Casual sex. Uncomplicated, no-holds-barred, no-strings-attached fun with someone you didn't know well and sure as hell weren't in love with. No jealousy, no recriminations - just recreation.

Other people seemed to do a lot of it. Men, women, the famous, the infamous, the ordinary.

Not Rayna Jaymes. No, not even when she was pretty damned drunk and alone with an adorable, dark-haired, bearded guitar player with dancing eyes and strong arms. A man – a younger man – who'd made it clear from the start that he wanted her in his bed.

But Rayna did not end up in that bed in his hotel room – oh, no. She'd wound up crying her eyes out on the toilet seat in his bathroom, thinking about her kids and her marriage and another bearded guitar player who'd made it clear he wanted her, too.

Rayna shook her head, crumpled up the supermarket tabloid in her hand and pitched it violently across the room, where it hit her sister squarely in the chest as she walked in.

"Wow, incoming!" Tandy said, deftly catching the pages as they fell around her. She walked into the kitchen and dumped them into the trash can under the sink. "Why are you still torturing yourself with that crap?"

Rayna sighed and climbed off the couch, stooping to gather up the rest of the scandal sheets Tandy had purchased that morning. She set them on the kitchen counter and sat down on a stool across from her sister.

"I just hate that the girls saw that, especially Maddie," she said. "And you know what's really pathetic? They got this whole, big fantasy story, where I'm supposedly screwing all these men, right? And in real life, the only one not actually getting any is me. Pretty ironic, huh?"

"Pretty typical. Women always get blamed for this stuff; it's the old Scarlet Letter thing. With men, it's always just 'boys being boys,' right? They can't help themselves."

Tandy picked up one of the tabloids and scanned the front page again.

"Poor Mr. Mayor, wronged by the Evil Queen of Country," she said, shaking her head and opening up the magazine before a small smile crossed her face.

"Tandy, it's not funny."

"I know it's not, honey, but … did you see this?"

Tandy was growing increasingly unable to suppress a giggle. She turned the paper around so Rayna could read the caption.

Strummin' keeps her hummin.'

"Oh god, I know!" Rayna felt herself starting to grin, too. "Isn't that awful? Do you know I got asked today if there was a sex tape? Can you imagine - me, making a sex tape!?"

Tandy was practically doubled over by now and Rayna couldn't resist laughing, too. The whole situation was painful, but its absurdity was also apparent, if you looked at it the right way. And frankly, there wasn't much else to do but laugh. It felt good, like taking some of the power away from the scum who made a living bringing other people down.

They laughed a long time and eventually, as they regained their composure, Tandy reached over and swept the entire pile of tabloids into the trash. Then she started rummaging around the kitchen, opening and closing cabinets.

"What are you looking for?"

"Coffee. I'm gonna pour us both a cup and we are just gonna keep laughing at that nonsense. It does us good."

"Babe, you're gonna to have to pour me something stronger than coffee if you really want to cheer me up today," Rayna said, pointing: "Middle shelf, one cabinet to your left."

"It's barely past lunchtime. You drinking already?"

Tandy located the coffee and filters, then turned to look quizzically at Rayna.

"Noooo… I'm just talking. Coffee'd be great."

Tandy pulled out the pot on the counter and started measuring grounds and water.

"So, who's Deacon dating these days?"

"What? Why are you asking me that?"

"Well, you said you were the only one not getting any. I know about Teddy, the little bastard, and I don't give a hoot about Liam. Who's Deacon sleeping with?"

"Oooohhhh, I dunno, really. I mean, Juliette Barnes has got him wrapped around her little finger on this tour we're doing, that's for sure, but …"

"Juliette Barnes? What is she, 15?"

"Oh, I guess she's legal - barely. You can't believe the way she's been throwing herself at him. She's giving this birthday party for him tonight, down at the Bluebird."

"I thought he hated parties. Stays home an' watches old movies most years, doesn't he?"

"He does. This is a surprise."

Tandy plugged in the coffeemaker and flipped the switch, then leaned against the counter and regarded her sister.

"You really think they're sleeping together?"

"Ummm … no, probably not. I dunno. I wouldn't put it past him, but …"

From the start, Rayna had suspected Deacon and Juliette were having sex, but she wasn't so sure after Chicago. Deacon was nothing if not loyal; she couldn't imagine him kissing her if he was with Juliette. That just wouldn't be like him. No matter what other problems they'd had when they were together, she'd never worried about him being with other women.

At least he wasn't a cheater. Unlike Teddy.

Thinking about Teddy hurt Rayna more than she'd ever imagined it could. She'd never fallen in love with the clean-cut, rock-steady man who had salvaged her from the wreckage of her own life, so long ago. The feeling was closer to gratitude, initially. But she had come to love him over the years, and the realization that he was stepping out – and with his old girlfriend, no less - had hit her hard. It was humiliating, and it stung, thinking about how she'd bought his line and defended him publicly. And privately, even to Deacon.

The little wife, standin' by her man - while he played her for a fool and betrayed all of them.

"But what, Rayna?"

"Huh?"

Tandy was bound and determined to get something juicy out of her about "the Deacon of it all." Her sister had been wonderful today, but Rayna was not about to confide completely in her. Not about Deacon's kiss, their thwarted meeting in her penthouse in Chicago or her night with Liam. She and Teddy didn't call Tandy "The Mouth of the South" for nothing. And over two decades of celebrity, if Rayna had had any success keeping her private life private, it had been because she knew how to keep her mouth shut, even around family.

"You were telling me about Deacon and Juliette…."

"You know Tandy, I try not to think about Deacon's … love life. It's none of my business. And I don't really care who he's sleeping with."

"Uh-huh." Tandy rolled her eyes. "It's me you're talking to here, Rayna."

Tandy handed a coffee mug across the counter and Rayna took a long sip, smiling diplomatically.

"Thank you for the coffee. You've been wonderful today. I really do appreciate it."

Rayna picked up her cell phone and checked it. Missed call. Deacon.

"Shit."

"What - don't tell me those creeps got a hold of your cell number?"

Tandy craned her neck and caught sight of Rayna's screen before it went dark.

"Rayna. You still haven't talked to him?"

"Tandy, I can't talk to him on the phone, I told you. Not about this. And I can't get out of this damned house. You know, I was always so bound and determined to be independent. I never thought I'd want to run around town with a bodyguard and a P.A., like Juliette does. But it's times like these I wish I hadn't been so stubborn, I swear."

Tandy nodded, but she wasn't about to be sidetracked by a discussion on the benefits of entourage.

"But you gotta be thinking about him, Rayna, right? Deacon, I mean. He's kinda been waiting in the wings all these years, hasn't he? An' you're gonna be single before long …"

Rayna took a deep breath and exhaled noisily.

"I know. I mean, yeah. I've been thinking about him. Believe me. It's just … god, Tandy. The idea of me and Deacon ... again. For real? I mean, that just … well, it about scares me to death, I gotta tell ya."

Tandy leaned over and put her hand on Rayna's. She had long ago defined herself as the efficient, practical counterpart to her flashy, artistic sister. But she was not above living vicariously through Rayna's angst-filled love life and this conversation was right up her alley.

"I know, Rayna. It's just, well, it never seemed to stop you before. And he's a completely different person now, you gotta remember that."

"Yeah, I know. I mean, he's practically my best friend. It's just, well… our lives are so different now. I'm different, he's different – thank god he's different. But Teddy's always gonna be in my life, some way or other. And then there's the girls and raising them and us living in this house and ... I don't even see how Deacon could ever fit into all that."

She looked up. Tandy was staring at her.

"The girls. You mean, Maddie."

"Yeah, Maddie. You know how I feel about that, how Teddy feels. It's … complicated."

Tandy nodded. "I know, I guess it was easier before. Even though he was messing up, you didn't have anybody else to worry about. How many times did you two break up and get back together, anyway? I lost track."

"Oh god, I have no idea. A lot. It was like we were just … so entangled, y'know? I couldn't stop myself running back to him, no matter what he did. I'd say I wasn't gonna put my heart through it all again, and then I'd let him sweet talk me, like I didn't know exactly where things were gonna go. And then we'd get back together, and it would just start all over."

Rayna's voice trailed off as she lost herself in thought, staring into her coffee mug. After a long while, she looked up at Tandy again.

"I really thought that someday I'd just drown with him. It was a lotta years ago. But sometimes it feels like it wasn't long ago at all. I mean, thinking about it still hurts. A lot of it still hurts. And I thought I was done with all that, but … maybe I'm not. Or maybe I'm too old to go back there."

"You have been thinking a lot about him."

"Well, it's his birthday. And I was thinking if things were … different, maybe it'd be me and Maddie planning a party for Deacon tonight. But then I think about Daphne, and what an angel she is, and how she's worth everything I've gone through with Teddy, y'know? She's worth every minute of it, and a lot more."

Rayna looked up, her eyes glistening.

Tandy walked around the counter and put her arm around her sister, holding her tightly.

Rayna sniffled a couple of times and wiped her eyes, too tough to let her sister see her dissolve into sobs over a heart-to-heart in the damned kitchen.

"Hey, it's about time to pick up the girls, you're gonna do that, right? I wanna keep working on this song. I got some ideas I wanna get down before I forget 'em."

"Absolutely. Soccer practice after school today, right?" Tandy released Rayna and went in search of her purse. "What's the song?"

"I don't really know yet. Maybe something I'll put on the new album, if it works out."

"Well, keep working on it. I'm gonna go. Don't answer your phone. Unless it's Deacon, and you finally work up the guts to talk to him."

Tandy smiled at her. Rayna smiled back, then picked up her coffee cup and returned to the piano, revisiting the minor chord progression that had been echoing in her head all day.

Sunrise hurts, as much as you …