The moment she sat down on the bus, it was clear to Bree that the others had not had such a good day. Cat had her arms folded and that disgusted look on her face, while the remaining guys who were supposed to have spent the day with her seemed fed up and annoyed.
It would’ve been easier to let it go, but Bree had to ask what their day had been like since she was hoping Cat would call it quits before too much longer. So, she sat down next to Cat and asked, “Did you guys have fun today?”
The bus had barely stopped when Cat got up from her seat, stalked to the door, and got out, walking several steps away and pulling her phone out of her pocket. Bree assumed she was calling a ride back to the hotel, or maybe she’d take a rideshare all the way back to Nashville. Bree didn’t care. She’d even pay for it, as long as she was able to get the negative influence out of her band, and out of her life. Cat’s erratic behavior made sense now. She’d been doing drugs this whole time! Bree felt dumb for not realizing it, but she didn’t know anyone else who did drugs and didn’t know the signs.
Holding her breath, Bree waited for Shawna to tell them what her boss had said. Would she be able to play keyboards with them in the band that night?“He said… I could,” she said with a big smile.“That’s great news!” Bree exclaimed, hugging the woman, even though she really didn’t know her that well. “Let&rs
Bree wanted to confront Cat, to see if she’d admit to cutting the electricity to the club. But as soon as she walked out into the parking lot, she could tell that wasn’t going to happen.Reflection from the lights of a police car radiated off of every surface, including the bus, filling their fields of vision with red and blue. “I didn’t do anything!” she heard a familiar voice screaming, but the fact that Cat was in handcuffs and being escorted to the back seat of the police car made Bree think otherwise. Especially since she already had
The band decided to stop at a restaurant and get a late-dinner/early-breakfast on their way back to the hotel. Bree devoured a huge stack of pancakes. She was so hungry from all the drama, she could’ve eaten even more. The bandmates laughed and enjoyed each other’s company for the first time in as long as she could remember. She hadn’t noticed before how much drama surrounded Cat whenever she was with them, but now that she was out of the picture, everyone else seemed to breathe easier. It was like an invisible weight had been lifted from their shoulders.
By the time they reached the parking lot, Trent’s legs were burning. Not from carrying Bree. She was light as a feather, but he had walked through the fire to get her out of the room, and he was pretty sure he’d sustained some damage because of it. He couldn’t slow down until he was sure she was out and safe, though.As soon as he saw an ambulance, he rushed over to it. The paramedics immediately moved to help Bree. Trent didn’t know if she was burned, too, but he had a feeling she must be. Everything started happening so quickly. She was laid
Confusion washed over Bree as she opened her eyes and couldn’t remember where she was. She heard a beeping and looked around. The gauze on her hand reminded her of what had happened. She was in the hospital. The hotel had caught on fire, or had been set on fire, and she and the others had had to run for their lives. She prayed no one had been hurt or, God forbid, killed.A few moments after she awoke, the door opened and a nurse walked in. The middle-aged woman dressed in green scrubs wore a soothing smile that implied she had just the sort of bedside manner one
The medication Dr. Holloway gave her helped a lot with the pain, but by the time Bree got home to Nashville, her fingers were beginning to throb again. The bus took them back to the recording studio. Trent had to help her down the steps as the pain was starting to make her light headed.Zelda and several others were there to greet them “How are you dear?” her manager asked, not touching her, but coming close. “Are you okay?”
Trent sat in the waiting room with his hands folded and his elbows on his knees. A nurse had come out a few minutes ago to tell him that the skin graft was going well, that they’d removed the skin from Bree’s thigh and they were getting ready to start working on her hand. He was glad to hear everything was going as planned, but the entire situation made him nervous. He wished it was him in there instead of her.Even though he’d been the one to run through the flames, the burns on his legs were not that serious. The doctor had given him some cream to
Two weeks later…. Bree sat on the beach, a drink one hand, Trent’s fingers interlaced with her other where it lay in the sand. The ocean waves rolled in, wetting the sand near their toes, the sun baking down on their tan skin as it dried from their first dip in the ocean. There would be plenty more.&nbs
The sound of the gavel echoed throughout the courtroom. No one said a word for what seemed like the longest few seconds Bree could ever remember. Then, the people around her came back to life, and she found air in her lungs again. “Are you okay?” Trent asked. He was always asking her that, checking on her, making sure she was all right. Bree nodded. She was all right. She was going to continue to be all right, too. It seemed like a nightmare that had lasted almost two years was finally over.&nb
Yet again, Bree found herself speaking to a police officer. This time, she wasn’t the one lying in a hospital bed, though. Instead, after they’d pieced together enough of the story to know that the maintenance man had been trying to make it so that the pipe above her head would move down, Bree and her bandmates had been asked to come to the police station. The others were sitting outside, or maybe one or two of them were being interviewed by other officers now. All she knew was the man sitting across from her, Detective Coop Wellington, didn’t look like the sort of person one kept information from. “We know Monica and this&helli
“All right--Bree Matthews!” a stagehand shouted, coming over with a clipboard and a microphone on his head. “Are you ready?” “We are ready!” Bree said for all of them, bouncing on her heels. “Then, head to your spots.” He signaled for them to approach their section of the stage. The band had been prepped on how this would work before the show. They headed to the places they’d been told to earli
Sitting in a chair, staring at a runway, brought back way too many uncomfortable memories for Trent. Had it really just been a little over a year since he’d spent at least one or two days a week sitting in just such a chair, waiting for Monica to come down the stage? It seemed so strange now. He tried not to fidget, but his leg was bouncing up and down so quickly, he was glad he wasn’t outside because he might manage to start a fire with the right kindling--and like Bree, he’d had enough of fire for one lifetime. “Are you all right?” Celia asked, leaning over to whisper in his ear. “You’re making me nervous, an
Anxiety bubbled up in Bree as she stood in the staging area, getting ready for the big show. All around her, models and bands were putting the finishing touches on their makeup and hair, the models getting into their first outfits so that they’d be fully prepared to grace the runway as soon as it was their turn to take the walk and show off the newest fashions to an invigorated audience. From what Bree could tell, this wasn’t actually one of those fashion shows where the clothing was practical and might be bought by the average housewife. No, it was mostly lingerie, and it was mostly, well, ridiculous, in her point of view. None of it was s
The sound of voices from the television met Bree’s ear as she walked through the apartment door. She checked the time on her phone. It was only a little past 3:00. What was Trent doing home? She had to assume it was him watching the television because it sounded like the news channel, and if the housekeeper had turned it on, it would’ve been a soap opera or court show. Hanging her purse by the door, and placing her keys where she could find them, she went into the adjoining room to investigate. Trent was sitting on the couch with his laptop open on his lap, his stocking feet on the coffee table, typing away. She almost didn’t want to
Meeting Monica at the event center where the Nashville Nights concert was to be held was intimidating, even though Bree had her bandmates with her. She had insisted Trent go to work; it was a Thursday afternoon, after all, just after lunch, and there was no reason for him to miss work to walk with her through the building where she’d be playing in a couple of nights, not when she had three capable men and Shawna with her to give her moral support.Trent had protested, saying he’d feel much more comfortable if Bree allowed him to go along, that the rest of the band wasn’t aware of how Monica could be. It had almost led to an argument. Bree had insisted she wasn&
“This is a horrible idea. The worst one ever. In the entire history of the world, I cannot imagine one idea worse than this one.” Celia sat across from Trent in his office, her arms folded, her legs crossed, her face puckered.At the moment, he couldn’t even allow himself to snicker at her exaggeration. While he agreed that what he was about to do was a terrible idea, he could think of lots of other ideas that were worse, many of them involving wars that had killed thousands or millions of people. Or spread disease. Or polluted the environment. But she was right--of all of the decisions he’d been directly involved in, this one was pretty awful.