Chapter 5

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There gotta be a law, get the sheriff on the phone, Lord have mercy, how'd she even get them britches on?
~Trace Adkins, Honky Tonk Badonkadonk, 2005

Friday nights have always been a big thing to my group of friends. I take a shower before heading out. I get dressed in a similar outfit that I wore earlier but I leave my hair down. I put on a little makeup but not too much.

Just as I am about to head out, Blake calls me. "Hey, Babe!" I say when I answer the phone.

"Hey. How is it going?" He asks.

"Surprisingly well." I reply. "I'm heading out to a bar with some friends."

"I thought this trip was about your grandma?" He asks almost sounding angry.

"It is, Blake. Part of it means doing what she wants. She wants everyone to act as if nothing is wrong so I am going out with friends." I explain.

"Are there going to be guys there?" He asks.

"Yes." I say truthfully.

"Then I don't want you to go." He says.

"You can't control me, Blake. I am my own person." I say. He hangs up on me. Jerk.

We take my truck tonight. We first pick up one of our friends, Tennessee Jacobs. We have known her all our lives. She has wavy brown hair and bright, emerald green eyes. She is a high school English teacher. Tonight she is wearing dark, blue jeans, a tight v-neck shirt and a pair of boots. "No one told me you were in town!" She says gleefully when she sees me.

"I'm surprising everyone." I say.

"Clearly." She says with an eye roll. She gives me a giant hug. "I'm happy you're home."

"Me too." I say, returning the hug.

We meet Cash, Callahan, and Dallas at the bar. They have already started on their beers when we get there. Us girls go and order our beers and then join the guys. Della walks straight to Cash once she has her beer. "Damn, Della. You look smokin' tonight!" Cash remarks.

"Don't I always?" She asks sweetly, batting her eyes.

"Pretty much." He replies before kissing her. You would think by now they would be tired of kissing each other.

"Get room!" Dallas says, stopping them before they go any farther in public.  

"Only if you are paying for it, Dallas." Cash says.

"Does it look like I am rich?" Cash just laughs in return.

In an hour, we are definitely not sober but not fully drunk. A slow song comes on. Of course Cash and Della start slow dancing. Dallas and Tennessee, who have always been together without actually being together, start dancing. Now it is just Callahan and I. Now there are two things that can happen. We can slow dance like everyone else or just sit here awkwardly for the next five minutes. There is one thing I know that Callahan does not like and that is awkward situations. "Monroe, would you do me the honors of dancing with me?" He asks me. He is holding his hand out and I take it. This is the first thing he has said to me in five years.

"I would like that, Callahan." I reply. He leads me to the dance floor and pulls me close.

He doesn't say anything to me at first. I feel his shoulders are tense almost as if he is mad or anxious. But at what? "I looked up the songs you have written online." He says after at least a minute.

"Oh?"

"One song stuck out to me."

"Which one?" I ask.

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