Kylie and Cooper wheeled their carry-ons through the crowded San Antonio International Airport exit corridor. “I still don’t know why you’re insisting on this fool’s errand,” he groused as they made their way through the bustling crowd to the security exit.
“We already had this argument last night and again this morning. I’m not having it again. Ren texted that his cousin’s wife is waiting for us just past the security exit and that she would be easy to recognize.” She spotted a very pregnant Hispanic woman in a maternity version of the outfits mariachi singers performed in, who spotted her about the same time and started toward them with a friendly smile on her face. “Hello, I’m Misty Navarro,” she said as she shook both Kylie and Cooper’s hands. “I’m delighted to meet you both.”
“Likewise,” Kylie murmured. “Are the kids all right?”
“Right as rain. They’ve kept us all hopping all weekend.”
“I’ll bet,” Cooper said dryly.
“Actually, they were a lot of fun,” Misty said as she guided them toward the exit. “They got to go to a big family wedding on Saturday and then my mother-in-law took them sightseeing yesterday while Alex and Ren worked with El Jefe on a plan for your club.” She ushered them out into the barely cool evening and across a busy walkway to the parking garage. “I hope you’ll forgive me for taking you both straight to the club and not to my in-laws’ house, but our group’s scheduled to go on in less than an hour, and Alex and Ren thought you might like to visit El Rio Rojo, one of their most successful clubs.” She unlocked an expensive crossover. “So tell me about your club,” she said when Kylie and Cooper were settled inside the car. “The kids have waxed enthusiastic about it all weekend and Ren seems to think it has solid potential. What made you want to open a bluegrass club in the first place?”
With a few gentle questions Misty was able to draw out both Kylie and Cooper, who between them told her pretty much the whole story behind the club. Kylie and Cooper in turn learned that Misty had only recently married Ren’s cousin Alex, that she was expecting a little girl in the next couple of weeks, and that she and her husband both worked in the legal department of the Navarro Corporation. They also learned that the Navarro Corporation was one of the largest binational companies in the Southwest, with businesses and building projects all over Texas and Northern Mexico, and that El Rio Rojo was only one of a number of restaurants and clubs owned by the company.
Misty whisked them off the expressway, through the busy streets of downtown San Antonio, and into a parking garage. “I thought you might like to walk a block or so down the Riverwalk,” she said as she ushered them down a flight of stairs to the picturesque river walkway, its trees festooned with millions of Christmas lights that made the rippling water sparkle. “El Rio’s this way.”
They walked the promised short block and Misty led them past the headwaiter into a small, beautifully appointed nightclub, busy even on a Monday night. They were greeted by a handsome Hispanic man about Ren’s age who vaguely resembled Ren around his cheekbones and mouth.
“Hello, I’m Alex Navarro,” he said as he shook their hands. He handed Misty a trumpet case and gestured for Kylie and Cooper to have a seat at a table near the stage. “Ren thought you might enjoy hearing his group perform. We can talk business afterwards.” He signaled a waitress. “I’m sure you’re ready for some liquid refreshment after the flight. They make a mean margarita, and since I’ve been in recovery they’ve started making some great nonalcoholic drinks also. Our underage customers love them.”
They followed Alex’s lead and ordered nonalcoholic beverages. They sipped their drinks and made small talk until the lights dimmed and Ren, dressed in the traditional charro suit and carrying an instrument Kylie thought was a guitarron, led the band on stage. Kylie’s heart beat in her throat as she drank in the sight of the man she dreamed about every night, the man she’d missed every day and every night since he’d walked out of her home and her life.
Misty put her trumpet to her lips and played a rousing intro, and the band went in to “Guadalajara,” with Ren’s soaring tenor taking the lead. Kylie watched and listened, fascinated, as Ren belted out the lyrics in flawless Spanish. Just who was this man, she wondered as she took in the unfamiliar charro suit, the darker hair, the exotic instrument and the different language. Who was Ren Navarro, really? He’d insisted that he and Ren Campbell were the same person. But were they?
Kylie watched and listened as the band played a lively repertoire of the mariachi favorites that were every bit as traditional in the Hispanic community as bluegrass and mountain music were in hers. And as she watched and listened to Ren she pondered. Was this Ren and the music that he made here really so different from the Ren who had sung with her so many times in Tennessee? Sure, the trappings and the instruments were different and even the language was different, but as the tempo slowed and Ren and the group sang what Kylie could tell was a love song, she had to admit that, where it really mattered, this music was the same as hers, a powerful expression of every emotion imaginable, and that Ren was the man making the music. The same Ren who had played and sung with her in Tennessee was on this stage in front of her tonight, again singing from his heart. Yes, even though maybe she didn’t know every detail about this Ren Navarro, she knew who he was deep in his soul. She did know this man. And she loved him.
But did she trust him? She still wasn’t sure she was sold on that.
Los Muchachos Ochos performed for the better part of an hour and retired to thunderous applause. Alex ushered them back into a small but nicely appointed office where more cold drinks were waiting. “Sorry we don’t have more space in here,” Alex said. “We were going to meet with you at headquarters, but Ren wanted the two of you to see El Rio Rojo.”
“It’s a lovely establishment,” Kylie murmured, thinking ruefully of their own shabby little club and wondering why Ren was even interested in Acoustics when his family already owned places like this. Had he arranged this just to be nice to the kids?
They all took a chair around the small desk. Ren arrived a moment later, still dressed in the charro suit. He took the remaining chair and smiled over at Cooper and Kylie. “It’s good to see you both. Thank you for coming.”
Cooper nodded curtly. “Thank you for having us,” Kylie said. “And thank you for entertaining the kids all weekend.”
Alex waved a dismissing hand. “Mama loved it. So. Let’s talk about your club.” He handed Ren, Kylie, and Cooper a thin three-ring binder with the Navarro Corporation logo on the front. “Here’s the proposal that Ren, El Jefe, and I put together yesterday, along with a tentative contract, which we can finalize and sign tomorrow if you take us up on our offer. We’ll go through this in a minute, but first I’d like to explain why we’re interested in your club.”
Kylie stared down at the document in her hands. If they’d gone to this much trouble, they weren’t just doing this to be nice.
“So here’s the deal,” Alex continued. “We in the corporation have been talking for some months now of expanding out of Texas and Mexico into other regions of the United States. We thought about growing the building side, but that would involve a larger investment in property, equipment and personnel than we want. Even before your niños showed up Friday evening, we’d been talking about growing our restaurant and club holdings elsewhere. And Acoustics would be an excellent place to start.”
Alex continued with his explanation with an occasional comment from Ren. In a nutshell, the corporation would buy fifty percent of the club and assume running the business side, with Kylie and Cooper retaining ownership of the other fifty percent and being in charge of the musical side. If it proved to be successful, Acoustics would be just the first of a string of Acoustics-like bars, clubs, and pubs in the Appalachians featuring regional music and entertainers.
“So who would you send to manage the club for us?” Kylie asked.
“I would manage it,” Ren said. “Just Acoustics at first. But as we acquired other clubs, I would oversee them all and hire managers for the individual clubs. We would also be responsible for securing the properties as new clubs are acquired. Besides performing with The Barstows, you two will be responsible for securing the talent and filling the stages, with one caveat. We would like to see the clubs expand out from bluegrass and the traditional Appalachian music and include other kinds of music that could be considered folk or traditional, such as the mariachi music of South Texas and the Cajun music of Louisiana. So, what do the two of you think?”
Kylie and Cooper looked at one another. “What do you think, Cooper?” Kylie asked softly.
“I have reservations, serious ones.” Cooper turned to Ren and Alex. “I don’t mean to seem ungrateful, but that club is Kylie’s and my baby and we have total control over all the decisions. If we accept your offer, we’ll be losing much of that control.”
Ren looked Cooper in the eye. “Yes, you have total control, for all the good it’s doing you. You and Kylie don’t know the first thing about running a business and y’all are making one mistake after another. That club should have been profitable months ago.”
Cooper’s face turned a bright shade of red. “What kind of mistakes?” he asked tightly.
“To start with, you’re on the wrong side of the street.”
“They’re what?” Alex asked.
“They’re on the Virginia side of State Street. Their restaurant taxes are out the roof. The Tennessee side has half the tax rate.” He turned back to Cooper. “You don’t know how to schedule your staff, leaving you understaffed one night and overstaffed the next, your cooks are inexperienced and don’t know how to stock a kitchen for even simple bar food, and with such a narrow musical focus you aren’t drawing in enough of an audience pool, hence our desire to expand the musical offerings. You need to schedule more specialty nights like that murder and mayhem night Timberlynn planned, and festivals—Acoustics could be having three or four small festivals every year.” Ren’s voice softened. “Cooper, you’re a musician and an artist, not a businessman. Let somebody else run the business side of the club and you and Kylie concentrate on what you do best, finding and developing talent and making wonderful music.”
“Cooper, he’s right. We don’t know all that. But how do we know that you do, Ren?”
“My degrees are in business and I’ve been working in the corporation for almost fifteen years, including five years overseeing the clubs and restaurants here in San Antonio before moving to the real estate division. Business is what I do, Kylie. The music’s a sideline.” He turned to Cooper. “If it’s any consolation, I couldn’t do what I’m asking of you and Kylie. That’s where your talent lies, and believe me, you will be in complete charge of that.”
Cooper looked partially mollified and Kylie had to admit it sounded reasonable. But to be with Ren day in and day out, loving him the way she did but not having him in her life? That would be pure torture. And that made her afraid to say yes. “I don’t know. Do you have to be the one they send to manage the club? Would you be willing to send someone else?”
Cooper glanced over at Kylie and Ren as he and Alex exchanged a look. “Mr. Barstow, I think these two need to have a few minutes of privacy,” Alex said as he stood. “Why don’t we catch a little more of the music?”
Cooper followed Alex out of the room. Kylie stared over at Ren, who stared right back at her. “So why don’t you want me to come back?” he asked softly.
Kylie lifted her chin a little. “Because it would kill me to be around you every day.” She stood up and took a couple of paces across the tiny room. “Now that we’re not together.”
“We haven’t been together for a while.” Ren’s voice was level. “We worked with one another for six weeks when we weren’t together.”
“And it killed me then, too. To sing with you and watch you with the kids and just breathe the same air as you and not be with you.” Kylie turned to Ren. “I still love you, damn it. That’s what’s making this so hard. I still love you, but—”
“But you still don’t think you can trust me.”
“I can’t trust you or myself either one. You’re just too good a liar, Ren, and I’d never know if I was hearing the truth or not. I told you that the morning you left Tennessee.”
“Ah, yes. The morning I made the biggest mistake of my life.” Ren stood up abruptly and took Kylie by the shoulders. “I should have stayed, Kylie. I should have stayed and I should have fought for you. I should have proved to you that I will never tell you another lie. But I gave up and ran. Now I have a chance to go back and fix that mistake.” He leaned down and placed a tender kiss on Kylie’s lips. “I want the chance to prove to you that you can always trust me. I know now that six weeks of honesty isn’t going to make up for the kinds of lies I told. So how about this? You and your brother take us up on our offer and you give me a chance to prove to you that I have the kind of integrity you’re looking for in a man. We’ll take as long as you like—six months or six years or six decades. But give me that chance, Kylie. Please.”
“Why does it matter so much to you, Ren?”
“I love you. I want a life with you. I want to put a big wide ring on your finger and build a log cabin up on the side of a mountain where we can raise Danny together. I want to give Danny a little brother or sister someday. And I want to make music with you, Kylie. I want to make music with you every day for the rest of our lives. So how about it? Are you willing to let me save your dream and give me a chance to prove I’m worthy of being your happily ever after?”
Should she give him a chance? How could she not? She loved him so damned much. Her eyes shining, she nodded and slid her arms around Ren’s neck. He lowered his head and captured her lips, crushing her to him as he kissed her with all the love he had in him. Kylie pulled him even closer and opened her lips and her heart to this precious man, determined that she would give him every ounce of her love as they embarked on a mutual journey of learning and experiencing and knowing one another, of building the kind of trust that would carry them a lifetime. And when that knowing came, and when that trusting was strong, they would link their lives as they had already linked their hearts and move forward together.
They kissed for long moments, so wrapped up in each other that they did not hear the office door open, and it was only Alex’s chuckle that penetrated their enchantment with one another. “Uh, should we come back later?” Alex asked.
“Like maybe in an hour and a half?” Cooper added dryly.
Their arms wrapped around each other, Ren and Kylie looked over at Alex and her brother. “We’re taking them up on their offer,” Kylie informed Cooper.
“You don’t say. Well, guys, my sister has spoken. I guess you’re now half owners in a bluegrass bar.” He looked at Ren. “I love my sister, Ren, and I love that bar. You damned well better take good care of both of them.”
Ren looked down at Kylie with love in his eyes. “I intend to do just that, Cooper. You have my word.”