*Author's Note*
Thanks for reading, faving, following, and reviewing.
This picks up right where the last chapter left off.
For Sarah Wolford (Jefferson's girlfriend) I imagine Emmy Rossum as her face claim.
Birthday At The Barn
Novella POV:
After walking into the Barn with Nancy and Frank I spotted Jefferson sitting at one of the bar tables with a dark-haired woman who must be his girlfriend, Sarah. I was still shocked that the rowdy drunk even had a girlfriend, but I guess there's someone out there for everyone. I noticed that Tolbert wasn't here yet, meaning that he was still on his way.
As I followed Nancy and Frank over to Jefferson's table I had to weave 'round and squeeze by people. I knew that this place would be busy tonight, but I never thought that it'd be this busy. I guess I forgot that there aren't many places to hang out at in rural back hills Kentucky.
"Hey, ya'll made it." Jefferson greeted us as we all took off our jackets and sat down at the large round table. "Happy Birthday, Novella." He told me before gesturing with his hand between me and his girlfriend and doing a simple introduction of, "Novella Landon, Sarah Wolford. Novella's been raised with us. Sarah's my girl."
"Nice to meet you." I politely smiled at Sarah, who looked like the total epitome of hot mess white trash girlfriend with her too tight white tube top, blood red lipstick, racoon styled eye makeup, and dark teased out hair.
"Same to you." Sarah replied with a smile before grabbing her glass of beer and taking a large drink from it.
"See you got us a pitcher of beer and a bottle of Kentucky bourbon whiskey." Frank remarked while grabbing one of the shot glasses set on the table along with the bottle of Old Crow.
"Now if only Tolbert would get his ass here then we'd have a party." Nancy complained while Frank grabbed the pitcher of beer and started pouring us some glasses of it.
"He's on his way, sis." Jefferson assured Nancy, trying his best to keep her from complaining. That was a hard thing to do since she was just a naturally bitchy person, complaining was second nature to her. "He'll be here soon too, I reckon." Jefferson added in while Nancy received a glass of beer from her husband.
While Frank slid a beer over to me his wife just rolled her eyes and snipped, "Better be."
A few minutes and a third of a beer later I noticed Tolbert walking into the bar. I had to admit that he looked pretty damn good tonight in his leather jacket and jeans. I tried not to stare at him, but I did and he noticed. His stormy eyes locked onto my cornflower ones as he made his way to the table.
"There he is. Nancy's been bitchin' cause ya weren't here yet." Jefferson chuckled between drinking his beer as Tolbert came up to the open bar height chair by my side.
"What else is new. All she does is bitch." Tolbert scoffed, taking his jacket off and placing it on the back on his chair. Nancy just turned her lip up in a little snarl while Frank let out a small, but deep, laugh. "Happy Birthday, darlin'." Tolbert greeted me a he sat down next to me. He quickly looked me over before complimenting me in his velvety timbre, "You look purty, by the way."
"Thanks Tolbert." I smiled before telling him in a flowing tone, "You clean up pretty well too."
"Aww, ya'll make a cute couple." Sarah announced, causing my face to fall slightly. Shit, did we come off as a couple? Oh my god, we sounded like we were flirting just now weren't we? Dear lord…things are going to get awkward now.
Jefferson placed his beer down on the table with a clunk before looking at his girlfriend and telling her, "Damn, Sarah, they hasn't been a couple for a long time. They just good friend's all."
"Oh, really, how long?" Sarah curiously asked while Tolbert took a sip off the beer he just poured for himself a minute ago.
"Almost ten years." Shot out of both me and Tolbert's mouths at the exact same time. Yea, it'd be 10 years by time the trial started. Or at least I extimated that the trial would start that soon considering the McCoys had a right to a speedy trial by a jury of their peers and I doubt that Cap would try to slow it down.
"But that's all water under the bridge now. They get 'long just fine." Nancy quickly announced, glaring daggers across the table at Sarah.
"Reckon so, she's defendin' him in his murder trial." Bad Frank remarked before knocking back his whiskey.
Sarah's brown eyes went wide as realization of who I really was washed over her. "Oh my god, you're Perry Cline's niece? The sassy lawyer from Bal'more?" She asked in awe. So, I'm sassy now? Hmm, good to know I guess.
I nodded, taking a sip of my beer. "Yea, that'd be me."
Frank pointed a finger in my direction while saying, "Perry Cline says you worked at a big firm out east."
"Yea, I did. Cumbers & Brown, it was a business defense firm." I enjoyed working there. I got the job right out of law school, it was a very competitive place to get hired at. Why they picked me I'll never really know, but the man that interviewed me claimed that I had a spirited backbone that would in turn make me become one hell of a lawyer. I don't know how true his words were, but now I'm back in Pike as a defender on a murder case. A case that the more I learn the details the more my stomach sinks.
As if he could read my mind Tolbert stared at me and remarked smooth, but gruffly, "Bet ya could've been made partner by time ya'd hit 30 if it weren't for me and my brother's mess." Whether he was being serious or sarcastic I wasn't sure.
"Maybe, but we'll never know for sure." I quipped back, letting him know to shut up about what could've been with my career. Tolbert just nodded his head and drank his beer. Everyone else just studied us, drinking their own beers.
"Oh, didn't ya run into that Hatfield ADA back in Bal'more? Heard from Roseanna you did." Where was Nancy getting at. Was she trying to rile up Tolbert? I hope not, he's hard to deal with when he's riled up and moody.
"Mhm, at a courthouse. Introduced himself as Will, I told him I was Nova, and that was that." That wasn't that, but nobody needed to know. Eh, Tolbert knew since he'd figured out it. Everyone else would buy my watered-down half-truth, or at least I pray they did. Besides me and Cap were over now. What happened in Baltimore stays in Baltimore, much like that advertisement for Vegas says. Nobody needs to know about what exactly went on, but me.
"Nova?" Tolbert asked as his face pulled up, making him look like he had just eaten something sour.
"It's a nickname I acquired in college from my Delta Zeta sorority sisters." I explained, causing Tolbert to roll his eyes. Everyone else at the table just nodded, accepting the nickname and the terms of how it came to be.
"Oh, bet you gotta lot of fun stories to tell 'bout college." Frank told me with a grin, lighting the mood at our table. The mood only got heavy once Tolbert's grumpy ass arrived by the way.
"Yea, I do." I admitted with a half smirk crossing my face. Boy, was my sorority days fun. I had a blast with my DZ sisters. Our time in college together made us become lifelong friends. Which is why I've been to 10 weddings in the past 6 years. Our pledge class was 12 and out of all of us I'm the only single one. Yep… And I'm attending wedding number 11 next month with Cap so…. Oh wait, no-no-no don't think about that fucker right now. No time for that shit, I can't let him worm his way into my thoughts right now.
Thankfully Nancy broke all and any unwanted thoughts of Cap Hatfield whenever her raspy shrill voice rung out over the table with, "Then let's hear them while my Frank pours us some shots."
"Ya drink whiskey?" Frank asked, grabbing the bottle of Old Crow from the table and unscrewing the cap off it.
"Whiskey? Hell, Ella here can knock back my 'shine like it's nothin'." Tolbert bragged on me, a large grin on his face as he hitched a thumb in my direction.
As Frank began to pour out shots I remembered that Nancy had told me a few days back that her brother was in a self-help boozer's group for the billionth time. Um, isn't Jefferson drinking with us at a bar breaking his 12-steps? Deciding to clear the air and sate my curiosity I asked him, "Jefferson, I thought you were in AA?"
"I am for my 'diction to shine." Jefferson answered me. No doubt due to the confused look on my face he went on to tell me, "Whiskey and beer's okay for me tho. I won't get blackout piss drunk off them."
"Okay then." I giggled, shaking my head in disbelief, as I watched Frank place the bottle down on the table after filling up our shot glasses.
The country music was blasting while we drank and shared stories about what we've been up to for the past decade. I estimate that a good hour had gone by already, but to my surprise I was actually having fun. I forgot how much fun it was to hang out with Nancy since I hadn't been around her in a long time. It was easy to be around Tolbert in a group setting too. The awkwardness that surrounded us when we were alone wasn't looming over us as we sat laughing and joking with the other couples.
Dear lord, did I just say couples? I did. Oh…we were paired off into couples weren't we? Nancy and Frank were married, Jefferson and Sarah were dating, while me and Tolbert were…uh…who knows what we were really other than lawyer and client. Oh, that's right, we were ex-sweethearts. Yea…
"Oh my god, remember our prom? I swear they played this song there." Nany remarked with a nostalgic look on her face as Prop Me Up Besides The Jutebox (If I Die) began to play in the bar.
"Of course, I remember prom. Tolbert was my date and got us kicked out for fightin'." Tolbert beat the shit out of some guy that looked at me the wrong way by the punch bowl. How embarrassing. Tolbert was always the type that got jealous in 2.5 seconds when another man showed me attention or an interest in me, making him want to fight the poor soul.
Bad Frank's deep chuckle filled the air around the table as he clutched his belly, finding my remark the funniest thing. Jefferson laughed too, clearly remembering the story of the fight since he was told it the day after it happened.
"You ruined their prom?" Sarah asked, her jaw hanging open in disbelief as she held her beer glass in her hand.
I shook my head, my copper curls swaying over my bare shoulders. "Just mine, she didn't get kicked out."
"Cause I went stag." Nancy quickly explained before taking a chug of her beer.
"I didn't ruin it." Tolbert defended himself as between gulping down his beer. He wiggled his brow at me before remarking, "If I 'member correctly we spent the time 'fore your curfew in the back of my pickup off one the trails."
"Oh god…" I trailed off, my face no doubt turning beat red. Why did he have to bring that up? I think everyone at our table already knows that we fooled around, slept together, when we used to date. He doesn't need to confirm it with his remarks.
"Must've been one hell of a night to make ya blush all these years later."
To my surprise Tolbert came to my rescue by pouring us some more shots and saying, "Ella, darlin', tell us some more 'bout yer college days. Bet ya got some more stories t'tell bout that."
"I got a whole bushel of stories on my college years." I smirked at Tolbert as I downed my shot. "Well, my last year of college I went to the Kentucky Derby cause a guy I was seeing's dad had a horse in it."
"Shit, ya dated a feller that rich?" Jefferson asked, lookin' like he had just gotten a smidgen sober from my admission.
"I wouldn't say dated since it barely lasted a month, but yea." I answered while grabbing the pitcher of beer and refilling my glass.
"Ooo, did you wear one of those big flowered hats?" Sarah asked quickly in a high pitch voice, causing Nancy to just roll her eyes and scoff.
"Yea, but I hated the thing." I really did hate it too. I sold it on eBay a few years back along with the matching dress, purse, and shoes that went with it. I swear I looked like a pink nightmare in it. I had pictures of me in the damn thing, but I never showed those off to anybody.
Tolbert cut me a look before askin', "Why didn't it last longer with derby boy?" Oh, he would be nosy about that. Don't know why since his ass was married when I was with Mike, who he dubbed derby boy. Guess I should give him an answer though.
I shrugged and took a sip of my beer. "He bored me, I lost interest." I simply said, causing Tolbert to just nod his head in response. It was true, that's why it didn't last. That's why it never lasted with anybody, really. Maybe I was a bit jaded, but I got tired and uninterested easily.
Funny to say that I never felt boredom strike me when I was with-oh yea better not go there.
"Oh, it's Copperhead Road. Come on girls, let's go dance." Nancy told me and Sarah as she slid down from her bar chair. Oh yea, I see that Nancy's love for Copperhead Road and the line dance paired with it was still strong.
"Better get a dancin', darlin' or did ya forget how to." Tolbert gruffly remarked before knocking back a shot of whiskey.
Nancy ran off with Sarah while I slid off of my seat while scoffing at Tolbert, "Once you learn a line dance it's hard to forget it, shithead."
Jefferson and Frank quietly looked between me and Tolbert while drinking their beer. It was obvious they were enjoying the slight bickering we were doing.
"Yea, yea, go on. Maybe I'll join ya later if Alan Jackson comes on." Tolbert shooed me off, waving his hand over to the dance floor that Nancy had just yanked Sarah to.
I just shook my head and headed to the dance floor. Honestly, I doubted that Tolbert would join me later for a dance. That man hated dancing. He only did it a handful of times with me when we dated nearly a decade ago.
Tolbert POV:
The dance floor looked t'be packed tighter then a sardine can, but I could easily spot Ella on it. I had to admit it, I was impressed that she still remembered all the steps to the 4-corner line dances. I would've thought that she's forgotten after bein' away from Pike for so long. Eh, reckon I only got myself to blame for that.
"Novella's somethin' else, ain't she?" Frank asked me as he poured himself a shot.
"Reckon she is." I told him before grabbin' the bottle of whiskey he just placed back on the table.
While Frank downed his shot and I poured mine Jefferson, my half-wit drunken fool cousin, asked, "Ya think she's stickin' 'round?"
"Who knows." I shrugged 'fore knockin' back my whiskey. I had a feelin' once the trial was over she was gone. Don't blame her one bit. She's been outta the hills so long that I doubt she'd ever be happy livin' in them once more.
A large grin spread over Frank's face as he chuckled, "Oh, she'll stick 'round. She wouldn't be out drinkin' with us if she wasn't." I reckon Ella was out drinkin' cause Nancy made her. My cousin was a real bossy bitch. Growin' up Nancy was always the leader in the friendship between her, Ella, and Roseanna. Doubt that's changed any.
"Don't matter none if she stays or leaves." I flatly said, my eyes glued to the near empty glass in my hand.
"You're full of horse shit." Frank told me, grabbing his beer mug and takin' a slug from it.
Jefferson finished his drink before remarkin', "Yep, ya want her here. Just don't wanna say it, tho."
"Shut up." I snapped before whippin' my head over my shoulder to look at the dance floor.
"Well, sounds like Alan Jackson's startin' up. Time to go dance with our ladies." Frank announced, smackin' his hand on the table top, before gettin' out of his chair. How he was gonna dance with Nancy with his fucked up back and leg was byond me. Man was a cripple, reckon it ain't easy to dance while limpin' with a walkin' stick.
"Yea, Tolbert, ya said you'd dance with Novella if this came on." Jefferson reminded me as he drunkenly slid out of his chair, grabbbin' hold of the table to keep from fallin' on his face.
I just nodded my head, acceptin' that I'd have to go dance a quick step with Ella, before gettin' up from my seat. I hated dancin', but I'd do it for her. Only for her too, since it was her birthday.
Novella POV:
The once crowded dance floor was thinning out now due to the fast-paced music used for line dances and quick stepping dying out and being replaced by slower tunes. Mostly couples remained. This was why I felt it was time to vacate the dance floor. The quickstep that me and Tolbert had been dancing to was over.
One of his calloused hands kept holding one of my soft ones while the other dropped my hand, taking ahold of my hip instead. Knowing Tolbert was making the stance chance to accommodate the slow song playing I told him, "We can go sit down. You gave me a dance and I know you don't like dancing."
Tolbert gave me a soft look while his velvet words flittered across the air with, "I don't mind dancin' with ya. Another dance or two won't due me no harm."
"Okay." I nodded, placing my hand on his shoulder.
I had to admit that slow dancing in a country western bar with Tolbert seemed, for a lack of a better word, normal. It shouldn't seem like that though, not with our history. We shouldn't fight together so effortlessly on the dance floor. We shouldn't be gliding to Maria by Brooks and Dunn with soft, butter melting, looks in our eyes. But most of all we shouldn't be feeling long dead and gone things, lust and longing and perhaps even the remnants of love. I knew Tolbert was feeling these thing cause in this moment on this dimly light dance floor I was feelings them and usually when one of us felt something remotely romantic so did the other.
Somewhere in the middle of the song Tolbert's arm snaked around my back and pulled me flush to his chest. My hand had managed to travel up his shoulder, resting lightly around his neck. We were looking into each other's eyes, storm blue locked onto cornflower blue, and becoming mesmerized. I'm not sure what happened, but one minute we looking at each other and the next Tolbert's head had inched close and dipped down, his lips capturing mine in a kiss.
The kiss felt searing, but tender at the same time. Instead of pushing him away I pulled him in closer, my hand grasping the nape of his neck. My lips moved in sync with his, gliding effortlessly. Suddenly he stopped the kiss, leaning his forehead against mine to let us catch our breath.
Tolbert pulled his head back slightly so he could look me in the eyes. His stormy eyes were blown and darken due to lust and I assume my cornflower ones were too. With his lips closely hovering near mine he breathed out, "Ella, darlin', come home wit' me t'night."
AN:
And a cliffhanger lol. Will she or won't she go home with him?