Country music has recently welcomed a new talent. A group of two girls, and two guys. They call themselves Little Big Town. Members include: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook, & Phillip Sweet. Karen and Kimberly went to college together, Jimi was a friend of Karen's husband, Mark, and Phillip was a stranger, with the kind of voice they were looking for. From 1999-2006 Little Big Town was a not-so-well-known band. They traveled here and there playing small venues. One night, on their way to a show, they stopped to grab a bite to eat. Karen wasn't feeling well and went to the restroom. Kimberly followed shortly. Kimberly asked Karen if something was wrong. "Cramps." Karen replied. "Is it your time of the month?" "No. I'm just not feeling well" "Okay. Let me know if you need anything."
Karen's husband, Mark, was a base player for another band, so she didn't see him much. Karen and Kimberly had been friends for years, and could talk to each other about anything. But, Kimberly got the feeling something was really bothering Karen, and wondered why she wouldn't tell her. Phillip and Jimi were with the rest of their band and crew outside of the bus playing a game of football, so everyone could get some energy out. Karen was on the back of the bus, in her bunk. Kimberly confronted her again. She asked Karen, "What is wrong with you? You've hardly said a word since we left Nashville, and that was nearly 7 hours ago. Something is bothering you." Karen sat up in the bunk and pulled her knees to her chest. "What's going on? Why are you so upset?" Kimberly asked her. Karen didn't say anything. Kimberly pulled the blanket off of Karen and told her to come sit on the couch. "We are about to have a heart to heart, sisterly talk. Karen did as she said. Kimberly sat on the couch, and Karen lied down, putting her head in Kimberly's lap. "Now what the hell is bothering you?" Kimberly asked. Karen was hesitant to answer. "He—He—He cheated on me." Karen said, as tears began to roll down her cheek. "WHAT? Mark? He—but when—" Karen interrupted her, "Yesterday. I told him I'd be back around 3, but since we didn't stop at all on the way home, I got back early. I walk in and he was on the couch with HER." she said, now heavily crying. "Kim, I don't know what I did wrong—" Kimberly interrupted her, "Don't say that. You didn't do anything wrong. He's a fool to cheat on you." Karen sat up and set her head on Kimberly's shoulder, crying. She was a wreck. Jimi walked in, he had never seen Karen like this.
Jimi said, "What's the matter?" "This isn't a good time, Jimi. Please just keep everyone outside for the time being." Kimberly said, Karen still crying on Kimberly's shoulder. Karen said, "He's going to go out there and tell all the guys that I'm in here, crying, and that I'm a total mess." "No he won't. Jimi's a good guy and he respects people's privacy." Kimberly said. Karen sat up. Kimberly brushed her hair back, and wiped the tears from her eyes. "You are my best friend. I will be right here by your side for anything you need. Do you understand me?" Karen nodded. "What do I do? He said it was the first time it has happened. But we are away from each other more than we are together. And even when we are together we end up fighting about something." Kimberly put her hand on Karen's knee, "Sweetie that is not a healthy marriage. Ask yourself, are you really happy? You and Mark we young kids when you got married. I'm not saying you weren't in love once. But are you still in love?" Karen said nothing for a while, then suddenly replied, "No. I don't think we are in love anymore." Kimberly said, "If divorce is something you want to pursue, I'll be right her for you."
Karen held it together for the show. On the way home, Phillip and Jimi noticed that Karen and Kimberly were practically inseparable. They just thought it was a 'girl thing'. When they arrived in Nashville, they all went their separate ways, back to their own homes. As Karen walked in the door, Mark was on the couch watching football. He said "Hey. Look, I invited Kimberly, Jimi, and Phillip over for a cookout. That cool with you?" She didn't answer him. She walked upstairs. She took a shower, got dressed, and unpacked. By the time she got back downstairs, the rest of the band had already arrived.
They all went out into their backyard. Phillip, Jimi, and Steven talked to Mark by the grill. Kimberly and Karen were on the other side of the yard, sitting down and talking to each other. "I hate him now Kim. The thought of coming home to him tonight made me want to puke." Once again, tears started to run down her face. "See. I can't even talk about it without falling apart. How the hell am I supposed to ask for a divorce?" Kimberly had no answer for that. Jimi noticed the two women talking and was trying to read their lips. All he saw was, "How could he do this to me?" and that was enough. He had been friends with Mark for many years, and when he got married, became very close friends with his wife too. He cared about Karen. Because she was a friend, because she was a band mate, and because she was a good person. Karen and Kimberly continued to talk until Mark said, "It's time to eat!"
They all sat around a picnic table, Karen sitting as far away from Mark as possible. Jimi could see there was tension. And after seeing what Karen said earlier, he had to ask. When everyone was done. Kimberly, Steven, and Phillip left. Karen went upstairs. And Jimi offered to help Mark clean up. As they were picking up plates, Jimi said, "So what exactly did you do to her?" "What? Who?" Mark replied, sounding very confused. "Karen. She's been crying the whole time we were gone and the whole time we were here. Kimberly hasn't left her side. And yall haven't said two words to each other." Jimi said is a very pissed of voice. Hesitantly, Mark said, "I don't know what you're talking about." "THAT'S BULLSHIT!" Jimi exclaimed. "Excuse me?" Mark said sternly. "What did you do? Were you an ass to her? Forget a birthday? Anniversary? Wouldn't have sex with her? Or, what, did you sleep with someone else?" Jimi said, just joking about the last part. Mark said nothing, with a guilty expression on his face. "Oh my God." Jimi said, with a long pause following. "You slept with someone else? What the hell is wrong with you?" "I didn't mean to. It just—" Jimi interrupts him, "DIDN'T MEAN TO? THAT HAS GOT TO BE THE SORRIEST THING I HAVE EVER HEARD! I am your friend Mark, but if she leaves you and it comes down to it….. I just want to go ahead and warn you. I'm on her side."
The next week came around. Karen called Kimberly and asked her to come over. Kimberly quickly obliged. When Kimberly arrived, she asked Karen what was so important. "I'm giving him the divorce papers." Karen said, using all her strength to hold her tears in. "I'm here for you." Kimberly told her. So she did it. Karen gave Mark the divorce papers, and 3 months later. They were divorced. Karen had signed a prenuptial agreement before they wed, and now had lost it all. She had nowhere to stay. Kimberly and Steven were currently living in a one bedroom apartment, as were Phillip and Rebecca. Jimi; however, lived in a two bedroom house. Jimi offered Karen the room until she got back on her feet. She took the offer. One night, Karen and Jimi were watching a movie, and he brought up the divorce. "You did the right thing." He said. "I know I did. But it doesn't feel that way at the moment." She replied. "He never should've done something like that." Karen looked at him. "You and Mark have been friends as long as I've been friends with Kimberly. What made you take my side in all of this?" She asked. "He did something horrible to you. No man should ever do that to a woman. You deserve someone who knows how to treat a human being. Someone who cares for someone other than just himself." "Someone like you?" She said. They both laughed.
She looked into his eyes. He looked into hers. "You've got beautiful eyes." Jimi said. "Thanks. You too." She answered. He slowly moved towards her. Their lips met. He pushed her back to the couch and continued kissing her. She pushed him off. "Wait." She said. Jimi, look, you and I have known each other for years. We work together. Believe me, I want to. But, I'm just not ready. It's too soon. I'm sorry." She got up and ran to her room, not looking back at Jimi, who sat on the couch, wiping the lipstick off of his lips. Karen got to her be and buried her face into a pillow and started crying.
The next day, Karen and Kimberly decided to go shopping. Kimberly was pointing out all these cute purses, and clothes, and shoes. Things Karen lived for. But every time Kimberly would ask for Karen's opinion on something, or point something out to her, all she got back was a "mm-hmm." She thought something was up. So they stopped and got something to eat. "Is something wrong? Is something bothering you still? Is it about M—" "I KISSED JIMI!" Karen blurted out. "What?" Kimberly said in utter shock. "When?" She added. "Last night. Rather he kissed me. We were watching a movie, and it just happened. I didn't mean to. It was an accident!" Karen said very uneasily. "Karen, calm down. You are a grown woman. You don't have to give me a reason. All I want to know is, how far did it go?" Kimberly asked. "Nowhere. I pushed him off of me. I told him I didn't want to screw with our friendship, or worse, our work relationship." Karen said. "Jimi is a great guy. If you aren't ready that's fine. But you can't be afraid to get back out there." Kimberly told her. "I told him I wasn't ready, but that's not true. I think he's a great guy. But I don't want to mess anything up." She said frantically. "I say screw everything else and give it a shot!" Kimberly exclaimed.
Karen and Jimi were once again alone in the house. Jimi was in his bedroom, and Karen was in hers. She was sitting on her bed, trying to work up the nerve to ask him out. She went to his room, and sat down on his bed. As he asked her what she wanted, she panicked. "There's a big bug in my room and I, uh, can't sleep." She said. "Oh, well, is there more than one?" Jimi asked. "Uh, yeah. There's a lot of them." She said. "Well, you can sleep in here tonight if you want." He said. She accepted. She got in the bed, and they both fell asleep.
The next morning, when she woke up, Jimi had made a breakfast in bed for the two of them. She thought that was so sweet. As they sat in the bed, eating their breakfast, Karen said, "So, you remember two nights ago, I told you I wasn't ready to be in another relationship?" Jimi answered, "Yes. And look, I'm sorry I did that. I had no right to. I should've asked you." "Well, I've come to realize that is a bunch of crap." She said. "No. That was wrong of me." Jimi said. "No really, I did enjoy it." She said. "Karen, I'm sorry, you don't have to pretend you wanted—" She interrupted him with a kiss. "So do you believe me now?" She asked him. "I… uh…" She kissed him again, this time longer. "So, would you want to maybe have a date night?" He asked her. "I'd love to." She answered.
The day progressed. Karen called Kimberly, who helped her pick out what to wear. She wore a white, strapless dress that came to about 5 inches above the knee. She finished getting ready and they left. Karen had been to the restaurant that they were going to a few times before. Jimi passed the turn to get there. She didn't say anything, because she figure they may be doing something else first. Jimi said, "You may want to take off your heels." She looked at him confused. That was when she looked out her window, and saw the 'something else' they were doing. In fact, they weren't going to the other restaurant at all. She looked out onto a lake, and set next to the lake was a cabana, candle lit. They talked and ate. Then Jimi had another surprise. A paddle boat ride on the lake. Jimi and Karen got in the boat. "This is amazing." Karen said.
Jimi looked into her eyes. "I know how much you love the water." Jimi said. She laughed. "Yeah." She said softly. They leaned in. Their lips met. "Wait." Jimi whispered. "Let's get back to the shore, and we can continue this." "Okay." Karen said. They paddled back to the side of the lake. Karen could see Jimi had this whole thing planned out. There was a big oak tree, with a big blanket underneath. They both lay down on the blanket. Jimi crawled on top of Karen and began kissing her again. "You look beautiful tonight." Jimi whispered into her ear. "Well thank you." She replied.
Jimi was now kissing her neck. "You know. You are a really good kisser." She said playfully. "Well thank you. You're pretty damn good yourself." He said. "Karen, to be honest with you, I've always had a big crush on you. I mean, you're beautiful, sweet, and….. I've always thought you had an incredible body." Jimi said, sounding very shy. "You can't say I have an incredible body until you've actually seen it." She said. "So, do you want to?" She said playfully. Jimi jumped on the invitation. She lifted her hair off of her back, and Jimi unzipped her dress. She pulled off his tie and his jacket, and unbuttoned his shirt. As she slid out of her dress, he removed his pants and shirt. Together, they were lying there. Almost naked, Karen suggested a swim. Jimi agreed. They raced each other to the water.
Jimi was first to jump in. Karen soon followed. He went under and snuck up on Karen. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her back to his chest. He kissed her shoulder, then her neck, then behind her ear. She giggled. "Have you ever been skinny dipping?" she asked. Jimi smiled. He unhooked her bra, and they each removed the rest of their clothing. Karen jumped into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist. He kissed her chest and put his hand on her ass. They were both a little drunk, and now both completely naked. Before long, they were having sex on the blanket under the oak tree.
Karen and Jimi were using a lake open to the public, and when a family showed up to have dinner, and found the two of them lying together, nude, someone called the police. The two laughed and ran full speed to the car. Carrying their clothes and running from the cops, not necessarily the ideal first date, but they had a blast. Karen told Jimi that she'd always had a crush on him too. He was caught up in the moment, staring into her dark brown eyes. When the words sprung from his mouth, "I love you."
Karen looked at him. "Jimi, you don't mean that." She said. "Yes I do." He exclaimed. "Karen Fairchild. I love you. I've been in love with you for 6 years now. And until you and Mark split, I couldn't ever say anything." He said. "This may be crazy, but… I love you too." She said. Neither of them said anything the rest of the ride home. Karen felt uncomfortable driving down the road without any clothes on, so she crawled in the backseat and put her dress back on. "Why put it back on when it's going to come right back off when we get home?" He asked. She hit is shoulder, in a joking manor. "I think we've had enough fun for one night." She said. "Yeah, but we go back on the road starting tomorrow." He reminded her. "And it's not like we can have sex, or mess around with Kimberly and Phillip with us!" He said. "No, but we can crawl into each other's bunks late at night. Like when you had to sneak around your parents in high school." She said.
The next day, they four of them met at the studio, loaded up the bus, and headed out. The boys were watching football in the front of the bus, and in the back, Karen and Kimberly sat on their bunks, as Karen gave Kimberly the review of her night out with Jimi. "Well, he set up a cabana on the lake. That's where we had dinner. Then we got to paddle boat across the lake. He had a blanket set up under a big tree, where we talked… and then kissed some." She said. "Really! So, is he a good kisser?" She asked, eager for an answer. "He's a great kisser." She said. "Okay. So… then what." She asked. "We just, you know, took off each other's clothes, went skinny dipping, had sex in the water, had sex under the tree, got caught, got chased by the cops, and the went home and went to bed." She said, speaking extremely quickly. "WHAT? YOU HAD SEX?" Kimberly exclaimed. "SHHHH!" Karen said. "ON THE FIRST DATE?" Kimberly yelled, quietly.
"Yes, we had sex. What is wrong with that?" Karen asked. "Absolutely nothing." Kimberly replied. "Good, now let's not let Jimi know I told you every detail. Okay?" Karen asked. "Deal." Kimberly answered. Karen and Kimberly continued talking about that night while Jimi and Phillip watched the game. That night, Kimberly was asleep, in the bunk under Karen, and Phillip was asleep in the bunk above Jimi. Karen was tired, but couldn't go to sleep. Jimi was on the couch, watching TV.
Karen got out of her bunk, and walked to the couch. She sat down right next to Jimi and he put his arm around her. She looked up at him. "Last night, when you told me you loved me, did you really mean that, or was it just the alcohol talking?" She asked him. "Karen, I meant everything I said to you last night." He said. "I'm asking because, the first time Mark told me he loved me was after a party, and I now know that it was probably just the drinks talking." She said. He ran his fingers through her hair. They repositioned on the couch. Jimi lying down on his side, with his back against the back of the couch. Karen lied in front of him, with her back against his chest and he put his arm around her. They were watching a movie and fell asleep.
The next morning, Phillip was the first one to wake up. He, not knowing Karen and Jimi were dating, was very surprised to wake up and see them lying in the position they were in. He heard Kimberly get out of her bunk. "What the hell is this all about?" He asked her. "Uh. Maybe they. Just fell asleep before they came to bed." She said. "In that position?" Phillip said. At this point, Jimi started to wake up. "What are you two yelling about?" He said. "I don't know Jimi, why don't you tell us why it looks like you've got a thing going on with Karen." He exclaimed. "It looks like there is something going on with me and Karen, because we've been seeing each other, Phillip!" Jimi said.
Phillip was shocked to hear Jimi say that he and Karen were a thing. He just always thought they were good friends. But never in a million years did he think that they would end up sleeping together. Karen woke up. Jimi looked into her eyes, planted a big, long kiss, directly on her lips and said, "Good morning gorgeous." Both Phillip's and Kimberly's jaws dropped. "Look, I know we've only been together a couple of days, but I've know you for years Karen, and whether or not you knew it. Or whether or not I said it, I've been in love with you all this time" Jimi said. He got down on one knee. "I don't have a ring, but Karen Fairchild, I love you with all of my heart. Will you marry me?" Karen, Kimberly, Phillip were all shocked. No one said anything, and there was a long awkward silence. Karen chimed in and said, "Yes. Yes, of course I will marry you!"
It was set, the date, the place, the time, and the guests. Kimberly was Karen's Maid of Honor, and Phillip was Jimi's Best Man. They read their vows and said "I do." And when the priest said, "You may now kiss the bride." That is exactly what Jimi did. He gave Karen the longest, most romantic kiss. The best kiss she'd ever had. And they looked into each other's eye again. And that's the moment when they were sure, they had found the person that would love and cherish them for the rest of their lives spent together!