“Aw, that’s awesome.” The sweetness of the idea of another baby in their family eased the stress in Gypsy’s shoulders. “That’s the best idea I’ve heard in a long time.”
“Except for hitting that.” She grinned and tipped her glass toward Wyatt. “That’s by far the best idea of the year.” When Gypsy rolled her eyes, Miranda added, “I’m just saying. You deserve a little fun.”
“I’m the mom of a three-year-old. Fun for me is an early bedtime.”
“That’s my point.”
“I don’t need a man to be happy,” Gypsy told her. “I have an amazing life.”
“As amazing as that? Because that’s the best kind of amazing. All the pleasure. None of the strings.”
Miranda refilled their wineglasses, and they spent the next hour watching Wyatt fry the breaded steaks, make grits and gravy and string beans, all with four little hands in the mix. All while the three of them laughed and sang and cheered when they achieved another step in the cooking process.
And in that time, Gypsy started to see Wyatt very differently. As more than a fun-loving, sexy extrovert. He was so sweet with Belle and patient with Cooper and a good sport about Miranda’s not-so-subtle meddling.
By the time he brought over a fresh bottle of wine and announced dinner was ready, Gypsy was beginning to think that having a little no-strings fun wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
11
Wyatt had needed this night worse than he’d realized.
Pulling the kids into cooking dinner had probably been a mistake—he’d be cleaning up for a couple of hours, but that would give him a couple of more hours to spend with Gypsy, and he’d take more time with Gypsy any day of the week and twice on Sundays. If the only way to get it was to include the kids, then so be it.
When they’d finished eating, Cooper and Belle returned to the living room while the adults lingered at the table over wine. Gypsy and Miranda talked about the bar and Cooper and Gypsy’s search for a manager. Wyatt enjoyed watching Gypsy interact with her sister. Enjoyed seeing her at home. Enjoyed cooking for her. This was the most relaxed he’d been in what felt like weeks, but had only been days.
“So, where’s the next stop on your tour?” Miranda asked Wyatt.
His mind veered that direction, and trouble immediately filled his head. He pulled in a breath to speak, but his cell rang first, and he glanced at the display. “Speak of the devil. It’s my manager. We’re going to discuss that very thing. I’ll take it outside.”
He stood and headed toward the door, with Gypsy calling behind him, “You’re not getting out of cleaning up, Jackson.”
He shot a smile over his shoulder. “Wouldn’t think of it.”
On the porch, he answered the call and wandered toward the railing, bracing himself there with one hand. “Hey, Aaron.”
“Hey, how are things?”
“Not good. I’m sick over this.”
“Well, I bought you some time. I was able to reschedule the morning show, and Jimmy Kimmel agreed to go to Nashville for an onsite interview with the Opry as the backdrop. I’ve cleared it with the Opry, so you’re good to go there. But we’ve got Little Rock, Dallas, and Chicago coming up.”
“My parents will be back in time to help with Chicago, but we’re going to have to cancel Arkansas and Dallas.” He knew it had to be done, but, God, he hated canceling. “Put the arena bills on my tab. I don’t want this affecting the guys any more than necessary.”
“I figured that’s the way this would go. When I talked to the guys, they all agreed to canceling concerts until you had things figured out.”
He was dying to talk to them. Several had kids, and he hoped he could gain some kind of insight into how he could best handle this with Belle. He also wanted to assure them that he was still all in and that he would do his very best not to screw up their lives. But with Belle attached to him at the hip, he couldn’t make those calls and speak freely. He had to wait until she was asleep.
“How’d they take the news?” he asked Aaron.
“You know them. They’re all behind you. Everyone’s cool with switching things up to make it work.”
Wyatt had known they’d have his back, but he also knew this would bring them all stress. Darrell, the other guitarist, just bought a new ranch in Wyoming. Johnny, their drummer, had his third baby coming in a few months. Pete, the pianist, planned to buy his parents a house, and Mick, their violinist, was still paying off the debt from his last divorce.
Sure, they made a lot of money, but the largest chunk came from touring. They still had a ways to go to become one of the iconic country bands who never went out of style and brought in passive income from their past work. Sadly, in this industry, out of sight, out of mind. There was always someone waiting in the wings to steal the spotlight.
Unlike Wyatt, who played guitar, sang, and wrote music, it was much harder for the others to make money independently. And that didn’t take into consideration all their roadies. The men and women who traveled with the band, did all the hard labor, and relied on the concerts to pay their bills. People who Wyatt knew lived paycheck to paycheck.
“We also have the Grand Ole Opry next Sunday,” Aaron reminded him.
“Yeah, that should be fine. Thanks, man.”
“Hey, Paisley is playing at the Opry. She’ll be in town for a few days,” Aaron said before Wyatt disconnected. “Paisley Jessip.”
Wyatt smirked. “Is there any other Paisley?”
“You should meet up with her and talk about that duet you two have been wanting to do. It would be great timing. She just announced the debut of her next album, which is a month away from yours. Awesome cross-promotion opportunities there.”
“Yeah.” Wyatt rubbed at the fatigue in his forehead. “When I can find time.”
“She leaves Friday for the next leg of her tour. Catch her while she’s in town.”
Wyatt promised he would and disconnected. He blew out a long breath, his shoulders slumping under the weight of all his responsibilities. He braced his elbows on the railing.
“Is everything okay?”
Gypsy’s voice washed over him like a warm rain. He turned and leaned back against the railing. It was dark out now, and the porch light made her skin glow. She was such a beautiful woman. If she realized how sexy she was, it didn’t show. But there was so much more to her that kept bringing Wyatt back despite her steadfast rejection for the last three years.
She was book smart and street smart. She talked tough, but when it came right down to it, the woman had a heart of gold. She had a killer sense of humor, an intense work ethic, and her dedication to her son blew him away.
She might have been the same age as Francie, but she was far and away more mature. More present. More dedicated.
“Oh, yeah. I’ve got it handled.” His response was an automatic shift into leadership mode—don’t let ’em see you sweat. But when Gypsy didn’t respond, he realized he couldn’t stomach pretending around the one person he felt so real with. “Actually, no. Things aren’t okay. The truth is I’ve got nothing handled. As in nothing. There’s so much pressure, I can’t take a full breath. I’ve thrown a wrench into our schedule, and everything’s going to shit. I feel like I’m in a vise between doing what’s right for Belle and doing what’s right for my band.”