But still she said, “Colin?” just to make sure this perfect specimen was the same guy she used to walk to the comic book store with every Wednesday.
But then he said, “Holy shit, Jo-Jo, it really is you!” before letting loose that same big, old Colin grin and pulling her into his now very strong arms. “I had nearly given up on trying to find you. I can’t believe you were here all this time!”
She pulled away from him. “You were trying to find me?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I Googled your name last month and found a news story about what that fucker you call an ex-husband tried to do to you. I flew straight out to Atlanta to find you, but by that time it was too late. You’d already moved and nobody could tell me where you went.”
“Are you serious?” She really couldn’t imagine a blond country star at Colin’s level wandering around her old suburb, asking her mostly black neighbors if they knew where she’d gone.
“Dead serious,” he answered. “And you wouldn’t have believed my face when I called my mama up this morning and she mentioned Mindy had seen you in the grocery store, and that you were working for Beau Prescott now. I didn’t think it could be true.”
She cringed inwardly. If he was this incredulous about her being Beau’s maid, how would he react if he found out what else she was getting paid to do for Beau? “Well, I’m really happy to see you,” she said. “I can’t believe you came all this way.”
His eyes ran over her. “Are you okay?” he asked, cupping his hands around her shoulders.
“I’m fine,” she said. “And I’m sorry I got you worried.”
“Don’t apologize to me,” he said angrily. “I’m so mad at myself for letting you fall out of touch like that. And over a stupid wedding invitation. Played right into that fucker’s hands. And now you’re working for Beau, which means you must be really hard up for money.”
“It’s really not that bad,” she started.
But he shook his head. “Don’t try to sugar coat it for me, Jo-Jo. I know you’d rather crawl over broken glass than work for Beau Prescott. Why didn’t you call me? If it was money you needed, I would have bailed you out.”
She opened her mouth to answer, but he smacked himself on the forehead. “What am I saying? Of course you couldn’t call me. You didn’t have my number.” He took her by the hand. “But that’s okay, I’m here now, and I’ve got my limo outside. Let’s go.”
He started to lead her out the door, but she dug her heels into the ground. “Colin, I can’t just leave.”
“Why not?”
She shook her head at him. “Because I work here.”
“Tell Beau to find another housekeeper.”
“I can’t just—” She stopped and lowered her voice. “I’m not supposed to be telling anybody this, because I signed a confidentiality agreement, but Beau’s blind and he’s not taking his rehabilitation seriously. So he doesn’t just need me to cook and clean, he need needs me.”
Colin squinted at her as if she had gone crazy. “This is Beau we’re talking about, right? Beau Prescott? Made both of our lives miserable in high school? The one you swore you’d never talk to again after he announced in front of the whole school that he’d tricked you into getting with him—”
She held up her hand to stop the barrage of unkind Beau Prescott statistics. “I know, Col, but he’s still a human being, a blind human being now.”
Colin scanned the foyer, his eyes suspicious. “So he has you at his beck and call every day. Doesn’t even give you any time off?”
“I get time off,” she said, wondering how she had suddenly been put in the weird position of defending Beau Prescott against her oldest friend.
“When?” he asked, obviously not believing her.
“I get Friday and Saturday nights off,” she said, realizing only now how stingy that must sound to someone who didn’t know about the real deal she and Beau had struck.
Colin’s mouth twisted into a sardonic frown. “You’re right, Jo-Jo. The man’s a real saint. He gives you two whole nights off a week.” He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small business card, handing it to her. “How about meeting me after you get off tonight then. I’m staying at the Birmingham Grand. We could grab a drink and a bite to eat at their bar.”
She glanced down at the heavily embossed card from Birmingham’s most expensive hotel. “The Grand, really? Wow.” She grinned up at him. “You and your fiddle have come a long way.”
He grinned back. “Whoever thought I’d get this far, right?”
Now her smile turned softer. “I did. I always knew you had it in you to do amazing things.”
But what was meant as a hearty congratulations on her part became something much more dramatic when he took her hand and clasped it like a prayer in between his. “Then let me help you,” he said. “I know you’ve had a tough time of it since we last saw each other, but you’re better than working for Beau Prescott.”
“Josie,” Beau suddenly yelled out from the kitchen. “What’s taking you so long?”
Colin looked over her shoulder toward the kitchen door. “That him?” he asked. Then before she could answer. “I think I’m going to go reintroduce myself.”
But she shook her head frantically and stopped him from coming inside the house with two hands on his chest. “No, Colin. Not like this. I’m so happy to see you again, but I have to get back to work, so I need you to go now. Please.”
He shook his head. “But this conversation ain’t over.”
She was now full on straining to keep Colin from moving forward. Man, he was a lot stronger than the skinny kid she’d grown up with. “I’ll meet you later on, I promise. But now isn’t the time or the place.”
Colin immediately stepped back as if he’d merely been waiting for her to promise to come see him. “Fine. I’ll see you tonight. But if I don’t hear from you by eight, don’t think I’m not coming back here. I worked too hard to find you.” He took her hand in his and kissed the back of her fingers. “And we have a lot to talk about.”
“Josie!” Beau called again, before she could answer.
She took her hand back from Colin. “See you tonight,” she said, before closing the door in his face.