A Plain Love Song (34 page)

Raucous laughter and deep voices—several of them—floated up the stairs. Riffs of guitar music came and went. Somebody—more than one somebody—played music in Charlene’s living room. Sure didn’t sound like a baseball game. Smoothing her kapp, Adah tiptoed—why she didn’t know—down the stairs and peeked around the corner into the living room.

Jackson sat on the couch, his guitar balanced on his knee. As always, Captain lay at his feet, head lolling, tongue half out of his mouth. He didn’t seem to mind the volume of the music. It made Adah’s ears hurt. A look of fierce concentration on his face, Jackson picked a tune she’d never heard before. Loud and fast, the lyrics had what Matthew called a honkytonk tone to them. He never let her sing along to those songs at the concerts and when their friends went to the little bar in New Hope, he never let her join them. His line in the sand.

“Adah!” Jackson saw her and lifted his hand, pick clutched between thumb and forefinger. “We’re jammin’. Join us. These are my buddies Rick, Sam, and Derek. Guys, this is the girl I was telling you about, the one with a voice like an angel.”

“I thought you were watching the ballgame.” She nodded to the buddies, who mostly stared, the same odd expression she saw on the faces of people who’d never met a Plain person before. “You didn’t say anything about having company.”

“The ballgame’s on. The Cardinals are losing three to one.” He slapped his hand on the guitar. “I can multitask. I couldn’t wait to get started with the songwriting so I made some calls. We need to get our A-stuff ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“The call came in. From Mac McMillan. He’s scheduled some time for us tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yeah, tomorrow. Pull up a chair. We need to get ourselves ready.”

Tomorrow was way too soon. She needed more practice. Trying to ignore the sudden appearance of a horde of butterflies flying upside down in her stomach, Adah took in the liquor bottle sitting open on the huge oak coffee table. Four glasses with ice melting in them sat on the table, condensation making puddles around them. A cigarette burned in an ashtray, its spiral of smoke hanging in the air. A bag of tortilla chips had been torn open next to a bowl of soupy-looking cheese dip. Droplets of cheese and chunks of tomato and chili pepper spotted the table. Apparently they hadn’t heard of napkins. Charlene wouldn’t be happy about that. “Your dad said to stay out of the liquor cabinet.”

“That was a metaphor for staying out of his house and his life. For not bothering him.” Strumming again, Jackson sang the words. “Stay out of my house, son. Stay out of my life, boy.”

He stopped playing long enough to turn over a piece of paper lying on the table. “Hey, what do you think of this bridge?” He strummed several chords. “Sharp, right?”

“I don’t know. What do you mean by
bridge
?”

Sam snorted. “I thought you said she wrote songs. You sure you got the right girl? She looks a little naïve.”

The way he said it reflected what he really meant:
She seems a little stupid
.

“She does write songs. She just doesn’t speak the lingo. I forget that. She’s an Amish girl.”

Sam looked her over again, his gaze meandering from her face to her toes, his lips curled in a smirk. “You know how to quilt, girl? Cuz my mom really likes those Amish quilts. She goes up to Webster County to get them all the time.”

“Yes, I quilt.” Adah began to edge toward the hallway. Her tightly entwined fingers felt damp. Captain growled low in his throat and got to his feet. “I sew.”

“But you don’t bridge.” Sam laughed and slapped his hand on the
gaping holes in the knees of his jeans as if this were the funniest thing he’d ever said. “How about pre-chorus? Do you do that?”

“Yes. I don’t know.”

More snickering. “Honey, why don’t you get us some more ice?” Derek held up his empty glass. “And pull that bottle of Pepsi from the refrigerator and bring it on out here.”

Adah glanced at Jackson, waiting for him to set these guys straight. She was his friend, not the maid. Jackson had his head down, his eyes closed, as he mumbled words and strummed unfamiliar chords.

Feeling dismissed, she swiveled and hurried into the kitchen. To her surprise, Captain hobbled along with her, his snout pierced with his usual grin. She didn’t plan to get ice, but to clean up the mess. Charlene would be home soon and Adah didn’t want to make more work for her or take advantage of her hospitality. Jackson might be used to doing that, but she wasn’t.

She grabbed a washcloth and sopped up spilled soda on the counter. “Sticky mess,” she muttered under her breath as she turned on the faucet and let water run over the cloth. “Pigs.”

Captain woofed as if in agreement, then plopped down on the linoleum under the table in what Charlene liked to call the breakfast nook. “Some help you are.” Adah felt foolish complaining to a dog, but right now, Captain seemed the most intelligent male in the house.

Captain cocked his head, woofed again, and sprawled out as if ready for a nap.

“Like I said, you’re no help at all.”

“You talking about us?” Sam stopped in the doorway and propped his long, lean body against the frame, one arm over his head, a lazy, half-amused expression on his acne-scarred face. He shoved thick hair from his eyes with fingers that had nails on the long side for a man. “It’s not nice to talk to people behind their backs, even if it is to a dog.”

“It’s not nice to leave a mess in someone else’s house.” She surprised herself with her tart response. She could stand up to these Englisch guys. It was time to start. “Did you need something?”

He shifted and moved toward her. “Just information.”

“I’m new in town. I don’t have a lot of information.”

He leaned against the counter next to where she stood at the sink. She could smell his aftershave and see the sweat ring forming under the arms of his dingy white T-shirt. “Are you and Jackson a thing?”

“A thing?” Trying not to show sudden nerves, she squirted dish soap in a dirty glass and held it under the running water. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Sure you do.” He touched her kapp with one long finger. Heat rushed up her neck. She jerked back. He grinned, revealing crooked teeth with a gap in the middle. A piece of food had lodged itself there. “You’re cute. Something about the dress and the apron. I just don’t want to step on Jackson’s toes.”

She scooted back, out of his reach. Captain scrambled to his feet. A low growl made him sound a lot more fierce than he looked. “Jackson’s my friend.”

Sam straightened and took a long step, cutting the space between them to a mere few inches. His breath stank of alcohol and cigarettes. “Just friends? That’s good. Then he won’t mind if I ask you out.”

Captain began to bark. He abandoned his spot under the table, his toenails clacking on the floor as he shoved himself into the space between Sam and Adah, his teeth bared in a menacing scowl Adah hadn’t seen before, but welcomed in this moment.

“I’m not interested.” She kept her tone firm, not wanting him to see that his closeness scared her. “I don’t even know you—”

“Sure you do. Any friend of Jackson’s is a friend of yours, right?” Sam gave Captain a vicious shove with the point of his cowboy boot. The dog rolled back and smacked against the cabinets. His agitated barking filled the kitchen. Sam seemed oblivious to it. He tilted his head forward, his lips so close to her ear she could feel his stinking breath on her cheek. “My truck’s parked out front. I can fire her up and take you down by the lake. We can be alone.”

She pushed back as hard as she could. “Get off me.”

“Hey, what’s Captain barking about?” Jackson barged into the kitchen. He covered the distance from the door to Adah in fast forward. He shoved Sam back with such force that the other man banged up against the cabinets much the same way Captain had done a few seconds before. “What is wrong with you?”

“Don’t get all worked up, buddy.” Sam rubbed his shoulder, his expression as innocent as a kid caught stealing a pie from a windowsill. “She said you was just friends.”

Captain continued his frenzied barking, his mouth inches from Sam’s ankle. “Call off your dog, man. I didn’t do nothing. I was just being friendly!”

“Captain, stop, stop!” Jackson grabbed the dog’s collar and yanked him back. “Good boy, good boy, good job.”

For a second no one spoke or moved, the only sound their breathing and Captain’s agitated panting.

“I was just being friendly—”

“Get out.” Jackson jabbed a finger at the back door. “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

Still grinning, Sam rubbed his arm. “Come on, it was just a misunderstanding. I didn’t mean anything by it. Tell him, Adah.”

Adah shook her head. “Maybe you were confused, but I wasn’t.”

Jackson wedged himself between Adah and the other man. She backed toward the hallway, relief so intense she wasn’t sure her legs would hold her long enough to get up the stairs. Jackson glanced at her, one hand hovering near her shoulder. “You okay?”

She nodded, sure her voice would betray her fear if she spoke.

“You sure?”

His hand landed on her shoulder and squeezed. “Did he hurt you?”

“No.”

He let go and turned back to Sam. “I said get out.”

“Oh, come on, don’t be that way.”

“Get out.”

“You’re never going to make points in this town if you don’t have a sense of humor.” Despite his words, Sam eased toward the back door. “You need people like me.”

“No. I don’t.” Jackson got in the other man’s face. “Out.”

Sam shrugged, his long hair bouncing on his shoulders, and strolled out the back door, his smirk still firmly in place.

Relief made Adah lightheaded. She slipped out of the kitchen and started toward the stairs, hoping the shaking muscles in her legs wouldn’t let her down.

“Adah, wait.” Jackson followed. He slapped one hand on the banister and blocked the way. “Come on, wait. I’m sorry about that. I’m so sorry. I would never have invited him if I knew he was like that. You gotta believe me.”

Captain in the lead, she dodged him and started up the stairs.

“Adah! Forget about him. Come on, come sing with us. We need to practice.”

“If those are the kind of musicians you know, I’ll pass.” She didn’t look back, but she could hear his boots thudding on the steps behind her. “You’d better clean up that mess before Charlene gets home. She’ll be madder than a hornet.”

“They’re not my friends. They’re just guys who know guys. That’s how you get into the shows here—by knowing someone. I’m sorry, really I am.”

“Your apology is accepted.” She hated the trembling in her voice, but she couldn’t help it. Sam had scared her, much as she would never admit it. “I’m going to my room now. I’m tired.”

“Come down. Sing with us. Have a drink. It’ll calm your nerves.” Jackson stopped at the top of the stairs. “Rick and Derek are good guys. I promise.”

“That shows how much you know about me. I don’t drink.” Adah turned to face him. This was as far as she dared let him go. It wouldn’t be proper for them to talk in her room. “You shouldn’t either.”

His gaze flickered from the floor to her, confronting her head-on. It was full of something she couldn’t quite identify. Beseeching. Uncertain. Longing. “So I had a few. What’s going on here is enough to drive any man to drink.”

“What’s going on? What exactly is going on here?”

“You know.”

“I don’t know. I only know I came here to write songs and play music.”

“With me. You came with me, Adah.”

“We made rules—”

“I know about the rules. I’m abiding by the rules. But I’m hoping you’ll feel like bending the rules one of these days.”

The hoarse emotion in those words warmed Adah’s face and neck. She swallowed against the feelings that welled in her, so caught was she by the longing in his gaze and her own terrible sense of loneliness. She was alone except for Jackson and he had been there for her. He’d brought her to a place where she could have her dream. Because he cared about her.

His hand, fingers warm, came out and touched hers. “Please.”

She shook her head but didn’t move her hand. “I can’t.”

“Why?”

“You move too fast.”

“I’ll slow down.” He withdrew his hand, but the touch of his fingers lingered on hers. “I promise. Just come make music with me. That would make me happy.”

His happiness depended on her. The burden felt like a wagon of bricks balanced across her shoulders. “I will, but not tonight.”

Disappointment pinched the skin around his eyes and mouth. “Tomorrow or the next day?”

“The music, yes.”

“Thanks for the crumbs.”

“I told you, this isn’t how we do this. I’m sorry.”

“Okay. Come on, Cap, let’s go.” His hair hung in his eyes, making him look like a little boy who needed a haircut and a hug. “Let’s go, boy.”

Captain flopped down at Adah’s feet, laid his head on his paws, and let out a woof of a sigh.

“You stole my dog.”

“I did not.” She liked Cap’s company. It wasn’t her fault the feeling was mutual. “His choice.”