by Vega, W. H.
I take a long swig of the Fresca and nod.
“That’s great, Kenny, really.”
“So, I hear Rust is getting into the recording studio in the next week,” he says, switching conversation to business.
“Yeah, Liam did a bang up job working that out.”
“He sure did. You guys been coming up with new songs?”
“Of course.”
“I saw the list of the old ones that you’re recording, and I think you made all the right choices.”
We need to record eleven songs all together, and we've picked seven from our repertoire, and we’re hustling to add four more. Actually, we already had three that we were certain of, but we were still fumbling for the final song. I’m glad Kenny had approved so far.
“I want to get these records out, and then I want to follow up with a tour. Preferably before the holidays.” He slices a knife through a strange looking orange vegetable.
I don’t get a chance to respond before Paige suddenly enters the room, and she looks stunning.
She’s dressed in a simple gray skirt with a ruffled hem, and a slim, sleeveless silk pink blouse with beading at the neckline. She's curled her hair a bit and pinned the sides back. She’s wearing silver sandals, and minimal jewelry and the look is demure and elegant.
“Wow,” I manage to say.
“Do I look okay? I didn’t want to overdo it, but I didn’t want to dress down either.”
“No. You look great.”
“Paige, honey, you look beautiful,” Kenny agrees, beaming at his daughter.
“Alright, if you guys say so,” she says, though she still looks nervous.
I’ve also dressed up a bit for my parents, ditching my jeans and t-shirts for linen khakis and a blue polo shirt. I haven’t missed Paige checking me out or the little smirk that plays on her lips.
I even shaved my three-day-old stubble; my mother should be happy.
“Ready?” I ask, getting down from the counter.
“Yep,” she says, but I’m not convinced.
“Relax,” I urge, giving her a peck on the cheek and leading her towards the door.
“Bye Daddy!” she calls, “See you later.”
“Have fun!” he replies, waving us out the door.
I help Paige into the truck and I watch her nervously smooth down her hair and fiddle with her pink clutch.
“Paige, these are my parents. Relax.”
I get behind the wheel and we start the twenty-minute journey to my childhood house.
“What if they think I’m some tramp that stole you away from Savannah?” she frets.
“They are not going to think that. Don’t be ridiculous. The worst thing they could think is that we got together too fast and I behaved badly with Savannah. I even mentioned to my mother how Savannah tried to torment you, so she’s fully aware that you had no part in any of this.”
“But I did play a part,” Paige insists, “If I hadn’t moved back to town, you and Savannah would never have broken up.”
I give Paige a dubious look. “C’mon, Paige. It never would have worked. One way or the other, things would have fallen apart. I wasn’t really happy with her. I was just going through the motions.”
“Yeah, her slutty sex-skill motions,” Paige mutters under her breath, and I cringe.
Maybe I shouldn’t have confided in Paige that it was mostly about the sex with Savannah. But I had said that while trying to explain to Paige that she and I shared so much more than I had ever shared with Savannah. And truthfully, sex with Paige was a thousand times better.
We arrive at my parents, and I gently guide Paige to the door. I ring the doorbell and my mother answers.
“Mrs. Evans,” Paige smiles, “It’s so nice to see you again.”
“Oh, sweetheart, don’t be formal,” my mother laughs, “Come here and give me a hug.”
Paige breaks into a huge smile and embraces my mother.
“It’s so good to see you, Paige.” My mother pulls away and looks at her. “My goodness, you look exactly the same, only even more pretty than I remember.”
Paige blushes.
“Come on in and say hi to Blake’s daddy.” She takes Paige by the arm and leads her down the hall to the kitchen. Paige turns around to look at me and grins, looking happier than ever.
“Paige Lawson!” I hear my dad boom, and I walk in to see him giving her a big hug. “How nice it is to see you around this house again! Why, it feels like yesterday when I would see your bike leaning up against the garage and you and Blake splashing around in the pool.”
My mother laughs. “You always headed home once I got home from work.”
Paige giggles nervously. “I didn’t want to be a bother,” she admits, “and I always had to get home to have dinner with my Daddy.”
“How is your father?” my mom asks. I know she’s aware of the fact that he went back to rehab.
“He’s doing really well, thank you. Healthier than ever now.”
My mom reaches over and squeezes Paige’s hand. “We are just so glad to see you back here in Nashville,” she says warmly.
Well, for all my mom’s complaints about me being lousy to Savannah, she sure seems happy to see Paige. I should have known. My parents always loved Paige. They had just been giving me a hard time, when they were probably secretly delighted all along that Paige and I were back together.
“Come on in to the living room and sit down,” my mother says, beckoning Paige to the living room. “Let’s catch up.”
Paige smiles and follows my mother.
“Can I get you something to drink?” my dad asks her. “Wine, soda, water?”
“Water would be lovely, thank you,” Paige says, moving into the living room and sitting down next to my mother on the couch.
“Now, tell me what you’ve been up to besides capturing my son’s heart again?” my mother says, but she’s smiling.
Paige frowns. “I’m really sorry about that,” she says earnestly, “I never expected this to happen. I know he was engaged, and we tried really hard to resist our feelings.”
“Oh, sweetie, pish,” my mother laughs, “You don’t have to explain anything to me. That Savannah was a tramp!”
Paige covers her mouth and giggles.
“Blake should have known better than to get involved with her anyway. Of course, it’s caused a few hiccups in our social circle,” she says, shooting me a look, “but we dealt with it. And it’s no wonder he couldn’t resist you. You’re just as sweet as ever.”
Paige seems somewhat mollified and they start talking about Paige’s return to Nashville and what she’s been doing since arriving.
I step into the kitchen with my father.
“Well for all the crap you and Mom gave me, you both seem happy to see Paige,” I say in a low voice.
My dad lets out a quiet laugh. “Of course we’re happy to see Paige. Your momma is just upset about pissing off the Devlins. You had to go and get yourself engaged to one of the most prominent families in Nashville.” He pauses. “They’re out for blood,” he says darkly.
“Huh?”
My dad looks at me, and then shakes his head. “Never mind. It’s not important.”
“The hell it is. What do you mean they are out for blood?”
“We’ll talk another time, son. Let it go for now. Paige is a breath of fresh air. And such a lady. She’s the kind of girl you should end up with.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Is it serious?”
“Yeah, it is.”
My dad nods. “Good. You don’t want to let a girl like Paige get away.”
“I know. I already lost her once.”
My dad’s quiet for a moment. “How is she handling all that?” he asks carefully.
I sigh. “It was thirteen years ago, but it still haunts her.” I look over at Paige who is laughing and talking with my mom. It makes me feel damn good inside to see them getting along. “But she’s come a hell of a long way,” I tel
l my dad.
He’s looking over at my mom and Paige too. “Sure seems like it,” he agrees. “And ain’t that one pretty picture?”
It is one pretty picture, as my dad puts it. In all the years I was with Savannah, never had she and my mother gotten along like this. And Paige had only been inside the house for five minutes now.
Four
Paige
I look over and smile at Blake as we drive home from his parents’ house.
He grins back at me and shakes his head.
“All that worrying for nothing, huh?” he teases.
“You told me yourself that they weren’t happy about things,” I point out.
“I did,” he reasons, “I didn’t realize they were just basically giving me a hard time.” He shakes his head again. “They both love you.”
“Good,” I say with satisfaction, “because I don’t plan on going anywhere.”
Blake squeezes my hand and I change the subject.
“Do you have to work with the band tomorrow?”
He frowns and nods. “We need one more song and we’re struggling.”
Rust goes into the studio next week too, and they're cutting eleven tracks. I'm going to put twelve tracks on my album, but three of those will be duets with Blake. We're going to cover Need You Now, from Lady Antebellum because we had such success with it on tour and we're also going to lay down two original tracks. One of which is currently being written for us, and the other one is supposed to be written by the two of us.
I don’t want to push Blake on writing our one song, because I know he's stressed out about Rust’s song at the moment.
As always, Blake has an uncanny ability to read my mind.
“I know we need to do a song, too,” he says, “I just need to get my head together with the band.”
“It’s okay, really. I know this is stressful with us being pushed into the studio so soon, and having all this pressure to get two good albums out.”
Blake nods. “Your dad mentioned that he wants to do another tour before Christmas.”
I bite my lip. “I know. That’s a lot of pressure. Especially since these albums probably won’t make it out until October.”
Blake nods in agreement.
We are doing something almost unheard of by rushing these albums like this. Most albums are planned for months and months, and we're doing two in a matter of weeks. I understand that my dad wants to strike while the iron's hot, but it sure puts a lot of pressure on us.
“Me and the guys are going to work together tomorrow and all weekend,” Blake speaks up. “Maybe we can get together during the week - in between our own sessions or after.”
“Sure. We’ll make it work.” I say.
We pull up at my daddy’s house, Blake cuts the engine and pulls me across the seat and into his lap.
“I love you,” he whispers, brushing away a strand of my hair and kissing me.
“Mmmm,” I sigh, kissing him back, and pressing my body to him.
His mouth becomes more frantic, and I meet his urgency as I feel my insides heat up.
Blake chuckles nervously and pushes me away. “I don’t know if Kenny is watching but we certainly don’t want to give your dad a show.”
That snaps me out of it.
“No, we don’t,” I say.
I give him a light peck on the cheek, and crawl back to my side before pushing the door open.
“Thanks for taking me home to see your parents, I feel so much better now. I couldn’t have asked for a better night.”
“I couldn’t ask for a better girlfriend,” he counters.
“Love you baby!” I call as I head into the house.
The house is dark and quiet, and I think I can hear the TV in my daddy’s room. I don’t disturb him, and instead make my way back to my room. I work on some music for a bit to unwind and then finally go to bed, knowing that I’ve got work to do on my own album over the next couple days.
Five
Paige
I spend the next three days holed up in my room working on music. I’m not sure if it’s because Blake and I are going so strong, or that my life finally feels like it's falling into place, but the music just pours out of me, and I realize I’m going to have more than enough songs for my album.
I don’t see Blake all weekend, but we talk a bit, and it seems the band is making progress and they were finally able to come up with a new song to record.
The band and I are sharing time in the studio throughout the week, and I have the first session on Monday. I decide to give my mom a call before I head out to record.
“Hi Paige,” she answers on the first ring.
“Hey Momma. I’m sorry I haven’t checked in with you in a while.”
“I was beginning to think that you forgot all about me.”
“Of course not!”
“Well, I hardly hear from you and I haven’t seen you once since you moved.”
My mother was right; I hadn’t been doing a very good job keeping in touch.
“I know, I know. You're right. What if we plan to get together for one of the upcoming weekends?”
I can just picture my mom’s face lighting up.
“I would love that. Are you singing anywhere soon? I could come down and here you sing.”
“I’m actually not performing anywhere right now. That was part of the reason I was calling you. I’m going into the recording studio to cut my first album today.”
“Oh my goodness! That’s wonderful! I can’t believe how fast that happened.”
“I know. They really sped up the process, so it’s happening a lot faster than any of us had planned. So, I’m kind of taking a break from singing while I’m working on the album. And then Daddy is trying to send us out on another tour since the first one went so well, and we want to promote our new albums of course.”
“That’s wonderful, honey. I have been hearing your name come up more and more lately.”
It was a strange thing to start hearing my name in the country music industry.
“How is your father?” she asks, changing the subject.
“He’s actually doing really well. He’s been home for a week now, and I have to say, Momma, this is the best I’ve ever seen him.”
“That’s good. I’m glad he has you there to help him.”
We spend a little bit more time talking about Daddy’s recovery, and I know that Momma understands better than anyone. I was always sad that Momma never remarried, but now I feel bad that my daddy never did either.
My mom expertly changes the subject to Blake once we finish talking about Daddy’s recovery. I know that my mom is invested in my daddy’s recovery, mostly for my sake, but I'm always worried that I might share too much with her. Then again, it was my momma who helped my daddy and I reconnect.
“Blake is really great,” I can’t help but say enthusiastically. “And I finally went over to see his parents the other night.”
“Oh, the Evans! How are they? They were such nice people,” she exclaims.
“They were just as nice as ever. I was a little worried, given that Blake had been engaged before, and his parents weren’t too thrilled that he dropped his ex-fiancé for another woman.”
“Did they like Savannah?” my mom asks, shocked.
I'd already filled my mom in on some of Savannah’s less appealing qualities.
“No,” I laugh, “they didn’t like her one bit. I think they wish Blake had never gotten mixed up with her in the first place. But they seemed a whole heck of a lot happier to have me there. Except they did mention that Savannah’s family had been making some waves in their social circles.”
Blake had said this to me in passing, and then he seemed to regret saying it once it slipped out.
“What do you mean?” my mom’s voice is sharp.
“Well,” I say, “her family is a pretty big deal down here. I think they have a lot of political influence.”
“What’s their family name?”
/> I guess I never told my mother Savannah’s last name.
“Devlin.”
My mom’s gasp is audible.
“Devlin?” she asks. “As in Scarlet and Jeffrey Devlin?”
“Umm, I believe so.” I think those names sound familiar.
“Oh well, honey, why didn’t you say something?” my mom says in a knowing voice.
“What?” I demand, “Don’t tell me you think that Blake should have stayed with that you-know-what.”
“Oh honey, don’t be foolish. I would never say that Blake should have picked someone else over you. And if that Savannah is anything like her mother, then I can’t believe Blake lasted with her as long as he did. I grew up with Scarlet Devlin. Of course that’s her married name now. She was Scarlet Prescott when I knew her.”
I swallow. I know of the Prescott family.
“Scarlet and Jeffrey marrying was the merging of two of the biggest families in Nashville. Scarlet was a nasty thing in school. I think I remember hearing about her having a baby girl around the same time I had you. I always tried to steer clear of them. You don’t want to be on their bad side.”
I sigh. “Well, it’s too late now.”
My mother tries to backtrack because I guess she’s realized the same. “Well, don’t worry about it. You’re right. Nothing you can do now. Hopefully they’ll try to find Savannah a more suitable husband. I don’t think Blake would have been right for her anyway. I’m sure they want a young man to go into the family business.”
I remember Blake saying how that had been the plan all along. Savannah had loved his wild-child rocker side, but it had always been understood that he would eventually join Jeffrey at work.
“Alright Momma. I’ve loved talking to you but I gotta get going. Let’s talk in the next couple days and we can plan something. I can come to Bristol for the weekend so I can see you and Grandma.”
“Alright, dear. We’ll work something out. I love you.”
“Love you too, Momma.”
I try not to worry too much about what my mother said about the Devlin family as I head into the recording studio.
