Bang the Drummer

“I think I’ve got everything taken care of. Booked the Creekside Winery. Ordered the decorations. Set up a tasting for the food and Stella’s designing the wedding cake.” She glanced up at Charlie. “Why are you looking at me in that strange way?”

He gave her his familiar lop-sided grin. “You are the only woman I know who plans and pays for her wedding without knowing who the groom is.”

She flipped a hand at him. “I’ll have one by then. It’s in the plan. You know.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “Yeah, I love your interview process. You aren’t even dating anyone right now.”

“Because look how poor my choices were in that arena, right?”

He snorted. “So this is better? Tell me how?”

Jill pulled up another memo on her iPad. “Okay. I have a list.”

“A list? This I gotta hear. Lay it on me.”

If she didn’t need his help so badly, she would have smacked him. “It’s very specific. I asked around about different drummers in different bands and narrowed it down to the twelve most likely prospects. You know. Twelve drummers drumming, for Christmas.”

“Like a grocery list,” he teased.

“No, Charlie.” Damn him! “Like an interview process for a job.”

“Is that what this is, kitten? A job?”

“It’s a lifetime commitment,” she sniffed. She wished he’d just let her get on with this. All these questions were making her have tiny doubts about the wisdom of her decision. She gave herself a mental shake. “I’ll do one a month until I hit on the right one. The exact right one. First I check out their musical talent and their band history.”

Charlie gave a roar of laughter. “Because that’s such a requirement for stability?”

“Because it has to be a drummer, so I need his performance history,” she snapped.

“Maybe it’s a different kind of performance you should be worrying about.”