Thanking the crowd, I headed back to my seat. I was fully prepared to tell Olivia it was time to pay up on her end of the bargain, but before I could, she stood and extended her hand for me to take.
“I’m getting a weird sense of déjà vu,” I joked, looking down at her hand. “Haven’t we already done this?”
Her smile was big and bright as she tilted her head side toside. “Yes and no. I left out a few important details. My name’s Olivia Hart.”
Hart? Hart. Why did the name sound so familiar? And she was from Nashville…
Oh fuck.
I swallowed. “As in…?”
She nodded. “As in Hartstrings Records. And I’m about to change your life.”
cleo
. . .
I staredat myself in the small bathroom mirror, taking just a single moment to compose myself. With a pounding head and sweat on my brow, I was grateful for how busy the day had been. It meant I didn’t have time to sit and dwell on the humiliating conversations of last night and this morning.
Honestly, once Lennox stepped up, I knew there was no way I was going to get out unscathed. I already felt like I was flayed open, all my wounds on display for the world to see, once Charlie had dropped the innocent reminder of her mom. You know, Grady’s wife.
God, Cleo, you’re so goddamn stupid.
It wasn’t like I didn’t know he was married. In fact, I often tried to remind myself of that so I wouldn’t lose myself in Grady’s gravitational pull. But the longer I spent in his presence, the more that little tidbit of information went to the back of my mind as though it was insignificant.
Well, it wasn’t. It was actually very significant. There was no way I could keep flirting with a married man, let alone one who broke my heart on multiple occasions over the past seventeenyears. And he had a kid for crying out loud. What the hell was I doing? This wasn’t like me. It wasn’t like me at all.
And why, oh why, did I agree to give her private riding lessons when Grady was on the way out of my life? I should’ve told them no. I should’ve referred them to literally anyone else. It wasn’t like Ashwood had a shortage of people who could teach her. I knew several people who could use the extra cash and were way better riders than I was. But there was something in Charlie’s eyes that made me give in. When it came to that girl, I found it super difficult to say no.
Her father had the same effect.
When I called him last night, I was feeling bold. I thought if I could keep things light I could get this restless feeling out from under my skin, but it backfired. He’d been so intentional with his words. All it did was mess with my head more than ever.
I’d lived with the nickname my entire adult life. Even when he wasn’t in my life, it haunted me. I tried to reclaim it. To make it mine and mine alone. So, while it’d been a shock to hear it on his lips after so many years, I knew I’d be able to move past it.
But there was something about the earnest way he’d said he missed me that had done me in. It was too much. It was too far. How could he say he missed me when another woman was wearing his ring? That wasn’t fair to me. It wasn’t fair to her.
God, did she even know about me? And what did it mean if she did? I was just a blip on the radar, a moment of his past. I didn’t mean anything. Not really. At least, that’s what I used to think.
“I know what you’re doing in there,” Lennox sang, rapping her knuckles against the door. “Stop spiraling and get your ass out here. Parents are starting to show up. Even ones you conveniently left off the email list.”
I sucked in a deep breath and turned to open the door. Lennox was standing with her arms over her chest, looking far too pleased with herself. I loved my sister dearly, but I was morethan a little annoyed with her at the moment. “What? You can’t handle some parents?” I asked, brushing past her. “Seemed like you were doing one hell of a job earlier.”
She laughed. “Oh, come on, sissy. Don’t be mad. You looked like you needed a push, so I gave you one. It’s just that simple.”
“I needed a push?” I asked, turning to face her.
“Just like last night?—”
I waved my hand to cut her off. “Len, he’s married. He’s got a kid. Last night was an epic mistake, and inviting him into our home for dinner would be another one. I need to put as much space between us as possible before?—”
Lennox raised her brows, waiting for me to finish, but I snapped my mouth shut. There were some things I wasn’t comfortable admitting out loud, and the fact that I was opening myself to the possibility of getting hurt was one of them. It sounded ridiculous when I thought about it. It’d been less than six months since Thomas and I’s divorce was final, and I’d sworn off all relationships until I figured out what I was doing with my life. Not that I’d expected to jump headfirst into anything this soon anyway.
Not that there was anything to jump into in the first place.
“I just mean it’s inappropriate. That’s all,” I said, shifting on my feet.
Lennox studied me, her gaze all-knowing. I wasn’t sure how she did it. I was nine years her senior, and yet it somehow felt like she knew so much more than I did. She was fierce and had the drive I wished I could have. When it came to what she wanted, she didn’t ask for permission to take it. She just did. That was why she and Bishop worked so well together. He needed someone to coax him out of his shell, and she needed someone to keep her grounded. I loved seeing her so in love, but this side of her made me feel small. It was my own insecurities, I knew that much. But I should’ve been the one urging her to follow her dreams. Not the other way around.
