Chapter Five
Jeremy—Nashville TN.
IT’S BEEN TWO WEEKS. TWO very long weeks since she walked into the studio. I placed her recording on my soundboard. Hoping she would walk in the door to pick it up so I can see her again, but she hasn’t been back. No other woman has ever made me want to seek them out and get to know them. Get a grip, you don’t do stuff like this. You meet them, sleep with them, and then move on. I shake my head, there are plenty of woman that I can meet in the bars and honkytonks. Stop focusing on this one who did not even want to be here. So why can’t I get her face and voice out of my head. I need coffee. I walk down the hall to the green room and grab a cup before heading back to my booth, but I stop at the reception desk instead of going back to my office.
“Are you trying to avoid Donovan too?” Tracy asks, looking around the room.
“Well kind of, but I needed coffee more.” I looked at her desk, full of pictures of her family. “Anything going on that I should know about? The schedule is pretty slow, so I have plenty of downtime.” She nodded and motioned for me to come closer.
“Do you have any idea why he’s a bear lately?” She whispered.
“No, do you?” I asked. Donovan’s been in a bad mood for a couple of weeks.
“He’s upset that Kennedy Drummond never came back. He really thought he had found the one that would be his big break.” She said as she looked around to make sure he wasn’t walking down the hall.
“Didn’t he notice she doesn’t want to be here? She didn’t even come back and pick up her recording. That should be a clue, right?”
“He doesn’t care. He thinks he can change her mind.”
“He’s delusional if he thinks he can do that.” But I wonder if I can. “Hey, she filled out the information, like her phone number and address, right?” What the hell am I thinking? Don’t do this.
“Yes, she did, why?”
“Well she never came back to pick up her CD and I thought she might like to have it. Or maybe her sister, she did say she was doing it for her.”
She clicked some keys on the keyboard and then wrote down something before handing it to me. “You didn’t get this from me.” She winked and then answered the phone that was ringing. I put the paper in my pocket, leaned over the desk, kissed her cheek, and then took my coffee back to my office. I looked at the schedule for the next week to see who was scheduled to record, then I closed the door and looked at the paper she handed me.
I know what I am going to do. I’m just going to go to Texas and give her the CD and maybe try and get her to come back and record again. I shake my head, I must be losing my freaking mind. Why am I doing this? This isn’t me at all, this is something that my brother would do. There’s something about her that I have never seen before. She didn’t fall all over me. She didn’t see me as a way for her to make it in the industry. In fact, she doesn’t want anything to do with music at all. I look at the schedule again and pick up the phone.
“Frankie, it’s Jeremy. Hey, can you fill in for me at the studio for a few days? I need to go out of town.”
“Sure man.”
“Great, it’s a light recording schedule. Looks like they opened it up to indie bands this week. Anyways, I need you to start tomorrow. I need to catch a flight.” if I can get one “and I’m not sure when I will be back, but hopefully it will just be a couple of days.”
“Not a problem, I don’t have anything on the books this month. I’ll be there.”
“Great man. I owe you.”
“Nah, you let me use the studio when there isn’t anyone in there. That’s enough.” and with that the line went dead and I sat there wondering what the hell I just did.
I sat there for a few more minutes, trying to decide if I was crazy. I must be, because I’ve never taken time off work to go and chase down a woman. Even if she can sing, I don’t do this. So why the hell am I taking time off and flying to Texas to find this woman. What makes her different from everyone else? Not a clue but I’m going to find out. I picked up her CD, my phone, and wallet and walked out of the booth. I walked by the reception and told Tracy that I was taking some time off and that Frankie was filling in. Before she could answer I was out the door and on my bike. I know I’m crazy, but I need to see her again, but only to give her the CD and try to talk her into coming back to Nashville. But even I know that was a lie. I am so screwed.
After getting the last seat on a flight to Austin, I had to race to the departure gate. I got there just as they were closing the doors. I took my seat and sighed. I am fucking crazy, I have lost my ever-loving mind. That’s the only explanation for it. This is insane. I sat back and waited for the plane to take off. What am I going to do if she doesn’t want to talk to me? Just hand her the CD and leave? I can do that, but do I really want to? Well you idiot, you are on a plane headed to Texas, you don’t have a car or a place to stay. So, either you see this through and convince her to come back or you get off the plane and turn back around and fly home. I would love to tell myself to shut the hell up but I already felt like I was losing my mind, so I stayed quiet. I’m about an hour from landing so I pull out my phone and look up her address, thank goodness for GPS. I will find her house and then look for a hotel before I contact her tomorrow. God I need to find a bar and have a drink.
Once the plane landed and I found the rental car’s, I was on my way in a Porsche 911 convertible. I loved my Harley, but I could get used to this. I turned up the music and listened to Dustin Lynch’s Small Town Boy while I drove down the road. I looked at the time and then the GPS and realized I still had about another hour to go. Damn. I made a few calls using the Bluetooth to pass the time. How can someone live this far out in the middle of nowhere. I mean you have to drive two hours to the nearest city. The farther I drive the more I am realizing this is a stupid idea and I should have just dropped it in the mail. The GPS said to turn down a dirt road, all I saw was oak trees and fences with horses and cows everywhere. I saw someone out on the horses, I turned to look and there she was. The next thing I know a cow runs across the road, I swerve and end up hitting a tree, the airbag explodes in my face from the impact. Once I punched it down and looked up, there she was. Standing next to the car, looking at me with genuine concern on her face.
“Oh my god! Are you all right?” she asked as she looked at my face and then tried to open the car door, but it was stuck.
“I’m umm fine. Was that a cow that ran in front of me?” she nodded. “Let me climb out.”
“No stay there in case you’re hurt.”
“Really, I’m all right. I think I’m going to have some bruises and be sore but I’m all right. My rental car is another story.” Damn it. I said as I cut the seatbelt and slowly climbed out of the smashed car, at least it was a convertible. Once I was standing on the ground I finally got a look at the car. Damn. Well now what am I going to do.
“Umm don’t I know you from somewhere?” she was looking at me with a puzzled look on her face.
“You were in my recording studio a couple of weeks ago. I was bringing you the CD that you made.” She stared at me, mouth open.
“Why did you drive all the way here to do that. When you could have just dropped it in the mail.” She just shook her head. “And now look at your car.”
“I wanted to bring it to you and maybe talk to you about possibly coming back to Nashville to do a full recording.” She just shook her head and walked back to her horse.
“I am sorry that you came all this way, but I have no desire to be a recording artist. I am happy running my ranch and spending time with my horses and family.” She has got to be kidding me.
“Where are you going?” I asked as I watched her climb up onto her horse.
“Home, I have horses to feed and my neighbor is coming to get his. I have things to do.”
I shook my head. “What about my car?”
“You have a cell phone, call a tow truck. That is, if you can get a signal. We don’t have a lot of cell phone towers in our area.” I looked at her incredulously.
“You have got to be kidding me. You’re going to leave me here in the middle of nowhere without a way to call a tow truck.” I said as I looked at my phone and realized she was right. No service. “How am I supposed to call a tow truck without using my phone.” I can’t believe that I even thought of asking her out.
“Well If you can drop the idea of me becoming a recording artist and don’t ever bring it up again,” she pauses and looks at me for a moment, “Maybe I can help you.” She sat on her horse, smirking at me.
I leaned against the car and tilted my head, and just looked at her. “Are you always this stubborn?”
“No, but you came here to try and convince me to do something that I told you in Nashville, I didn’t want anything to do with. Yet, you still come all the way here, thinking you could change my mind. Sorry, it’s not going to happen. This is my life. My sister loves Nashville, but I love my horses and the country.” Well I didn’t expect her to say that.
“Well don’t hold back, tell me how you really feel.” I pressed.
“Look, I have heard for years how I should be doing something else and how running this ranch is a man’s job. I know I can sing, and I know that I could be really good at it. But, that’s not what I want. Now if you would like my help, I can take you back to the ranch house where you can use the house phone to call a tow truck. Or, you can walk around with your phone in the air, waiting for a signal.”
I sighed in resignation, turned, and grabbed my bag, took the keys from the car and walked over to her. I looked around for a truck or car, but all I saw was her horse. “Alright, I won’t bring it up again.” For now. “Now can I please use your house phone to call for a tow truck and maybe get a new rental car?” She smiled, the first smile I have seen since this whole disaster started.
“Hand me your bag.”
“Why?” I ask completely lost.
“Because you need to climb behind me and hold on tight while we head back to my house.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? You want me on a horse?”
“Either you climb up here or you walk the three miles back to the house. Your choice.” I hate horses, maybe I can walk it. But as I stood there and looked at her, I realized she had me and she knew it. I handed her my bag, and watched her hook it on the saddle. Then she held her hand out for me to grab. “I am going to pull you up and I want you to swing your leg over the horse. Then try and move onto the saddle.”
“You’re going to pull me up?”
“Just do it. I have horses to feed and someone is waiting for me.” I take her hand, place the other one on the back of the saddle and jump as she pulls me up on the horse. “Now move onto the saddle and then hold on.” I carefully moved behind her and held onto the side of the saddle. “Wrap your arms around my waist so you don’t fall off.” Well I didn’t expect that. I wrapped my arms around her as my body was pressed up against her. I had to will my cock into submission. What the hell, that never happens right away. I’m so screwed. I thought as she took off across the pasture.