So that they could collaborate on a song for Shelby-freaking-Linwood.
Sometimes, when she was able to zoom out and look at her life now compared to where she’d been only a year ago, it was nearly impossible to fathom. Like some sort of wild dream, something absolutely surreal.
Before this year, she’d been to Nashville a handful of times, but she’d definitely never been to the neighborhood she was currently strolling down the sidewalk in. She’d never had a reason to wander around Green Hills before.
She was pretty sure that she wouldn’t have even been allowed into Côte & Crumb – the wildly expensive bistro she’d been told to meet Juliet at for lunch – at this time last year.
She had no idea what would be awaiting her at this lunch. No idea what Juliet would have to say to her. And because of that, she was torn between feeling a rush from nerves or anticipatory excitement.
Côte & Crumb had just come into her view at the end of the street, when she felt her phone buzzing in her back pocket. Tugging it out, she saw her sister calling.
Her eyes landed briefly on the encouraging text she had from Emerson:
You can do this. For Shelby Linwood!
Which was sweet. Because Darcy knew if either Emerson or Blythe had been asked to do a solo like this, she’d have been eaten up with envy. She’d have supported them without a doubt. But… but she was hungry for this in a way they weren’t. They’d both been incredibly happy for her when she’d been asked to do this as only Darcy, not We, The Romantics.
“Yeah?” She answered Blythe’s call.
“What kind of manners do you have? Who raised you to answer a phone like that?”
Darcy scoffed. “Um. Our mother?”
Blythe scoffed out a laugh. “Good point.” She took in a deep breath, and Darcy could practically picture the way her sister was shaking her head, as if signaling that they were going to be moving on in the conversation. And, apparently, she was right, as Blythe announced, “Colton and I got the house!”
The words left her sister’s mouth on an uncharacteristic squeal. Blythe was typically a lot more reserved than that.
And it was enough to stop Darcy in her tracks. “You –what? What house?” She asked, a little blindsided.
“The Keller farm.Thehouse, Darce,” Blythe breathed back, and Darcy could feel her excitement coursing through the phone, could feel it from several cities away.
“I – I just – wow. I didn’t know you’d officially put in an offer? I mean, I know you were talking about it. But…” Shetrailed off, unsure of how to vocalize the feelings this stirred up inside of her.
When she thought about home, she thought about her sister. She thought about their apartment above the Stardust Lanes. And she really struggled to picturehomein any other way.
“Well, we can’t all live above the bowling alley forever,” Blythe teased, an unusually chipper tone taking her over.
“I know.” And shedid; it wasn’t like she wanted to live there forever, either. But buying a house – a house on a fully functional farm at that! – was such a commitment. A giant commitment, right there in Pineford. One that Darcy… wasn’t a part of. “We have the album coming out soon, and then the tour. I only mean, we have so much coming up.”
How could Blythepossiblybe able to focus on something like buying a farm? Darcy felt like she was wholly consumed by this new life they were trying to navigate, and Blythe was buying a farm?! It couldn’t compute. She knew her sister didn’t fixate the way she did, butstill.
She tapped her fingers against her thigh with a twitchy sort of energy, bursting to get out.
“And now that our album is recorded, I’m going to use that time to get everything settled here. The Keller’s wanted a fast closing; you remember, their daughter – she moved to Miami? – she just had her baby ten weeks early, and they’re itching to move.”
Darcy vaguely remembered Mr. Keller saying something about his daughter’s move last year when he was at the bar. But she clearly hadn’t internalized it the way Blythe had.
“Closing is in only three weeks! Inspections are happening in a few days. Mark my words, before Christmas – no, before Thanksgiving – this is going to be our dream house.”
Darcy wasn’t really sure if Blythe was referring to the two of them as “our” or her and Colton, but she supposed it didn’tmatter. Even if she couldn’t quite sort out her feelings regarding how big and permanent this felt, Blythe seemed ecstatic. Which was the important thing, she reminded herself.
“That’s great, Blythe. Seriously,” sincerity etched into her voice, because she really didmean it. She wanted everything for her sister. It was a huge part of what drove her forward, what motivated her. “I was just surprised. But consider your words, uh, marked.”
Her sister paused, her voice getting quieter, as she said, “You know, the farmhouse has plenty of space, Darce. I’m not – I mean… I’m leaving the apartment, but there’s space for you here, too.”
The understanding in Blythe’s tone did work through her, soothing – at least a little bit – over how unexpectedly frazzled this had made her feel. Blythe wasn’t leavingher. Darcy and the apartment were not one and the same. She silently echoed that to herself.
“I mean. I guess we can see,” she haltingly offered, uncertainty creeping through her.
