A Better Reason to Fall in Love (25 page)

“He’s hot, I’ll give you that,” Chloe said in a lowered voice. “You weren’t exaggerating when you said he was unbelievably gorgeous. It’s like every time he walks in the room, I’m still stunned by his good looks…even after this past month.”

Tabby smiled and whispered, “I know. Me too.” She shook her head in disbelief. Accepting the set of frog legs her sister offered, she said, “But I just can’t figure out what he sees in me. I’m really just pretty plain and boring.” She looked to Chloe. “Sometimes at night, I wake up and—”

“Wish he was right there with you?” Chloe teased.

Tabby giggled. “I was going to say I wake up and think maybe I’m imagining this. Maybe my daydreaming over him at work has just sort of morphed into full-fledged hallucinating. But then he kisses me, and…to be honest, if anything were going to assure me that this is all real…it’s Jagger Brodie’s kiss.”

Tabby and Chloe giggled together quietly.

“Still,” Chloe began, biting into another frog leg, “don’t you ever worry that it’s just totally carnal? I mean, anybody could fall in love with that dude. Maybe you’re just in love with his looks. Don’t you ever worry about it? Don’t you ever wonder if maybe you need a better reason to fall in love?”

Chloe’s words were like a sudden knife in Tabby’s heart.

“You think I love him because he’s handsome?” she asked, horrified. Quickly, her mind began to list off all the reasons she loved Jagger—to check off an endless list of reasons, his ethereal looks being only one of the reasons.

“I didn’t say that,” Chloe said, placing a comforting hand on Tabby’s arm. “I just said it might be hard to tell…if it were me…but it’s not…so it’s okay.” Not realizing how terribly she’d upset Tabby, Chloe continued to munch on a frog leg as she said, “I’m just saying, if it were me—and it’s not—I’d have a hard time telling if I were really falling in love with him because of who he is or whether I was just being like some starstruck groupie who thinks she’s in love with the rock star. You know?” Chloe paused to finish her frog leg and toss the remnants on the bone plate. “Seriously, Tabs…he’s so handsome! And I can totally see why you named him after his butt. It’s, like, perfect.” Chloe giggled. “You’re perfect…the two of you together. I love it!”

Still, the conversation had lessened Tabby’s enjoyment of the moment. The fact that her own sister thought she could be so shallow as to like a man simply because he was attractive bothered her. There was no denying that Jagger’s looks had been what first caught her attention, but now—now she knew how truly gorgeous he was, inside as well as out.

“He’s awesome!” Chloe exclaimed. “Talent like that just has to be discovered eventually. How will you handle all the psycho women he’s bound to attract when he’s famous?”

“Are you trying to freak me out, Chloe?” Tabby asked. She was irritated—angry even. She already had enough insecurity to battle where dating Jagger was concerned. She’d seen the way women looked at him—actually knew firsthand the kinds of things they said. She’d already spent hours and hours trying to figure out what he could possibly see in her when he could obviously have any woman he wanted. She was angry at Chloe for frightening her instead of offering encouragement.

“No,” Chloe said, looking to Tabby at last. “Of course not. I…I just see some things that maybe you don’t…things you might not expect. After all, you’re the one who’s always saying ‘anything can happen.’”

“Anything
can
happen,” Tabby said. “And life is unexpected most of the time. But that doesn’t mean you should go around expecting the worst.”

Chloe frowned. “The worst?” she asked. “By ‘the worst,’ do you mean somebody discovering Jagger, so to speak?”

“No,” Tabby said, shaking her head. She felt confused by her own feelings. “I mean, if that did happen—if that’s what he wanted—then I would want that for him.”

“Even if it meant leaving you behind?” Chloe asked.

“Yeah,” Tabby breathed—and she meant it. Her stomach churned at the thought, however. Would he leave her behind if someone offered him a career in the music industry? Statistics proved he would, even if it wasn’t right away. Famous people never seemed to be able to manage relationships for any length of time.

Tabby turned to look at Genevieve, who smiled at her with understanding—understanding and encouragement. Reaching out, Genevieve placed a wrinkled palm against one of Tabby’s cheeks, kissing the other with affection.

“He loves you, Tabby,” she whispered into her ear. “No worries.”

Tabby smiled and felt hope returning as Genevieve tenderly brushed a hair from her cheek.

“Now, you children have fun,” Genevieve said as Jocelyn took Tabby’s hand and pulled her toward the door. “But you keep my grandbaby safe on those silly cliffs, Armando.”

“You’re welcome,
mon cher
,” Genevieve said, still smiling.

“I am afraid that once you have seen my friend Jagger without his shirt…you might not still think I am for you,” he teased. “He was always much more muscled than me.”

Jocelyn laughed and kissed Armando on the cheek. “You silly boy,” she said. “Didn’t you know? I’ve always only loved you for your smile…not your muscles.”

Armando laughed, and Tabby couldn’t help but giggle.

She paused a moment to watch Jagger on the stage. His alluring, gravelly voice was finishing up “Let Me Take You to the River,” a song Tabby knew well, for it was on one of the CDs she’d purchased from the restaurant gift shop the first night he’d sang the blues about her. Jagger had written “Let Me Take You to the River,” just as he had so many others of Tabby’s favorites he performed. He was as gifted a songwriter as he was a performer.

Her heart began to beat madly as she listened to him—as she watched him. He was so handsome—of course he was. But he was wonderful in every other way too. He made her laugh, made her feel safe and protected, made her feel unique and valued.

“
That woman, she’s got me
,” Jagger sang, pointing to Tabby, “
in the palm of her hand.
” Most people in the crowd turned and looked in the direction he was pointing, smiling—and Tabby felt herself blush. “
’Cause the kisses she gives…are my fav-o-rite brand! I got the woman-has-got-me…right-where-she-wants-me blues.
”

As the crowd cheered and Jagger continued with another improvised verse, Tabby hurried out of Sweet Genevieve’s.

“I hear Jagger’s singing the blues again,” Emmy teased.

Tabby rolled her eyes. She felt better. Chloe hadn’t meant to upset her, after all. As usual, her sister was just thinking out loud. Jagger Brodie really cared for her—to some degree at least. She was certain he did. She thought of what his grandmother had whispered into her ear—that he loved her—and she smiled. Was it true? Did Jagger love her—really, really love her? His grandma seemed to think so—and that was most definitely something!

❦

“What’s that, baby?” Jagger’s Maw Maw asked, sitting down across the table from him. “I thought you were runnin’ on over to Armando’s place.”

“I don’t think so,” he said. “No one ever pays attention to who writes the song…especially if the artist who records it isn’t the one who wrote it.”

“You mean like the fact that sweet ol’ Neil Diamond wrote…oh what was it…oh, yes, ‘I’m a Believer’…but it was some other band that is known for it?” she asked.

Jagger grinned. “Oh, Maw Maw, you’re really dating yourself by knowing that,” he chuckled. “But yeah…and it was the Monkees that took the fame for that one…just so you know next time you’re telling the story.”

“Oh, that’s right…the Monkees!” Maw Maw exclaimed. “So, you’re thinking this will just make a little pocket money for you…without all the strings attached that come with performin’ it yourself?”

“Yeah,” Jagger confirmed.

“Are ya gonna tell your little kitten?”

Jagger’s smile broadened. He liked the way his Maw Maw referred to Tabby as his kitten—his Tabby kitten. It was cute and purely his Maw Maw’s personality.

“Do you think she’ll think I’m a loser if I don’t reach for someone else’s dream and sign with an agent, Maw Maw?” he asked. “Most people would think I’m crazy for not wanting the whole rock-star gig. Do you think Tabby will be disappointed when she finds out I’ve had an offer and I want to turn it down?”

Maw Maw smiled and put a warm, loving palm to Jagger’s cheek.

“Baby, you’ve seen what’s happened to your Uncle Leon…to his family…and all for the want of fame and money,” she said softly. “I can’t see why anybody would want that…no matter what.” Her smile broadened, “And I think your Tabby kitten thinks the same way. It ain’t worth what you give up, baby boy—your privacy, your relationships…your health and serenity. Don’t let the world make you think you’re wrong for wanting to live what truly is the good life.”

Jagger nodded. “Oh, I know,” he said. “It’s not the world I’m worried about…just Tabby.”

“Well, don’t,” Maw Maw said. “She’s a good girl…and smart too. She knows what’s important and what’s not.” She smiled. “And I can see what she thinks is most important…and that’s you, my baby.”

“Sometimes it just all seems so…so unreal,” he said, frowning as he tossed the contracts onto the table.

“What does, baby?”

“The whole thing,” he began to explain. “I mean, just over a month ago, I was stealing glances at her out of the corner of my eye, you know? Sitting in Armando’s restaurant scribbling songs about her.” He looked up to his grandmother and smiled. “And now…now I’m getting home later and later every night…because every night it gets harder and harder to leave her.”

“Then you’re not neckin’ enough, honey,” Maw Maw chuckled.

Jagger laughed, shaking his head with amusement. “Oh, believe me…we’re necking enough, as you so eloquently put it, Maw Maw.” He paused, afraid to verbalize his thoughts—even to his Maw Maw. It would’ve been easier to tell his Paw Paw, and Jagger missed him all the more in that moment. “I just…I just think that maybe…I keep wanting to…you know…ask her.”

Jagger watched as an expression of melancholy washed over her then. He could always tell when she was thinking about his Paw Paw, and his heart pinched with compassion and the residual pain of his own loss.

“I knew your Paw Paw an entire week before we decided to get married,” she whispered. She looked at him, her eyes misted with remembered love and happiness. “One whole week,” she reiterated. “My mother said I couldn’t possibly love Louis Chiasson, not after one week. My sister, now she was crazy about it…out of her head! ‘Why he ain’t got nothin’ to his name but huntin’ down that ol’ gator that ate Mr. Raymond,’ she told me. ‘How can you love him?’” Jagger’s Maw Maw paused. She reached across the table and took one of Jagger’s hands in her own. “She told me, ‘Y’all need a better reason to fall in love than just knowin’ each other a week.’ That’s what she told me.”

Jagger smiled. “But you didn’t listen.”

Maw Maw emphatically shook her head. “No, I did not. Just like you won’t listen to all those folks tellin’ you how and what you need to do with your music talent. No, I didn’t listen to my sister. I married your Paw Paw two weeks after we met, and I loved him for over fifty years. And I was happy for over fifty years. I was never truly unhappy again…until the day he passed. And that’s what life is about, darlin’…lovin’ someone like that. Only you can know if that’s what Tabby is to you. It doesn’t matter what anybody else says or thinks.” She released his hand, leaning back in her chair and studying him with eyes of pure understanding. “Even me,” she added, smiling.