Sitting on the sofa later that night, Bree did her best to listen to Trent tell her about his day. She really was interested in how it had gone. He’d spent the day interviewing candidates for his receptionist job. Since he’d been kind enough to go with her to auditions for her band, the least she could do was listen to him now. But try as she might to pay attention to what Trent was saying, her mind kept wandering.
Zach was considering quitting the band. How could he do that? It was so hard to imagine anyone quitting because he had a crush on her, especial
The next day, Trent sat in his new office, trying to get a handle on the situation with Bree. Between interviews, he found himself going back over the conversation he’d had with her the night before. While they hadn’t argued anymore about it, he hadn’t liked the way she’d reacted to his questions about Zach. She’d seemed super defensive.He knew nothing was going on between them. He trusted Bree. The fact that Monica had cheated on him did make him leery, but he also knew now that there had been a ton of signs that Monica was cheating tha
The countryside flying by outside the bus window had Bree mesmerized as she thought about how far away from Nashville they were traveling for the weekend. Zelda had booked two shows in St. Louis, one on Friday night and one on Saturday, which meant Bree would be spending her first night in a hotel while traveling with the band. She was so excited, she couldn’t doze off like some of the other bandmates. Even though they didn’t have a show that night, just the idea of traveling to a new town with these guys, preparing to play for two large crowds, had created a giddy excitement inside of her that continued to bubble to the surface throughout the drive.
The phone wouldn’t stop ringing. Most of the time, Trent welcomed that sound because it usually meant more business coming in. But today, it was beginning to jar his brain. Rather than happy clients calling, it was mostly people who were supposed to come in and get equipment and other important infrastructure set up so that his people could better do their jobs.Celia was handling most of it. Trent had wanted to give her the best office for all of her hard work, but she’d fought him on it and said she’d feel bad having the largest office with the bes
Later that night, Bree sat on the edge of the bed in her hotel room, thinking about the excitement of the day, preparing to go to sleep. She and her bandmates had had a great time at dinner. St. Louis was known for its Italian food, so they’d gone to an area known as The Hill to eat the famous toasted ravioli at Mama’s. It was so good, Bree had eaten until her stomach was about to burst. She’d probably had one glass too much of wine as well.It wasn’t particularly late. Some of the others had sta
It was going to be a late night. At least, that’s what Trent assumed when he’d headed home from work that evening with his laptop and a list of things he wanted to get done before he flew out to St. Louis the next afternoon. He hadn’t gotten much of anything accomplished at the office, but by the time he was home and had eaten dinner, he’d finally been able to focus on his work and had gotten a lot of his list knocked out by the time his cell phone rang a little past ten.A smile came to his face when he saw that it was Bree. He was expecting h
After a restless night, Bree climbed out of bed and got ready to go out with the band. She hadn’t slept well because she kept thinking about what had happened with Zach. How would she be able to face him again? Trying to put it out of her mind, she went about taking a shower and getting dressed, but no matter how hard she tried, she kept going over the scene from last night in her mind.When she met the others downstairs, Cat announced, “Zach sent me a text earlier and said he’s decided to stay in today. He’s not feeling well, and he wants to m
The temptation to drop everything and catch an early morning flight to St. Louis was present the second Trent opened his eyes the next morning, but he fought the urge. He had some things he needed to get done, and even though he wanted to hunt Zach down and punch him in the face, he remembered how upset Bree had been when Trent had interfered the last time.So he went to work for a few hours, as he’d planned. He was going to get some work done and then leave around lunchtime to go to the airport, catch a quick flight to St. Louis, and be at the hotel well before
Having gotten a text from Trent that he was at the hotel, Bree rushed back from the outing with the rest of her band, catching a ride from the grounds of the Gateway Arch, which she hadn’t wanted to see without Trent anyway. She practically ran through the hotel doors to the elevator, wishing the little lights would drop faster and the lift would arrive so she could make it up to her room and see him at last.It hadn’t even been that long since she’d left home, but with everything that had gone on with Zach--and Cat--she wanted to throw herself
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.