I composed myself and changed into my pajamas, and Robert scooped up the remains of the bottle of Jack and walked me to his room. He returned Shelby’s room key to her and told her to go back to her room.

“No visitors!” he warned, sternly.

She made worried eye contact with me, so I walked over and hugged her. “I’ll be back in a little bit. I love you, girl. Try to get some sleep. I need to talk to him.”

Shelby took hold of my hand and squeezed. She was scared, of being in trouble and for whatever might have happened to me.

“I’m okay. Just give me a little time. It’ll all be okay,” I reassured her.

She nodded and left.

Robert walked her back and returned to me. I sat on his chair, curled into a ball, and he sat down on the end of his bed.

“So?” he asked. “What happened?”

I hemmed and hawed, and he cut me off.

“Liane. Believe it or not, I was a teenager once. If you’re truly okay, I see no reason any of this has to go beyond you, me, and Shelby. You two wanted to have fun. If it was Isaac and Jesse in your shoes, everybody would laugh it off as ‘boys being boys,’ right?”

“Yeah, I suppose so,” I said, wiping away my sniffles with a tissue.

He leaned forward and took my hand in his. “You’re really okay? Physically, I mean? He didn’t hurt you?”

“No. He was about to, I think. You saved me. You came just in the nick of time.”

“Well, that’s a relief. If anything had happened to you, on my watch, I’d never have been able to forgive myself. And your Daddy would have killed me, anyway.

“But if you want me to track down that Caleb fella and work him over a little more, I’m happy to do it. But I think after tonight, we may have cured him.” He looked at me again.

“We should call the police,” he said. “I mean, I don’t want to upset your father but what that asshole almost did… it’s wrong. And it makes me afraid there are more men like him in this business. Predators.”

I shook my head. I honestly just wanted to forget this night and everything I ever liked about Caleb. “No, I don’t think that will be necessary. Thank you, Robert. Thank you so much.” I got up off the chair and sat down on his lap, arms around his neck, and I cried into his chest.

He held me that way for a long time, rubbing my back until I was out of tears.

“Go on back and get some sleep.”

“Yep. Thank you again,” I answered, “for everything.” I gave him one last hug and kissed his forehead.

I found Shelby on her bed, looking worried. After I explained our arrangement with Robert and told her what had happened to me, she looked shocked.

“Are you okay? I mean really okay? I am so sorry I left you alone with that bastard, Lia. I didn’t expect that at all. What a creep!”

“But a charming, handsome creep. The worst kind. It was so scary, Shelby. I just froze. I couldn’t do anything.”

Shelby scooted next to me and hugged me tight.

“Do you really think he won’t tell my parents? Or your dad?” Shelby asked.

“Yeah, Shel. I trust him. I do. We both got super lucky tonight. Let’s never be that stupid again. We have to watch each other’s backs. What if one of them had put something in our drinks?”

Shelby went white as a ghost.

“Fuck a damn duck, I hadn’t even thought of that.” Shelby sat, staring out over Nashville.

We fell asleep shortly thereafter, in the same bed, and morning came way too soon. We showered, packed, and tidied up our room before heading down for checkout and breakfast.

Ben and Abby seemed none the wiser, preoccupied with their own hangovers, anyway. Shelby and I shared the backseat of her folks’ car for the trip home.

My dad greeted us with the broadest grin I’d ever seen cross his face, and he lifted me up and swung me around as soon as he could get his hands on me.

“I am so proud of you!” he gushed. “The same little girl who danced around our living room with that Fisher-Price microphone is going to make a record?” He set me down and squeezed my shoulders with his hands. “You look ten years older already! Stop it! Give me back my baby!” He wiped a joyful tear from his cheek.

“Thanks for keeping an eye on them, brother,” my Dad said to Robert, slapping him on the back.

Robert and I made brief, knowing eye contact.

“My pleasure, Harold. All you have to do is ask.”

They waved goodbye and he trudged back over to his farm.

“Thank you for keeping an eye on my boys and making sure I had a farm to come back to,” he shouted when he approached the side door to his house.

And then he was gone.