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Paisley’s brow furrowed in confusion. “So what changed?”
“Well, I’d been just about ready to give up and move back to Charlotte Oaks after he’d gotten out of the military. I’d had a good run in Nashville, but I still hadn’t gotten a record deal, and Everett comin’ home meant maybe it was time for a different sort of dream.”
“Ah, lemme guess. Legends signed you right then, huh?” Paisley knew I’d been with Legends for six years, so the timing made sense. When I nodded and looked at my hands, she reached out and covered them with hers. “You chose to sign instead of stay with him?”
I opened my mouth to tell her that no, that was not how it went, but then Everett appeared at her window and scared the daylights out of her by rapping sharply on it with his knuckles.
Paisley jumped and rolled down the window, one hand on her heart. “Goodness gracious, was that really necessary?”
Everett looked between us with an amused smirk. “Didn’t realize you were so jumpy.”
“I’m on the side of the road with no cell service in a strange man’s truck,” Paisley quipped, knowing full-well that this strange man was no threat to us, but when she was on a point, she stuck to it.
“Right,” Everett replied, dragging out the word. “Anyhoo, this was on the front seat. Thought you might want it.”
He handed Paisley my phone, which she passed to me. I took it and held it to my chest for no conscious reason. Maybe because he’d held it. “Thanks.”
“No problem. Almost done, then we’ll head on out.”
When he walked away, Paisley rolled up the window and gave me a look. “Go on, now.”
I let my head fall back, unable to remember where I’d even left off. Pushing air through my pursed lips, I decided to wrap it up as quickly as possible so we didn’t have to worry about him coming back while I was talking about him. I needed that like a hole in the head after the day we’d had.
“I didn’t choose Nashville over Everett,” I explained. “It wasn’t like that. But it was the worst timing in the world, and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t wonder where I’d be if things had been different.”
“Wow. Um, does Riley know about him?”
Guilt made the words stick in my throat so I stumbled over my words a bit. “I had to tell him. I didn’t want him to think he had a chance.”
Paisley didn’t say a word for a long moment. I didn’t know if she sensed my need to drop it or if she was just hoping she could get more out of me once we were truly alone, but either way, I was grateful she didn’t press for more. I wasn’t sure I could go there.
With a sigh, she shifted in her seat and buckled the thick black seat belt, gesturing for me to do the same with the lap belt next to my thigh. “Man, I just thought you didn’t want to come back here because the whole small-town girl thing isn’t your style.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. The flashy sets, the wardrobe, the pop lean to your songs. I figured you weren’t really into the real small-town life, just the glitz-and-glamour version.”
“Wow.” I said it low and dark, but really, if I should be upset with anyone for her assumption, it should be myself. Every second since my first day at Legends, I’d done whatever they wanted me to do. They told me how to dress, how to talk, and how to change my old-school-style country songs into pop-country hits.
I never made a fuss and never let on that it wasn’t my thing. Of course that was what Paisley thought of me. I’d never given her a reason to think otherwise, no matter how tight we were. I was one girl in Nashville and another in Charlotte Oaks, and I had a feeling she’d be surprised by a lot more than my ex while we were here.
Just then, Everett opened the driver’s side door and climbed in next to me. The yin and yang scent of him filled my nose and the cab immediately. Dirty—thanks to his job—but somehow clean too, the remnants of his morning shower not chased away by the grease on his hands and jumpsuit.
Or maybe that was only because my nose was perfectly attuned to his fresh-out-of-the-shower smell after years of being near him. Even after he’d worked up a sweat all morning, I could still pick up the whiff of cedarwood with fresh aquatic notes.
Dang it. Why didn’t I make Paisley sit in the middle? Hadn’t I known how hard it would be to sit this close to him? To feel the warmth of his thigh against my thigh, his arm against my arm, his hip against—
Yeah. It was not fun.
Okay, it was a little fun.
