THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

string of bar gigs. He owned an Italian restaurant. Stuck the ring right in the middle of a plate of spaghetti. Didn’t sound so romantic to me, but she went for it.”
    “You should hear how Nick proposed to me.”
    “No spaghetti, I hope.”
    “No. He slipped a rubber fishing worm around my finger. I wore it for a week until we had time to get a real ring.”
    “I’d love to have seen that.”
    “It was sweet.”
    “Guess you had to be there.”
    “Yeah. Like I said, when it’s right you know it, and even something hokey like that comes off like Prince Charming.” She smiled. It was nice to remember the good times with Nick. “Any of those early hit records about her?”
    “Just about every one of them. Damn near broke my heart, but I wanted to perform. Music is in my blood. She just couldn’t wait.”
    “Sorry.”
    “Yeah. Were y’all married a long time?”
    “Nope. I must have gotten a dozen proposals over the years. Riley teases me that I could have a charm bracelet from all the rings guys insisted I keep. Things just never felt right until I met Nick. I knew the day I met him that he was the one.”
    “That’s how I felt about Lou,” Cody said with a nod. “I know exactly what you mean.”
    “Lou? That ought to have stirred up a few rumors.”
    “Hey, don’t laugh. Her name was Bettie Lou. We just called her Lou for short. Bettie was too prissy for her.”
    Kasey twisted in her seat and belted out a verse of Bettie Lou’s Got a New Pair of Shoes .
    “Funny. Do you think that’s the first time I’ve heard that?” Cody laughed and shrugged it off. “Be nice.”
    “Sorry. Have y’all kept in touch?”
    “No.” A big grin spread across his face. “We didn’t part on the best terms. She probably has two kids and a dog. I blew it. Why bother?”
    “You never know. Marriages don’t last. People change. She could’ve been your one true love.”
    “You believe in that crap?”
    “Sure.” Kasey folded her hands in her lap. “I do. Mine was perfect.” She shrugged. “You ought to look her up sometime. It might be fun to catch up, live in the past for a little bit.”
    “Maybe I will—if If you don’t think I’m your one true love.” He said it playfully, but there was a glimmer of hope in his words.
    “You’ve been a wonderful distraction, but I could never live in this world, and you could never live in mine.”
    With that, he tipped her nose. “Never say never. That’s risky.”
    “Touché.”
    “I’ll let you get back to your work,” he said.
    She shifted her laptop back into her lap and tried to concentrate on the behind-the-scenes pictures she’d shot. This tour had stolen America’s heart, and by being on tour with them, Kasey had the chance to show the real man behind the music and provide fans a peek behind the scene. This group, the band and crew, really seemed like an extended family—Cody at the center. That came out in the pictures. Fans would love them. There was no trail of half-dressed groupies in his life. He poured every ounce of his energy into his performances. A positive vibe came through in all of the pictures. She was excited to be the one behind the camera to share this aspect of Cody with the world
    Kasey smiled at the shots of the band and crew cooking burgers and eating off paper plates—far from the glamour people would expect to see from such a successful band. And even though Cody was the reason they all were on tour, he acted like one of the gang. The guys and gals enjoyed the simple things and the meaningful things. The few band members who were married had wives and children in tow. Unlike a mechanic who never turns a wrench when he gets home, or the landscaper whose yard is full of weeds, the band members jammed almost every night into the wee morning hours. It wasn’t work but rather what they truly loved.
    But the group’s creativity didn’t stop at music. They’d rigged a basketball net on the back of the bus. It probably wasn’t regulation height, but no one seemed to care. They played hard, cutthroat to the point of needing a designated referee for their games.
    There were touching moments too, like when Cody visited the children’s hospital to say hello to some of the young patients and brighten their stressed parents’ days. Kasey let children take pictures with her big camera and promised to email their shots to them. The children were elated. The smiles and tears in the parents’ eyes, as they watched their