“Nothing,” Audrey said. “I just don’t think I’ve seen anyone get under Fox’s skin like you have. Or vice versa.”
“And that’s funny because…?”
“Because he’s usually so chill about everything,” Audrey said with a shrug. “He doesn’t let himself get riled up.”
Reagan nodded from beside her. “Or at least he hasn’t since he stopped playing.”
Sienna leaned forward in the chair. Between the burned marshmallows and the room party and now Fox’s music, it felt like she was the last to know everything. She took a deep breath. “What happened? Why did he stop playing?”
Audrey bit her lip and looked at Reagan. “I don’t know…”
“Oh, come on,” Sienna said and threw up her hands. “He started to tell me about it tonight. Said it was a long time ago but didn’t say any more because of the cameras.”
Audrey let out a long sigh. “Fox used to play a lot.”
“Like, you’re hanging out and he’s the guy playing something on his guitar in the background, a lot,” Reagan said.
“Yeah.” Audrey nodded. “And sometimes it was really annoying. But he was good, Sienna. Really good. He even got a contract with a label.”
Sienna sat up straight. Fox had a contract with a record label?
“But then B—” Audrey stopped and pressed her lips together for a brief moment before she continued. “Let’s just say a lot of stuff happened, and Fox walked away from it all. He stopped playing guitar and stopped singing. He moved to another state and started working on boats. He's avoided people and crowds since then.”
“Honestly, it’s a miracle Eli convinced him to come onWedding Games,” Reagan said to Audrey, who nodded again.
The room fell silent.
Sienna tried to reconcile the image of Fox rocking out on the guitar with his withdrawn and surly demeanor. “So, what was the ‘stuff’ that made him give up music?”
“Nope.” Audrey shook her head. “That is not my story to tell. If you really want to know, you’re going to have to ask him.”
“Oh, I plan to,” Sienna said.
He clearly still loved music. She couldn’t imagine having a shot at success and then just walking away just because “a lot of stuff happened”. But she didn’t like the worried look on Audrey’s face. What if the same kind of stuff could happen to her?
Eleven
7 Days Until Dream Wedding
Finally,Fox was alone.
Yesterday had been intense. The obstacle course in the morning, then the barbecue, then the s’mores contest. People around him all the time, asking questions, telling him where to stand and where to sit. The cameras had been everywhere.
Sienna had been everywhere.
He needed a break, and the production schedule had thankfully given him just that. They were filming something with just Audrey, Eli, and both sets of parents. No need for Fox to be anywhere specific before 1 p.m.
He’d set his alarm for as early as he could manage and headed out immediately onto one of the trails that began at the edge of the property. He inhaled deeply as he stepped into the comforting shade of the trees, and it felt like the first breath he’d taken all week.
Eli had brought up the idea again last night of Wade and Fox finding jobs closer to Wellspring. Breathing in the mountain air, Fox was seriously tempted. The only problem was that he’d been working on boat motors for the past ten years, and he was pretty sure there wasn’t much need for that up in the mountains of the western part of the state.
Still, he’d reinvented himself once when he’d needed to, and Eli had been a big help with that. Doing it again wouldn’t be that difficult. But what would he do? What did he even like to do? When he wasn’t working, he was either sleeping or finding excuses not to play. He hadn’t picked up his guitar in months.
But being here in Wellspring changed everything. Seeing green everywhere he looked, and inhaling the familiar scent of wet earth, made him feel alive for the first time in years. The slight nagging desire to sing—the one he always felt humming just below the surface—intensified the further he walked into the woods until it became unbearable. He needed to sing, and just the thought of doing that in the mountains made him feel a little too much like Julie Andrews inThe Sound of Music.
But as long as Fox could keep himself from twirling around in a circle with his arms outstretched, it might be okay.
It started low, as he hummed the melody of a song he’d written in college—before everything was ruined. And soon that hum became quiet singing. When he finished the first song, he moved onto another. When he got to the chorus, he let his voice get a little louder.
