For the rest of her life, she would never forget this moment or that song.
Jasper waited patiently, grinning while the auditorium screamed approval. He had another song up his sleeve.
“I guess today is a day for songs about girls.”
And he strummed the first notes of “Lily Anne.” And it was fair to say that the entire auditorium, from the kids to the teachers, freaked out.
“Hey, Lily Anne
I’ve never been so glad to be a man...
Let me show you that I understand
How to make you feel like a woman...”
Despite himself, Gabe was enthralled. He didn’t care what anyone said, that was a freaking great song.
He wasn’t going to forget this moment, either.
“Lily Anne” brought the Hellcat Elementary house down. A full two minutes worth of screaming and stomping and clapping ensued.
Then Jasper raised a hand in a wave and bent his long lanky body into a bow just as Mr. Caldera strolled onstage again and made a “cut it” gesture with his hand. Everyone went silent.
“Thank you all,” Jasper said. “You’re all beautiful, and so is Hellcat Canyon. Wish I could stay, but I’ve got to get onto the next show in the next town.”
He stepped well aside when Gabe took over the mic.
“Let’s all give Mr. Townes a huge hand and a thank-you. He just made a remarkably generous donation to our music department—we’re going to have brand-new instruments.Andhe’s going to stop by once a year to give us all a little music lesson.”
Just like Gabe had kind of given Jasper a little lesson.
That was because Gabe drove a really hard bargain.
And Jasper Townes, who hated to fly... flew to his next gig.
Gabe returned to his office after that assembly feeling like he’d lived a month’s worth of life in around two days. And really pretty grateful that he didn’t have to see Jasper Townes for a while.
He sank into his chair, sighed, and found himself reaching reflexively for his baseball.
His hand landed on air.
Ah, hell.
Well, he supposed there was a certain poetry in the fact that Jan Pennington, of all people, had won the baseball in the raffle.
He blew out a long breath.
He felt a little raw. Exhilarated and a bit shaky. Like he’d stood up there in front of everyone in the town and declared his love for Eden right into the microphone. He’d never done anything like that in his life, he’d done it without thinking, and he didn’t think he could have made a clearer statement.
Only a few people knew who really owned that ball.
Mrs. Maker knew. But she would never rat him out to anyone, however. She was old-school loyal, right down to the bone.
But Eden knew.
And right now she was the only one who mattered. The ball, as it were, was in her court. And just as he’d had a hunch a few weeks ago at 6:59 at Devil’s Leap, he had a hunch about what would happen next.
“Mr. Caldera?”