Many thanks to PirateWench78 for her inspiration for this story.
Deacon sat on the balcony looking out at the pool. The girls had spent the morning swimming and sunbathing along the deck. They asked him to come down, but he hadn't been in the mood. Coming out here to LA, being around music people, some of it felt familiar, but being here, doing all of this without Rayna, well, that part was never gonna feel familiar.
He took another sip of his coffee and set the cup down on the table next to him.
It felt ironic when the organizers of the American Music Awards contacted them about the travel arrangements. The award ceremony was in the hotel Rayna had stayed on her last trip, when she came out to do that private show for Zach. He thought about asking for them to make arrangements for them to stay somewhere else, but then called the event planner back and asked for the room he'd come to find Rayna in the year before.
He looked back into the suite. He could hear the sound of Rayna's voice in his head.
"You messed my hair all up," she said as he held her, kissing her. "I'm lost, Deacon…"
He was lost, too. He had no idea what to do next, with Highway 65, with Juliette, with the girls, with Jessie…and he found himself wishing they'd had more of these moments, that he'd been spontaneous, dropped everything for her.
He'd do anything to be able to do that again. Nothing felt the same without her. And so much of it didn't seem to make any sense. He knew he was a good father, but he'd planned to do it with her. Some days, when Maddie was hurt or Daphne was so sad, he was sure he was going to screw up so bad that they'd ask to go live with Teddy.
And now he had probably destroyed the label, too. Everything felt like an out of tune guitar without her here.
"So, you want to rent a car and drive back?" he'd asked her.
At first he didn't understand why she felt so lost, why she would want to take all of that time away from him and the girls, but she had been so sure of her decision to do the road trip. By herself. But when she'd come back to him, she'd been so clear. She had made the plan to create an album that would tell their story. They'd had no way to know it would be the last thing they would create together and that made him so grateful, but also broke his heart to pieces whenever he thought about it. He'd listened to the mix that Avery produced. One time in the studio and again when they played it for Zach.
He'd never listened to it again. And other than the night at the Opry, he hadn't played the songs, either. They were the songs he wrote with Rayna, about Rayna, for Rayna. And without her...well, the songs just didn't mean the same thing anymore.
Maddie looked up at the balcony where she could see her dad sitting, drinking his coffee. Daphne had tried to get him to come down and swim with them, but he told them to go ahead.
The trip to LA had been exciting. She didn't think she'd win the award-even after Juliette pulled out, the competition was intense. But it had been cool to get to perform and honestly, just being nominated was pretty awesome, too.
She sat down on the chaise lounge and put her sunglasses back on. As she reached for her water bottle, a shadow crossed her.
"Are you? Are you Maddie Jaymes?"
She looked up to find a tall, dark haired guy standing next to her. She sat up straighter on the chaise. He was kind of cute.
"Uh, yeah," she stammered. She still wasn't used to being recognized like this. In Nashville, it felt like people knew her, and mostly as Rayna Jaymes' daughter, but in LA this had happened a couple of times and it felt really different.
The guy motioned to her chaise and she slid over so he could sit down on the end of it. "I'm Jack," he said. "I really like your song. You did an awesome job with it last night."
"Were you there?" she asked. She looked out into the pool and could see Daphne watching them.
"Uh, yeah," he replied. "My dad produced the show, so I got to come and watch. That really sucked what Juliette Barnes did to you with that song."
"I don't really want to talk about it," Maddie replied. And she didn't. She was glad that Juliette had admitted to what she did, but she still couldn't believe it. Losing her mom, losing her faith in Juliette, it all made her feel so much more alone now with her music. At least she had her dad. She'd always be able to count on him.
"You staying in LA for a while?" Jack asked. "Can I take you out?"
Maddie laughed and shook her head. "That's sweet, but no, we're headed back to Nashville. Today, I think."
Jack stood back up. "Well, if you come back out here, and I know you will, I'd take you on that date. Can I have your number?"
Maddie shook her head again. "I don't think so, but thanks for the offer."
He waved again as he walked away.
"Who was that?" Daphne asked as she sat down on the chaise next to Maddie's.
Maddie shrugged. "Just some guy. Hey, we should go up and get changed. I think we need to start getting ready to go pretty soon."
"Did you at least get his name?" Daphne asked. "He was totally cute."
"Like Flynn?" Maddie teased, smiling at her sister.
Daphne rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"What's going on with you two?" Maddie asked.
Daphne shrugged. "I don't want to talk about it." She stood up, picking up her towel and swimsuit cover. "C'mon, let's go."
Maddie picked up her things as well and headed toward the hotel, pausing for a moment to look back at Jack. Daphne was right. He was cute.
The door to the suite opened and he could hear the girls coming in, their voices filled with life, laughing and good. Daphne was teasing Maddie about some boy down at the pool. It was quiet and then more giggling as they headed toward the room they were sharing.
This is what mattered. These two. They were the only thing. It was exactly what he'd told Maddie when she'd been so afraid that her actions were ending her mom's dream. Highway 65 was Rayna's dream, but her life was those girls. And him. She would want them to live. And to be happy.
The trip to LA had been good. And hard. He hadn't wanted to share with the girls all of the emotions that had washed over him as they landed at LAX, as they got to the hotel and most intensely, when they'd gotten to the suite. This trip was about Maddie, about the award ceremony and her performance and even though Rayna was always with them, he hadn't wanted to bring up her name.
"Dad?"
He looked up to find Maddie standing there.
"You should have come down," she said, smiling at him. "That pool is amazing."
Deacon smiled at her. "Forgot my suit. Plus, I don't really swim."
"What time is our flight?" she asked as she took a sip from the bottle of water she was holding.
Deacon stood up. "Actually, I had an idea. What if we didn't fly back?"
"What do you mean?" Maddie asked. "How would we get back?"
"We'd drive," Deacon replied. "Rent a car and hit the road. Y'all have never really seen this part of the country and I've usually been stuck on a bus, just watching it all roll by."
"Drive back?" Daphne asked as she joined them, her hair wrapped in a towel after her shower. "Like Mom did? Can we get a convertible?"
Deacon nodded, momentarily choking up. It still caught him at moments he least expected it.
"Cool," Maddie replied.
Deacon took a deep breath. "I just...with everything lately, I was just thinking that maybe we needed a few extra days."
"Maybe we could just take a three week trip," Daphne suggested.
Deacon looked at her, smiled and laughed. "No, we'll be back for the first day of eighth grade. We're not gonna miss that."
Daphne folded up her clothes and put them in her suitcase as her phone buzzed again.
When are you coming back? I miss you.
She hit delete on the text from Flynn like she had on the last three he'd sent that morning. She wasn't sure what had happened at the pool party, but she didn't need to hear him making any more excuses.
She sat down and pulled up Google maps. The quickest route took 29 hours, but it also involved driving through a lot of Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Maddie came into their room. "You ready?" she asked as she picked up her suitcase.
"Close," Daphne replied. "So, I think we need to look at our options for this trip. Why not have some fun on the way back."
Maddie sat down next to her. "Wow...can we go through Vegas?"
Daphne shot her a look. "To do what? We can't gamble."
"No, to see the Strip and the lights and the fountains at the Bellagio. And maybe a show?"
Daphne did a quick search. "Okay, our options are Britney Spears, Celine Dion, Cher and the Backstreet Boys."
Maddie looked at her and they replied at the same time. "Backstreet Boys."
"I'll text Bucky and see if he can help us out," Maddie responded.
"Ooh...and we're going to be by the Grand Canyon!" Daphne exclaimed. "We can definitely stop there."
"Looks like you're planning the long way home," Maddie pointed out. "Any reason?"
Daphne shrugged. "I kinda like it just being the three of us. It's easier, right?"
Maddie nodded. "Okay, let me go check on Dad and let him know what we're thinking."
Daphne watched as she left as another message popped up on her phone.
Is everything okay?
And she hit delete again.
Thanks for checking this story out and I always appreciate hearing what you think! - RW
