Page 50 of One Last Shot

He took the phone. Read the texts. Handed it back. “Wow. Listen. I have people. We can fix this.”

She looked up at him. He wore such a serious face she couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “Thanks. You’re my hero. But no, you’d have to get in line behind at least two of my brothers. And my sister. And maybe my parents, although I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“I just...”Aw,how had she gottenhere?“They’re pretty conservative, and when the show came out and Blake said things that made it sound like... you know, we...”

“Oh.”

“And my mom was upset and I got defensive, and then my family sort of took sides, and suddenly... Not a great moment. I left shortly after that and haven’t been back.”

He drew in his breath. “Families... are... well, my parents aren’t divorced, but my mom lives in Florida. My dad inSouth Dakota. And I haven’t seen either of them for a long time. Not since my dad told me to get my act together after... well, the state fair fiasco. And Mom said that I’d disgraced Hollie’s legacy. So that was fun.”

“Sorry.”

“Gotta love social media.”

“I deleted everything. I’d be happy to be completely off-grid.”

“Hard to order pizza that way.”

Okay, she liked him. Maybe too much.

Definitely too much. She slid onto a stool.

“You mentioned that you were a Marine, so maybe you don’t need anyone’s help. You said you could hurt me.”

“I can.”

“I have no doubt. Is that where you learned search and rescue?”

“No, but yes. I actually wasn’t a Marine. I was in the Navy—corpsman. But I deployed with a Marine combat unit and had to learn to survive with them. In training they shot a pig, then went out on field maneuvers, and I not only had to keep up, but I had to keep the pig alive.”

“Did you?”

“Yep.”

“Of course you did.”

Oh, he had the charm nailed, didn’t he?

He threw his towel over his shoulder, crossed his arms, and leaned a hip against the counter. “So how did you joinSurvivor Quest?”

“A dare. From my brother Jack. He’s my oldest brother. I told him how I could keep a pig alive and he said I couldn’t keep myself alive, and I sort of snapped and it went south from there. I made a video on my phone and sent it off before I could stop myself, and... the rest is history. Disastrous history.”

“Listen. If you want to compare disastrous internet stories, I’ll get out my checkbook and show you how much I had to pay in so-called damages to the jerk who threw abeer at me onstage.”

“I googled that. There’s a lot of footage.”

“Unfortunately.”

“He shouldn’t have done that. One minute you’re singing, the next, beer.”

“I know. He said it was because I sang to his girlfriend—but the fact is, I sing to everyone’s girlfriend. It’s just a song. Just an act. His issues with me had nothing to do with me.”

“And yet you jumped off the stage.”

“I remember, thank you.”