“Who’s that?” Tully asked, his eyes still glued to her every movement.
“I’m not sure. She doesn’t look familiar.” Chase definitely planned to find out though.
He’d seen Tully interact with a lot of girls. It was pretty much a part of his job description. It wasn’t unusual for the girls who were hanging around for the band or Chase to flirt with Tully. He was a good-looking kid, and a lot of the groupie girls were very attractive. But Chase had never seen Tully react to any of them like he just had to the server.
“Another one bites the dust,” Chip chuckled as he watched Tully staring in a daze in the direction of the bar on the far side of the room.
“You made it!” Alex was smiling from ear to ear as he came walking up with a kid who looked to be around eight beside him. “Chase, this is my son Joey. Joey, this is Chase and…”
Joey reached his hand up and Chase shook it as he made the introductions of Tully and Chip to Alex and Joey. Just as they had all shaken hands, the waitress appeared with the beers. Alex’s brows rose as he watched the girl hand the beer to Tully, her face turning a deep shade of pink.
“Nina, have you met my good friend Tully?” Alex asked as he patted Tully on the shoulder.
“Hi,” she smiled as she shyly dipped her head.
“Hi,” Tully said, mirroring her greeting.
After raising her wide eyes, she waited for a moment. He could see her eyes brimming with hope that Tully would say more. When he didn’t, she handed both Chip and Chase their drinks with a friendly smile and turned back into the crowd to take more orders.
“That is how not to talk to a girl, Joey.” Alex ruffled his son’s hair.
Chip and Chase both laughed. Tully was still staring at Nina, totally oblivious to Alex’s joke.
“I know how to talk to girls.” Joey looked up at Alex like he was crazy. “Emily’s my best friend.”
“Sorry.” Alex put his hands up in mock surrender. “My bad.”
“Well, who do we have here?” a loud familiar voice boomed from behind Chase.
“Colonel,” Chase smiled as he turned to shake the Colonel’s hand. When he did, the man Chase admired most in the world pulled him in for a hug.
“How ya doing, son?” The Colonel asked as he patted Chase’s back with the strength of someone half his age.
“Can’t complain,” Chase replied, pushing down a lump that was forming in his throat at this reunion .
Colonel James Hunter, aka The Colonel, aka Grandpa J, was the only grandparent figure Chase had ever known. The Colonel had moved in with his son and grandchildren to be close to family after his beloved wife passed away. Chase had been in elementary school the day The Colonel had come to speak at a school assembly about being in the infantry in WWII. Chase had been in awe of him, he was like a real-life G.I. Joe.
The Colonel seemed to have adopted the entire town from the first day he showed up. And the town had reciprocated. People young and old gravitated towards him.
Chase remembered that his dad, however, had hated The Colonel and constantly badmouthed him. But the few times he’d seen the two men interact, it had been clear who the alpha was.
Once, when they were in the supermarket and Chase was about twelve, his dad had called his mom a bitch under his breath while they were in line at the checkout stand. Chase hadn’t thought anyone had heard it, but The Colonel had appeared out of nowhere and said that that wasn’t how a man spoke to his wife. He’d then instructed Chase’s father to apologize. To Chase’s surprise, his dad had actually done it. Later, he’d taken out his embarrassment on both Chase and his mom, but to this day, Chase remembered the look in his dad’s eye when he’d had to say he was sorry to his mom. It was one of his favorite childhood memories.
The Colonel had also been the reason Chase had been able to leave town when he had. After he’d gotten into the fight with his dad, Chase had driven directly to Krista’s house. When that hadn’t gone well, Chase had driven to the gas station to get a map. He’d needed to figure out where he could possibly go. The Colonel had been in the food mart and seen the condition Chase was in. All Chase had told him was that he needed to leave town. The only question The Colonel had asked was, “Does your mama know you’re leaving?” When Chase had told him that she was the one who had told him to go, The Colonel had driven him to Vickey’s to get stitched up. Then they’d gone to the bank’s ATM machine, where The Colonel took out five hundred dollars and told Chase to let him know if he needed more once he got settled.
The first royalty check Chase received from the record label had gone straight to The Colonel. He might have paid him back financially, but there was no way he could ever repay what the man had done for him. Chase had no idea where he would have ended up if it hadn’t been for The Colonel’s help.