Chapter 15

Lucas smiled when he looked at his caller ID and saw Jimmy’s face on his phone screen. Hitting the button, he said, “What do you want now? I’m not buying a car from you.”

Jimmy laughed. “I’m not trying to sell you one. You got plans tonight?”

Lucas said, “Well, I do for about an hour. I have a Skype call with a couple of my bosses in about ten minutes.”

“But after that?”

“Not sure. What did you have in mind?”

“Well, it’s karaoke night at the Good Old Days and I thought you and Leanne might like to go along with me and my friends,” Jimmy replied, speaking about the other bar in Phantom Horse. “Invite your crew, too. The more the merrier.”

Lucas laughed. “I haven’t gone to karaoke in forever. I love watching everyone else, but don’t ask me to get up and sing.”

“Aw, c’mon. You gotta sing at least once. You can go up with my gang,” Jimmy coaxed. “We do some group songs. Safety in numbers.”

“I don’t know,” Lucas hedged.

Jimmy made clucking noises. “Don’t be a wuss.”

Lucas grinned. “That doesn’t work on me.”

“All right. I’ll make a bargain with you.”

“Is it a whale of a deal?” Lucas teased.

Jimmy guffawed and then replied, “Of course it is! Those are the only kinds of deals I make. If you get up and sing with us, I’ll let you pick out a song for me to sing. No matter what you pick, I’ll sing it.”

“Really? So, if I picked a Madonna song, you’d sing it in front of everyone?”

“Sure! Why not?”

“I can believe that you’d do it. Are you a good singer?”

“Not in the least. I have a lot of talents but singing ain’t one of them. Being a good singer ain’t the point of karaoke, though,” Jimmy said.

“What is, then? Making everyone deaf from bad singing?”

“No, smartass. The Japanese invented it as a way to entertain dinner guests and it spread like wildfire. It’s just a fun way to relieve stress and forget your troubles. It doesn’t matter if you suck at singing,” Jimmy said.

“Well, aren’t you a fount of knowledge? Tell you what; I have to go, but if you can get Leanne to agree to go, I’m in,” Lucas said.

“If I can get Leanne to go,” Jimmy said smugly. “This is me you’re talking to. I’ll have her text you her answer. Have a good meeting.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Lucas grinned as he hung up with Jimmy and logged into the meeting room with his bosses. He couldn’t wait to see if Jimmy was successful in convincing Leanne to go to karaoke.

Leanne groaned when her phone rang and saw that Jimmy was the caller. She’d just picked out a comedy movie and was sitting crisscross on the couch. Lucas had told her that he would call her after his conference call with his bosses. After the horrible row with Hal, she hadn’t felt like being alone, but everyone else was busy, too, so she was going to watch a movie to attempt to unwind.

She almost let the call go to voicemail, but curiosity got the best of her. “Hi, Fish.”

“Hello there,” he said. “Whatcha doing?”

“Going to watch a movie.”

“Well, I have something much more fun for you to do,” he said. “How about going to karaoke with a bunch of us? I already talked to Lucas, and he said he’d go if you did. I’ll make it worth your while.”

Leanne burst out laughing at the idea. “I haven’t done that since college.”

“Really? Then it’s high time you go again. I’ll con Lucas into singing with me and my friends,” Jimmy said.

“I can’t picture Lucas doing that,” Leanne said.

“That’s the beauty of karaoke. You can usually get almost anyone to do it at least once. I’ll make a deal with you.”

Leanne chuckled. “I knew you were going to say that.”

“You know me well. I’ll buy your drinks and guarantee that I’ll get Lucas up on stage,” Jimmy said.

“You’re guaranteeing me that Lucas will sing?” she asked. “How?”

“I haf my vays,” he said in a bad German accent. “C’mon. Wouldn’t you rather watch your boyfriend make an idiot out of himself than watch a movie?”

“Lucas isn’t my boyfriend, Fish,” Leanne said.

“Sure he is. Anyhow, I think Lucas thinks that you’re afraid to go to karaoke. Probably thinks you’re afraid to get up on stage, too,” Jimmy said.

Leanne bristled. “Afraid? He said that?”

“Not in so many words...”

“I’m not afraid to go.”

“Great! So we’ll see you there?”

“Damn straight,” she said.

“Awesome. I’ll save a table for you. It starts at nine. Lucas said to text him what you decided,” Jimmy said. “Bye now.”

Leanne hit the end button and shot a text to Lucas letting him know that she’d go and went to get ready.

An hour and a half later, Lucas and Leanne walked into the Good Old Days Pub, the other bar in Phantom Horse. The place was already hopping. A middle-aged man was up on stage, singing a pretty good rendition of Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman. Quite a few people were out on the dance floor, getting their groove on.

Lucas noticed a couple of guys casting smiles Leanne’s way, so he took her hand to let them know that she was spoken for.

“Let’s get a drink,” he said.

“Sounds good. I’m getting a nice tall Long Island Iced Tea.”

They headed for the bar, which was off to the right side. The barroom was shaped like a long rectangle rather than being square. The stage occupied the whole front of the huge room. A large dance floor separated the stage from the rows of chairs and tables that filled the rest of the space.

Old black-and-white pictures of various locales in Gladstone in bygone days hung along the walls. Antique tools and other interesting artifacts were interspersed among the big pictures. The bar itself was the kind found in the Old West and Lucas suspected that it was the original set up. He wondered how many men had bellied up to the scarred, worn bar to order their brews.

“There you are!”

They turned to see Jimmy coming towards them, followed by three women. As usual, his flamboyant fashion sense was in full effect. He sported black leather pants, a black V-neck T-shirt, and a black leather Napoleon biker jacket. Slightly scuffed black leather boots completed the ensemble.

Used to seeing Jimmy’s hair neatly combed back, Leanne was surprised to see that it was actually long on top. He wore it in a messy, tussled style that, along with his five o’clock shadow, made him look badass. It fact, Leanne thought that he looked downright hot.

Jimmy spread his arms wide. “Welcome to Karaoke Night. Ready to have a good time?”

Leanne smiled. “Sure am.” Dancing and acting silly would help her leave her troubles behind for a while. She hadn’t yet told anyone about quitting the diner, needing a little time to process what had happened.

“Glad to hear it,” Jimmy said. “Allow me to introduce you to my beautiful friends. This is Skye West.” He put his right arm around a tall woman. Waves of honey-blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders and her tight, low-ride jeans and hot pink mid-drift shirt showed off her svelte curves and glittery bellybutton ring.

Leanne nodded. “We’ve met in passing a few times, but never been formally introduced.”

“Good to see you, Leanne,” Skye said.

Jimmy slung his left arm around a shorter woman with sleek, straight black hair and gave her a squeeze. “This is Tory Trapper, fashionista extraordinaire.”

Tory giggled and hid her face against Jimmy’s chest. “Stop it.” Her blue eyes sparkled with good humor. “Why do you always have to embarrass me?”

Jimmy kissed the top of her head. “Just giving credit where credit is due, sweetheart.” He reached behind Tory and squeezed the third woman’s shoulder. “And last, but certainly not least, Fiona Sykes.”

The woman with golden brown hair and dark eyes smiled. “Nice to meet you.”

“Ladies, have you met Lucas Hart yet? He’s the producer of Paranormal Encounters,” Jimmy said.

Lucas exchanged pleasantries with the ladies, thinking that it was strange that Jimmy would be hanging out with three women. Was he dating one of them? All of them? That was an interesting idea.

Another man joined them, and Lucas recognized him as Bernie Slater, Jr., Phantom Horse’s city attorney. They’d met when Lucas had attended a few city council meetings back in August to discuss legal liability issues concerning PE.

Lucas held out a hand to him. “How are you, Bernie?”

Bernie shook hands with him. “Good. You?”

“Doing fine, thanks.”

Bernie nodded in response, but his hazel eyes had shifted to Fiona, who glared back at him. Lucas lifted an eyebrow, wondering what that was all about.

Fiona said, “I need a drink,” and walked away.

Bernie scowled at her back.

Tory smiled a little over brightly. “I think all us girls could use a drink.”

Leanne was surprised when the petite brunette took her wrist.

“I decree that Lucas and Fish are the designated drivers tonight. It’s the ladies’ turn to get sloshed and have some fun,” Tory announced, pulling Leanne with her.

Leanne cast a helpless look back at Lucas as she went with the other women. He sent her a smile to let her know that he didn’t mind. Then he turned back to Bernie. “I take it you and Fiona don’t get along?”

“She hates me,” Bernie said. “Simple as that.”

Jimmy frowned. “That’s only because you’re being a jackass.”