Page 2 of Summer in Paradise Valley
She would grit her teeth and do the best possible job of keeping her sister’s home and family afloat. Packing a life vest would be crucial.
* * *
Griff kicked back in the rocking chair, popped the top on a cold beer and took a satisfying, deep swallow. Contentment washed over him as he watched the glowing ball of sun disappear behind the rolling hills, the backdrop to Paradise Valley. When he left his suit-and-tie life, it hadn’t totally been by choice, but now he’d no regrets. He certainly didn’t miss the six-figure salary, his luxury apartment overlooking the bright lights of Nashville or his string of equally career-driven girlfriends. Now, the noisiest thing he heard most evenings was an owl hooting in the trees.
‘Hey, Griff. You got a minute?’
‘Oh, hi, Deke.’ He must’ve been miles away in his head, because he hadn’t heard his next-door neighbor approaching. ‘Come and sit down.’ His friend joined him on the porch and dropped into the other chair with a groan. ‘How’re things at the madhouse? How’s Nora? I’m guessin’ you aren’t getting much sleep?’ Dark, puffy rings circled the other man’s eyes.
‘Sleep? What’s that?’ Deke scrubbed a hand over his gray, drawn face. ‘She’s the light of my life, though, and got me wrapped round her tiny fingers already.’ His tired brown eyes brightened.
A stab of envy pierced Griff. If anyone had asked when he graduated college how he pictured his life at forty, it would’ve included a loving wife and a couple of kids, but if the right woman had crossed his path yet, he must’ve been looking the other way.
‘Beer?’
‘Hell, yeah.’
He pulled a can out of the small fridge he kept on the porch and tossed it in Deke’s direction.
‘Cheers.’
They drank in silent companionship for a few minutes as a moth fluttered around the porch light. They watched a shy, wide-eyed deer venture in from the woods to check out Griff’s budding vegetable patch.
Before moving here three years ago, he’d never done any gardening. For a start, Nashville apartment life wasn’t conducive to it, plus he never had the time or the interest. But thanks to Harold Morton, one of his neighbors across the road, he’d discovered the immense satisfaction of growing his own produce. Harold considered Griff his star pupil and freely shared seeds, young plants and advice. All of the tiny transplants — cucumbers, summer squash, tomatoes, jalapenos and bell peppers now starting to sprout were courtesy of Harold’s magnificent greenhouse, a purchase on Griff’s wish list for the future.
Apart from getting him outside more, the garden encouraged Griff to cook properly for himself, too, instead of relying on the typical bachelor fare of frozen pizzas and Cup Noodles.
‘You off on tour again soon?’
‘Yep, next week, and it’s a long one to Europe and Japan. Three months. I sure hate leavin’ Becca and the kids.’ Deke grimaced. ‘Becca’s struggling to cope, and I’m worried sick about her. She’s so damn stubborn, though, and won’t admit she’s having a hard time. Yesterday I suggested talkin’ to the doctor and I’m not gonna repeat what she said back at me.’
‘Tricky.’ Griff didn’t know much about new mothers, but suspected that anyone who hinted they weren’t managing would get an earful. ‘And Theo?’
‘He’s another story.’ Deke buried his face in his hands. ‘God, I was naïve to think he’d settle in and accept Becca and then Nora, too, after what he’d been through. Ashley was cruel to drag him here from California and dump him on me the way she did. Not that I didn’t want him. Don’t you go thinkin’ that.’
They’d never discussed his friend’s first, brief marriage but, with every depressing detail splashed over the tabloids, he and everyone else in the world knew Deke’s ex was a piece of work. Ashley had been a wannabe model and actress in Los Angeles, working as a cocktail waitress, when Deke’s band turned up at her club one night, celebrating their first performance on one of the celebrity talk shows. She calculatedly hitched her star to his, and by the time Deke realized her shallow depths, they were married with Theo on the way. Six months ago, Ashley had arrived in Paradise Valley out of the blue with twelve-year-old Theo and the boy’s paltry belongings in tow. She blithely announced to Deke and his new, pregnant bride that she was emigrating to Australia with her new husband and didn’t intend taking her son with her.
‘I know. He’s a good kid. He’ll adjust. Give him time.’
‘Becca might kill him before that happens.’ The grim pronouncement was mitigated with a faint smile. ‘Twelve’s a crappy age at the best of times. Don’t get me wrong, Griff, I’m sympathetic for the kid, and guilty as hell for not being the father he needed early on. I’d cancel the tour if I could, but I can’t let the band down, or our fans.’ He looked shamefaced. ‘What does it say about the type of guy I am that I don’t put my family first?’
‘When you get back, you can work on sorting it out properly.’ Griff skirted around Deke’s question. He understood more than most about priorities, but he’d never shared the full story of how he ended up here, so it was probably wise not to say too much.
‘Becca’s sister’s comin’ at the weekend to help out for a couple of weeks.’
‘That’s good, right?’
‘Maybe. Maybe not.’ Deke shrugged. ‘They’ve never been close. Lyndsey’s a neat freak, and although I love every inch of my incredible wife, I’m not tellin’ you something you don’t know when I say housekeeping’s not her thing.’
Griff suppressed the urge to smile. Every time he’d been inside Grey House, named after a family who moved here from Kentucky to settle in this part of Williamson County, it was what his mother would call ‘up to neck.’
‘To be fair, it’s not mine either, so we’re two of a kind. I’m notasmessy as Becca, but I got into lazy habits living on my own all those years. I’ve learned to ignore the chaos,’ Deke said, ‘but it’ll drive Lyndsey crazy. I’m pretty sure their mom must’ve guilt-tripped her into coming in the first place.’ He drained the last of his beer and crumpled the can. ‘That’s enough of my griping. I’d better not hang around, as I’m on bath duty tonight.’ He stood up. ‘I can’t believe I almost forgot. I came over to ask you a favor.’
‘What d’you need? I’ll do pretty much anything except babysitting.’ Griff held up his workmanlike hands. ‘I’m terrified of droppin’ her.’
‘We wouldn’t do that to you. If it’s any consolation, Nora terrified me too, at the beginning.’ Deke chuckled. ‘Lyndsey flies into Nashville early Saturday evening, but we won’t be here to meet her. We’ve already committed to go down to Memphis for my twentieth high school reunion. I’m getting some sort of award and performing after the dinner. Becca really wants to take the kids and be there to support me.’
Griff didn’t make any comment, but that struck him as more than a little strange. No matter how well the sisters did or didn’t get along, the womanwastraveling four thousand miles to help out, voluntarily or not.
