Page 145 of Pink and Country

“He always had terrible ideas. Like all the time. I never understood how he could come up with those.” Saunders hiccupped, laughing in tandem with me.

That day, Travis, Saunders, and I went camping with some friends. Travis came up with the brilliant idea to go tubbing down the river. “It will be an easy ride,” he’d said. Yeah, right. We ended up in some sort of rapids, and my tube tipped over. I struggled in the water for a minute and lost my bikini top as I tried to swim toward the riverbank. For the rest of the afternoon, I sat on Travis’s lap, and he had a blast hiding my boobs with his hands since I had no way of covering myself up. Fun day, indeed. When we hiked back to our campsite, Travis removed his swim trunks so I could conceal my naked upper body. Butt-naked, my boyfriend trailed the entire way back with the tube before him, hiding his junk from our friends.

“What about that time we skinny-dipped in the stream and Travis locked all our belongings in the car and ended up running around town naked to find a phone to call his dad, who had a spare key? Somehow, he always ended up naked.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks. A mix of happy memories and I-miss-him-so-much tears. I dried them with my floury hands, creating clumps all over my face.

“Oh, Bubble Head, you look terrible,” Saunders remarked, pushing my hair away from my face.

“Thanks, girl. I’ve been called worse.” My tears switched to sad ones. I stepped back. Against the wall, I slid down until I collapsed on the kitchen floor.

Saunders dropped next to me, her legs stretched in front of her, her shoulder pressed against mine, and draped her arm around my heaving shoulders.

“Oh, April. It wasn’t supposed to make you cry. I’m sorry. Don’t you think you should call Carter? Maybe you need to get some sort of closure. Or maybe you should patch things up with him. You’re a mess.”

A sly laugh escaped my mouth.

“We fell in love. It wasn’t planned. We never talked about the damages it could inflict to both our lives if the press got involved in our relationship. I never thought they could be so nasty.”

“Nobody ever plans to fall in love.” My best friend pushed her blonde hair back. “If you could change one thing, what would you do differently?” The thought simmered for a long minute.

“Nothing. I wouldn’t change a thing. I loved us the way we were.” Sobs drowned my last words. “We were it, Saund. When we were together, I forgot who Carter was outside those walls.” I buried my head in my hands. “I wasn’t in love with a famous country star, I was in love with a man. Life gave me a second chance at love, and I blew it. It won’t give me a third one. I don’t like fame. I like simple, normal things. Almost boring. I’d never want him to rent a stadium for my birthday or fly to Italy for a night just because he can afford it. I want home-cooked dinners and movie nights. Or carving pumpkins together on Halloween. I want Christmas mornings in matching PJs. Or breakfast in bed and painting the kitchen wall on a Tuesday night just because we feel like it.”

“We should get you drunk. I think drunk April would tell Carter Hills those things.” I dried my tears with my fingertips. “Have you ever asked him if he wanted those things too?”

I shook my head, tears blurring my vision.

“No man wants a boring life when he can have the entire world at his feet. No man wants a normal life when he’s used to an extravagant lifestyle. His fans hate me. Being with me isn’t good for his career, Saund. And I won’t ask him to choose.”

“I think you’d be surprised. From everything you’ve told me, I doubt Carter sees you as a burden to his career. The guy asked you to marry him, for Chrissake.” Saunders jumped to her feet and held out her hand for me to grab. “Let’s get your makeup fixed, Bubble Head. It will make you feel better.”

I nodded and held on to my best friend.

Saunders did more than fix my makeup. She curled my hair and added a side-braid.

“You need to change.” I lowered my gaze. Flour covered my clothes.

Saunders rummaged through my closet and let out a wolf whistle. “This is the dress? The one from Nashville?”

“Yeah,” I said in a low voice.

“The one from the elevator?” I nodded again, my cheeks warming up. I forgot I told my best friend about the elevator sex. Damn it. “Girl, no doubt your hot piece of man couldn’t stay away.”

With my lips tight, I forced a smile.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“I won’t cry. No more messing up my mascara.”

I changed into a pair of black skinny jeans and a white cotton, three-quarter-length sleeved shirt.

“Let’s go back to our pies then. You look beautiful, April.”

We baked for another hour, then fixed ourselves something to eat. Taylor joined us after we both begged him to sample our food.

“You ladies have to stop feeding me. Eating is all I’ve been doing lately. This has to stop.” The three of us chuckled, and my good mood returned. “April, I told you home-baked food is my weakness. Stop torturing me.”

Later, Taylor went for a run, and Saunders and I baked two more batches of cookies and half-a-dozen apple pies. It was over seven o’clock when we hung our aprons.