Chapter 2 #2
“Oh my God, they used a chain saw?”
“Hacksaw.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Yes,” Maggie said, laughing. “It was a run-of-the-mill stabbing.”
“That’s sick. You’re spending too much time in courtrooms.”
“Seriously.”
“Hey, Maggie, do you get time off at Christmas?”
“A week. Why?”
“Will you plan to spend it here with me? I’ll send you a ticket.”
“I’d love to.”
“Great. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Love you. Later.”
Talking to her younger sister always left Kate smiling.
Maggie was the same ball of energy she’d always been, zipping from one topic or task to another without so much as a pause in between.
Kate wouldn’t change a thing about her, and the idea of spending a whole week with her baby sister filled her with joy.
Taking the break from work had been the right thing to do.
It had been so long since she’d felt anything other than exhausted, she thought, as she pulled into the driveway at Buddy and Taylor’s two-story brick Colonial in Rutherford County.
As Kate walked to the door, the wind whipped off the lake behind the house.
Kate thought about the first time she’d visited here, the day she learned that Reid had gone to Buddy on her behalf. She’d give everything she had, every ounce of success she’d known since then, to get back the few hours that followed those revelations.
With years of hindsight and maturity, she could see that she’d handled it all wrong.
What might’ve been different, she wondered—and not for the first time—if she’d gone home and talked to him civilly rather than throwing her things in a bag and storming out of his house as if what they’d shared hadn’t meant the world to her?
The quest to right the wrongs of the past might seem foolhardy to Jill.
Hell, at times it seemed foolhardy to Kate.
But it had become increasingly clear to her that she was stuck on what had happened all those years ago, and until she made peace with the past, she wouldn’t be able to get unstuck or move forward.
With that in mind, she rapped on the door and stepped inside the comfortable, cozy home her superstar friends shared with their three daughters. Their son, Harrison, was in college at Texas A&M. “Hello,” Kate called. “Anyone home?”
Georgia Sue, the youngest of the Longstreet sisters, came running around the corner from the kitchen and slid to a stop just short of crashing into Kate. “Hey, are you here for dinner?” she asked, hugging Kate.
“If your mom made enough.”
Georgia rolled her eyes like the teenager she’d soon be. “She always makes enough to feed an army, or so she says.”
“Your dad and brother eat like one.”
“That’s true.” Georgia took Kate’s hand and tugged her into the kitchen, where Taylor Jones, biggest female country star in the world, stood watch over a pot of something on the stove as she conducted an animated phone conversation. “She’s multitasking as usual.”
Taylor flashed Kate a warm smile and held up a finger to ask for one more minute on the phone.
“She’s my idol,” Kate said to Georgia.
Georgia laughed. “Want a drink?”
“I’d love one.”
As Kate was a frequent visitor, Georgia got her a diet cola and a tall glass of ice without having to be told what Kate wanted. “Thank you, ma’am. How’s school?”
“Boring as usual.”
“I thought fifth grade was fun. My brothers are in fifth grade, and they love it.”
“They’re probably dorks, then,” Georgia said with the sly grin that was all Buddy.
“Hey! My brothers aren’t dorks!”
“Mine is.”
“Yeah, he kinda is.”
“I can say that, but you can’t.”
“Sibling handbook,” Kate said, charmed as always by Georgia. “Rule 101—I can speak poorly of my siblings, but you may not.”
“Exactly!”
Taylor hung up the phone and came over to hug Kate. “Are you here for dinner, I hope?”
“If it’s no trouble.”
“You know you’re always welcome. Georgia, go finish your homework before dinner.”
“But Kate just got here!”
“She’ll be here awhile, right, Kate?”
“Absolutely. If you finish your homework, we can go for a walk by the lake, just you and me.”
“Really?”
Kate tugged on the silky dark ponytail that was so much like Taylor’s. “Yes, really. Now scram. Your mom and I need some girl time.”
“I hate to point out that I too am a girl,” Georgia said on her way out of the kitchen.
“Scram!” Taylor said in a tone that only mothers could pull off. “Sheesh! That one is full of beans. Good thing she came last and not first, or she might’ve been an only child.”
“You know I love all your children, but she gets to me every time.”
“She’s always had you—and everyone else in her life—firmly wrapped around her little finger. Her father is absolute putty in her hands.”
“In yours, too, if I’m not mistaken.”
“In mine, too,” Taylor said, blushing. They were still wildly in love after nearly twenty years of marriage, four children and more number-one records between them and together than Kate could count. Taylor returned to the stove to stir whatever was in the pot. “What’s this about girl talk?”
“Is Buddy home?”
“Not at the moment, but I expect him soon. He’s over at his mama’s house, checking on her.”
“How is Miss Martha?”
“Slowing down more all the time, but don’t try to tell her that. We’ve had absolutely no luck in convincing her to move in with us, but the day she’s no longer feisty and independent is the day I’ll really start to worry about her.”
Kate chuckled at the image Taylor painted. Ms. Martha was nothing if not feisty and independent.
“Do you need to talk business with Buddy? You know you can always call him.”
“I know, but it’s not about business. Jill and Ashton have all of that covered, at least for the moment.”
Taylor poured herself a glass of tea and gestured for Kate to have a seat at the table. “Then what is it, honey? I can tell you’ve got something on your mind.”
“My sister says I’m tearing the scab off an old wound, but I told her the wound never really healed.”
“You’re talking about Reid.”
Surprised that Taylor had gotten to the heart of the matter so quickly, Kate nodded. “I’ve never stopped thinking about him.”
“And you have regrets.”
Kate stared at her friend. “Do you have ESP or something?”
Taylor tossed her head back and laughed. “Nothing so dramatic. I know you. I’ve known you a long time, seen other men come and go, but nothing ever sticks. I’ve wondered if there was some unresolved business with Reid that was holding you back.”
“That’s exactly it. The thing is, I have no idea where he is. Jill asked Ashton, but he refused to tell her, so I was hoping you might know.”
“I do know where he is. Buddy talked to him just last week.” The two men had grown up under different circumstances in Reid’s family home in Brentwood but were as close as brothers. “We spent last Christmas with him.”
Kate’s heart beat hard as she waited for Taylor to tell her where she could find Reid.
“You know I’d do anything for you, right?” Taylor asked hesitantly.
“Of course. That works both ways.” Buddy, Taylor and their children had been Kate’s Nashville family.
“It’s just that I don’t feel comfortable telling you where he is without talking to Buddy first.”
“Talking to Buddy about what?” the man himself said as he swaggered into the kitchen, still handsome as the devil at nearly fifty. He bent to kiss his wife and then Kate. “What’re you two lovelies up to?”
Taylor nodded to Kate, encouraging her to tell Buddy what she wanted. For some reason it was harder to say the words to him than it had been to tell Taylor. “I’d like to speak to Reid about something, and I need to know where I can find him.”
Clearly, Buddy hadn’t been expecting her to say that, because he went perfectly still. For a long moment, Kate was certain he’d say no to her.
Buddy opened the fridge, took out a beer and cracked it open. “What do you need with him?”
“It’s a personal matter.”
“You wouldn’t happen to be revisiting ancient history, would you?”
“So what if I am?”
“Ah, darlin’, nothing good ever comes of that.”
“Ever?” Kate asked, raising an eyebrow, hoping to coax a smile from her friend and mentor.
Buddy shook his head. “You remind me of my daughters—and my wife. I can never win in a war of words with you women.”
“We’ve repeatedly encouraged you to quit trying,” Taylor said.
Buddy scowled playfully at his wife.
“Unless you have a good reason not to, you should tell Kate where he is and let them work out whatever it is they need to work out,” Taylor said.
“I can tell when I’m outnumbered,” Buddy said with a sigh. “He lives on St. Kitts.”
Kate jumped up to hug and kiss Buddy. “Thank you so much.”
He returned her embrace. “Don’t make me sorry I told you that.”
“I won’t. I promise. Will you write down his address for me?”
Buddy hesitated for a moment before he reluctantly got up and walked out of the room.
When they were alone, Taylor flashed Kate a big grin. “This is so romantic,” she whispered, clapping her hands. “I want every detail when you get back.”
“Don’t jinx me,” Kate said, although it had been a long time since she’d been this excited about anything. She’d never forgotten the heady excitement of first love and how he’d made her feel.
Buddy came back into the kitchen and slapped a piece of paper on the counter. “If he’s not happy to see you, I had nothing to do with telling you where he is. You got me?”
Kate laughed and hugged Buddy again. “The secret is safe with me.” She released him and grabbed her purse off the table. “I’ve got to go.”
“I thought you were staying for dinner,” Taylor said.
“Can I take a rain check?”
“Of course you can.”
“And will you tell Georgia I owe her a full day of shopping at the mall of her choice?”
“I will absolutely not tell her that,” Taylor said. “She’s already unmanageable.”
“Fine, then you think of something that’s not as extravagant that I can do with her very soon to make it up to her.”
“I’ll think of something.”
“Could I ask one more favor?” Kate said, glancing at Buddy. “Would you not tell him we had this conversation?”
Buddy shifted from one foot to the other.
“I’d never ask if it wasn’t really important.” Kate wanted to gauge Reid’s reaction to seeing her again without the benefit of Buddy tipping him off that she was coming.
“I guess,” Buddy grumbled.
“Thank you.” Kate hugged him one more time, kissed Taylor and headed for the door. “Love you guys!”
“Love you, too,” Taylor called. “Good luck!”