Tammy’s glass and started drinking hers. The door tinkled again and Cy walked in with his little grin that she used to think was sexy.
“Cy,” Taylor squealed as she leaped into his arms.
“You've got to be kidding me,” Gemma groaned and she finished Tammy’s drink. The only sound in the cafe was the clinking of the ice in her now empty glass.
“Taylor, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?” Cy asked with a grin Gemma realized as his real look. Apparently he didn’t feel the need to be his undercover self with her.
“Oh, I’m fine. I just wanted to see you and you said I could come anytime,” Taylor told him as she finally let go. Gemma grabbed the drink from where Katelyn still had it paused halfway to her mouth and downed it. They had told her it was special and she had to agree with the way the world was tilting around her. Maybe a couple more and the perfectly perky blonde would simply disappear.
As she set the glass down, Cy caught her eye and smiled. “Gemma, you have to meet Taylor.”
Gemma smiled, raised her middle finger, and passed out.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Cy dropped his arm from around Taylor and stared at the woman he loved face down in a plate of peach cobbler. Katelyn’s mouth was open, Tammy’s eyes were wider than he knew possible, Paige looked ready to stab him with a fork, and Kenna would back Paige up. Morgan’s look was so cold he practically shook where he stood and then heard the unmistakable sound of a gun being unholstered. Annie gave him a sweet little smile as she placed the gun on the table.
“What is wrong with you all?” Taylor gasped at the sight and hid behind Cy. Annie directed her gaze to the starlet and cocked the gun.
“I’ll tell you what’s wrong. Cyland, you should be ashamed of yourself.” Miss Violet came at him with her wooden spoon in hand and thwacked him on the head before he knew what was happening. “You toy with a woman and make her fall in love with you and all the while you have some blonde tart in the background,” Miss Violet berated before she lowered her voice and looked to Taylor, “Sorry, hon, I loved you in
“Wait. Everyone calm down. There’s been a misunderstanding.” Cy held up his hands in self-defense. The table of women shot him a can’t-wait-to-hear-this look so he knew he had to hurry. “Taylor and I aren’t dating. We’ve never dated and we’re never going to date.”
“Eww, I couldn’t date Uncle Cy. That would be totally weird,” Taylor’s voice said from behind him.
“I’ve known her since she was eight. I helped her out on the set and took care of her when she emancipated from her parents,” Cy told the cafe.
“That’s right. He taught me to cook, clean, and drive a car. He even made me get my GED.” Taylor stuck her head out from behind Cy.
“So he was the perfect big brother?” Paige asked as tears welled up in her eyes.
“Yes,” Taylor said, relieved that someone understood.
Cy grimaced as Paige calmly stood up, grabbed her purse, said goodbye to the table. She stopped before him and grabbed Miss Violet’s spoon and cracked it over his head.
“Paige, wait.” Cy grabbed his sister as she sailed by him. “I know you’re upset. But you need to know that you and our family are the reason I decided to retire and come home. I missed everyone and I’m here now. I can’t help but feel like such an outsider. You’re married with a beautiful child. You’ve all moved on and it’s like I was never even here. I know I was gone for a long time, but I’m trying, Paige. I’m trying to be part of the family again. Don’t shut me out now.”
“Shut you out? I called you every week for the past eight years; sometimes you answered and sometimes you didn’t. And you think I’m shutting you out? You shut yourself out, Cy—you still are. Wake up and realize we all want to see you, be with you, and hear what you’ve been up to. But we can’t. You won’t talk to us. You won’t be you, Cy Davies. You’re still Cy Davidson. When you realize we don’t give a crap who you were, just that you’re here and we love you, then I’ll talk to you again. Shoot, even Gemma realizes it.”
Paige yanked her arm free and shoved the door to the cafe open. It slammed shut as the sound reverberated through the cafe. The only noise was the slight snore coming from Gemma as she unconsciously took a lick of the caramel sauce she was sleeping on.
He thought he was doing such a good job of being good ol’ Cy. He guessed he was wrong. Now Paige was mad at him and Gemma thought he was having an affair all because he let his undercover work come home with him.
“Who’s Cy Davies?” Taylor asked quietly.
“I am. Or at least I used to be.”
Cy sat on the bench outside of the cafe with a quiet Taylor next to him. He had just told her the whole story and what she had unknowingly walked into. He had tried to carry Gemma home, but Annie had rested her hand on her gun again and ordered him to “fix this” before he saw her again. Even sweet Tammy narrowed her eyes at him.
He had disappointed them all when he had tried so hard not to. And that was the problem. He had been doing what he had been doing in Hollywood as a spy. Pretending to be someone else to make everyone happy and like him. Although this time he couldn’t pull it off. They all knew him too well and instead were insulted. So rather than taking care of the woman he loved, he was forced to watch Annie and Katelyn maneuver her into the car and take her back to Miss Lily’s.
“Let me make sure I got this.” Taylor took a breath and looked up at the sky. “You’re a spy. You’ve been pretending with your family and now because you aren’t pretending with me, they’re kinda mad at you. And your girlfriend, whom you just figured out you’re in love with, thinks we’re having an affair.”
“Yep. That about wraps it up.”
“Well, that’s easy. Just go talk to them while Gemma sleeps it off. If they’re as great as you’ve said, they’ll understand and help you with this transition. Sometimes just talking helps. Or so says my therapist of ten years.” Taylor gave him a nudge and Cy realized she was right.
He’d wanted to be like his brothers. Wanted to prove he was tough enough to handle undercover work and just bounce right back to who he was before, but that person didn’t exist anymore. A new Cy Davies did; he just needed to discover him. The door to the cafe opened and Trey Everett walked out. He saw the open curiosity on Taylor’s face and grinned. Maybe he wasn’t the only one discovering who they were. “Trey,” Cy called out.
“Yes, sir?” Trey stopped and politely took off his Vanderbilt football cap.
“Trey Everett, meet Taylor Jefferies. Taylor, this is Trey.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” they both said at the same time and then blushed.
“Trey, would you mind doing me a favor?”
“Of course, sir. What is it?”
“I need some time to talk with my family. Could you spare an hour or so and show Taylor around Keeneston?”
“I’d be happy to. I can drop Miss Jefferies off at the bed-and-breakfast before practice.”
“Practice?” Taylor asked as she stood up.
“Yes, I play football. I’m working out this summer with some coaches. I just transferred to Vanderbilt.”
“Vanderbilt? I’m starting my freshman year there. It’s so wonderful to meet someone who’s going to the same college. And you’re already a sophomore? What is college like? Tell me all about it.” Taylor hit him with rapid-fire questions as the two started walking down the street. Well, at least he did something right today.
Cy hugged his mother as his father stood proudly by. Paige even managed to give him a little smile. He had sat the family down, all except Cade, and told them the trouble he was having adapting. He felt stuck between L.A.'s Cy Davidson and Keeneston's Cy Davies. Surprisingly, he was the last to know. Everyone had already figured it out. It was why his brothers were taking him around the farm and showing him what they had done. Not as an example of what he missed, but to remind him of what he was returning to.
“We love you and we’re very proud of you,” his mother said sweetly before letting him go.
