Songbird Series Book 2: Mockingbird
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Daisy Danielle
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Check Yes or No Part 1
Book 2: Mockingbird
COLT
âDad, you need to breathe.â
Breathe?
BREATHE?
Easy for him to say. Heâd never proposed to the girl of his dreams before. Then again, he was fourteen, soâŠthank God for that.
We lived in the South, sure, but we werenât that deep South.
âIâm fine,â I mumbled, more trying to convince myself than anything else.
My son, Beau, laughed. âYeah, sure you are, pal.â
I just shook my head and fiddled with the ring box in my jacket pocket for the five hundredth time that hour.
âSheâs gonna say yes. We all know it already. Why are you even nervous?â Beau continued, looking at me with twinkling dark eyes that were now level with my own.
Puberty had hit my kid hard. He was damn near as tall as my six-foot-two frame, and skinny as a rail. Last week, heâd decided he needed to start shaving, because the faint porno mustache he was starting to grow apparently wasnât working for him.
Fuck, we looked more like brothers than father and son; he just had his momâs lighter hair.
âYou keep telling me that,â I sighed in return.
âDad, itâs been a year since we moved to the farm, almost two since yâall started dating. I already call her Mom, so this is basically just a formality.â
âWeâve never really talked about marriageâŠâ
âBecause youâre basically already married!â Beau cried with a laugh. âCome on, dude. Relax. At this point, the only thing that changes is her last name.â
I chuckled and arched an eyebrow. âIf she changes it. She may not want to.â
Beau rolled his eyes. âWhatever. Sheâs already a Hayes. Always has been.â
I smiled to myself. Iâd be lying if I said I didnât agree.
Lennie Tyler had been a part of my life since I was a kindergartener: puppy love and holding hands on the playground and all of that. Fairly certain Iâd been in love with her since before I knew what the word meant.
But life got in the wayâgot in the way in more ways than I could count. The first time was when we entered high school, the second when she took off for Nashville after graduation.
I moved to Atlanta with my band and Beauâs mother and thought that I had the rest of my life planned out, even though Lennieâs absence had always left a gaping hole in my heart. Rachel, Beauâs mother, got pregnant when we were barely more than kids, and at twenty-one, we had Beau.
And then everything took a nosedive.
Rachel wasnât happyânot stuck in the small Georgia town of Snyder, and not with me, who was on the road or recording more than he was home. She took off one night while I was on tour, leaving Beau with my mother.
She and her friend were drunk, and neither one made it out of the wreck that night.
That moment was where I pretty much stopped living. I quit the band.
I moved back to Snyder, and I did my best to raise my kid on my own, despite the fact that I had no idea what I was doing. My heart, my head, my emotionsâall of it was on lockdown.
I didnât want to deal with any of it, so I shut it up and threw away the key.
That is, until Lennie Tyler walked her pretty ass back into my bar and set my dark, small world off its axis. I was done for the second I realized who she was, though it took me a few months to admit it, even to myself.
After a whirlwind summer spent losing ourselves in each other, I very nearly lost her for good, pushing her away under the guise of freeing her, or protecting myself, or some other cliché excuse.
The fact of the matter was, I was terrified of setting myself up for another loss, another disappointment, another heartbreak. But it didnât last long.
Lennie being nothing more than a character in passing in the story of my life forced me to come to terms with a lot of things, but mostly with the battles going on in my own head. I got therapy.
I cleaned my shit up, and I won her back.
Now, here we were, damn near eighteen months since our second reunion, and it was time to lock her down, once and for all. That was, if I could get my nerves together so I could actually fucking speak without stammering.
âWhatâre you gonna say?â Beau asked with a bright grin.
This goddamn kid was more excited than I was, which, in turn, excited me more. He loved Lennie as if sheâd given birth to him.
Hell, he probably loved her more than he loved me. She was definitely the easier parent to deal with.
She was the sunny beauty to my growly beast, and who wouldnât rather deal with the sun?
âWhat do you mean, what am I gonna say? I wrote a goddamn song!â
âYouâre just gonna ask her in the song?â
âI meanâŠthat was the thought, yeahâŠâ
âYou sure sheâs gonna get it?â Beau asked.
I narrowed my eyes. âYou liked the song ideaâŠâ
âYeah, but I thought youâd say something tooâŠâ
âWell, if I have to, I will!â
âDonât you wanna plan it out? Talking from the heart ainât exactly your strong suit.â
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. âWould you cut it out? Youâre making me more nervous, and I donât really need help there.â
âIâm just trying to helpâŠâ
âBeau.â
âAll right, all right. My lips are sealed,â Beau said, throwing his hands in the air in surrender. âI just donât want you to fuck it up.â
I glared at him from under the ridge of my brows. âThanks for the vote of confidence, kid.â
âYou know what I mean, Dad,â Beau responded dryly. âYouâve been in love with this girl your whole damn life, and you still get tongue-tied around her.â
My brows furrowed and I pouted a bit. âI ainât good with words.â
âYeah, we are all well aware.â
Just as I opened my mouth to tell off my much-too-wise-for-his-age kid, my best friend Carter appeared beside me, a shit-eating grin on his face.
âWhat?â I asked. âI donât like that look.â
âSheâs here,â he answered, bouncing where he stood.
Of course she was here.
Lennie wouldnât miss a show if her life depended on it, yet somehow knowing she was present made my stomach lurch like Iâd just hit the plummet on the worldâs tallest roller coaster.
This wasnât just some street dance our cover band was playing. This was probably the biggest night of my life.
âI canât breathe,â I said. My voice sounded more than a little choked.
Beau and Carter both just laughed at me.
âYouâre gonna be fine, Dad,â Beau insisted, giving me a hard slap on the shoulder.
âItâs a sure thing. Just put the ring on her and everything is gravy.â
âYou sure about that?â I retorted with a disbelieving chuckle. âWhat if I totally blow it and she bails? What if I become the laughingstock of northern Georgia?â
âWell, then Iâm going with her,â Beau said.
âMe too,â Carter smirked.
âWho needs enemies with the two of you?â I sighed, rolling my eyes again. âFuck, whereâs Leon when I need him?â
âProbably talking to Lennie, trying real hard not to blow the whole surprise,â Carter snickered.
My eyes widened in horror. âHe fucking better not!â
âYou know Leon canât keep a damn secret!â
âJesus Christ,â I groaned, scrubbing my hands over my face. âShouldâve just done this at home. Alone. Left all you idiots out of it.â
âShoulda, woulda, coulda!â Carter smirked. âItâs showtime, buddy boy.â
âI fucking hate you.â
âLike hell. Beau, go make sure Lennie gets a real good spot.â
âOn it.â Beau grinned, giving an excited salute before he ran off.
âYou need a shot?â Carter asked.
âI need a whole fucking bottle.â
âRelax. That woman loves you. Donât know why. She couldâve had me, but Iâm over it.â
I rolled my eyes, but I laughed. âYouâre never gonna stop, are you?â
âNo. You obviously stole her from me, and I have a right to be upset about it,â Carter said with a wink.
His large hand wrapped around the top of my shoulder and squeezed. âBut she belongs with you, man. Everyone knows it.â
I smirked a bit. âThanks, man.â
âYou ready?â
âAs Iâll ever be,â I said with a chuckle.
I was practically vibrating with nerves, but that wasnât going to change until I asked her. That much I knew.
âYou got the ring?â
I brushed my hand against the pocket of my jeans. I knew it was there. Iâd fiddled with it how many times now? But Carterâs questioning it made me question it.
âYup.â
âYou sure? You sure itâs in the box?â
My eyes widened and I stared at him, horrified. I tugged the box out of my pocket and cracked open the black velvet.
Thankfully, resting in the center was the ring: a slender gold band with a setting that made the diamonds look more like a flower than a single stone. It had been my motherâs ring, and my grandmotherâs before her.
Not long after I pulled my head out of my ass and landed Lennie for good, my mom had taken the ring right off her finger and handed it to me. My father had died when I was around seven, but she wore that ring every single day until she put it in my hand, making me promise that one day sheâd see it on Lennieâs finger.
She reminded me of it every day since, but Carter, Beau, and the rest of the boys were the only people who knew it was happening tonight.
âThatâs a fucking stunner,â Carter said.
I smirked. âMatches the girl, then.â
âThat it does,â Carter agreed with a nod.
I looked up to see our bassistâand my sisterâs boyfriendâTravis, waving us toward the stage.
Carter grinned. âLooks like itâs showtime.â
I took a deep breath, puffing my cheeks out with air before I nodded. âHere goes nothing.â
