Read Online Lost in Tennessee by Anita DeVito - Free Book Online

it?”
    “I’m going to need a tetanus shot.” Butch lifted her suitcase from where she had stacked it on an inverted chair.
    Kate hauled another suitcase from a precarious position on the top of the television. “Another Slice of Heaven shot should take care of anything out to get you.”
    He stacked her file folders on top and hooked the door open with his foot. “Good idea. You’re buying.”
    T he Sly Dog was indeed a slice of Heaven, even if Kate did stick with bottled beer having names she recognized. Sunday brought out a smaller crowd, but the band kept the place hopping. Trudy and Hyde sat with a couple Kate met the night before. Eyebrows lifted when she walked in with Butch. He wanted to keep it quiet that she would be staying with him. With his divorce proceedings starting, he expected the eye of public opinion to be watching him, and didn’t want her dragged into it. Kate argued that paying him rent would keep everything above board, but Butch wouldn’t have any of it. So they concocted the true story that Butch would be driving Kate to work in the morning where she would get a company truck.
    None of his friends believed it. Kate saw it in their faces. They all thought she and Butch were sleeping together. She looked at the strong jaw and dusty blue eyes and didn’t mind the rumor. It elevated her stock, the thought that she could have a man like Butch.
    The talking faded when Angie joined the table. She dressed for attention in a fuzzy white sweater and paisley leggings. A bright pink scarf wrapped twice around her throat brought attention to her face.
    “Butch,” she said, making it three syllables. “Can I have a word with you?”
    “No,” Trudy said. “The word is no.”
    Butch sighed heavily but stood. “Trudy, stop it. Angie, there’s nothing to talk about.”
    “Just a word,” she asked again, leading him away from the table.
    Kate couldn’t hear the conversation, but she could read the body language. Butch started standing tall and proud, but minute by minute, he shrank until he looked like a boy facing his teacher. Whatever weight Angie had, she threw. Butch needed help. He needed three seconds of courage.
    Kate moved behind Angie’s shoulder where Butch could see her. She stood there, silently, repeatedly puffing her cheeks out like a bullfrog. Butch smiled and, in that moment, remembered himself. He struck a Superman pose.
    Of course, Angie turned around and busted her. “You, you, you interfering little—”
    “Enough, Angie.” Butch stepped away from Angie, capturing Kate’s wrist in passing. “I said no. How are you at darts, Katie?”
    “Better than I am at cooking.”
    They threw a game, but Butch’s heart wasn’t in it. Kate saw him repeatedly looking over his shoulder like lightning might strike at any moment. He needed a distraction.
    Kate pulled the darts from the board and held them. “What do you say we make this interesting? A friendly wager?”
    Those dusty blues snapped to her. “I’ve seen your idea of a bet.”
    “Then you know I mean what I say. Let’s make this interesting.”
    Butch rolled his eyes. “Twenty bucks?”
    Kate snorted. “If I win, you get up on stage and sing ‘I’m a Little Tea Pot.’”
    Butch’s eyes flashed wide, then that slow smiled she loved shone through. “If I win, you have to do the ‘Hokey Pokey.’”
    She winced. She had planned to throw the game to give his ego a stroke, but the “Hokey Pokey”, alone, in the middle of a bar full of strangers? That was so far outside the comfort zone, it wasn’t even in the same zip code.
    “Chicken?”
    “You’re going down, big man.”
    They didn’t talk. With stakes this high, they kept their focus where it needed to be. He led. She led. She gave him a good game, but in the end, she stood, sweaty palms and all, in front of the stage and the band.
    B utch read the fear in her eyes. She looked at the door but didn’t run. He wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have made a break