Chapter Fourteen
Gunnar’s meeting with the record label went exactly as he expected it to. There was shock, followed by confusion. There was yelling and threats on both sides before Gunnar reminded them he wasn’t currently under contract and didn’t owe them another album. He could start fresh somewhere else or branch out on his own if he chose to. At the end of the meeting, they recognized he had a proven track record and millions of fans, something few other artists could claim, so they respectfully asked him to consider working with them in the future, regardless of his decision regarding genre.
He told them he needed time to think before he committed to anything. A recurring theme in his life lately.
He walked slowly through the house, trying to remember what it had been like when it had been filled with love and laughter, teasing and fighting. Teenage girls chasing each other down the stairs. Him chasing Gianna around their big bedroom. It wasn’t the same without them and he knew it never would be. But it was still the only home his girls had ever known and he couldn’t think of selling it without talking to them first.
He sat down at his computer and started scanning real estate options in Vista Falls. There weren’t many. There was a two-bedroom apartment and a starter home for rent. A Victorian house three blocks from Gianna’s for sale, as well as a lakefront cottage across the lake from her.
He finally called the Realtor who had the listing for the lakefront cottage. As much as he’d like to live a stone’s throw away, he didn’t want it to seem like he was pressuring her. That was the reason he’d decided to buy a place of his own instead of showing up on her doorstep again, suitcase in tow. If she invited him back into her home, he wanted it to be a permanent arrangement this time.
After making an appointment to view the place in three days, he took stock of what he would need to take with him or have shipped. His luxurious furnishings wouldn’t suit a rustic little cottage. And they honesty didn’t suit him anymore. They represented the life he was leaving behind.
He fired off a text to Levi asking if there were any furniture stores in Vista Falls. The response came thirty seconds later, making Gunnar laugh.
WTH? Do you think we sit on orange crates, asshole? Of course there are furniture stores!
Okay, so he wouldn’t have to worry about furniture. He ran upstairs to take inventory of his closet. He pulled out two large suitcases and started throwing jeans, T-shirts, sweatshirts, running gear, underwear, and socks into one while the other contained running shoes, cowboy boots, toiletries, and lounge clothes. He also grabbed a few nicer button-down shirts and dressier jeans and shoes, but left the suits behind. He didn’t think he’d have any cause to wear a designer suit in Vista Falls. Unless… He smiled when the thought occurred to him he may need it for a wedding.His own.
“What’s going on here?” his housekeeper asked, standing in the doorway of his bedroom, frowning at the mess he’d made, with clothes strewn all over his bed and thrown haphazardly into suitcases. “You’re going out of town again? You just got back.”
Paula had been with them since before Keegan was born and he knew she deserved to know about his plans. “Um, I was going to come find you before I left,” he said, setting a shirt on his bed as he looked up at her.
“Where are you going?”
“Back to Vista Falls.”
She raised an eyebrow while shoving her hands into the pockets of her uniform. “I’d ask what’s there for you, but I already know. The one thing that isn’t here.”
“I really do miss them, Paula.”
Her kind smile reached her eyes as she whispered, “I know you do. So do I.”
“I’m sorry I drove them away,” he said, acknowledging his behavior had hurt too many people. “I wish I could go back and—”
“Ah, but you can’t, my dear. You can only move forward.” She walked farther into the room and took the dress shirts off the bed.
He watched her fold them neatly and stack them into piles. “Um, speaking of moving forward, I’m going to be making some pretty big changes. I’m buying a place in Vista Falls—”
“Then you and Gianna aren’t getting back together?” Her face fell. “Oh, that’s too bad. I was so sure you would.”
“I don’t know what the future holds right now,” he said, accepting the neatly folded pile with a nod of thanks. “I just know I can’t pressure her. She knows what I want, and more than anything I want her to want that too.” He sat on one edge of the bed while Paula sat across from him folding T-shirts. “But she must have felt the same way all those years, right? She wanted me to marry her, to be home more for her and the kids.”
She touched his face, a sad smile deepening the lines around her lips. “Love, I so wanted you to see what you had before it was too late.”
Paula was thirty years his senior and he suspected that was part of the reason he’d hired her. She was the mother he’d always wished he’d had. But he took her too for granted. He didn’t think he’d told her a single time how much he appreciated her or how much easier she’d made his life.
“You could have slapped me upside the head, you know,” he said, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. “Lords knows I needed it.”
“Yes, you did. But it wasn’t my place. Besides, I believe everything happens for a reason. If Gianna hadn’t left, you may never have realized how much you loved her.”
“And how stupid does that make me?” He glanced at the framed photo of Keegan and Ramsey on the bedside table, the one Gianna had left for him. “I had everything a man could ever want and I let it slip away. Who does that?”
“Lots of people, I’m afraid. Why do you think the divorce rate is so high?”
“I guess that’s part of the reason I didn’t want to marry her. I didn’t want to end up in divorce court, sitting across from the woman I loved, separated by two shyster lawyers who were only interested in lining their own pockets.”
“But in the eyes of the law, you were married. You still gave her a generous settlement and pay child support.”
