by LuAnn McLane
Finding the cabin had been a godsend. While her mother meant well by hovering over her at the house, Belinda needed some privacy to lick her wounds, and the cabin’s location was just minutes from the theater. Nestled in the woods, the A-frame overlooked the gorgeous Smoky Mountains. Belinda inhaled deeply. She’d forgotten how much she adored the pungent scent of pine and damp earth. She leaned back in the rocking chair, listening to the sounds of nature. Although it was near dusk, birds happily chirped up a storm, and the warm, gentle breeze whistled through the trees. Belinda kept binoculars close by so she could watch for wildlife, thrilled when she located deer or wild turkey. And just last evening she’d spotted a black bear drinking from the brook.
Soon the thick vegetation would change with the upcoming autumn season, thinning out and then bursting with dazzling fall colors. She’d yet to use the hot tub, but when the nights started getting cooler, she knew the hot tub would be her favorite place to relax.
If she could ever learn to relax again.
A nearby bubbling brook rushed over large rocks, and the soothing sound lulled her to sleep at night, when she missed Oliver the most. Keeping busy during the day helped, but oh, the long, lonely nights had her longing to have Oliver by her side. Fighting back the urge to cry, Belinda took a sip of the crisp wine and then reached for her laptop. The response for talent, both musical and comedic, turned out to be overwhelming, so much so that she and her parents had divided up the applicants. Of course, some of the entries were an American Idol–level funny, bringing a dash of levity to the daunting task. But some of the talent blew her away, so she knew they were going to be able to fill the theater with awesome entertainment. As a matter of fact, her mother had texted her earlier that she’d just listened to someone who’d made his way into her top slot.
Belinda longed to take the night off and just chill, maybe try a soak in the hot tub after the sun went down. But there was no time for that. The search for talent, along with her rehearsals for opening night, were exhausting enough without throwing sleepless nights into the mix.
Blinking tired eyes, Belinda watched a few videos without much luck. She didn’t know what people didn’t understand about them wanting predominantly country and bluegrass. Perhaps her name on the theater threw them off . . . another worry that kept arising. Classic country lived in her heart, but she couldn’t ignore the fact that she remained famous for her pop music days. While she planned to sing some of her hits, she was also playing around with putting a country spin on some of her old songs, but she wasn’t sure how the audience would respond.
Blowing out a sigh, she looked at her empty glass and pouted, too worn out to head inside for more wine. But she purposefully didn’t bring the entire bottle outside with her, not wanting the wine to go down too quickly. Adding a hangover to her busy day tomorrow would just be insanity. But the urge to drown her sorrows in wine remained. Ugh, but that could lead to something like drunk texting or, heaven forbid, a phone call to Oliver. This damned staying strong stuff really sucked, and she nearly succumbed to clicking on Oliver’s Facebook page.
Belinda leaned back and closed her eyes. She’d been through some tough times after losing her record label. And not having money hadn’t been easy. But nothing compared to falling in love and having to walk away from the man of her dreams. Nothing came close.
And it sucked because she should be enjoying opening the theater with her parents. She tried. Really tried. But every time her phone rang she secretly hoped it would be Oliver calling. And then a thought hit her and she opened her eyes and sat up straight so fast that the chair rocked wildly.
What if Oliver was already over her? She should want him to be, of course, because she wouldn’t wish this feeling on anyone, especially Oliver. She considered calling Julie and casually working Oliver into the conversation, but Julie might not like the fact that she had bailed after her parents dropped the Belinda Beal Theater bombshell on her.
Belinda lifted her empty wineglass and stared at it. “One more won’t hurt,” she said in a firm, convincing voice. Placing the laptop on the wooden end table, she headed back inside the cabin and made a beeline for the kitchen. After a generous pour, Belinda leaned against the granite kitchen counter and looked around the open floor plan and nodded her approval. A fieldstone fireplace was tucked into the corner so as not to obstruct the gorgeous view of the mountains. Deep brown leather furniture kept the rustic theme going, and the owner threw splashes of color here and there with deep red accent pieces. The scent of outdoor pine mixed with the leftover smoke of the fireplace convinced Belinda that she’d always want to live surrounded by nature. The mountains . . . the beach.
“Ah!” She looked up at the exposed beamed ceiling, wondering if her thoughts would at some point stop circling around until they landed upon Oliver.
Would her damned broken heart ever mend?
Belinda took a healthy sip of her wine, and then walked back to the fridge and located the steak. Even staring at the single steak in the package made her feel lonely. Belinda slapped it down onto the counter and then scrubbed a potato. She had a bag of tossed salad ready to consume along with her favorite dressing.
And her stomach responded with a little no-way lurch.
Well, at least she wasn’t eating her weight in ice cream every night. In fact, her jeans felt loose, thanks to the broken-heart diet that she wouldn’t recommend to anyone. She knew the lack of calories was contributing to her lethargy, and she didn’t know what the hell to do about it.
Eat, you silly goose! Belinda thought, and tore the plastic wrap off the beautifully marbled rib eye, her favorite cut of steak, purchased to make her hungry. Determined, she went outside for her laptop and turned on Pandora, hoping some upbeat music could lift her mood from way down in the dumps to just in the dumps. Humming to the music, she busied herself putting olive oil and sea salt on the potato before popping it into the oven. She rarely used the microwave. Her mother refused to even own one.
Being an only child, Belinda was used to her own company, but tonight in particular she longed for a friend, conversation.
Oliver . . .
Ugh! Why? She knew damned well that he’d ruined her for anyone else. Damn you, Oliver Heart, for being so perfect.
Thirty minutes and another glass of wine later, her meal was prepared and ready to eat. Sitting at the kitchen island, she picked at the Caesar salad and nibbled the baked potato. The steak, medium rare, was tender and cooled to perfection.
Belinda barely tasted any of it. To her credit, she powered through half the meal before stopping. Yawning, she decided to head into the bedroom, get into her jammies, and binge through more of the videos, praying that she might get a good night’s sleep.
Still, Belinda couldn’t resist going out onto the deck and looking up at stars glittering like diamonds in the night sky. The inky black cloak of darkness reminded her of nights on the farm, far from city lights.
She stood there holding on to the railing, listening to nature rustling in the woods. The hoot of an owl had her smiling. When she was a kid, her father would hoot back. He could imitate just about any critter. She was still blown away that her parents had taken on the huge task of opening the theater, but she was glad they’d found something they both believed in with such passion.
Growing up, Belinda took the love her parents shared for granted. Never again.
Belinda turned to go into the cabin when she heard laughter and music drifting her way. Although she couldn’t see any neighboring cabins, many were dotted along the road, weekend getaways and vacations rentals. She inhaled a shaky breath and was hit by an unexpected wave of sadness, wishing that Oliver would suddenly come walking through the door.
“Not gonna happen,” Belinda whispered into the night, and was suddenly in no hurry to return to her silent, empty bedroom.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ISLANDS IN THE STREAM
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br /> Oliver sat by the side of the pool, staring at his cell phone, willing it to ring. Maybe getting a live audition on his own merit wasn’t such a great idea after all. He should have just signed in as Oliver Heart. “Dammit!” Once again, he was guilty of overthinking the situation. He lowered his feet into the water, contemplating swimming a few laps, but his phone finally took pity upon him and rang. His heart started pounding when he noticed the number on the screen was the one he’d memorized from the Belinda Beal Theater website.
For a few seconds he let it ring while he tried to calm his racing pulse. And then he reached for the phone so quickly he nearly sent it flying into the water. Shit, if it went to voice mail, his cover would be blown. “Hello?” he answered, trying to sound normal.
“I’m looking for the artist Country Heart.”
“Speaking, it’s . . . him, uh, me.” Oliver winced.
“This is Betty Beal. I watched the video you sent to me and I’m thrilled to tell you that you’ve been selected to come to the live auditions at the Belinda Beal Theater. Can you travel to Tennessee this coming weekend?”
“Of course!” Oliver sat up straighter. “Definitely.” Sweet! He did a fist pump.
“Wonderful!” Betty said, sounding so much like Belinda that his heart skipped a beat. “So, when should I tell my daughter that Oliver Heart is auditioning?”
Oliver froze. What? He hadn’t seen that coming. “Uh . . .”
“It got past me for a moment, but then I said to myself: wait a minute. The cowboy hat did hide your face pretty well, but I knew you sounded familiar. You sound a lot like Grady. And since your reunion last year, I’ve heard Heartbeat on the radio, saw you and your brothers in interviews. It was a good try. The Country Heart thing was kind of cheesy, but cute too.”
Oliver scrubbed his hand over his face. “I was desperate. It seemed like a good idea at the time. So . . . uh, where do we go from here?”
“I suppose you didn’t want Belinda to know you wanted to audition or you would have sent the video to her in the first place.”
“Yeah,” Oliver answered slowly. “I wanted to be chosen for my talent. I wanted to be someone you wanted in your show for my voice.”
“You do country very well.”
“I’ve been practicing. A lot.”
Betty chuckled. “It shows, but you’ve got the chops to sing whatever you choose. Surely you must know that.”
“Thank you.” Oliver smiled. “I have to admit it’s all fresh and new to me.”
“No, I want to thank you, because although Belinda’s been trying to hide it, she’s miserable, and you’re the reason she’s been down in the dumps. And cranky! Shew! And I can tell she hasn’t been sleeping. In other words, she’s one hot mess.”
Oliver hated to hear she was suffering, but he was also relieved that she hadn’t moved on. “I’m curious, why didn’t you show her the video as soon as you figured it out?”
“Well . . . I almost did. But I have this amazing idea,” Betty said with such excitement that Oliver had to smile. “I actually thought of it earlier, but Belinda said you were going to launch a pop solo career and that there wasn’t any way for the two of you to remain together. So, what happened?”
“I lost interest.”
“In a solo career?”
“Mrs. Beal, I lost interest in everything after your daughter left. I don’t know how much she told you about how she came back into my life.”
“To save us from losing the farm. She had some wires crossed.”
“I know we were only together for just a few weeks, but I know without a doubt that I love her. I think I fell in love with her back when we were teenagers, and the feeling never went away.”
“Then why did you let her go?”
“Our lives were going to go in different directions, so it seemed we didn’t have a choice. And truthfully, it took Belinda being gone to show me how much I need her back in my life,” he said, but he was met with silence. He swallowed hard, thinking he must have said something wrong. “But she knew she was needed there and I wasn’t about to keep her from her parents or the theater,” he continued. “I couldn’t come up with a solution, but then my sister-in-law came up with the brilliant idea for me to audition.”
Silence.
“Mrs. Beal?”
“B-Betty,” she said, sniffling. “S-sorry, I’m a crier. So is Belinda.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry. We’re just emotional people. Always have been, but when it comes to Belinda, I’m over the top.”
“What’s your idea?” Oliver asked, unable to wait one more minute.
“Okay, well, as we explained on the website, the weekends at the theater will be like a variety show with music and skits and so on. We’ve hired writers and it’s going very well. Talent has been pouring out of the woodwork, some of it local. But since were at the foothills of the Smoky Mountains near the hometown of Dolly Parton and not too far from Nashville, we’ve got a large pool to choose from. Everything is falling into place, but we still need someone to emcee the show. Jack, Belinda’s father, wants her to do it.”
Oliver grinned. “I can see her doing a bang-up job. She’s got the personality and the stage presence.”
“Well, yeah, if she were her bubbly, funny self. She always did make people laugh, and often not on purpose,” Betty said with a chuckle. “But anyway, I think the two of you could do it together. After all, you’ve been a performer all your life, right?”
“Yes, my sister-in-law actually suggested the same thing. But I don’t know how good I’d be at telling jokes.”
“You’d be the straight man. Belinda is the goofy one. And I’m sure your chemistry would shine through. I remember how cute you were together when you were teenagers. Belinda said the young romance was staged, but I knew from talking to her back then that there was something between you two.”
“Really?” Oliver laughed, thinking they didn’t know it, but they’d been rehearsing for this the whole time.
“I meant that in a good way, but you know it’s true.”
“Yeah, I do. Even when we were teenagers she had a sense of humor that I loved.”
“Well, I want you to bring that spark back. I want my daughter home, but I want her happy more,” she said with emotion, and Oliver knew he was making the right decision.
“So, what’s my next move?”
“I’m going to send you some material so you know the kind of humor we’re shooting for. A lot of it is slapstick and silly, but it’ll make the audience laugh. And I want you to learn ‘Islands in the Stream.’ ”
“The Bee Gees song?”
“You know your music. Written by them but made famous in country music when Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers recorded it. Belinda knows the song well, so when you arrive to audition, our house band will be ready to play it.”
“Wow, you’ve got this handled.”
“I do. I didn’t tell Jack and I don’t think I’m going to.”
“Okay.”
“But I must ask, are you ready to move to Brookside Bend? The last thing I want to do is bring you here only to see Belinda disappointed.”
“Yes, but I’ll still want to spend time in Sea Breeze. Belinda loves it here too. I won’t have to sell my house to make the move. Betty, I don’t make decisions easily, but I know this one is the right one,” he said with conviction. “I love Belinda and I don’t want to spend another day without her.” This time when she was silent, Oliver smiled. “You okay?”
“Not yet, but I will be when you put a smile back on Belinda’s face. For now, you’ve got your work cut out for you. Learn the song and I’ll see you at five o’clock Saturday. You’ll be the last performer on the list so the rest of the day isn’t disrupted.”
“Smart move. I will be there ready to roll. Thanks!”
&
nbsp; “You betcha. Have a safe trip and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call.”
“Will do,” Oliver said, and after ending the call he sat there gripping the cell phone, grinning like a madman. Did that really just happen? He sent off a group text message to his brothers and Arabella, telling them the news.
Thirty minutes later Oliver was at the rehearsal room. Everyone was talking over one another and Oliver knew he was blessed to have such excitement from the people in his life. Finally, Oliver raised his hands in surrender. “Arabella, you have to do Dolly’s part with me.”
“Okay,” she agreed. “But remember, dancing is my thing. Singing? Not so much.” But then she did a little dance spin. “This is just so cool! I knew this would somehow work out. Ohmigosh, I wish I could be there when you surprise Belinda! And her mother sounds wonderful. Oliver, I’m so happy for you.”
“I’m still trying to wrap my brain around it all,” he said.
Jesse shook his head. “I didn’t really think the Country Heart thing was going to fly. Too many holes in the idea.”
Oliver shrugged. “At that point I was ready to give anything a try,” he said. He downloaded the instrumental for “Islands in the Stream.”
“It sure sounds like Belinda misses you,” Grady said. “You’re doing the right thing. Even though it sucks to have you leave Sea Breeze. But better than being back on a tour bus.”
“After being unsure for so long, it feels amazing to know when something is so real, so right. And I wouldn’t have been happy traveling without you guys,” Oliver told them.
“I hope you can do some concerts here and there with Heartbeat though,” Grady said. “I plan to have a reunion here in Sea Breeze on an annual basis.”
