfriend because we hadn’t had that conversation, but we’ve had it now, we’re official, and officially off the market.”
“So, he knows where his head is at, you know where yours is at, you’re just not sure what she’s after and how she’ll fit into your lives.”
Junie slumped. “Ugh. I don’t want her to fit into our lives.”
“Just see how it goes,” Minty advised. “It might not be a problem.”
Junie agreed, but she looked doubtful while she did it.
The last two weeks of summer flew by.
Despite Vanessa’s continued involvement with Lenny, Junie rarely crossed paths with her, and when she did, Lenny acted no differently towards her in front of Vanessa. Barrett and I, while not having said the words, had come to an understanding of the place we held in each other’s hearts. Junie and I danced our asses off at Drivetrain’s second to last performance of the summer, I visited with my sister, had my niece to sleep over, spent time with Bex, Rhys and the twins with Barrett, went on a drive out with Barrett, and I worked. A lot.
Things were picking up at both my business as well as at the shelter. At the shelter we were frantically working on the final push for the fundraiser. Junie and I had landed a major contract, which was fantastic, except the owner of the company, who was a peach when we met him, had morphed into a giant asshole. Nothing we brought to him was good enough, he cancelled appointments at the last minute, expected us to accommodate him whenever he had time available, spoke rudely to Minty, and kept changing his mind about the look he wanted for his newest campaign. He was a nightmare. Normally, Junie would have told him to hit the road, and not in those words, but due to Minty’s steady presence, and her reminder that this contract would put us on the map, we decided to persevere.
Both of us wanted to sell the business, eventually, and the more we built it up, the better we would do financially when that time came. For me, I dreamed of working more with animals and focusing on my art. Junie wanted to freelance, and open a niche business, but mainly she dreamed of having a family and she wanted to be able to stay home to care for her children when the time came, even if it was as a single parent. I had no doubt we’d get there, but we had little control over the timing.
Mara was still doing well, Olivia was thriving, my mother had been mostly quiet over the past month, and my relationship with Barrett was thriving, but I had the distinct feeling that everything was about to go south. In fact, I fully expected the floor to drop out at any moment.
The anticipation was killing me.
Chapter 29
Thor
Willa
It was standing room only that night and it was an exuberant, laughing group that greeted Barrett with back slaps and hugs when he lumbered up looking like sex on a stick during the break between sets.
He introduced Lenny and Lucky to Bex, Zale and Mara, quickly downed his water and pulled me back to lean against his chest while he drank his beer. God, I loved how he smelled when he performed, clean sweat, beer, and with those lyrics, a dirty man.
“I can’t believe you didn’t know Barrett was in a band, Mara!” I exclaimed for probably the fifth time.
“I didn’t even know!” Bex protested. She crossed her arms over her small bust and her filmy boat neck tunic slipped off one slim shoulder exposing the bright camisole underneath. She turned to Barrett, “why didn’t I know this?”
“We were out of commission last summer, didn’t have a bass player and Lenny was booked up with business trips. We found Sarah in January and started practicing.”
“She is something else,” Mara commented wryly. Mara looked good, and she was happy. She was wearing her black pantsuit with the silver belt that showed off her curvy figure to perfection. Zale had one or both hands on her the entire night.
“Not all of it good, unfortunately,” Barrett replied, smiling at Mara.
Mara looked way up into his face. “She’s causing trouble for you?”
He nodded. “She has ideas that are not conducive to keeping her. We’ll see if she can sort herself out. If not, she’ll have to go.”
Mara nodded, glancing at me worriedly. “She’s causing problems for Willa?”
Barrett shook his head, smiling gently at Mara. “No one causes problems for Willa.”
Mara studied his face and then laughed delightedly, smiling up into his eyes. “Good, that’s good.”
Barrett chuckled and brushed his lips against my temple.
Bex turned to Rhys and demanded, “Hey, handsome, why didn’t I know Barrett was in a band?”
“Why? So, you could run off with my Rockstar brother?” he challenged her, his hands loose on his lean hips, a smirk on his too handsome face. “Maybe there are more secrets you don’t know. Maybe I sing and play the guitar, too. Maybe I’ve been holding out on you.”
