Page 35 of Just (Fake) Married
My brothers,which included Tag, took me out for a steak dinner in Big Horn to celebrate my upcoming nuptials and it was actually a very good time. It had been ages since we’d all been together and the stories of growing up together on the Swinging D only got better the more beers everyone had.
As scheduled, we ended up at The Last Stand – the only bar in the Gulch - to basically crash Harmony’s pseudo bachelorette party. We stepped from the cold night into the sweltering bar, where the Calloway coven were storming the dance floor.
The place still smelled like spilled beer, sweat and perfume. And the music was set at a decibel that could do real damage to everyone’s hearing.
“So, how does this work?” I yelled over Miranda Lambert singing about her Little Red Wagon.
A song that already sounded dirty, but watching the Calloway sisters dance to it, became downright filthy. They were all flashing legs and swinging hips, bright red hair and arms lifted over their heads.
My eyes immediately flew to Harmony.
Compelled, I watched a bead of sweat roll down her neck, into the crevice between her breasts, that were perfectly revealed in her black lacy shirt.
I quickly looked away.
“How does what work?” Mac asked me.
“Do we just start telling people they’re getting married?” Carter said, picking up what I meant.
“I’ll leave that to you two geniuses,” Mac said. “I’m going to get us a pitcher of beer.”
Mac had to walk through the dance floor to get to the bar, and it was like he was walking into battle trying to ignore Amity doing her thing.
Which currently involved a lot of hip swaying.
Carter, Tag and I headed to the back of the bar, and lo and behold, a table opened up for us. Which reminded me that the McGraw name still meant something in this town, even if Leroy was dead.
Mac returned with a pitcher of beer. The song changed and the Calloway women started line dancing with some cowboys I didn’t recognize.
The truth was, I didn’t recognize anyone here. I’d been gone a long time.
I glanced over at Mac, who was watching Amity like it was his job, now that he had some distance from her. “You know, if you’re going to stare at her like that, you could have just married her and spared us all.”
He scowled at me and I let it go.
“You know, what the girls said today about business being down in town really hit me,” Carter said. “And it sort of makes sense now. You know the two of them sold vibrators at bachelorette parties?”
I blinked. “The two of who?”
“Bliss and Amity,” he said.
“Vibrators. Really? Is there enough business in the Gulch for that kind of thing?”
“Sold them all around the county, actually,” Tag added. “They did pretty well for a while. As side gigs go.”
“Why are you keeping tabs on Bliss and Amity?” I asked Tag, wondering if there was some interest there.
“I’m not,” Tag said. “I’m keeping tabs on which women have vibrators in this town.”
He said it with a lift of his eyebrows, like the study was scientific in nature, which made me laugh.
“I’m going to shoot some pool,” Mac said, and got up to go claim a pool table.
“I’ll join you,” Tag said, following him.
Meanwhile, Carter’s attention was back on his phone. Mrs. Walker was babysitting the kids tonight and providing regular updates regarding which kid had fallen asleep and which kid was still up and causing trouble.
“Luke,” Carter breathed. “You’re killing me, buddy.”
