Chapter Four

 

Keira

 

The house was unusually quiet when I went downstairs for breakfast the next morning. “Where are Mom and Dad?” I asked my sister, Connie, who was refilling her coffee cup.

“They started their day a long time ago, sugar.” She looked at her watch. “You slept in. Must’ve been a late night, huh?”

A sleepless night was more like it. True to his word, Pierce had followed me home, which was twenty miles out of his way, but he didn’t seem to mind. He’d flashed his headlights when I stepped inside and it took everything in me to close the door instead of inviting him in.

His admission—that he hadn’t been with another woman—rocked me. I didn’t know how to process it, or whether to even believe him. Desperate men said all sorts of things to get what they wanted, didn’t they?

“Rumor has it your ex is back in town,” Connie said, handing me a fresh cup of brew when I sat at the huge oak table dominating the eating area of our open kitchen.

My parents had raised eight kids in this house, and we’d shared most of our meals at this table for as long as I could remember. Most of my siblings had moved on to homes and apartments of their own now. Connie and I were the youngest and the only ones who still lived with our folks. They were in no hurry to be rid of us it seemed, so until we could save enough money for places of our own, my older sister and I were content with the arrangement.

“Yeah, he came into the bar last night.”

I watched Connie spray the skillet and set about making an omelet for me after popping two slices of bread in the toaster. She was such a caretaker. I knew she’d be a good mama someday. A point that wasn’t lost on her boyfriend of two years, who seemed ready to pop the question.

“Yeah, I heard.” She sighed. “Carolyn called a little while ago to check on you and she told me.”

“On the house phone?” I asked, watching my sister chop cooked ham and shred some cheddar cheese before adding it to the pan. “Why didn’t she just call my cell?”

“She said it went straight to voice mail. You must have forgotten to charge it last night.”

“Must have been distracted.” That was an understatement. I had a one-track mind last night. Pierce. At every turn, stop sign, and traffic light. Pierce. Pierce. Pierce. With flashing warning lights ahead that screamed—Pierce ahead. Detour. Danger.

“I figured as much.” She sighed as she pulled the butter out of the fridge along with the pitcher of orange juice.

“You don’t have to wait on me, you know,” I said, trying to hide my amusement over her fussing.

“I haven’t forgotten how much weight you lost over that man last time,” she said, wagging a finger at me. “If I didn’t make you breakfast and make sure you ate it, you probably wouldn’t eat at all.”

She had a point. I wasn’t very hungry, but seeing all the trouble she’d gone to just to feed me meant I couldn’t let it go to waste and risk hurting her feelings. “He said he didn’t cheat on me, Con. That he’d lied about that.”

She looked up from buttering the toast, her mouth snapping shut before she went back to her task. “You can’t believe a cheater who’s trying to convince you he’s a liar.” She frowned, as though she was questioning whether she’d made sense. “Point is, he’s an immoral asshole and you’re better off without him.”

“Seeing him again…” I took a sip of my coffee, needing a moment to deal with the memories. “It was hard. I didn’t think it would be. I thought I was over him.”

“You’re sayin’ you’re not?” she asked, looking alarmed. “Keira, please tell me nothin’ happened between y’all last night.”

“It didn’t.”

Not even a kiss, which I half-expected him to try for. I wondered why he didn’t. Was he afraid of getting rejected, or just not feeling it? Maybe he was just here to ease his guilty conscience. Could be one conversation would be all it took to satisfy both of us that he’d been right the first time, our lives could never mesh. But I wouldn’t know that for sure unless I had that conversation with him.

“Good. I’m glad you stood your ground, honey.” She plated the omelet. “Let him know he can’t just march back into town and expect you to drop your panties like all those cheap groupies he’s got pantin’ after him.”

I didn’t want to think about all the women who’d spread their legs for Pierce. “He wants to see me later. To talk.”

“Tell him to go fuck himself.”

I smiled. My sister was a second grade teacher with a preacher-man for a daddy. I suspected the only time she allowed herself to swear was when she was home alone with me. “Thanks,” I said, when she set my breakfast in front of me. “But you didn’t have to go to all this trouble.”

She touched my face, her smile affectionate when she said, “For you? Anything.”

I got a tightness in my chest when I thought about the fact we’d be going our separate ways soon. She’d have a family and home of her own to take care of. And I wouldn’t have my big sister to lean on nearly as much. Guess that meant I’d have to hurry up and sort my life out before I was the lone one left under Mama and Daddy’s watchful eyes.

They meant well, but they’d always been overprotective of their kids. Especially me—their baby.

“Aren’t you gonna eat?” I asked when she sat down next to me with her coffee.

“I ate hours ago, sugar.”

I glanced at the old-fashioned wall clock. Damn. It was after eleven. I’d have to find out whether Roy needed me tonight before I decided whether I was gonna make plans.

“You goin’ out with Emil today?” I asked, referring to her boyfriend. He was also a teacher at her school and they usually made plans together on the weekends, since they were both beat after coaching sports teams and overseeing extracurricular after-school activities.

“Yeah, we’re goin’ to Frankfort to visit his folks.”

“Just for the day?” It was a two-and-a-half-hour drive.

“No, we’ll probably spend the night.” She wrinkled her nose. “But they’ll make us sleep in separate beds. I swear they still treat us like we’re seventeen.”

I laughed, thinking about how much fooling around we’d done in Pierce’s mama’s house when she’d been at work. He’d lost his daddy before we started dating and his mama had to work to make ends meet, so that left Pierce and Trev to fend for themselves, which they didn’t mind ‘cause it meant they could drink and have girls over whenever they wanted to without the lecture about being responsible and practicing safe sex.

“Pierce still doesn’t drink,” I said, remembering the soft drink and waters he’d been ordering all night. “I’m kind of surprised. I thought he might hit the bottle again after we broke up.”

Connie rolled her eyes. “Why would he? He got what he wanted, to be single again.” She covered my hand when she saw me wince. “I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to be insensitive.”

“It’s okay. You’re probably right.” Even though he’d led me to believe he’d been as broken up as I was about our split, that didn’t make it so. “I heard some of his new music last night. Roy invited him to play at the bar.”

“And? Was it any good?”

“It was…” Real and vulnerable, and so unlike him it had stunned me. “Different. Lots of ballads about love and loss. Regrets and mistakes. Not his usual sound.”

Connie pursed her lips and got the look on her face that reminded me of the one her second graders must get when they forgot to take their boots off and tracked mud into the classroom. “He can write any damn thing he pleases, Keira. He’s a songwriter. It’s what he does. For all you know, he wrote those songs for another artist. He may not even cut them himself.”

“No, I think most of them are gonna be on his new album.” Which I absolutely would not buy. If I did buy it, it would become the sad soundtrack to my life and a constant reminder of him. I couldn’t have that. He’d be leaving soon. Going back to his life in Nashville and I’d do well to remember that.

“Regardless,” she said. “You cannot get sucked in by him again. He’s just here to mess with you, the bastard. I have a good mind to go over there and let him have it. How dare he come back here and stir shit up again, especially since you’re long over him.”

I sighed as I polished off my omelet before biting into my last quarter of buttered toast. “I’m not even sure it’s possible to get over that man, sis.”

“Oh, yes it is,” she said, looking determined. “And you are. Don’t even allow yourself to think otherwise.”

“But what if I freeze him out while he’s here and regret it once he leaves?” I took a sip of my juice. “This may be our last chance to get this shit out there… and maybe get over it.” Yeah, like that was gonna happen.

“Look, you’re a grown woman,” she said, gently. “I obviously can’t tell you what to do. No one can. I just can’t get past the fact that he hurt you before. He could do it again.”

He could. But if there was even the slightest chance he was the only one who could piece me back together again, didn’t I owe it to myself to at least hear him out?

 

***

 

Pierce

 

After a quick call to Johnnie Callahan, he was happy to invite me over to his place. Said it would be great to catch up over a couple of beers. I was on board with the conversation, but I’d have to pass on the beers. That was harder some days more than others. Today it was a bitch. It was two in the afternoon and I still hadn’t heard from Keira. I kept waiting for my phone to buzz with a time and place, but every text or message that came through, every number that flashed across the screen was one I recognized from Nashville… and refused to answer.

I needed to get away from that shit for a while, to forget about the life I’d left behind so I could focus more on the life I wanted when I got back.

“Good to see you, buddy,” he said, bringing me in for a half-hug. “Nice to know you haven’t forgotten about your old friends.”

“That’ll never happen, man.” I felt a twinge of guilt, knowing I probably wouldn’t be here at all if his farmhand hadn’t been out with my girl.

We were hanging in a garage that had been converted to a man cave, housing a couple of chairs, a pool table, a stereo system, a TV, and a bar fridge. He reached into the fridge and grabbed two Buds, handing one to me.

“Uh, you got any water in there?” I asked, handing it back to him. “Got into a little trouble with this a while back. Can’t touch the stuff now.”

“No shit?” he said, sticking the beer bottle back in the fridge and handing me a water instead. “Sorry, I didn’t know that.”

“It was before things blew up for me, so the press didn’t get a hold of it, thankfully.”

Before he popped the top on his beer bottle, he asked, “Uh, you mind if I drink or—”

“It’s cool,” I said, chuckling. “Believe me, in my line of work you have to be around that shit all the time. You learn to deal.”

He looked relieved as he knocked the cap off and took a long pull from the bottle. “So, you back here visitin’ your mama?”

“Yeah, Trev’s with me too.”

“No shit? I haven’t seen him in a dog’s age. Why didn’t you bring him ‘round?”

“Mama put him to work cleanin’ out the garage today.” I chuckled. “Actually, she put us both to work, but I bailed when she went into town to do some shopping.”

He laughed, pointing at me. “You know you’re gonna hear about that when you get home. Your mama don’t care that you’re some big country star now. She’ll still give you hell.”

“Don’t I know it.” That’s why I loved coming home, because the people in Albany were still real with me. They all knew me way back when and never let me forget where I came from. “So how many guys you got helpin’ you run this place now?”

“About a dozen,” he said, sinking down in one of leather chairs and kicking his feet up on an ottoman. “Daddy bought a couple hundred acres when the Wellington’s were lookin’ to sell a few years back, so that gives me a hell of a lot more to manage.”

“You’re enjoyin’ it though?”

He grinned. “You know me, Pierce. I’d go nuts bein’ stuck indoors all day.”

“Yeah.” He used to skip class more than he made an appearance. But then, so had I. We’d usually skipped together if we weren’t playing hooky to get laid. “I remember.”

He smiled as though he was recalling some of the good times we’d had together too. “Never imagined you’d blow up the way you did, dude. Don’t get me wrong, I always knew you were talented. But shit like that doesn’t happen to guys from our neck of the woods, does it?”

“Not usually.” And I never forgot to be grateful that I was one of the chosen few.

“Sorry to hear about you and Keira. I know how much that girl meant to you.”

I started wandering around the converted garage, checking out some of his collections: old vinyl, shot glasses, even stickers from places he’d probably never have the time or money to visit in person.

“I made a lot of mistakes, Johnny. Didn’t realize a good thing when I had it.” I twisted the cap off my water bottle and tossed it in an old aluminum can trash bin.

“I don’t know if I should tell you this,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “But, uh, I heard she’s been seein’ one of my guys. Paul.”

“Yeah, I heard about that too.” I tipped the bottle back, ignoring his surprised expression. He probably thought I was out of the loop, or above keeping tabs on my ex. “What’s he like?”

“He hasn’t been here all that long,” he said, looking uncomfortable. “But he seems like a good guy.” He smirked. “Big fan of yours. I didn’t have the heart to tell him Keira was your ex.”

“And she didn’t mention it to him?” I knew I had no right, but it irked me that she could spend time with other men without thinking of me at all. I hadn’t even bothered dating the past year ‘cause I knew it would be a waste of time.

“I don’t think so. He was pretty stoked when I talked to him this morning. Said he heard you singin’ some of your new stuff at Roy’s place last night.”

“Yeah, Trev and I passed by there for a while.”

He grinned before tipping his beer back. “Wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact your ex is workin’ there now, would it?”

I raised an eyebrow. He knew me well enough to know I didn’t do anything without a good reason. “Maybe you should tell your boy he’s wastin’ his time sniffin’ around Keira.”

“Oh yeah? Why? You guys gettin’ back together?”

I sat back on the edge of a folding wood table. “I’d sure as hell like us to be, but I made some serious mistakes. Got some things to make up for.” I crossed my arms after setting my water bottle down beside me. “Not sure she’s gonna let me do that.”

“You and her were always…” He shook his head. “Not sure I know how to describe what y’all were. Let’s just say I’ve spent my whole life lookin’ for that and keep comin’ up short.”

It was hard to believe we were turning thirty next year. That seemed ancient when we were running around together when we were younger. Now it seemed twenty to thirty had passed in the blink of an eye. I was sure thirty to forty would pass even quicker than that. I didn’t know where I’d be in ten years, but I knew one thing… I still wanted to be making the music I loved and I wanted my girl with me.

“I know what that’s like, man. No one else has ever done it for me but Keira.”

He laughed. “You can’t tell me you haven’t had a good time since you and Keira broke up, man.”

“Honestly?” Because we went way back I felt I could confide in him. “It’s been a hell of a year. Dark. Real dark.”

“Sorry to hear that,” he said, sounding somber. “I guess we assume people with money and fame have it all.”

“Yeah, that’s not the case.” I didn’t want to sound like an ungrateful prick, ‘cause I knew I had a hell of a lot more than most people, but rich and famous people had the same battles to fight as the working class. They just had to do it on a big stage sometimes. “It’s true what they say, money can’t buy happiness and it can’t buy peace either.”

“Hey, boss I was—” Paul stopped short when he saw me.

He was fair so his blush was obvious. I almost felt bad for the poor bastard. There’d been plenty of times since I moved to Nashville when I got to meet the country music legends I’d grown up listening to and I’d been tongue-tied too. Especially when they told me how much they liked my music.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had company.” He took his cowboy hat off and wiped away the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. “I can come back later.”

“It’s okay, Paul,” Johnny said. “There a problem?”

“One of the tractors broke down out in the west field. I was just wonderin’ if you could take a look at it.” He was careful not to look at me, but I could tell he wanted to.

“Yeah, I’ll take a look at it.” Johnny stood, shaking my hand. “You got time to hang around ‘til I get this taken care of, Pierce?”

“I’d like to.” I grinned. “But you know my mama’s gonna kick my ass if she gets back and I’m not there.”

He laughed, slapping me on the back. “Don’t I know it. Miss May always was one to crack the whip. You tell her I said hi. Trev too. Tell him to get his ass out here to see me before y’all leave town.”

“I will.” I smiled. “It was good seein’ ya, John.” That was true. I was real glad I’d taken the time to catch up with an old friend, even if I had come with an ulterior motive.

“Paul,” Johnny said to him. “This is my buddy, Pierce Eason.” He winked at the kid. “But then you knew that already, didn’t ya?”

There was an awkward silence as Paul watched his boss leave instead of looking me in the eye.

I didn’t know what I’d been worried about. There was no way Keira would ever go for a kid like this. He was too soft, too shy. She liked men who were strong and weren’t afraid to go after what they wanted.

“I saw you at Roy’s last night,” I said to him. “You were sittin’ with an old friend of mine. Keira Reynolds.”

“Yes, sir.” He put his hat back on his head. “Me and her been seein’ each other. I, uh, asked her to introduce us but she said y’all had a fallin’ out.” He looked away as though he wished he could take the words back. “Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”

I chuckled. “It’s okay. She wasn’t lyin’. We did have a fallin’ out.” I took my backward ball cap off and smoothed my thick hair back. “Maybe what she didn’t tell you was we were engaged at the time.”

His jaw dropped before he snapped it shut again. “You and Keira were engaged?”

“Just last year, in fact.” I watched him while he processed that. I could almost read his mind. Poor bastard thought he was playing out of his league with Keira… and he was right.

He rubbed his jaw. “I, uh, had no idea.”

“Well, now you know.”

He nodded, obviously deciding what more he could say.

“But there’s something you don’t know.”

“What’s that?”

“I want her back.”

He swallowed, looking even more uncomfortable. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” I let a few seconds pass before I said, “I know things don’t always work out the way we want ‘em too, but I’m gonna do whatever it takes to get her back. Just thought you should know.”

“I understand,” he said with a sharp nod.

Keira would probably wanna kick my ass if she heard we’d had this conversation, but I was only doing what I had to do. “I’m sure you’re a decent guy, but me and Keira go way back. We got a lot of history.”

“I understand,” he repeated, staring straight ahead. “But don’t you think we should let her decide?”

I smirked, letting him know it wouldn’t be a tough choice for her. “I’m sure you can find yourself a nice girl around here. One who’s available.”

His eyes drifted to mine before he asked, “Is that all?”

“That’s all.” I was satisfied I’d made my point.

As the kid walked away, my phone buzzed. She wasn’t texting, she was calling, and that made my heart beat just a little faster.

“Hey, baby,” I said, answering the call. “I was beginnin’ to think you forgot all about me.”

She scoffed. “Like that could ever happen.”

I liked the sound of that. “So, we still on for tonight?”

“You know someone got me thinkin’ about the old drive-in,” she said. “I haven’t been out there in ages. What do you say? Might be a good place to talk. Dark, private…”

Being in an enclosed place with Keira for hours. Hell, yeah. Count me in. I thought she was gonna suggest a quick coffee at the local diner, but this was way better. “Sounds good. What time you want me to pick you up?”

“You mind if I come to your place instead?”

I laughed. “Let me guess, you don’t want your mama and daddy to know you’re going out with me, right?” That was probably the same reason she’d chosen the drive-in, where she wouldn’t have to worry about being seen with me.

“Somethin’ like that. You got a problem with it?”

“No, no problem.” I knew I had no right to complain. As long as she was agreeing to see me, I was a happy man. “Eightish work?”

“See you then.”