"All right! So hey, we goin' to Kansas City?"

Bucky Dawes was doing his best to defuse the tension already filling the cabin, 30 seconds after Juliette Barnes had stomped on board, complaining. Obviously, this plane wasn't big enough for two divas. He could see this was going to be yet another unhappy flight.

Great.

Rayna Jaymes sighed and pulled out her phone, trying to ignore Juliette.

"Not quite yet. We're waitin' for one more," Juliette announced, suddenly perky.

Rayna didn't hear her. But she couldn't mistake his voice, suddenly just outside the cabin.

"Yeah, thanks."

Deacon Claybourne climbed the stairs and bustled in, travel bag in hand.

"Hey."

That rather muted greeting was directed at her, Rayna realized, as she looked up in astonishment.

"Sorry for the hold up," Deacon said, as he stowed his bag and took a seat in the rear, facing Juliette.

What the hell …

Rayna looked at Bucky, outraged.

"Did you hire him to replace Liam and not talk to me about it!?"

"No. Of course not."

"I'm not here for your band." Deacon was calmly staring her down.

Juliette turned around and smirked, the fat cat who just ate the choicest canary in the flock.

"He's joinin' mine."

Rayna's heart raced, furious. She glared at Deacon, who donned his mirrored shades and turned his gaze out the window.

Unbelievable.

The little snot had been scheming to get Deacon over to her crew from Day One, and now, somehow, she'd done it.

Goddamnit - imagine what Teddy… Shit! Teddy.

Rayna craned in her seat, looking out the window. Had he seen Deacon? The plane was taxiing now, but Rayna could see the girls clinging to the windows of the terminal, while Teddy glared across the tarmac in her direction.

Wonderful. Rayna could already hear the grilling she was going to get on the phone later. Of course Teddy would never believe that she hadn't invited Deacon on the tour. She sighed. She couldn't catch a break with him lately and this would only make things worse.

As the plane accelerated down the runway, she pushed the thought of Teddy out of her mind. It was a trick she'd perfected lately, she realized guiltily. Her stomach lurched as the aircraft rocketed skyward. This private jet thing was certainly convenient, but there was something about it that didn't feel right.

Silly as it sounded, Rayna realized, she missed the long hours and days on the road, with she and Deacon and the rest of the crew crammed together on a bus with her face emblazoned on the side and a list of towns and dates down the back.

Of course, that wasn't all she'd missed. She looked over at Deacon. These past few weeks had been the first time she'd ever been on the road without him, and it hadn't been the same.

Even in the bad old days, she'd insisted on putting tours on hold when he was cycling in and out of rehab. They'd been together so long, she simply hadn't had the confidence to perform without him. And since he'd been sober, he'd never missed a tour.

She continued watching him, smiling to herself at how he was already nodding off, his forehead squashed against the window. Probably had a late night, she mused, though she'd noticed he hadn't shown up at the party after all.

She had to admit it: As angry as she was about him joining Juliette's band, she was glad to see him. Maybe now this would start to feel like a real tour.

"You're staring."

Bucky's voice was soft but it startled Rayna, who looked away quickly and met Bucky's gaze. He looked at her knowingly and nodded his head in Deacon's direction.

She sighed and shook her head, her eyes glistening a little.

"I can't figure out what happened. I just saw him and he was talkin' about sellin' his house, takin' a break from the business, goin' up to the cabin for a while."

Rayna spoke softly, making sure no one could hear over the engine noise.

"He didn't say anything about joinin' Juliette's band. I understand her doin' this to spite me, but I can't understand why he wants to hurt me."

Bucky looked at her levelly and took a deep breath.

"Rayna, maybe it's not about you. Did you ever think of that? Maybe Deac needs to get back out on the road and prove himself again. 'Specially after what happened with the Revel Kings and … all that nonsense."

Rayna pondered, taken aback at his chastisement. But maybe he was right: She knew she tended to see everything Deacon did in relationship to her. He'd been such a part of her life, for so long, it was hard not to.

"Yeah, y'know, Bucky, you're right. I … I'm sorry. Deacon's his own man and I … I gotta remember that, don't I? It's just, well … you know this makes everything a lot more difficult for me, back … at home."

"I know, Rayna. But it's gonna be okay, y'know? Things'll work out, just like they always do."

Rayna smiled, her eyes now filling with tears.

"Yes they will, and thank you. I don't say that enough. I hope you know I never would've gotten through any of this without you. And … well, I'm just grateful, is all."

She leaned over impulsively and kissed him on the cheek.

He squeezed her shoulder and smiled, then turned to pull his laptop out of his bag.

"Well, this tour ain't gonna finish bookin' itself, that's for damned sure. I better get some work done while I can," he said.

"Yeah," Rayna agreed, getting her phone out. She could use the time herself, to go over some lyrics she'd been working on with Liam before she'd sent him packing.

She suddenly heard Bucky chuckling softly. She turned to him and smiled.

"What're you laughin' at?"

"Oh nothin', it's just … I was thinkin' about Deacon and that cabin and I got to rememberin' – wasn't that the little place up in the hills the two of you used to scoot off to every chance you got?"

"Oh. Yeah … yeah I guess so," Rayna said, flustered. "That was where we did our writin'."

Bucky laughed outright.

"What?" Rayna said, astonished.

"Well … from what I remember, y'all always said you were goin' up there to write, but you never came back with much to show for it. Me and the guys always figured you found better things to do."

"Bucky Dawes! You're enough to make a girl blush!"

"Oh yeah, right. Like I could ever make Rayna Jaymes blush."

Bucky grinned, shaking his head, and Rayna laughed along with him.

"Hey, don't you have work to do?" she asked pointedly.

"Yeah, all right, okay," he grumbled, turning back to his laptop.

Rayna tried to focus on her work, too. But his unexpected remark had unleashed a host of memories, the kind that had been bubbling up in her mind lately – even in her dreams. Maybe it was her career getting off track, or the mess Teddy had made of things recently, or the way she saw Juliette looking at Deacon.

Or maybe it was turning 40, not so long ago.

Rayna sighed, and glanced out of the corner of her eye again at Deacon, who was awake now and chatting with Juliette.

A small sliver of pain stabbed her in the gut at that sight and she looked out the window, another image floating into her mind: The cabin. She smiled again to herself: Hard to call it a cabin, really. It was more a hunting shack, a ramshackle place deep in the woods that had been in the Claybourne family for generations. In the beginning, when neither of them had any money, it didn't even have indoor plumbing.

But the place was special – to both of them - for many reasons.