Sissy tilted her shellacked head from side to side and smiled like Miss America. “Y’all didn’t marry me because I was so smart, Clark Doolittle. You married me because of how I fill out a sweater, so don’t you go giving me grief now about wanting to look pretty for you.”
He leaned over and kissed her cheek with a big, juicy smack. “Damn straight, doll. First time I set my eyes on this lady I knew she was the one for me. Pretty as the day is long. And I knew she was smart too, on account of when I asked for a dance, she said yes.”
All the band members smiled blandly and nodded at the insipid cuteness of a story they’d obviously heard before. Meanwhile, Delaney felt Grant’s hand slide down her thigh. The touch was light on her leg, but deliberate enough to set off firecrackers in the sensitive spot right between them. She bit her lip and moved a little in her chair to ease that unexpected tremor. A sharp inhale of breath came from his direction, then that naughty dog dared to move his fingertips closer to the source, moving his hand back up. Delaney let out a gasp of shocked laughter.
Everyone looked at her and she felt the heat blossom on her cheeks. “That’s . . . why, that’s just such a romantic story.”
Sissy squinted her eyes and took a sip of her champagne cocktail. “How did you two meet?”
How did we meet? Delaney looked at Grant. Her mouth wouldn’t quite work just then, which was probably a good thing, because her brain had shut off the minute his hand hit her lap. A slow, lazy smile tilted up the corners of his lips as he stared at her instead of Sissy.
“Oh, I’d say our first meeting was similar to that,” Grant said. “Elaine walked in the room and took me completely by surprise. In fact, she took one good look at me, I looked back at her, and damn, she nearly blew me away.”
Blew him away? Oh, that’s right. With a blow-dryer. Clever bastard. His smile heated up, and she felt it from her toes to her scalp and every delicious detour in between. Damn it. How was she supposed to not have sex with him when he looked at her like that?
“Is that how you remember it, Lane?” he asked.
“Pretty much,” she said softly.
No one said a word for the space of a heartbeat, and Delaney didn’t even realize she and Grant were gazing at each other like moony-eyed teens until Reggie raised his arm and called out, “Check please!”
“Well, ain’t that cute,” Sissy said, wiping her hands on a napkin. “Let’s you and I head on up to my room now, Elaine, and I’ll see if I have any outfits that fit you. We could stop in the gift shop too, for a few things. You boys stay here and finish your drinks and let us have some girl time.”
A ringtone sounded as Sissy stood up, and everyone shifted around, going for their phones.
“I think that’s mine,” Grant said, pulling his hand from Delaney’s lap and taking the phone from his pocket. He glanced at the screen, then handed it to her, his gaze intense.
“It’s your sister.”
“Where the hell are you?” Melody said as soon as Delaney answered. “Are you in Memphis yet?”
Delaney had jumped up from the table as fast as she could and practically sprinted into the hallway outside the lounge. “We just got here about an hour ago. Sorry, I didn’t have a chance to call you yet.”
“Well, don’t scare me like that! God! I had no idea where you were, and then the police called. Lane, it’s all over the entertainment news.”
“What? What is?” Dizzy time struck, and she tipped against the wall for support, then realized she was pressed against Elvis ’69 and had to move. She sat down on an oversized planter instead.
“The police found some old abandoned car on the side of the road that was supposedly registered to you, but of course we told them it couldn’t possibly be yours because you wouldn’t be caught dead in a piece of shit Volkswagen. Then a while later, I started to freak out a little bit, thinking maybe this Grant guy had killed you and maybe you were caught dead in a piece of shit Volkswagen! I couldn’t help it, Lane. I had to tell Mom and Dad. I know you didn’t want me to, but honest to God, if you don’t tell me what the fuck is going on I’m going to find you just so I can kill you myself.”
Grant came around the corner and touched her shoulder. “Everything all right?”
Delaney nodded and tried to smile as if everything was hunky-dory, although what she really needed to do was put her head between her knees and hyperventilate. She held up a hand. “Just a little . . . family drama. I’ll be back in a sec.” Hiccup.
She stood up and wobbled farther down the hall, past a super-fat Elvis, a super-hairy Elvis, and an Asian Elvis in six-inch platform shoes.
“OK, explain this to me again,” Delaney said to her sister. “What exactly is being reported on the news?” Hiccup.