When we drove into town for the show four months ago, something had felt off. I couldn’t explain what it was or why, but it was there all the same. It’d been enough to scare me offfor good. I had every intention of playing the show and high-tailing it out of there so I could get back to Tennessee. There was no reason for me to stay. No reason for me to do anything but handle my business and leave as soon as possible.
Until I sawher.
Twelve years may have passed since the last time I’d seen her, but Cleo Hayes was just as beautiful as I remembered. Even inside the darkened bar, all it had taken was one look at her for my world to flip upside down. It’d felt like a fever dream at first. She wasn’t supposed to be there. She was supposed to be in Montana with her husband, living out her dreams.
I knew because I’d checked.
Cleo may have blocked me on every social media site known to man, but the same couldn’t be said for my band members. So, I did what I’d always done in the rare moments I found myself spiraling at three in the morning, curious about what she was doing—I stole one of their phones and looked her up.
My daughter jumped in my hold, pulling me from my thoughts. “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!”
I looked forward, noticing my wife striding toward us. “Hi, baby girl!” Olivia said, holding out her arms to take our daughter. Charlie gave her a kiss on the cheek and nuzzled into her neck. “I see you found your daddy.” Her eyes met mine as she mouthed the word ‘sorry’ behind our daughter’s back.
I shook my head, stepping back to let them have their moment together. Charlie may have had me wrapped around her finger, but she was a momma’s girl through and through. Neither Olivia nor I had planned on kids, so finding out she was pregnant had thrown our worlds topsy-turvy in the best way possible.
Watching them together was a special kind of joy. Their bond was magical. Our daughter idolized Olivia. She went on and on about how when she grew up, she wanted to be just like her mom.
Olivia Hart was country music royalty. Her grandfather, Franklin Hart, had started one of the biggest record labels in Nashville. She grew up in an entirely different world than I had—one of glitz and glamour and more money than I could ever fathom. The Hart name carried a lot of weight in the music business, and a lot of pressure to boot.
When her grandfather retired, the company had been passed down to Olivia’s father. Just like Charlie, she’d revered the man, wanting nothing more than to be just like him when she grew up.
She’d only been fifteen when he passed away.
While the industry mourned, and the family was devastated, it hadn’t taken long for her uncle, John, to step up to the plate, holding down the fort until Olivia was old enough to take the reins. She learned a lot from him before taking her role as CEO of the label. He was still on the board, helping her navigate the complexities of the job.
She and I had met by sheer luck and total coincidence the night Cleo had rightfully called it quits. Olivia hadn’t wanted anything from me, nor I her. We became fast friends on a one-way track to something bigger than either of us anticipated.
My mom had always told me to marry my best friend, so that’s what I’d done. There was no one who knew me quite as well as she did. Not even Cleo, as much as the thought killed me. We’d been good together until we weren’t.
“Charlie said Ben needed me?” I asked, shoving my hands into my pockets. The gold band on my ring finger suddenly felt heavy. It felt wrong wearing it here, especially when it wasn’t Cleo who’d put it there.
Olivia waved her hand. “He was looking for the setlist. I couldn’t remember where you stashed it when we were packing, but Beau found it.” She stepped closer, lowering her voice. “I’m so sorry, Grady. I know you were going to see her, and I swear I wasn’t trying to be a cockblock?—”
I barked out a laugh. “Uh, yeah. I don’t think that’s gonna be a problem since she couldn’t get away from me fast enough.”
She scrunched up her nose. “Oh, no.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t great. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights. I don’t even think she knew I was going to be here, Liv. It was a disaster.”
“Didn’t her dad hire you?”
“He did,” I said, rocking back on my heels. “But god knows what the fuck Doug was thinking.”
Charlie gasped, covering her mouth with her little hand. “That’s a bad word, Daddy.”
I held my hands up. “You’re right, baby girl. It is.” She laid her head back down on Olivia’s shoulder, satisfied with her scolding. “Anyway, it wasn’t great. She ended up running off before I could try and stop her.”
“How did she not know her dad hired you?” Olivia asked, running a hand up Charlie’s back.
That was the part I was trying to figure out. When Douglas Hayes had called me about playing for his birthday celebration, I’d seen this as my chance to redeem myself. That maybe she’d had a hand in the hiring and was ready to talk things out.
Apparently, it was just my delusion talking.
After Cleo and I had awkwardly run into one another a few months ago, I lingered in Ashwood, surrounded by the ghosts of my past until I stumbled into a drunken depression. I was supposed to have stayed with my dad, but being in my childhood home brought back too many memories. It wasn’t just Cleo, but my mom, too. I couldn’t help but realize how much I’d missed by chasing my dreams. Suddenly, I found myself wondering if it was all worth it if I didn’t have her.
After several missed calls, and my refusal to open the motel door when Dad knocked, Olivia had been forced to fly out. I’d been locked in that room for four days by the time she’d found me. There’d been no judgement as she surveyed the emptybottles of liquor perched on nearly every surface, or the trash littering the floor. She’d just sat down next to me while I clung to a tattered photograph and cried.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I thought so. I thought that was why Doug had reached out, but now I’m not too sure.”
