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“Maybe it should be you who says it…in an interview with me.”
I laughed. “That will never happen, so you might as well push that thought right out of your head.”
She shrugged. “A girl can wish.”
With a shake of my head, I went on, “She’s taken heat from the folks in our hometown for that stupid-ass song I wrote. If people find out her name, you know what they’ll do.”
“Is she still doing the Instagram thing?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“If you both got ahead of it, made it look like the two of you made up, the fallout from your fans wouldn’t be so bad. Right now, they look at her as the woman who caused you pain.”
Lori’s advice rattled around in my head for a few moments. “I’ve got three concerts in Nashville starting the day after tomorrow. Once I finish them, I’ll reach out to Bristol.”
She nodded. “Smart. Now, you’re either going to buy me dinner or take me up to a room. Which is it going to be?” she asked, a sexy smirk on her face.
“Dinner.”
With a dramatic sigh, she picked up her menu. “Fine. I’m ordering the most expensive steak on the menu then. A girl’s gotta get a fine specimen of meat somewhere.”
Bristol
I SAT ON the back porch of Mindy’s house and stared down at Cypress Creek. Mindy lived about a half a mile down from me, right on the main street that ran through town in a house her parents had once lived in. When they retired, they gave the house to Mindy and moved into the innkeeper’s cottage at Hotel Faust. They had bought it a number of years ago and had completely remodeled the whole place.
Mindy’s house sat on the top of a hill that looked down on the constantly flowing creek. It was so peaceful, hearing the water slowly move along. Even though it was one of the nicest spots in Comfort, Jim hated that they lived in the house that Mindy’s folks had given to her.
The back door opened, and Mindy walked out. She handed me a beer then sat down.
“How are you doing?”
She shrugged as she stared ahead. “Better, after tossing the last of Jim’s shit out onto the front yard. I’m going to owe Drake big time.”
I smiled then looked at her and let my smile fade away. “I know I’ve said it a thousand times, but I’m so sorry, Mindy.”
She shrugged and took a sip of tea. “I think I knew all along, and truth be told, I’m not even upset. I’m more pissed he made a fool out of me. It would have been better if he had just left me, rather than sneaking around with his assistant.”
Her hand went to her stomach. “That day I came to the tea room, you asked what was wrong.”
“I remember.”
“Jim had just told me he didn’t want the baby…or me.”
“That’s why you weren’t shocked when Drake told you?”
She nodded. “He said he was in love with another woman. I wasn’t surprised, considering when he was screwing her, I was at the doctor’s appointment for the baby…by myself.”
“He’s an idiot.”
She nodded. “Drake offered to have a few guys jump him after work. It was tempting, but I told him no.”
“I think he got his punishment when he got home and all of his stuff was sitting in the front yard.”
A smile crept over her face. “My folks are pissed about that part.”
“They’ll get over it.”
She turned and looked at me. “I’m sorry I missed…the day. It hadn’t even dawned on me it was April second. I guess we can now say we were both left on April second.”
I scoffed. “It’s just a day. Who cares.”
“You do. I know you do. I found the scrapbook.”
I swallowed hard and looked back down at the creek.
“I hate men,” I said softly as she reached for my hand and squeezed it.
“I do too.”
My eyes stung with tears. “I was helping Ida in the garden today and a song came on. Tyler Richard’s new one.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard it. It’s really good.”
“Anson wrote it.”
I closed my eyes and dropped my head back against the chair and laughed. “Do you know even when it’s another singer on the radio, I can always tell when it’s a song he wrote? It’s like he puts something in it that he knows I’ll pick up on. Why does he do that? I asked Ida if he wrote it and she said she wasn’t sure. Of course, I had to look it up, and sure enough, Anson Meyer wrote the lyrics.”
“Has he reached out to you at all?”
With my eyes still closed, I let out a slow exhale. “Twice a year I get a card from him. My birthday and the day we first told each other we loved one another.”
“And you don’t think he still loves you, Bristol?” Mindy asked.
