Seth pulls up a stool at the bar, ignoring Lacey’s exasperated sigh as she grudgingly sits beside him. The darkening sky’s followed them inside Tonk’s. The grungy dive bar, one of Luke and Sal and Seth’s favorites, is tucked into a little nook in East Nashville. Lit by neon lights, Tonk’s is a low-key musician hangout. Never recognized, always welcome. Red Dog on tap. Darts on the wall. Waylon Jennings on the jukebox.
The bartender, mustachioed and impatient, looks up from the tap. “What do ya want?”
Before Seth can order, Lacey says, “Is tap water all you have?” She eyes the faucet doubtfully. “I like, need, Pellegrino.”
Seth groans. A nice, normal person is all he wants tonight. The Lacey from the good old days. The same lanky girl who lived with Sal and Luke for a couple of years when they first got married. The Lacey who could surf a killer wave. The Lacey who laughed with abandon and loved bad horror movies.
She’s grown colder since Sal’s accident. Since she moved to LA.
“Two Johnnie Walkers, neat,” Seth tells the waiting bartender. “Tap water is fine.”
The bartender looks relieved and moves off.
Lacey’s glare is thunderous.
Seth swivels his seat to face her. “You know, you could’ve left the high maintenance attitude back in Los Angeles.”
“Nashville is LA,” Lacey volleys. “Just with mullets and rhinestones.”
Seth’s got to hand it to her. “That’d be a good album name.”
For that, he earns a smile. A glowering smile, but a smile nonetheless.
A long silence descends. The drinks are set down. The bartender gives Seth a sympathetic good-luck glance.
Lacey’s sigh is long and loud. Her manicured nails tap on the bar top, drilling the sound into Seth’s skull. She’s antsy. Her mind back at the house. On her sister. On her sister and Luke.
Sal’s gonna owe him. Big-time. He doesn’t know how he became the keeper of Lacey. Although, he doesn’t blame Sal. He knows he and Lacey are cramping Sal and Luke’s alone time.
And after everything they’ve been through, finally making their way back to each other, Seth doesn’t want anything to come between that. Especially now. Especially him and Lacey.
“So.” Lacey’s wispy voice floats between them. She side-eyes Seth. “Sal and Luke. Do you think they’re . . . ?”
Chuckling, Seth sips his whiskey. He’d have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to have noticed the hangdog look on his brother’s face as Sal watched them play. Luke’s so full-tilt in love he can’t see straight.
“Oh, yeah. No doubt.”
Lacey scowls.
Seth slams his drink down, causing Lacey to jump. “Chrissakes. They’re married, Lacey. What do you want from them?”
When she says nothing, Seth nudges the whiskey toward her. Maybe it’ll unclench that stick she’s got up her ass.
Lacey wrinkles her nose at the smell. Seth rolls his eyes. “Quit pretendin’ like you don’t drink. We both know your veins bleed champagne. Man up and take the shot.”
Lacey, looking like she wants to stab Seth with an ice pick, snatches it up, then shoots it back like a pro. She sputters a small cough, resting the back of her hand against her lips.
Smirking, Seth swirls a finger. “Doubles,” he calls to the bartender. Turning toward Lacey, he fixes her with a look. He ain’t letting her blame his brother any longer. “Let’s get somethin’ straight. Here and now. Luke never cheated on Sal. End of story.” When she says nothing, he hisses, “You’re givin’ Luke hell when he don’t deserve it. He’s been lost without her.”
“We all have.”
Lacey pulls her whiskey close. Her face expressionless, she stares into the empty glass. Seth continues. “All the time he’s been on the road, he’s never touched no one else. Never even thought about it. You wanna talk lovesick—that’s Luke.”
It was true.
Back in the day, Seth and Jace used to give Luke shit about the fact that he got married so young. That he was practically on a leash when it came to Sal. Even Mort would lament the fact that Luke, their leading man, was off the market. But Seth’s seen it from the first time Luke laid eyes on Sal. Those two—meant to be. Sal was the buzz to Luke’s neon. There was no one else. For either of them.
Lacey’s green eyes flick to him briefly. Sadness lines her face. Guilt too.