CHAPTER 37
LIAM
“Son, come down here.”
My eyes roll automatically when he speaks to me these days. I never thought I’d cringe at the sound of my father’s voice, but I do. The closer I get to graduation, the more of a hard ass he’s become.
The day I asked Josie to homecoming the dissension started. My parents sat me down and explained the concept of socially acceptable standards. In a nutshell, Josie isn’t country club enough to be seen with a Westbury.
For the first time I saw my parents in a different light. I was disgusted to be their son. I couldn’t understand how they could say something so horrible about someone they didn’t even know. The night of homecoming I walked out of my house in my tux without saying goodbye or allowing my mom to take a picture. I wasn’t going to let them dictate who I dated, or who I loved for that matter.
“I’ll call you back,” I say to Josie. She doesn’t come over anymore. She gave up a long time ago. She even offered to break up with me so my life would be easier. I told her no way in hell was I going to let Sterling and Bianca Westbury drive her away.
Josie is the best thing to ever happen to me. She understands me.
Throwing my phone on the bed, I sigh. I’m counting the days until I’m out of here. Mason and I are taking the girls camping for a week before we leave for college. One last hurrah and a week of pure solitude for me and Josie. No annoying parents looming over our shoulder.
When I get downstairs, I’m greeted by an ominous look from my father. He’s up to something. He pats me on the shoulder and leads me into the living room. There sitting on the couch, with her legs crossed, is his golfing buddy’s daughter, Sasha.
I groan and rub my hands over my face. In this position I could elbow my dad in the gut and run for it, but Sasha has already seen me and is standing, walking toward me with her hand out as if I’m to kiss it. Like I owe her a thank you for being in my house. No thanks.
“Liam, it’s so good to see you.” Her voice is whiney, nasally. I can’t stand it. I grimace which only makes her smile brighter. Her teeth are so white. She could light a dark street at night.
“Sasha,” I say coldly, uninterested.
“Well, I thought you two could come with us tonight,” Sterling says. Again with the eye rolling which Sasha witnesses.
“Or we could stay in,” she offers.
I recoil at the thought of spending time with her. “I have plans.”
“Oh, I don’t mind hanging out with you and your friends.”She laughs as her hand trails down my arm. I move away, offended by her touch.
I don’t remember offering I want to blurt out. “I’m sure you don’t, but my girlfriend does,” I say just so I can goad Sterling. He stiffens and I want to laugh. His matchmaking is failing which means his buddy is going to be pissed.
“Excuse us for a moment, Sasha.” My dad grabs my arm and pulls me into the other room. I’m about to get a tongue lashing, something I may thoroughly enjoy.
“Liam, it’s about time you look at your future. You're going away to college and Sasha is a fine woman to have on your arm, especially when the NFL scouts you. You need to present the full package and she completes that. You can’t have riff raff from across the tracks hanging on just so she has someone to support her.”
His words fuel nothing but pure anger. “You don’t know shit about Josie and her family.” I point at him, pushing my finger into his chest. “You do nothing but sit on your pompous ass and look down on people who don’t go to your stupid ass country club. I love her and I plan to marry her whether you like it or not. If you want some arm candy, why don’t you date Sasha? She’s probably looking for a sugar daddy anyway.”
“Where are you going?” he asks as I walk away.
“Out with my friends. It’s Mason’s birthday so you’ll have to entertain Sasha. Just don’t let mom catch you.” I slam the door effectively cutting him off.
I shake my head to clear away that memory. I’ve hated my dad for so long for the way he’s treated Josie. Even though my mom comes around to see Noah, I refuse to step foot into their house. She’s trying. I’ll give her that, but him… no way. If he couldn’t accept Josie in my life back then, I’ll be damned if I’m going to allow him anywhere near my son.
So much has changed in the past four months. Josie and Noah moved into my – our – house after New Year’s. Harrison and Quinn have also moved to Beaumont and right into Josie's empty house. Which I knew was going to happen. It all made sense. That also put him in the same neighborhood as Katelyn, where, if you drive by on Saturday, you see him and his tattooed arms mowing her lawn.
Tonight we're celebrating Mason’s birthday. It’s been seven months since he left us and we’ve each struggled and coped differently. We held our fundraiser for Katelyn and the girls at Ralph’s, which has become a local hotspot, and did fairly well. I’ve also hired Katelyn as my manager effectively giving her a stay at home job, even though she has to come to my house and work every day. As soon as school is out for the summer we're heading out on tour. Three band members, two bossy women and four kids touring for three months. Band life will be different now.
I’m waiting for Josie to get ready. My truck, a recently acquired nineteen sixty-five Chevy, is strictly for water tower drinking. When I told Josie about my purchase, she slapped me in the arm and told me to grow up. Yet she’s the first one to yell for a ‘water tower’ night when we're in need of a reality check.
I load the back of the truck with a cooler full of beer. Josie will be our designated driver tonight, which I’m thankful for. I want tonight to be fun and somewhat enjoyable for Katelyn. Josie walks out of the house, her arms full of food. I run over to her, kissing her on the cheek and relieving her of the heavy load. We had the food catered as I didn’t want Josie or Katelyn stressing about what people will eat.
I turn back and look at her after putting everything into the back of the truck. I take in her appearance. She’s dressed in tight jeans with her red cowboy boots. Her tight, ‘I love my rocker’ tank top hugging her curves nicely. She dresses like this to tease me.
I saunter over to her and sweep her into my arms, bending her backward and attacking her neck. She giggles and tries to push me away with her head. She finally relents, knowing I’ve won.
I set her back on her feet. “Ready?” I ask. She nods, threading her fingers into mine. She climbs into the truck through the driver’s door, settling in the middle. Just like in high school.
When we arrive at the water tower, there are a bunch of people here. I was surprised when Katelyn said she wanted to invite people from high school, but went along with it. Josie and I hop out of the truck, hand in hand. I drop the tailgate and help her set up. Harrison comes over to say hi before snagging a beer out of the cooler.
“I’m going to head up, okay?” I kiss her on the cheek and pocket a few beers. Mason’s truck is lined up just perfectly for our beer torpedoes. Harrison follows me up the ladder. Most of the guys already at the tower know him, but I make a few introductions.
We pop open our first beer and chug. On the count of three, we throw our bottles down. With the loud crash of glass shattering we all yell out ‘Mason!’ The women start cheering and the music is turned up.
We start the party in true Mason style.
As the night goes on, stories are told and retold. The comfortable camaraderie that we all had in high school is back. I’m no longer the a*shole that ditched everyone and Harrison fits in with everyone. I’m literally living the best of both worlds and I couldn’t be happier.
I look at Harrison when I hear him sigh heavily.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” he says. I follow his gaze and see that Katelyn's talking to Bill Rogers, some geek turned millionaire for creating a computer program that everyone loves.
Bringing my bottle of beer to my lips, I look back at Harrison. His expression is sad. I know he likes her but is afraid of being turned down.
“Take your time with Katelyn, man. Just be there and don’t push her. They were together for a long time, but I know she notices you. I’ve heard her talking to Josie about you. Just seize the moment when it’s there.”
Harrison starts laughing. “You’re one to talk.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“You write song after song about how much you love that woman.” He points to Josie who's talking to Jenna. “You live with her, share a son, yet I don’t see you asking her to marry your sorry ass.”
I look from Josie to him and back again.
“You’re right.” I stand up, holding on the railing, place my fingers through my lips and whistle loudly getting everyone’s attention.
“Hey, Josie!”
“What do you want, Westbury?” she yells back. I love how some things haven’t changed.
“Will you marry me?”
Someone kills the music and silence spreads over the field. She moves closer to the water tower and sets her hands on her hips. “If you’re going to ask me, you better do it proper.”
“Yes ma’am.” I down my beer and toss it toward the truck and make my way to the ladder. I climb down carefully. When my feet hit the ground I pat my pocket for the ring I’ve had in there for the past few weeks and pull it out, keeping it in my palm. I’ve just been waiting for the right moment. This must be it.
I stroll over to her, my steps wide so I’m there faster. Her hands are still on her hips, her eyes wide. She’s not expecting this.
I bend down on one knee in front of her. Her hand goes to her mouth and there’s a collection of gasps behind us.
“Josie Preston I have loved you since I was sixteen. I know I’ve screwed up a whole lot, but I promise to make it up to you every day. Would you do me the immense honor of wearing my ring, taking my name and becoming not only my partner in life, but most importantly, my wife?”
Josie nods. There are tears in her eyes and I want to get up and kiss them away. “Yes, Liam. Yes a million times over I’ll marry you.”
I pull her hand forward and slide the ring on, kissing her finger before I kiss her. There is loud applause and cheering behind us.
“I love you, Jojo. You’re forever my girl.”
KEEP READING FOR A
SNEAK PEEK
OF
THE BEAUMONT SERIES
BOOK 2
The music sheet doesn’t make sense. I’ve been over it a hundred times or more and it’s still all a blur. I know the lyrics and the beat, but everything I put down is a mess. Liam is expecting something from me by the time band practice starts in an hour, but I’m not going to be able to deliver. My mind is consumed with thoughts of love and lust and there isn’t jack shit I can do about it.
I rip my ears buds out and move away from my computer. I can’t do this, not today. Not after seeing her last night. I hate that I can’t tell her how I feel. I hate that when another man looks at her, I feel nothing but murderous rage. I want to be the only one looking at her.
I’m a fool to think she wants me with my full sleeved tattoos and rocker lifestyle. I know I can offer her more than those other men. A stable home, financial security and a man who will worship and kiss the ground that she walks on. But I’m not the one you can take home to mom or to the school PTA meetings without being stared at. I know she doesn’t want that. Enough people stare at her now.
I pull out a clean sheet of paper and write down more lyrics. More touchy feely shit that I wish I could tell her. Instead I show up almost daily with something to offer her, coffee, lunch or a free lawn mowing job because I can’t, for the life of me, get it through my head that I’m nothing more than just a friend to her, and that’s all I’ll ever be.
I write down six words before tearing the paper up. I know why Liam tasked me with putting the music down for these songs, but they are mine. I hadn’t planned on sharing them with the band. Liam thinks they’re good and wants to see how they sound. I think he’s trying to get me back for all those things I said about him falling in love when he returned home for his buddy’s funeral. Now that it’s my turn, he’s sitting back and laughing his ass off. I ought to write some heavy shit. The head pounding scream your lungs out shit that I sometimes think about.
But no, that isn’t who we are. We’ve skyrocketed Liam’s heartfelt ballads and rocking personal stories that make women fall in love with us. They all think we are tortured souls and in need of companionship. Little do they know that Liam has only written about one woman, hell I didn’t even know about it until he upped and left Los Angeles for the quiet mundane life of Beaumont.
I can’t blame him. I’ve done the same thing. This is the best place to raise Quinn. He goes to school with Noah and when Liam and I have a gig, Josie takes care of him. She’s really filled the role of mother for him and for that I will forever be thankful to her. That and she gave my best friend a whole new life and we’ve since had a string of number one hits putting us back on top of the charts.
Now if I could just get the one I’m in love with to just look in my direction. I’m firmly stuck in the friend category though and I don’t know how to get out of it. I’m afraid to tell her how I feel because the look on her face will break me. I know she doesn’t want me the way I want her and I’d rather be her friend then not have her in my life at all.
I put my ear buds back in to try this one more time. I picture the things I want to do to her. The way I want to hold her. How I want to be the one she comes home to at night. Be the one that she turns to when she needs consoling on the anniversary of her husband’s death. I want to be the one that the twins need when someone dares to break their hearts.
Imagining a life with her is as easy as breathing. I just have to find a way to make it happen without putting too much pressure on her. I have hope that time is my friend and that someday she’ll look in my direction and realize I’m someone she can trust to take care of her. That she’ll know I’d never hurt her or the girls. She’ll see me for me and know that Quinn and I would fit perfectly into her life.
I push away from the desk and head to my drums, bringing my laptop with me. I need to pound out some anger and frustration and maybe something will transpire that is usable. I close my eyes and let my sticks guide me. My beat starts off hard and steady. I’m beating the drums in front of me, releasing this pent up energy.
Her face flashes before my eyes, her voice inside my head. I instantly calm down and work out a melody. I hit record on my laptop and play the sound through. It’s slow, smooth. Definitely something Liam and I can work on.
Jimmy and Tyler knock on the window, alerting me that they’re here. Tyler is our new soundboard guru and he’s been spending time with Jimmy in Los Angeles for the past week getting to know him. I stop the recording and take off my headphones to open the door for him. When I do, she’s coming down the stairs talking on her cell phone. Her eyes meet mine briefly. I can’t tell you if I’m smiling or showing no emotion whatsoever, her presence alone makes me turn into a fool. Its times like this that I’m thankful she works for us. It gives me every conceivable excuse to be near her. It’s so easy to fake a conversation about music and what gig we have coming up or what our deadlines are. Funny thing is, I know all of this, but act as if I’ve forgotten or can’t find my phone to look it up.
Jimmy slaps me on the shoulder as he passes. He’s chuckling and muttering something to himself. Liam is trudging down the stairs before I can shut the door and turn on the light to let Katelyn and Josie know we are working.
I hate the way Liam looks in the morning. No, I shouldn’t say that. I’m happy for him. He’s with the one woman he loves and they are happy. Sickeningly happy, he’s paid his dues and deserves this. The pride I see in his eyes when he looks at his son is the same way I am when I look at Quinn. They are the best of us, no matter how much we screw up.
“Jimmy, my man,” Liam says as they man hug. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Linda let me in. Tell me, how much did you have to pay her to leave her comfy job at the hotel to come here to take care of your sorry ass?”
Liam laughs. He made it a few months before he started looking for a housekeeper. He didn’t want Josie having to take to care of the house by herself so he asked his former maid, Linda, to move to Beaumont. He’s in the process of building her a nice little house out behind his and bought her a car.
“Let’s get to work. Katelyn is working on some new bars that she heard about so we need to work out the kinks.” Liam straps his guitar on and starts tuning.
“I worked this out before you guys got here.” I move over the laptop and press play, watching Jimmy and Liam as they listen to the melody. Liam smiles and looks over to the lyrics we’ve been working on. Jimmy moves to the keyboard and hits a few keys and I add in the beat from my drums. Liam signals to Tyler to start recording. He strums his guitar and sings into the microphone as Jimmy and I play along with him.
When I look up, Katelyn is watching me. Not us, but me before she turns and is out of sight. For one brief moment I have a sliver of hope that she might feel the same way.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To say this has been a whirlwind journey is an understatement. When I started, I never thought I’d get this far. To hold my book, to see my name in print and to hear about people reading something I wrote is all too surreal.
Yvette Rebello ~ No words will ever capture what you mean to me. This adventure, it’s not possible without your guidance and support. I can’t imagine ever doing this without you. Thank you for putting up with all my crazy story ideas and being the sounding board that I needed.
Holly Stephens ~ To have you be on this ride is a tremendous honor. I will always remember the story that brought us together and how it’s guided and allowed us to develop an everlasting friendship. I’m excited to be starting this process with you.
Forever My Girl would not be possible without Yvette & Holly. The countless hours of emails, text message and phone calls shaped the cast of characters that make up Forever My Girl. I am and will always be in their debt.
Eric Heatherly ~ Without you, your lyrics and music, Liam doesn’t come alive. You’ve given me an opportunity to bring something different to my novels and for that I thank you.
Cari Renee ~ Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for helping bring Liam alive on stage. If it wasn’t for your love of music, Cari, I would’ve never been introduced to Eric. I’m forever grateful.
Jillian Dodd ~ How can I ever say thank you enough for everything that you’ve done for me? From answering rambling and incoherent text and email messages to holding my hand and helping me build a fan base. I’m so proud to be representing Bandit Publishing. Thank you for the opportunity.
DamarisCardinali ~ What started as a risk when I sent you Forever My Girl has turned into a great friendship. I can’t thank you enough for your support and the support Good Choice Reading Reviews has given me.
Beth Suit ~ Wow. Thanks to Jillian we met and for that I’m so thankful. You have been a true blessing to have in my life. Thank you so much for all your hard work on Forever My Girl. I look forward to a long and fulfilling friendship with you.
Sarah Hanson ~ To say I’m in awe of your talent would be an understatement. What you did, bringing Forever My Girl to life, amazing. I will never be able to thank you enough, nor will I be able to look at my gorgeous cover and not cry.
Fallon Clark ~ Thank you for always being here for me. It’s hard to believe I’ve known you since you were sixteen and here we are working together to create magic. Thank you for always being there when I need you and your red pen.
And finally to my family. Erik, Madison & Kassidy ~ thank you for putting up with me always being in the other room, sitting with my laptop while we watch TV and the late nights. Your support, guidance and encouragement means more to me than I can ever tell you. Mom; Dad & Beth – look at what I did! Nicole & Becky: Thank you for reading and giving me feedback. Jenn Sy: your encouragement knows no bounds.
Jen Howell: you had the first official ARC & review, I couldn’t have asked for a better person to give Liam too.
Grandma & Ryan ~ I miss you. I wish you were here to see this.
To all the readers, reviewers, bloggers and authors, I thank you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Her grandma once told her that she can do anything she wants, so she is.
Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in picturesque Vermont, with her husband and two daughters. Also renting space in their home is an overhyper Beagle/Jack Russell and two Parakeets.
During the day you’ll find her behind a desk talking about Land Use. At night, she’s writing one of the many stories she plans to release or sitting courtside during either daughter’s basketball games.
She’s also an active book reviewer on The Readiacs.