When Juliette's feet hit solid ground she swore she'd never fly again. The pilot had made an emergency landing in a cornfield and it was nothing short of a miracle that they had survived, all of them. She and Glenn stood together in the dim field, shaky and teary-eyed with relief and she didn't know if he was holding her up or she was holding him. The moon gave a little light, enough for her to see the great nothing surrounding her. An empty field, big enough and wide enough and rather conveniently located. Her teeth chattered as she laughed a little and Glenn turned sharply to look at her. She shrugged, leaning a little more into his side. "It could have been worse, Glenn," she said. "A lot worse."
Their reunion did not go as planned. There were no flowers. Avery couldn't even remember what had happened to them. He must have put them down somewhere but he had no idea when that could have happened. He didn't remember much of anything outside of stark relief when he was told that Juliette's plane had been found. She called and all he remembered of that conversation was how his heart clenched when he heard her smooth, husky voice saying she was on her way home. He left the airport and drove straight to her house, letting himself in by using the security code to the garage.
"Your mama's going to be home soon," he said to Cadence as he lifted her out of her carrier. His eyes immediately filled with tears when he thought of how close he'd come to never being able to say that their daughter. He kissed the baby's forehead and rubbed her back. "Mama will be here soon," he said again. "And everything's going to be okay."
Cadence was asleep in her crib by the time Juliette got home. Avery heard her at the door and yanked it open while she was still fumbling for her keys. They looked at each other for the briefest of seconds before he pulled her in his arms. One of them was trembling, he couldn't tell which.
"I'm never letting you go," he said. "Never again."
Neither one of them wanted to talk much. All he wanted to do was hold her in his arms and she wanted to be close to him. They slept on the couch as they had many times during their marriage, him squished against the pillows and her threatening to fall off the edge if not for his arm keeping her anchored.
They had to deal with it the next morning when Cadence woke up demanding attention and Glenn and Emily called an impromptu team meeting.
"You're getting a lot of requests for interviews," Glenn said over the speaker phone.
"No, Glenn. I don't want to talk to anybody," Juliette said. She switched Cadence from one hip to the other. "I don't want to do anything right now. I just need some time away from all of this."
"That's understandable," Emily's voice chirped from the phone. "You mean like a vacation?"
"No, Em." Juliette handed the baby off the Avery, watching as he strapped Cadence in her high chair for breakfast. "I don't want to go to a beach or anything like that. I want…" she paused, searching for the right words, but couldn't find them. She sat in a chair at the island and rubbed her forehead. No more, she thought. All she wanted was to be with Cadence. And she and Avery needed to have a very long talk that she was partially dreading. She didn't have the energy to deal with anything else. "I just need a break."
Avery put his hand over hers and waited until she looked up at him. "I have an idea," he said.
They drove. Avery picked Juliette up long before sunrise and she sat in the back with Cadence, who was outraged at having her sleep disrupted in such a way. Juliette sang her back to sleep and then climbed over the center console to sit in the passenger seat.
"Haven't done that in a while," she said, reaching for the seat belt. "I'm not as nimble as I used to be."
Avery took his eyes off the road long enough to glance at her. "You did all right. You didn't kick me, anyway."
She gave him a half-smile. "Are we still in Tennessee?"
"Just crossed over into Kentucky a few minutes ago."
She nodded and then bit her lip. "Avery, do you think this is a good idea? Your parents probably really don't want to see me."
"Juliette, it's fine," he said. "I spoke to them, they're fine. And no one is going to look for you at your ex-in-laws'." He'd been surprised at how quickly Juliette had agreed to go to Ohio with him. He'd surprised himself with the suggestion but after everything they'd been through, getting away from Nashville seemed like a great idea. He would have cancelled the whole thing if he thought his parents - well, if he thought his father was going to make her uncomfortable, but the only thing his father had said was that he'd be happy to spend time with his granddaughter again and Juliette was welcome.
Juliette fiddled with the radio dial. "How much longer?"
"Are you going to do that the entire trip? Because if so-"
"No," she interrupted with a laugh. "Just this once."
"Probably around seven hours." He saw her nod out of the corner of his eye. She reached for the radio again and then sat back. She rolled her window down a ways and then rolled it back up. "What's wrong?"
"Seven hours is a long time." She hesitated. "We could start this conversation we need to have while the baby's sleeping."
"Juliette, I - why don't we wait until…"
"I just want to tell you I'm sorry. I didn't want you to find out, especially not like that."
His hands tensed on the steering wheel as he thought of her teetering on the ledge of that balcony. "Were you ever going to tell me?"
"No," she said, her voice flat. "I hoped I'd never have to. I was ashamed of it. And sad that it took all of that to make me realize I needed help."
"I should have called you."
She shrugged. "Who's to say that would have made any difference?"
"I am," he said, a bit louder than he'd intended to. He checked the rearview to make sure he hadn't woke the baby. "I knew something was wrong and I didn't do anything. If you would have…died, I would have never been able to forgive myself for not reaching out to you. And then Layla." He shook his head. "I've been an idiot."
Juliette moved his right hand from the steering wheel and held it. "There was no way for you to know she was-"
"Insane?"
"Still grieving Jeff," she said. "And I kind of get it. If you had died saving her I would have wanted the truth to be known. I would have wanted the world to know that you died doing something heroic."
He glanced at her quickly and then refocused on the road. "What happened with Jeff was an accident. She used me to get back at you when she knew you were sick. You would have never done what she did."
"No," Juliette agreed. "I wouldn't have. But I understand it. If the situation had been reversed and it had been you I'd have been devastated."
Avery squeezed her hand, trying to temper the rage he felt anytime he thought of Layla. Glenn had told him how she'd been the one to set up the pictures in the alleyway to drum up press. One more way that she'd used him that had nothing to do with Jeff or Juliette. He didn't understand how she could be so twisted and he didn't understand Juliette's reaction. "How are you so calm about all of this with her? I thought you'd be more upset."
Juliette turned her head towards the passenger window and stared for so long he thought she wasn't going to answer.
"I lived," she said simply. "In the past five months I've almost died twice. Once because of my own choice. But I'm still here. I got to sing my daughter to sleep just now. I get to hold her and kiss her and watch her blow out her first birthday candle." She lifted his hand and kissed it as she had a few weeks ago. "I get to hold your hand and tell you I still love you. My career might be in shambles right now, but I've got my family. That's everything I'll ever need."
He had to agree with that, even though he knew they still had a lot to talk about. But they had miles ahead of them. They had time.
I'm so sad about Nashville ending forever (maybe #BringBackNashville)! This is just a short intro for something longer - since we were denied the ending we should have had. I love reviews!