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Anson also took a bite, and when he tasted the cashew sour cream with the ranchero sauce and enchilada, his eyebrows rose. Then he talked with his mouth full.
“Mmm, dis is so good!”
I giggled and kept eating. “What was it you wanted to run by me? I mean, if you can take a moment to break away from that cashew sour cream you’re scooping up in every bite.”
He closed his eyes and moaned then looked at me. “If this is how you cook all the time, I’m going to gain weight!”
“Are you kidding me? I saw that gym you had at your house in Nashville.”
His smile faded, and he set his fork down before reaching for his beer.
“The whole reason I flew back to Nashville was because of the record company. They offered me a deal for three new albums.”
I nodded.
“I told Robert to tell them no.”
It felt like everything in the room went silent. The only thing I could hear was my heart pounding.
“What do you mean, you told him to tell them no?”
“No more records. I’ve got one more single I need to give them, and we recorded it before we left Nashville. After that, I’m only going to be writing songs. I’m done with performing.”
I stood up and pushed the chair back, nearly causing it to fall over. Anson looked at me, confused.
“Why would you do that?” I asked. “Why would you give up your career?”
“I’m not giving it up, Bri. I’m taking a different path. I’m following what my heart is telling me to do. I want to be here, in Comfort. With you, my folks, Grams, and Granddad. Dad and I talked about me taking over more of the ranch, learning how things are run.”
My hand shook as I placed it over my mouth in an attempt to keep my emotions at bay.
“I know you love this house, but I figured…I know right now you want to be by the tea room and all, but I talked to Dad about building a house on the ranch. I’d like to put in a little recording studio for when artists come for writing sessions. The idea is to have a few songwriting retreats, maybe even lay some tracks down on occasion. It would take probably a year to build, and I was thinking by then you might be ready to have a manager to help you run the tea room.”
His cheeks went red as he smiled and shrugged.
“I don’t know, maybe we could think about kids when you’re ready.”
A sob slipped free, and I turned and practically ran out of the kitchen and into the living room.
I heard Anson’s chair fall to the floor as he called out, “Bri? Bri!”
He knelt down in front of me and took my shaking hands in his as I cried.
“Hey, we don’t have to build a house on the ranch. We can stay right here if you want. It was only a thought I had since I’ll be working on the ranch. We can live anywhere you want, Baby. I swear.”
I shook my head and tried to speak, but the only thing that came out were more sobs.
“Fuck, what did I do? Tell me what I did, and I’ll fix it.”
Suddenly, my crying stopped. He reached up and wiped my tears away with the pads of his thumb.
“Baby, tell me what has you so upset.”
“I’m…I’m not upset. I don’t know what this feeling is, but you didn’t do anything to upset me.”
He lifted my shirt and wiped under my nose as he screwed up his face, which made me laugh.
“You okay now?”
With a nod, I replied, “Yes.”
“Will you tell me what happened?”
“A part of me feels guilty because I feel so relieved.”
“Relieved? Were you worried about me going back to Nashville?”
“No. Yes. It’s just, I didn’t know how I felt. I wanted more time together, and then I was worried about doing this alone or you missing out on an important opportunity. It was all swirling around in my head.”
He frowned. “Bri, you’re kind of confusing the hell out of me.”
A giggle slipped out. I drew in a deep breath, counted to ten, and then slowly let it out.
“Anson, I need you to know that no matter what you decided to do, I would have supported you a hundred-and-ten percent.”
“I know that, Baby.”
I nodded and smiled. “And I’m proud of you, and I knew the arrangement when we got back together. I knew someday you’d be going back to Nashville or spending a lot of time on the road, and I was okay with all of that.”
He stared as he waited for me to go on.
“But then you said you were staying here. Working on the ranch and building a house. Then…then you…you mentioned kids.”
The brilliant smile that appeared on his face nearly left me breathless.
