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Chapter 24

The nerves in Ginny’s stomach were like Pop Rocks under a soda fountain. They were exploding like crazy. She’d performed two hours ago and had no reason to still be hanging around.

Yet, here she was. At The Plate. Alone. On Valentine’s Day. Hanging around like a stalker. At a wedding, no less.

On a scale of sad to pitiable she’d shot right past pity and hit desperate.

Sure, she could tell herself that the reason she’d agreed to perform at Ace and Stephanie’s Valentine’s Day wedding was because she’d thought it was romantic that she’d been a part of their love story. When she’d interviewed them they’d told her that she’d sung at The Plate on their first date and then again when they’d gotten engaged on Stephanie’s birthday. So when they called two weeks ago and asked if she would perform at their wedding she’d agreed.

She wanted to believe that she would have done the same thing if agreeing hadn’t meant coming back to Harper’s Crossing, to The Plate, after not hearing from Dax for three weeks. That she would have said yes just for the couple she’d inadvertently become a good luck charm to. And maybe she would have. But, now she’d never truly know.

Especially since her behavior since she’d arrived at the wedding had been purely self-serving. From her song selection, which included “The Moment,” which was inspired by Dax, to her attire, which while technically appropriate was definitely pushing the boundaries of “wedding attire.” It was red, which she thought she might be able to get away with since it was Valentine’s Day. It was also a halter that was backless, form fitting and only came down to her mid-thigh. Thankfully, there were quite a few women there pushing those same boundaries, the bride’s sister included, so she considered herself in good company. At this point though, she had definitely stayed longer than socially acceptable at a wedding she wasn’t technically invited to, in the hopes of seeing Dax or at least finding out where he was. Dax inquiries aside, she could take some comfort in knowing that Ace and Stephanie would not be privy to her social faux pas as they had already left. That’s right folks, she was at a reception after the cake had been cut, the bouquet had been tossed and the bride and groom had left for their honeymoon.

Yep. If there were awards given out for most pathetic, she was sure she’d win. Hands down.

But she wasn’t sure what else she could do. She felt sick about how she’d left the night her mom had shown up. Looking back she still wasn’t sure what had happened. Her best guess was that her idiot paralysis had been caused by a perfect storm of disaster. Her mom showed up with no warning and it sent her into panic mode and she basically just shut down. She’d already been in a pretty vulnerable state after the leaks, the fake relationship outing, and then finding out that Shane…well, everything Shane did. Her body had gone into full on power save mode.

Add that to the fact she had also been carrying a ton of guilt for meeting her grandpa behind her mom’s back, though things were great now. She spoke to her Grandpa Don everyday on Facetime and her mom sometimes joined her. Mona and Don had actually become good friends.

Ginny had broken down and told her mother the truth on their flight back to Nashville and Mona had sobbed and apologized over and over again for making her feel like she was doing something wrong. She said she’d never known that Ginny wanted to know her family. Her mom explained that all she’d ever wanted to do was get away from her family, that she’d loved it being just her and Ginny and she’d projected those feelings onto her. They actually had a trip planned to go to Valentine’s Bay next month so Ginny could finally meet her mom’s side of the family.

And then perhaps the biggest contributing factor to her leaving the way she had was Dax himself. Aside from the talk they’d had the first time they’d been together, they’d never discussed what would happen when she left. Part of her had truly believed that when that time came, he’d ask her to stay. That what he’d told her was true and what they had was magic. That he’d never had a relationship before but he wanted to try with her. But then the time had come and he let her go without a word.

That night, she’d let him get away with that because she was in too vulnerable of a state to use her newfound skills and ask for what she wanted. But that was three weeks ago. And she was done waiting to hear what he wanted.

She was going to tell him that she loved him. That they were perfect together. That she’d felt the most alive, the most herself, the most right when she’d been with him. That the weeks that they’d been apart had felt like she was missing a part of herself. That she never wanted to be with another man for the rest of her life because she’d got it right the first time.

That she missed his smile. His jokes. His hands. His arms. His kisses. She missed every part of him and she really missed Capone. She was going to get down on one knee and ask him to marry her. She had a whole Julia Robert’s at the end of Runaway Bride speech prepared.

Sure, he wasn’t Richard Gere and he hadn’t asked her to marry him or even said that he loved her, but this wasn’t a romcom. This was real life. It was her life and it was the only one she was going to get, so she was going to live it to the fullest and put her heart on the line. At least that way she could start to heal her broken heart knowing she’d done everything she could on its behalf.

“That dress is too pretty to be on the sidelines. I think we should take it for a spin on the dance floor.”

“No thanks, I’m actually—” Ginny was smack dab in the middle of her go-to polite decline, but when she saw who she was declining, she did a double take. “Nate?!”

Forget billion, never in a trillion years would she believe that computer genius Nate Holmes would use such a cheesy line. Especially on her. They’d exchanged very nice, professional emails over the past few weeks she’d been in Nashville.

He’d worked seamlessly with her new team, which included Karina’s manager Bernie Kaplan and her new label Spin Records’ legal department to hold Shane liable for his indiscretions. She was seeking restitution and though chances were he wouldn’t be able to reimburse her, she was standing up for herself. And that was the point.

Nate’s eyes narrowed like he was trying to search her face and figure out who she was.

She wagered, “Have you been drinking?”

“Why yes I have, speaking of which, it’s time for a refill.” He shook a rocks glass that had one piece of ice floating at the bottom and left.

She watched him go and wondered if she should contact someone. Obviously Dax wasn’t returning her calls. Every time she called it went straight to voicemail. Over the past three weeks she’d left eight messages, which some may think is excessive but she’d felt like she’d been showing extraordinary self-control.

There must be guys he worked with here, she’d met a few of them when she’d done her interviews. She tried to scan the area while still keeping an eye on Nate, who was now climbing on the bar stool backwards.

“So, you met my brother.” A deep voice sounded behind her and she jumped in a start.

When she turned around she saw it was Nate. But then she spun back around and Nate was still climbing backwards on that bar stool. She did a triple and quadruple take before the Nate behind her grinned and said, “He’s my twin brother. Neil.”

“Oh my gosh!” Ginny clasped her hands to her chest as she studied his face. She wasn’t trying to be rude but she couldn’t help herself. He looked i-den-tic-al to his brother. Right down to the offset dimple in their chins. Their resemblance was uncanny. “You look exactly like each other. I was so worried about you. When I thought he was you.”

The real Nate exhaled slowly through his nose. “Yeah. No one can tell us apart. It can be an issue sometimes.”

Ginny could see that it was not a good subject so she did what she always did and tried to lighten the mood. “Hey, I bet when you guys were in high school even girls couldn’t tell you apart. That was probably fun.”

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