Final Encore (19 page)

her.”

“I agree,” Bily said. “I’l put her out to pasture for

the day and start getting the other horses saddled and

ready to go. It’s damned near eight thirty.”

“Good idea,” Jules said. “By the way, me and a

couple of the boys are heading down to the lower forty

to repair some fencing. I’l catch up with you this

afternoon.”

“Have a good day,” Bily said.

The first half of Bily’s ride was uneventful. As he

always did, he pointed out vistas and landmarks and

any wildlife he spotted, but mostly he rode in silence

and thought about Ian.

When they arrived at the lunch spot, Bily put out

the spread and told everyone to help themselves. He

opened his cel phone, dialing as he walked away.

“This is Ian.”

“Hey, handsome.”

“Hey, cowboy. How’s it going out there in the

Wild West?”

“Oh, about the norm, pretty uneventful,” Bily

replied.

“A little less exciting than the last ride you were

on, I would imagine.”

“A lot less exciting, and I’m happy to keep it that

way, especialy if you’re involved,” Bily said.

“Now stop being a mother hen, and thanks for

the coffee and breakfast.”

“Anytime,” Bily said. “No one can accuse me of

not taking care of my man.”

“I certainly can’t,” said Ian, smiling at the “my

man” part.

“How’s your day going?” Bily asked.

“Pretty good. It’s amazing how much I can get

done from here. I’ve made a few cals and sat in on a

meeting via conference cal, and this afternoon, I’m

going to put a big dent in the backlog of demo CDs I’ve

been neglecting.”

“Don’t you go and find anyone better than me on

that bunch of CDs, Buster,” Bily said with a hint of

jealousy.

“No chance, cowboy. I’m counting on you and

that voice of yours to get me a big bonus and maybe a

promotion.”

“Wow, no pressure, huh?” Bily said.

“Maybe a little,” Ian said, chuckling.

“How’s the ankle?”

“It’s much better this morning. The black, blue,

and purple have mostly turned to yelow, which is a sign

of healing according to the internet, and a good bit of

the sweling has gone down, so I think we’re on the

road to recovery.”

“Damn, I was hoping to take care of you for

another week or so before you kicked me out.”

“Look at the bright side,” Ian said. “I could

always have a relapse.”

“I guess there’s always that slim chance,” Bily

replied in a sad voice.

“And by the way, no one’s kicking you out. I’m

getting used to having you around.”

“Realy?” Bily shot back

“Yep,” said Ian.

“Oh, Miss Scarlet, you act on me like a tonic,”

Bily said in his best Clark Gable in
Gone with the

Wind
accent.

“Oh, stop it, Rhett, you say the sweetest things,”

Ian replied, and they both laughed.

“So, you think you’l feel up to coming with me to

Jean’s tonight?” Bily asked.

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”

“It’s a date, then,” Bily said. “I better get this

lunch picked up and these people safely back to the

ranch so I can get home to you.”

“Deal, see you soon. Goodbye, Bily.”

“’Bye, handsome.”

Bily closed his cel phone and starting walking

back to his group.
Did I just say “home” to Ian?
Bily

thought.
Oh man, I’ve got it bad.

THE second half of Bily’s day was as uneventful as the

first half. He whistled his way through the rest of his

chores as if he were on autopilot. He carefuly helped

his staff unsaddle and brush each horse, replaced the

bits and hackamores with halters, and led them, two at

a time, to the walker for a cool down period. While

they were cooling down, he sorted the tack and put it

away, dumped a bucket of feed into each stal, and

helped fil their water buckets. In another thirty minutes,

the horses were settled in for the night and he was at the

bunkhouse picking out something to wear for the night’s

performance. As he was walking out the door, he

nearly ran right into Buck, who was coming in at the

same time.

Buck gave him a familiar scowl and drawled,

“How’s your B-O-Y-friend?”

Shocked by Buck’s comment, Bily said, “What

are you talking about?”

“Everyone’s talking about your boyfriend’s freak

accident. He should be a little more careful.”

“That’s funny, I’ve been here al day and no one’s

mentioned a thing about it to me,” Bily barked.

“Al I know is that your little boy toy better be

more careful when something smacks his horse in the

ass,” Buck hissed.

Bily thought for a second and decided to keep

his mouth shut and simply walk away. He would deal

with this tomorrow after talking to Jules. With this on his

to-do list for the next day, by a little past five o’clock,

he was back in the Escalade and on his way to see Ian.

Ian’s day had gone by very fast. He’d spent a

good bit of time on the phone with Josh, talking about

Bily. Josh respected him and his opinion a great deal,

so it didn’t take much to convince him to come out to

Jean’s to catch the show and to bring his wife Suzie,

whom Ian realy liked. He thought about whether he

should tel Bily before or after the show but decided he

had a right to know before he performed and would tel

him when he got home.

He spent the biggest part of his day, as he had

planned, listening to demo CDs. After listening to each

one, he sorted them into three stacks. The first and

smalest stack was the ones he liked, and would pass

along to Josh for a second opinion. The second stack

was the “maybes,” and these he would listen to again in

a few days to see if he stil thought they had a shot

before he passed them along to his boss. The third and

talest stack was the “rejects.”

Ian hated the “rejects” because he knew he was

throwing away someone’s hopes and dreams and no

one should have the ability to do that to another person.

But unfortunately, it was the business and a tough

business it was. Only the best of whatever the trend

was at the time would make it. He had seen “beautiful

people” without great voices make it big because of

their looks and marketability. He also saw people with

incredible voices not make it because they didn’t have

“the look” or “the figure” or “the savvy” to carry it off.

It always seemed so unfair to him, but the music

business was anything but fair. He wondered how wel

Bily knew the business he was getting himself into and

vowed that if Bily would let him, he would help guide

his career and make sure he was never taken advantage

of.

Ian had taken the last demo CD out of the player

and was inserting it into its paper sleeve when he heard

the hum of the garage door opening. He identified the

sounds of his SUV’s door opening and closing, Bily

climbing the stairs, the garage door closing, and the

opening of the living room door.

“Lucy, I’m home,” Bily shouted with a strong

Cuban accent.

“I’m in here, Ricky,” Ian shouted, trying to sound

like Lucile Bal. In seconds, with a garment bag in

hand, Bily stood in the doorway to Ian’s office.

“Hey, stud,” Ian said with a smile.

“Hey, handsome. And enough of that ‘stud’ stuff,

okay? Am I ever going to live that down?”

“Probably not, but I’l cut you some slack

because I haven’t seen you al day.”

“Thanks a lot,” Bily said as he made his way to

Ian, seated behind his desk. He got down on one knee

and kissed Ian tenderly.

When the kiss was over, Bily said, “I’ve been

waiting for that al day.”

“You realy did have an uneventful day if this is

what you looked forward to.”

“Funny,” Bily said as he studied the three stacks

of CDs on Ian’s desk.

“How’d it go?” he asked, referring to the stacks.

“As wel as could be expected,” Ian replied.

“Let me guess,” Bily said as he pointed to the

stacks in order, “good ones, okay ones, and not-so-

good ones.”

“And how did you come to that conclusion?” Ian

asked.

“It makes perfect sense to me that since there are

only a handful of new, realy good performers, they

would be the smalest stack. And it’s also pretty

obvious that there are so many aspiring performers

without the ‘wow’ factor that they would be the largest

stack, and with those two figured out, I guessed at the

middle stack.”

“Wel done, cowboy,” Ian said. “Now take a

seat, because I have something to tel you and you have

to promise me that you won’t get mad.”

Bily thought for a second and said, “I promise,

and do you want to know why I promise?”

“Sure,” replied Ian with a quizzical tone in his

voice.

“Because… at this stage of our relationship, I’m

too in lust to get mad, and besides, I wouldn’t want to

‘mad’ myself right out of another night like last night,

now would I?”

“Good point,” Ian said.

“So, out with it,” Bily continued.

“My friends, Josh and Suzie Randal, are coming

out to Jean’s tonight to catch your show,” Ian nervously

uttered.

“Josh Randal… why does that name sound so

familiar?”

“Because he’s my boss, and if he likes you, he

can make stuff happen.”

“Are you shittin’ me?”

“Nope,” Ian said.

“Hel, I’m not mad, I’m ecstatic,” Bily replied.

“Tel me more.”

“Nothing more to tel,” Ian said. “I can’t realy

guarantee anything except that he’l be there and he’l

be watching.”

“I don’t need any guarantees, Ian,” Bily said.

“The fact that you went to bat for me is more than I

could have asked for. I can’t believe this.”

“Believe it. Hopefuly we’l get him there, but the

rest is up to you.”

“We didn’t get him there, you got him there, and

now I’ve got to figure out a way to repay you.”

“Oh that, we’l figure something out,” Ian said

with a cunning smile. “What time do we need to be at

Jean’s?”

“I go on at nine, so about eight thirty should be

fine,” Bily replied.

“It’s six forty-five now, so that gives us a little

under an hour to eat and shower,” Ian figured.

“We better get a move on, then,” Bily said.

By seven-forty they had eaten, showered, and

dressed, and Bily was backing down the stairs one step

at a time, facing Ian as Ian proudly descended the stairs

without Bily’s help.

THEY were walking into Jean’s by 8:40 to a packed

house. Neither Bily nor Ian saw Jean or Jules, but one

of the waitresses met them at the door.

“Hey, boys,” she said. “Jean’s not here yet, but

she said for Ian to sit at her table and she would join

you as soon as she introduced Bily.”

“Thanks,” Ian and Bily said simultaneously.

They made their way to Jean’s table with Bily

leading the way, moving barstools and excusing himself

as he asked people to step aside to alow Ian on his

crutches to pass.

“Thanks,” Ian said as they reached Jean’s table.

“No problem,” Bily answered. “If you’l be al

right for a minute, I’l go to the bar and get us a drink.

What would you like?”

“I’l have a Bud Light long neck.”

“Coming right up,” Bily said.

It wasn’t long before Bily was back at the table

with two beers and a basket of popcorn. He handed

one of the beers to Ian and said, “Here you are, sir,”