“Well?” Lily asked. And she realized Drew and Willow were also watching Maria, awaiting her verdict.
Maria nodded slow and said, “It still feels like the cantina—if it had spent a weekend at a makeover spa, and maybe had a little work done.” She moved closer to the bar, same bar-top as always, same stools, newly covered. Maria slid her palm over the surface. “You had it refinished.”
“It was getting a little sticky,” Lily replied and the others nodded.
“The tables are different.” They were square, red and green. She pulled out one of the chairs—diner style, round padded seats on a shiny chrome frame—and sat down, then lifted her butt, then lowered it again, testing. “Mmm. Definite improvement.”
Lily went behind the bar, pushed a button underneath, then nodded toward the front as the outer walls retracted, revealing the glass they’d covered and what used to be the parking lot beyond. Now it was a flagstone patio as wide as the entire building, with a long counter down its center. She pushed the button again, and part of the glass retracted, as well.
“That is so cool!” Drew said, clapping her hands and running outside onto the patio to check things out.
Maria smiled and Lily’s heart lifted. She hurried outside to where Drew had discovered the fire-and-water feature, right in the middle of the long strip that was half outdoor taco bar and half the regular kind of bar. The near half was lined with lidded stainless-steel containers, some heated, some cooled. The farther half included an under-counter cooler for drinks and mixers, a set of taps, and rows of glasses. The counter had its own mini-awning, peaked in the middle, that ran the length of it.
“Lily,” Maria said. “You freakin’ killed it.”
“Really?” Lily knew she had. But she was thrilled that Maria thought so, too.
Drew said, “Reverend Wheeler’s gonna be so teed off when nobody wants to have their weddin’s in the church anymore.”
Lily hadn’t thought of that and felt immediately worried. “Maybe we should stick to just doing receptions.”
“I was kiddin’.” Drew put a hand on her arm. “You’re a nervous wreck, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
“I don’t think you need to be. It sure looks ready to me.”
“It better be ready,” Maria said. “Grand opening is tomorrow night.”
“We’ll know for sure after Friends and Family tonight,” Lily said. “If anything’s gonna go wrong, we’ll find out then. You’re all coming, right?”
“Of course we’re all comin’,” Maria said. “Your dad’s makin’ tacos without Rosa’s supervision. That’s his final exam.”
Lily laughed with the others, but inside she wished Ethan could be there tonight, too. Friends and Family Night was a dress rehearsal. Her dad and his two young helpers—could you call them sous chefs in a taco place?—would get a real-world trial run. So would the kitchen equipment, the wait staff, and the stage. She’d hired Dirt River, the local band she and Ethan had danced to that night at The Waterin’ Hole, right before they’d had sex on the riverbank and she’d fallen even harder.
Manny was coming, family and all. Lord, she hoped he didn’t hate it.
Willow, who stood on her right, put a hand on her shoulder and she realized she’d fallen quiet and probably looked on the verge of panic. “You need a spa day, woman.”
“After the grand opening, I might need a spa week. But not today. Too much to do to get ready.”
Maria put an arm around her from her left, and Drew hugged her from behind and said, “We got you, girl. What can we do to help?”
“I hate not bein’ there tonight,” Ethan said. He was sitting in the too-small easy chair in his otherwise nice trailer, waiting to go on stage for the final show of this run, but his heart wasn’t in it. It was a county fair in New Mexico, and the crowd was the biggest yet.
He was closer to home than he’d been in weeks. Maybe that was why he was feeling Quinn’s pull on his heart so powerfully. But it was odd. He never felt homesick.
Ang was in the hard chair with his back to a mirrored dressing table. He held up the newspaper he’d brought in a minute ago. It was folded open to a page showing the familiar Billboard chart. “Again, ’cause you don’t look like you heard me, you’re sitting at number five this week.”
“I know. It’s…great.”
Angelo gave a long, low whistle. “You get a call from home, did’ja? Your dog die or something?”
He shook his head. “I should be there tonight. At Two Lilies.”
The manager rubbed his salt-and-pepper-stubble chin. “Grand opening’s tomorrow night, isn’t it?”
“Tonight’s Friends and Family,” Ethan said. “Like a test run.”
