The Pretty Lady and the Cowboy (Songs from the Heart) (11 page)

Was she being crabby because I’d woken her up? I realized I hadn’t talked to Jess since my date with Levi Sunday night.

“Do you have a sec, Jess?” I asked. I felt like I had to explain why it was so important to spend this time with Levi. I told her how romantic, how perfect Sunday evening had been. I told her I was feeling something I couldn’t really identify, something I hadn’t experienced before. Something—

“Something like a complete lack of common sense?” she interrupted, yawning. “You
do
know that what he does for a 
living
is to make women feel
exactly
the way you’re feeling, right? It’s not just second nature, it’s his
job
.”

I could always count on Jess for a reality check.

“But honestly, Jess, if you were in my place, what would you do?” I asked.

She didn’t hesitate for a second. “I’d grab for the brass ring and hold on like crazy, honey,” she said. “Now let me get some sleep so I can spend my day off selling running shoes.”

She hung up before I could even say thanks.

I finished my workout in a kind of daze, poured some orange juice on my cereal, dumped that out and tried again with skim milk, and then daydreamed in the shower until I ran out of hot water. I’d catch that brass ring and enjoy the ride… however short it might turn out to be.

# # # # #

It usually takes me about five minutes to get dressed. I just grab a fresh logo tee-shirt from the top of the pile in my closet, pull on a clean pair of jeans, pick out some running shoes from the zillion or so pairs I own, and that’s pretty much it. Today I wanted to make sure I looked special, but without making it obvious that I had made any special effort. I wanted to wow Levi, but I didn’t want him to know that the wow was deliberate, if that makes sense.

I’d start at the bottom and work my way up. We all have that one pair of jeans that makes us feel a little better about ourselves (okay, about our buns, really) than any other pair and those were the ones I put on that morning. I paired them with a fitted pink oxford cloth shirt and turned the collar up for a little attitude. I added a cropped Ralph Lauren jean jacket and stood back to take a look. Not bad, I thought. My outfit was casual enough to look appropriate in the store, but several cuts above my usual standard. In a perfect world I probably would have completed the look with some designer ballet flats, but there was no way I could avoid wearing running shoes to the store.

There isn’t a woman alive who doesn’t look better with a little mascara on, so I took the time to apply some, along with a little lip gloss. I even added a small amount of blush. It wasn’t my usual workaday look by a long shot, but I didn’t think anyone would notice.

I was wrong. The first thing Dan said when I walked through the door was, “Hey, you’re looking gorgeous! What’s the special occasion?”

I snorted at that. “I’m not sure whether that’s a compliment or not.”

And then of course he blushed like crazy and stammered, “I mean, not that you don’t always look great. But you
do
look great. I mean, uh—” He broke off abruptly and I could see him trying to figure out how to get out of this one. “How about having dinner with me tonight?” he finally asked.

“Thanks, Dan, but not tonight. I’m leaving early today.” I deliberately avoided saying that I had a date, but I guess it was pretty obvious.

“Anyone I know?” he asked. He was trying to sound casual, but I heard a hint of jealousy in his voice.

“A new acquaintance,” I said. I didn’t want to tell him the “acquaintance” was Levi McCrory. Just telling him that I was attending Levi’s concert had worried Dan. If I told him I was going out on a date with Levi today, he’d probably give me a full-blown lecture. I didn’t want to listen to one more person telling me to be careful. For this once in my life, I didn’t really want to be careful.

# # # # #

from Levi McCrory’s song notebook

“When It’s Right”—verse 2

Then on my first date, I didn’t think about what mama said

when I took a girl out to the country fair.

And we rode the roller coaster and the bumper cars and swings

and I even won that girl a teddy bear.

Then I drove her to her house and as we walked up to her door step

I tried hard to think how I could get a kiss.

But when she saw me pucker up
she said, “Don’t try to take one more step!”

She said, “No, sir, I just ain’t that kind of miss!”

Chorus:

It wasn’t right (clap clap).  And I blew it.

But I learned a lesson from my teenage crush:

When the time is right you’ll feel it,

when the deal is right you’ll seal it.
(4 Guitar chords or claps)

You know that true love isn’t something you can rush.

# # # # #

Jess, bless her, arrived a little past ten.

“So, about that raise you were going to give me,” she said when she walked in.

“Sure. You’ll get yours right after I get mine.”

It was a standing joke between us. She knew we were a long way from being able to give anyone a raise.

“Then I’ll take it out in trade. I could use a new pair of running shorts.”

“Take your pick,” I said, pointing to the rack. “It’s the least I can do. And you know how—”

“Yes, yes, I know how you love doing the least you can do.”

Another joke. We constantly ribbed each other about who worked the hardest.

We weren’t terribly busy this morning, so the time passed slowly. I wondered where Levi planned to take me on our ride. The northeast is known for its fall foliage, and this was the peak of the foliage season. Wherever we went, it would be beautiful—assuming we actually looked out the window of the limo. I felt myself growing warm all over at the thought of sitting in that ultra-plush back seat with Levi’s arms around me.

Never had the hours between 10:30 and 12:30 gone by so slowly. I kept looking at the clock only to find that maybe three or four minutes had passed since I looked at it last. Since I didn’t know if this ride included a midday meal, I took a yogurt from the refrigerator and ate it while I checked email in my office.

Jess, Dan, and I usually take our lunches on a rotating schedule, so when I got back to the front of the store, I told Dan it was his turn. By then the clock had inched its way to 12:45. I prayed Dan hadn’t brought his lunch that morning and gave a silent cheer when he said that he hadn’t. He left a few minutes later and said he’d be back in half an hour.

Perfect. With any luck, Levi would arrive right at 1:00 and we’d be gone by the time Dan got back. It can be hard to keep your private life private when your date picks you up at work. And I was hoping to keep this date as private as I could.

I was standing behind the cash register when I saw the limo pull up outside the store about five minutes to one. My heart started pounding when I saw Levi get out. He was wearing the Finish Line cap again, and again the disguise seemed to be working. Then he turned back around and bent over to get something off the floor of the back seat. Talk about jeans that are tight in all the right places! Whew! When he straightened up, I saw that he was holding a very large cardboard box. Flowers, I wondered? He balanced the box with one hand, slammed the car door shut with the other, and headed straight for the store entrance.

I fiddled with the cash register, pretending I was too busy to watch for his arrival, though really I didn’t have anything to do at the moment since there were no customers in the store. I felt myself blushing like crazy as he walked toward me, so I don’t know how convincing my act was. I looked up and our eyes met and he gave me a smile that melted my heart.

Levi put the box down on the counter between us and took my hands in his. “Hey, Miss Kitty,” he said.

“Hey, yourself,” I said. Something electric happened as our hands touched. The store was fading into the background and all I could see was Levi.

Somehow Jess appeared at my elbow. “So, how about introducing your store manager and good friend?” she said.

I was as nervous as a dog in a thunderstorm and I stumbled through introductions. Jess doesn’t ever gush over celebrities (at least, not in person), but I knew meeting Levi was special to her. She really was a big fan of his. She told him she was one of his Facebook friends and he smiled and said he was always glad to be able to put a face to a name. And he was so easygoing and gracious that you could almost believe he knew all the names of the thousands of fans on his page.

Jess and Levi chatted for a while about country music. Jess was hoping to learn more about his upcoming album, but he said it was under wraps for the moment and he was sworn to secrecy. He leaned toward her, though, and whispered the title in her ear. She smiled. I could tell he had made her feel special.

Then he turned to me and said, “We’d better get going. I’ve got to be back at the casino by six.” He picked up the box and held it out to me. “Here’s a little something for our ride.”

The box was fairly heavy, so I knew immediately that it didn’t hold flowers. I walked it over to the couch and put it down so I could open it. I slowly lifted the lid and pushed back the tissue paper and gave a squeal of pure delight at what I saw. Levi had brought me the most beautiful pair of hand-tooled cowboy boots I had ever seen. Or make that cow
girl
boots. They were bright pink with purple trim, just about the same color as the first pair of shoes I’d brought out for Levi. Where in the world could he have gotten them?

I pulled them out, running my hand over the paisley design that ran up the throat of the boot, then tried them on and strutted around the store a bit. I had always wondered how those pointy toes on cowboy boots could possibly be comfortable, but my feet slid in and were caressed by the incredibly soft leather. My new boots were calf-height and fit perfectly. The black heels lifted me up quite a bit more than my running shoes and made me feel tall. I looked up and saw Levi watching me with a pleased look—as if it made him happy to make me happy.

“So now you have princess shoes and princess boots,” he said. “Lucky girl!”

“This is more than luck—this is the best surprise ever! How could you have possibly known my size?” I asked him, still dancing and strutting around.

“Trade secret,” he said. “Levi McCrory magic.”

I gave him a slightly skeptical look as I swaggered around the store and he smiled and confessed.

“Well, okay, I took a peek inside your running shoes when you went in back to get changed the other night.” Even then he had been planning this! What did that mean about me, about us?

“So hey, Cowgirl, let’s get going!” he finally said after my third trip to the mirror to admire my new country western image.

I said goodbye to Jess and thanked her again for covering for me this afternoon.

“Hey, anything for a special friend of Levi’s,” she said.

Of course, just at that moment Dan walked back through the front door, lunch in hand. His jaw dropped practically to the floor as his glance took in first Levi, then my bright pink and purple boots.

Levi didn’t even notice Dan. He was looking into my eyes, but his reply was to Jess, “And she
is
special.” Then he tucked my hand through the crook of his arm and led me to the waiting limo.

He held the door open for me and I slid in, wondering where this ride with Levi McCrory would take me.

“Time to get your inner cowgirl on!” he said as the limo started up.

I had no idea what that meant, but I was
so
ready to find out.

We had hardly pulled away from the curb before Levi put an arm around me and pulled me to him. I was expecting him to kiss me, but he just held me close and didn’t say anything. I closed my eyes and lay my head on his shoulder and he hummed a tune I knew but couldn’t identify. I’d probably think of it in the middle of the night or something, but really it didn’t matter. This was heaven.

Finally he gave me a kiss on the forehead and pulled back a little so he could look at me. “So, don’t you even want to know where we’re headed?” he asked.

“I’d love to know. I’ve been wondering all morning,” I said.

“Well, now, that’s too bad, because I’m not about to tell you.” He grinned at me, clearly having fun keeping his secret. “So just sit back and enjoy the ride and see how long it takes you to figure it out.”

“I do have another question for you, though,” I said.

“I’m ready—shoot,” he said.

“Well, I confess I’m curious. Who’s that gorgeous blonde woman I see with you sometimes?”

I said it in a teasing, flirtatious way, and I guess I expected a teasing flirtatious answer. “Oh, that’s my niece,” I thought he’d say. Or maybe, “She’s my publicist.”

What I didn’t expect was the serious look that clouded his face. “Kitty, how about if we table that question for now. It’s kind of a long story.” He looked down for a few seconds as if trying to erase the question from his mind. When he looked back up at me, his face was still serious, but there was tenderness in his voice as he said, “Meanwhile, how about a little kiss hello?”

He didn’t have to ask me twice! I turned toward him and our lips met and everything else disappeared.

By the time I looked out the window, we were driving through an unfamiliar area on a road I’d never been on before and I had told myself to forget about the blonde woman. But Levi’s response had made me even more curious about her. “You’re just way too nosy,” I said to myself. “You have to admit that there are parts of your own life you wouldn’t like Levi asking about.” I did admit it. I forced my brain to think about something else, like where in the heck he was taking me.

We had left the highway behind and I watched the scenery go by on smaller, less traveled roads. We rolled down the windows for a better view of the countryside. What a gorgeous fall day! Maybe Levi just wanted to enjoy the famous Connecticut foliage. We saw fewer and fewer houses as we rode, and then we began to see the occasional farm.

“I’ve got it! You’re going to teach me to milk a cow!” I said.