Page 61 of That One Touch

A smile pulled at her lips. “I’m not the weird one.”

“Don’t you have a keyboard to set up?” he muttered.

“Just going over there now.” She smiled at him over her shoulder and left him standing there. Staring at her sweet ass.

There was a bigger crowd here tonight. They were playing the Rainbow Bar. It was a roadhouse kind of joint, right outside of Hartson’s Creek, and they’d attracted a big local crowd.

“Everything okay?” Marley asked him, as Presley walked over to help him set up the drum kit.

“Everything’s fine. Why?”

“I saw you and Cassie having a heated conversation. Don’t tell me you’ve pissed her off right before the show.”

Okay, now this was too much. Even his brother had it in for him. “What the hell do you mean by that?”

It came out more vehemently than he’d intended. And Marley actually flinched. “Whoa,” he said. “Where did that come from?”

He ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t know. Sorry. It’s just all a bit intense in here. A lot of old faces, you know?”

“It’s nice that they’ve all come to watch us,” Marley said. “We’ve been gone for so long.”

And yeah, that was his fault. “Not anymore.”

“Nope.” Marley grinned. “So everything’s okay then? I don’t have to worry about you and Cassie screaming at each other on stage?”

“No.”

“Good.”

From the corner of his eye, Presley saw his two girl cousins arrive. Sabrina was the youngest, currently in college. And technically she wasn’t old enough to be in a bar. But he’d squared it with the owner. If she sat with a chaperone and drank sodas all night she’d be good.

So his other cousin, Grace, had agreed to be the chaperone. And right now Grace was hugging Cassie.

Cassie had been right. This was a small town.

Too fucking small.

And that’s when he saw Sadie. Jade’s sister. Standing with a group of friends at the bar down from Cassie and his cousins. She caught him looking at her and smiled.

He nodded back.

Fuck. Guilt at staring at Cassie immediately washed over him. Had Sadie seen them talking? He hoped to hell not. Sadie was a few years younger than Jade. He’d gotten along with her fine, but she was still a kid when he and his wife had started dating.

“Come on, let’s go say hi to Sabrina and Grace,” Marley said, punching his arm lightly. “You can give Sabrina the riot act again.”

“I’m not her dad,” he muttered.

Still, they walked over and hugged their cousins. Sabrina ranting about something her dad had said about her clothes. He tuned it out, all too aware that he’d have said the same fucking thing if Delilah had tried to walk out of the house half-dressed.

Shit, he was so not looking forward to her being a teenager.

“Presley,” Sadie called out. Marley lifted a brow.

“Did you invite her?” he asked.

“Nope. But it’s a free world.” And it was kind of sweet that Jade’s sister was here. He walked over to hug her.

“Hey. Thanks for coming.”