Butterfly Weeds (24 page)

             
“I’
m so glad that you got a chance to get back here for a couple of days,” Rachel gushed, throwing her purse down onto an empty chair in the tiny bar, with complete disregard as to where it landed.

             
“Yeah, me too. It’s nice to be back,” I said, as I pulled out a chair from the table and sat down.

             
Then, suddenly, from across the room came a familiar voice. It wasn’t quite Southern. It was more like a country twang.

             
“Julia, are you lost, Sweetheart?” the voice asked.

             
I looked up to see a tall, young, scruffy man approaching our table in the one-room bar.

             
“Ben,” I exclaimed, smiling back at him and rising from my chair to meet his embrace.

             
“How have you been?” the burly character asked as he hugged me and then planted a wet kiss on my cheek.

             
“I’ve been well,” I said, nodding my head as a happy smile sprang to my face. “How have you been? It’s been, what, six years?”

             
“It’s been awhile,” he said playfully. “I didn’t think you liked us anymore, Miss Lang.”

             
I laughed softly.

             
“Now, why would you think that?” I asked.

             
“That’s what Rachel told us,” the burly figure said, elbowing Rachel’s arm.

             
Rachel smiled and rolled her eyes at me.

             
“No Dear, I told him that I didn’t like him, not that you didn’t,” she explained.

             
“Oh, was that what it was?” the scruffy guy asked, chuckling. “Julia, take a seat. I got a quarter for your favorite song, and everything’s on me tonight, Ladies.”

             
I laughed.

             
“I’ve forgotten how gentlemanly they make ‘em in the
Midwest
,” I said, eyeing Rachel.

             
“Jules, must I remind you that Ben, here, is the same Ben that once lined the girls’ toilet seats with glue,” Rachel interrupted. “It was even white, school glue. What was that supposed to do? Anyway,
gentlemanly
is not quite the word.”

             
“That was you, wasn’t it?” I asked, remembering and laughing as I playfully jabbed his arm.

             
The burly man ran off chuckling to the juke box while another lankier figure brought two drinks to our table and took a seat next to us.

             
“Now, Julia, does Will know you’re in town?” he asked as if he didn’t have time to mince words. Instead, he’d get straight to the point.

             
I looked at Rachel with a half-smirk.

             
“I don’t know, Jeff,” I said, shaking my head and shrugging my shoulders.

             
Rachel was shaking her head as well and half paying attention to the lanky figure as she thumbed through words on her phone’s screen.

             
“No, I guess not,” I replied, deciding to play along.

             
“Well, just to let ya know, when he’s in town, he usually stops by here, and he’s in town tonight,” he said. “Do you want me to go dig out the disco ball in the basement and rig up the band’s lights to make them swirl around and all that jazz?” He was making swirling movements with his hands as he spoke.

             
I laughed. Of course, that’s what he was getting at.

             
“No, Jeff, we can probably skip all of that for now,” I said, smiling.

             
“Jeff, don’t you have a table to wait on or something?” Rachel interrupted, gesturing him away with the back of her hand.

             
“Speak of the devil,” the lanky figure muttered softly then as his eyes darted toward the door.

             
Instantly, the rest of the eyes at the table turned toward the bar’s screen door as well – just in time to catch it swing open and watch Will’s six-foot-four, muscular frame walk inside.

             
I turned back around quickly and faced Rachel as Will made his way to the bar and Jeff left our table.

             
My body grew stiff and my heart raced as I massaged my diamond ring with my thumb under the table.

             
“Jules, are you okay?” Rachel asked from across the table. “You kind of have this deer-in-headlights look going on.”

             
“What? No, I’m fine. Does he know?” I whispered quickly back to my friend, as I lifted my hand from underneath the table, exposing the shiny rock on my finger. My smile had completely faded.

             
Rachel glanced at Will, his back now turned toward us, and shook her head. “No,” she whispered back to me. “I don’t think so.”

             
I took a deep breath and let out a nervous, heavy-hearted sigh.

             
“Jules,” I suddenly heard Will’s voice exclaim then.

             
I met Rachel’s eyes, took another deep breath and then turned around in my chair to face him.

             
“What? When? How have ya been?” he asked, the words stumbling off of his lips, as he made his way over to our table.

             
When he reached me, I pushed my chair out and stood up, meeting his embrace.

             
“I got in today. I’m only here for a couple of days,” I rambled off, smiling and trying to hide the remnants of my miniature panic attack that took place just moments before.

             
He squeezed me tightly for several seconds.

             
“I see,” he said, nodding his head and pulling away. “Hey, Rach. How are ya?” Will asked, as his eyes met Rachel’s.

             
“Good, Will. Doing well. Jon says ‘hi,’ by the way,” Rachel said, smiling.

             
“Okay, where’s he tonight?” he asked.

             
“Hunting trip.
Canada
. Needless to say, I sat that one out,” Rachel said, her eyebrows raised. 

             
Just then, the juke box burst into my favorite 1960’s song, and my face sprang to life.

             
I could tell that Will’s eyes had caught my happy expression.

             
“You want to dance…for old time’s sake?” he asked me then.

             
My eyes darted toward Rachel, who seemed to have read my mind.

             
“Ben, get your two, left feet over here and ask me to dance,” Rachel shouted across the room.

             
Ben looked up from the juke box and smiled in Rachel’s direction.

             
“You two, go ahead and catch up. I wish I could say I had steel-toed shoes on right now, but I’ll survive, I guess,” she said, eying up Ben at the juke box.

             
I laughed and looked back at Will.

             
“Alright,” I said softly, nodding my head.

             
Will put out his palm, face up, and I consciously gave him my right hand.

             
“I wasn’t expecting to see you here tonight. I would have put on a clean shirt, and shaved and maybe worn some of that deodorant stuff,” he said, grinning.

             
I smiled and looked down at the floor.

             
“You look great,” I said, in a bashful way that even surprised myself.

             
“So do you, Jules,” he countered, without missing a beat.

             
“Thanks,” I said. This time, I managed to look into his bright blue eyes without wavering as I spoke.

             
“It’s good to see you,” I said, smiling warmly. “What have you been up to besides becoming famous these days?” I asked.

             
Will blushed as his gaze on me faltered slightly before returning.

             
“If I’m famous, it doesn’t really feel any different,” he muttered softly, honestly.

             
“That’s probably because you were used to it already. You’ve been famous here since I’ve known you,” I confessed.

             
Will laughed.

             
“Isn’t everybody in a small town?” he asked.

             
My smile grew wider.

             
“I guess you’re right,” I conceded, as the conversation grew quiet.

             
“How’s work?” I asked eventually, breaking the quiet lull.

             
“It’s been good. You know I took off for awhile, but I worked the last couple of nights. It’s good to be back. You know, not always traveling – though I’m not complaining.”

             
“I know,” I said, still smiling.

             
“So, you like it, though,” I asked him.

             
“Like…?” he asked, as his word trailed off.

             
“The lights, the fans, the entertaining?” I asked cheerfully.

             
“Oh, that,” he said. “I like playing my guitar, and I like that sometimes you can see that people really enjoy the words you’re singin’ – the same words that meant something to me when I wrote them. Now, the lights, on the other hand, I can do without them. They’re bright and hot,” he said, laughing.