Page 3 of Grimm County Wishes (Grimm County Lawmen #4)

“ G ood evening!” Jeannie shouted into the mic from the small stage of Susie’s Bar.

Her signature blonde ponytail sat high on her head, and she wore a bright pink crop top with the words Maid of Honor plastered across her chest. “I’m here with a few friends to celebrate my girl Marina locking down the town sheriff.

” A mixture of cheers and a few boos filled the room.

Jeannie rolled her eyes and flipped her middle finger at the table of women in the back corner.

Not everyone was happy the sheriff was going off the market. As if those Grimbos ever had a chance.

“Anyway, I know this isn’t the typical entertainment for Susie’s, but this is a bachelorette party, so …

” Jeannie trailed off as the music changed to “Pony” by Ginuwine.

A man in a tan trench coat strolled onto the stage, his face covered with a large cowboy hat.

“Just remember, it’s the thought that counts!

” Jeannie shouted as she ran off stage and back to her table with Marina, Rose, and Ms. June, who was also Christian’s aunt .

“Yeah, baby!” Marina stood up on shaky legs and raised her arms in the air. Jeannie would need to keep an eye on her. Marina couldn’t hold her alcohol, and Jeannie would hate for her to be hungover on her wedding day.

“J, what did you mean by that?” Rose winced as she leaned closer to Jeannie, not making much progress because of her large belly. No doubt the poor woman would birth a ten-pound baby with Nick as the father. Jeannie shuddered and crossed her legs.

“Uh, well, what happened was,” Jeannie paused and bit her bottom lip, “I booked the guys from the Ocracoke Revue, but their van blew a head gasket and they bailed at the last minute. I knew Marina would be heartbroken without at least one stripper, so, I uh, improvised.”

The stripper was facing the wall, his back to the audience as he grooved in time with the music.

“He’s kind of short, but that’s okay,” Marina said. “As long as he’s got the right moves.” She adjusted her bride sash and repositioned the tiara on top of her brown waves as she danced.

A loud commotion came from the back of the room, and they turned to see Snow racing in.

“Oh, thank goodness. I was worried I’d miss the good part!

I couldn’t leave DC before they took the vote on the education bill and, boy, can those people talk.

” She hugged each of the girls before pouring herself a glass from the margarita pitcher.

Jeannie still found it hard to believe that her friend was a freaking U.S.

senator. Not that Snow wasn’t capable. She was the kindest, most considerate and compassionate person Jeannie knew.

It was more that Jeannie, the girl from the wrong side of the tracks, was good friends with someone so important.

“Wait a second.” Marina squinted as she stared at the stage.

Jeannie looked up and saw that the stripper had tossed his hat across the bar. Ah well. He could only stall for so long.

Rose turned to look at Jeannie. “Please tell me you did not hire—”

It was at that moment that the stripper turned around with his trench coat open wide.

“Goddammit, Dad!” Susie shouted from behind the bar. Marina laughed wildly and continued dancing, barely phased by the surprise.

Mr. Bill was in his eighties and the town’s resident nudist. It was illegal for sure, but he had an understanding with the sheriff to keep it in his yard. Which was great for the town, but not so much for Christian who lived across the street.

Rose raised an eyebrow at Jeannie, who shrugged.

“I did what I had to. Marina wanted a stripper. I got her a stripper.”

Mr. Bill continued his dance, tossing his coat to the side and strutting around in a gold G-string.

“Get it, Mr. Bill!” Marina shouted.

Ms. June shook her head and sipped her margarita. “To think I once had a crush on him.”

Snow laughed. “No way! You liked Mr. Bill?”

“For about five seconds when I was too young to know better,” Ms. June said.

Mr. Bill finished his dance and walked over to Marina. “Congratulations, girlie! And any time your man falls down on his job, you come right on over. As you saw, I’ve still got the moves to keep you satisfied.”

Marina laughed and squeezed his hand. “You got it! Thanks for coming to my bachelorette party.”

“Anything for you, sweetheart. Oh, hell.” Something had caught his eye over Marina’s shoulder.

“Susie’s coming this way with my coat. You’d think my own daughter would want me to live my truth, but she’s a prude like the rest of them.

I better go before she covers me.” Mr. Bill walked away, leaving the women to their margaritas and appetizers.

Snow cleared her throat. “Now, Jeannie, what’s this I hear about Al getting a dating show? That’s awesome they’re filming locally. Having another show in town will be great for the economy. How’d you convince them to do it here instead of LA or somewhere flashier?”

“It wasn’t that hard, actually.” Jeannie flipped her hair over her shoulder.

“They liked Al because of his job as a deputy and his work on Grimm County Lawmen, so filming locally made sense. And the Lawmen team was more than willing to push back their filming schedule since they expect Bachelor Al will add a ton of new viewers.”

“I’m curious about the women,” Marina said, her eyes lighting up. “Do you know anything about them?”

“No, I’m not really involved with that part.

” An uncomfortable knot formed in Jeannie’s belly.

“I just know they’ll start with ten and go from there.

” The truth was, they had asked her to assist with the casting.

Even offered to fly her out to New York City.

But so far, she’d declined, not interested in seeing who Al would date.

“Maybe you could be one of them.” Marina pulled a cheese fry out of the pile. A hush fell over the table as she continued to stuff her cheeks, oblivious to the awkward bomb she’d dropped.

“What?” Marina asked through a mouthful of food.

“Why would I go on the show as one of Al’s harem? ”

“As a spy? Duh. It’s been done before. You pose as one of the girls and give Al the real scoop on how they act when he’s not around.”

Jeannie released a long breath. Of course she didn’t want to be one of Al’s women.

So what if maybe sometimes on occasion she imagined what it might be like to be his.

And it was totally irrelevant that most of those occasions were while she was in the shower with a certain battery-operated friend.

But those daydreams had her as his woman, singular.

Not one woman out of many competing for his attention.

Which she would never get because he only saw her as a friend.

She sighed and shook her head. “My job was to boost his profile enough to book a show. I did that. Now it’s up to Al to sign the contract and do everything else.”

“Wait, he hasn’t signed yet? I thought you got the offer weeks ago,” Rose said, rubbing her stomach.

“We did, but these things take time.” Jeannie hoped she sounded truthful. In fact, Al had been offered an exceptional deal, and he should have signed it last week. But he was stalling, and she didn’t know why.

Snow reached over and pulled a large chunk of fries away from Marina. “Good for Al for being cautious and reviewing the fine print. My dad had horror stories from his time as a lawyer when clients rushed through a deal. ”

Maybe Snow was right. Maybe Al was trying to be thorough.

But Jeannie had read that contract over with a fine-tooth comb.

Filming would take six weeks, and they’d worked it out with Christian so that he could take vacation days when necessary.

When combined with the rest of their savings, the sign-on bonus was enough to cover the initial payment for the lawyer they wanted to hire for Ben.

And when he finished the show, he’d have the rest of the money they needed.

There was only that one clause that was a little unusual, but not surprising, considering the theme of the show.

He wasn’t allowed to date anyone other than the ten contestants for the duration of filming.

If he did, he would be in breach of contract and not only would he be fired, he wouldn’t get paid.

And if he was caught dating outside the show more than halfway through production, he’d have to pay a twenty thousand dollar fine.

But surely that wasn’t the reason Al was stalling.

She hadn’t seen any ladies on his side of the duplex lately, so it’s not like he was holding out for someone else.