Love to the Tune of a Country Song

"Like red on a rose
When your lips first smiled at me
I was captured instantly
To each his own

"Like blue in the sky
The gaze of your willing eyes
Touched something deep inside
The truth be known

"That I love you
like all little children love pennies
And I love you 'cause
I know that I can't do anything wrong
You're where I belong
Like red on a rose"

-Alan Jackson; "Like Red on a Rose"

In a land, not too far from here, there lived a boy. He was a fine man, not too hard on the eyes and with plenty going for him. He had money, good friends, and the kind of life most people dreamed of. Unfortunately for him he met a tempestuous girl, which is just a fancy way of saying he came across a horrible human fireball. Unfortunately, before the girl could realize what a great man he was, the boy made a silly mistake that would cost him his life. He insulted her and thereby ignited the torturous fire within the girl.

He really hadn't meant to. It was just a stupid mistake.


Alex is a fine name; short for Alexander in most cases, but in Alex Crink's case that was not so. Alex was short for nothing and Alex liked it that way. He had never cared for round-about nor fluctuating paths. He didn't like frou-frou or fluff. Alex Crink liked simplicity. He reveled in predictability. He knew exactly where his life was going and, for the majority of the time, he took comfort in that fact.

But Alex Crink was only human. He had his ups and his downs. He had days where he forgot what he wanted out of his life. He had days where he hated every moment and wished he was someone else. Like all humans, he wavered and made errors, then tried desperately to get back on his path. He hated those days where time just seemed to stand still, and everything he did felt irrevocably wrong.

Unfortunately for Alex Crink, today just happened to be one of those days. It was the third day in March; the first day of spring and the sun made its first spring time appearance to the joy and wonder of all the occupants of New York City. Well… maybe not all; for Alex Crink was stuck inside his ample Manhattan apartment staring into the Barbie doll face of his soon to be ex-girlfriend.

"What do you mean you're breaking up with me?" the girl asked Alex shrilly her plastic face melting away to reveal the witch that lived just beneath the surface. Alex had vivid flashbacks to eighth grade where he'd melted his baby sister's entire Barbie doll collection.

Alex shrugged and tried not to back down. He had to remember not to visibly waver. Kim, the soon to be ex, was a true demon; no need to show her any signs of weakness or else she'd attack. "I mean, it's over, Kim. Did you really not see this coming?" With great effort he kept his face passive. It wasn't that he was intentionally trying to hurt her; it's just with Kim, if any question had been left on the status of their relationship, she'd use it to her advantage and weasel back in.

"Of course I didn't!" she shouted shrilly at his bored face. Kim and Alex had one of those horrible on-again off-again relationships. It'd been almost three years since they'd first started dating; they'd been together for about half that time. Alex was a bit sick of it. Today's break-up would tally up with the other eight "break-ups" for a grand total of nine.

Alex rolled his eyes at her. If anyone could actually see Kim they'd think that Alex Crink was insane. Kim was stunning. She had a perfect curtain of blond hair that she kept ram-rod straight. She had round baby-blues, pouty pink lips and a picturesque body. She was the epitome of everything Alex had dreamed about back in his nerdy high school days, but Alex had since learned that dreams are never as good in real life.

"Kim," he replied in exasperation, trying to mask his ambivalence. "Can't we just end this and walk away with some final shreds of dignity? I'm tired of carrying you around like arm candy. I'm tired of watching you flirt with every man that crosses your path. And, most of all, I'm tired of funding your jobless, expensive lifestyle."

Kim was almost panicking, but Kim was a fighter. She shot Alex a sultry smile and leaned closer to him on his sticky leather sofa. She pressed a passionate kiss to his lips, but Alex was unresponsive. He quickly pushed her away; she'd used that tactic far too many times for him to still fall for it. "C'mon baby," she purred, grabbing his hand as he leapt off the sofa.

But Alex was far too frustrated and far too moody to fall for that today. "No, you c'mon, Kim. Why are we still together? You don't even like me."

Kim dropped the seductress act and glared at him as she crossed her arms. "So?" she asked with pierced lips.

Alex's face filled with disbelief. "'So?' Are you kidding me?"

"God Alex, be realistic for once in your life," she replied finally standing from the sofa and confronting him. "I was never in it for the love. You weren't either. I wanted the cash. You wanted the sex and arm candy."

Alex shook his head slowly, not backing down to her commanding resolution. "There's more to life than that, Kimmy." She winced at the nickname. He had long since passed his yielding phase and, to be honest, Kim hated that. Alex was like a lost little puppy dog when they'd first met. He'd still had traces of his awkward past left all over him and had only recently discovered the pleasures that money could afford. Alex had been her pawn, but now he would challenge her. The last thing Kim wanted was a challenge.

"Still the hopeless optimist, I see," she sneered back, acquiescing and grabbing her Michael Kors coat off Alex's artistic recliner. The Alex boat had sailed, although she doubted it would sail for long, and Kim wasn't so sure she wanted passage to the new world. "I give it another six months before you're just as jaded as the rest of us." She grabbed her Prada from his liquor bar and strode to the door, her Jimmy Choos digging holes in his hardwood floor. It would be over for now, just as it had been "over" in the past.

"Uh-huh. Okay, Kimmy. Watch out for the door," he sang, finally abandoning his placid expression for a mocking grin. She cocked her head to the side and sneered, seconds away from a biting reply when he slammed the door in her face.

Kim glared holes in the hardwood. Like it would ever be over…


"So?" Tanner questioned his best friend, desperate to hear tales of the latest torn romance, not that he considered Alex and Kim anything even closely related to romance. Kim wasn't the romantic type, but Tanner was, and his suppressed romantic side was begging for tales of his best friend's woes; nothing like stories of heartbreak over a couple of hot dogs to remind a guy what life is all about.

Alex shrugged and swallowed. "Not much to tell, it's just over," Alex replied simply. He wasn't much of a story teller, no elaborate metaphors or adjectives. Things were how they were to Alex, no need for embellishment. "Let's just hope it's for the last time."

Tanner nodded his assurance eagerly back. "Trust me, no one wanted you to ditch her more than me," he replied. "I still maintain that it was no accident that Jester 'jumped' off my balcony with only her witnessing it."

Alex laughed. He had a nice laugh, a genuine laugh that no sane person could witness and not feel the sincerity of. "You still claiming she threw your dog off your balcony? That was almost two years ago."

Tanner smiled. Alex's happiness was more that genuine, it was contagious. When Alex was in that mood everyone around him was in that glowing mood. "If you let sleeping dogs lie, they could wake up and bite you at any moment." Tanner had a tendency to take accepted idioms and turn them upside down. Alex thought it was funny that Tanner hadn't even realized he did this; it was a characteristic he'd inherited from his self-righteous, southern mother.

Tanner and Alex had been best friends since their freshman year at Brown. Alex was a lawyer's son from Maryland that had finally discovered during those early Brown days that he didn't have to wear his glasses that were as thick as plate glass windows and that with a little hair gel and a lot of eyebrow plucking he could look absolutely nothing like he had in high school. Tanner was a southern boy from the middle of nowhere that got stuck smack dab in the middle of Providence, Rhode Island with dreams of becoming the nation's greatest architect. They were the most unlikely of friends, but, like most great relationships, they were friends against the odds.

They'd been with each other through thick and thin and everything in between. Alex was right beside him for Tanner's 21st birthday and even made sure his drunken best friend got home okay. Tanner was there through Alex's startup of his internet company after all his life Alex had been made fun of as a techie. Alex, as best man of course, endured Tanner's first marriage to the deceitful Katie, and was even more supportive through Tanner's heartbreaking divorce a mere nine months later. And finally, and most surprising of them all, their friendship even managed to survive three years of Kim, and that says something.

It had been a trying couple of months for their friendship, as Alex put all of himself into Kim, so consumed on finally making his relationship work. Kim was insanely possessive and made absolutely sure to pit friend against friend for nothing but her own amusement. Finally, after four grueling months, Alex saw that he was only kidding himself trying to be with Kim, and Tanner was more than supportive of such a realization. Tanner loathed Kim to her very core, but it spoke volumes of his loyalty to his friend that he never forced Alex to end it.

"So what would you like to do now that you're free of the Evil One's clutches?" Tanner asked with a suggestive grin. It was possible that Tanner had a thing for dancers and had been begging Alex to be his wing man.

Alex shrugged and looked around him. It'd been a long time since he hadn't had to worry about Kim and it felt good to be free. He wanted to clear his head, like he hadn't done since college. He was a bit tired of the city, it moved so fast sometimes. "How about some peace and quiet? How about we just get away for a bit?"

Tanner's eyebrows shot up. An adventure outside of the city sounded perfect to him, he was born a small town boy and had never fully acclimated to the fast paced city life. "Did you have something in mind?" he asked, already knowing full well the perfect place to take Alex, a place so far gone Alex would think it was a whole other planet.

"Paris maybe?" Alex suggested. "I haven't been in a while."

Tanner made a disgusted face. "Too much trouble to put up with that whole language barrier, but I think I know just the place."

Alex eyed him suspiciously. "You know that Queens doesn't count as a vacation, right?"

Tanner mingled a smile and a mischievous grin, and Alex suddenly found himself very afraid. Last time his best friend had gotten a look like that Alex had woken the next morning stark naked on a fishing boat with a butterfly tattoo.


Kill the Moonlight, Stab the Sun

Friday, March 4

Mood: Relieved

Music: Dancing in the Moonlight; Toploader

I'm at rest stop on I-20. I've been driving for the past six hours and you all may think I'm crazy, but I'm determined to get home. I know what you're thinking: "But I thought Andy Holly had no home! I thought she was a lost soul that would endlessly roam the earth until her own doomsday!"

Well, I'm not going to argue. On a technicality, I could say that I don't have a niche, but I do have a home. Yes, believe it or not the small town of Selma, Alabama is the hole in the ground from which I've climbed out of.

I have absolutely no clue why I'm so driven to get back. Maybe I just have a bad feeling about what might happen there. Like maybe there's something I'm supposed to be there for. You know how reliant I am on my feelings. Plus, deep down inside I miss my family. I have a twin sister, did you even know that? Her name is Claire and she's my best friend in the world, but so damn rooted that I never get to see her. I would beg her to visit me, but Claire's not much for the road and I have no home for her to stay at. So I don't see her but every three months when I get the urge to breeze through Selma before I pick my next destination.

So it'll be home, for now. Maybe in another week, or even five minutes, I'll have changed my mind and who knows where I'll end up then. There are some things that are just too far out of our control…

Coming to a town near you,

Andy Holly


The flight from New York, LaGuardia to the small airport of Montgomery, Alabama is a mere two hour trek, but within those two hours Alex found himself transported to a world completely beyond his scope. This was a world in which Tim McGraw was the rest of the nation's Puff Daddy. This was a place where an old Ford pick-up was customary to life and sub ways were completely unheard of.

To make things worse, Montgomery wasn't even their final destination. No, it got even worse than that, if such a feat was possible. For after they exited their tiny little aircraft and made it out of the airport, a task that only required five minutes, Tanner rented them a car and drove Alex another hour out of town to a tiny little blotch on the map called Selma, Alabama.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" Alex asked as he watched the tree lined road, US-80, in disbelief. There'd been recent fires in the area and the wilderness now more closely resembled a wasteland. Alex could have sworn that barren land more closely resembled the terrain of Mars.

Tanner chuckled and turned to his best friend. "I thought you'd be a bit shocked. We ain't in Jersey anymore, eh?"

"This is definitely not Jersey," he muttered against the window, trying not to wince. "And I can't believe you just said," he hesitated over the word, "'aint.'"

Tanner laughed again. "You're in Bama country now, son. Best be gettin' used to the talk." Tanner was laying it on think. Alex was now trying to suppress his fears that his best friend was in fact a Martian.

"At times like these, I wonder why we're friends." Alex was smiling as he pulled his head away from the glass. "What kind of friend would drag his best friend out to the middle of nowhere?"

"The kind that still talks to you when you wear those damn goggles you call glasses. And this is my hometown. I resent the insults." Alex tried not to wince. He hated when Tanner brought up his less refined characteristics. It wasn't his fault he had such bad eyesight.

Alex turned back to the window. There was absolutely nothing to look at out there. With nothing to distract him it wasn't long before he drifted into a light sleep. It only felt like moments later that a high-pitched squeal of delight woke him up.

"Tanner!" A heavy female accent rang through Alex's ears. Tanner's mother was practically pulling him from the car and Alex's hazy sleep was quickly pushed out of mind. "Boy, le'mme get a look at you. Aw you city boy! You got New York written all o'er you, I say." That was Mrs. Daniels for you. She was the epitome of a southern mother, equipped with a southern accent, an award winning pie recipe, and the gushing southern hospitality that would get a person killed in New York. "And Alex! Ew-wee boy. I ain't seen you in at least two years. Hank! Hank? Come see your son!" she shouted in the direction of the family barn, but she had Alex wrapped in a headlock and her voice practically caused him to go temporarily deaf.

"It's good to see you, Mrs. Daniels," he replied politely as she finally released him and he rubbed his neck, which was still tender from sleeping against a car window.

Alex looked up to the house for the first time. It was like something out of a picture. Alex had always known the Daniels to be one of those wealthy southern families that still lived on their family plantations that pre-dated the Civil War, but this was to an extreme and seeing the establishment for the first time was a bit shocking to him. The building was picturesque, with a white picket fence and a cobblestone walkway adorning. It was damn big too, and this coming from a kid who grew up in a New England Victorian. As Alex pulled his eyes away from the entrapping building Tanner was pulling bags out of the trunk of their shiny rental. The little car seemed so out of place; it was just too new.

"Did I hear someone mention my son?" Hank Daniels asked loudly as he popped out of their brilliant red barn, pulling off his gloves that were dyed black from some sort of grease.

"Hey pop," Tanner said grinning at his father as his "pop" wrestled his son into a headlock of his own and Alex tried to ignore the use of the word "pop."

"You been working on that tractor again?" Mrs. Daniels asked shrilly as she popped her husband on the arm. Hank dropped his son's embrace and cocked a grin at his wife. Tanner stepped away from their exchange with black grease spots on his Polo shirt, and grabbed his bags once again. "I told you that thing's as dead as a turkey on thanksgiving. You best be getting' rid of it and lookin' for a new one come harvest."

Harvest? They literally farmed down here, but that wasn't where they got their money from. Hank's father accidentally stumbled into fortune when he invested the last of his family's money into a lowly company, called Mars Bars, which skyrocketed to a multi-billion dollar franchise. Now they were the wealthiest family in the state of Alabama, or so Alex guessed, not understanding the concept of southern money.

"I'll fix it!" Hank replied, holding up his arms in a defensive surrender, his gloves flopping in his left hand, as Mrs. Daniels popped his arm again. "I tell ye'h, it'll get fixed, woman."

Woman. This place was so foreign to Alex. You spoke to a girl in New York like that and you were automatically a chauvinistic pig. He was pretty sure the term was no longer politically correct.

"You bes'! If come fall that still ain't fixed I'll give you a wallopin' you'll never forget," she hollered. "Now go say hello to Alex," she commanded in the same tone.

"Hey there Alex. Ain't seen you in ages." Hank walked over to the young man, appraising him in the same manner that Alex curiously examined the man's grease stained face, shirt and hands. "You city boys is much too thin, now aren't ye'h? We'll have to fix that." He grinned at Alex, picked up his bag before he could protest, and began to lead him inside where Mrs. Daniels had just bustled off to. "You still with that one girl? That Kam girly?"

"Kim?" Alex asked still trying to decipher what Mr. Daniels had said. "No. We just broke up actually."

"That's a real shame," Hank said as he swung Alex into their comfortable house. It was a blur of color. Unlike his own apartment back home, the Daniel's house was a flurry of color and objects. They obviously didn't care if people saw everything, whereas in New York everyone wanted their apartments to appear as if no one actually lived there. "Well there ain't nothin' like a little southern comfort to mend a broken heart! You want quiet, we got plenty of that. You want distractions, we got that too."

"I think I'd like a little of both actually," Alex replied.

"Great!" Hank interrupted excitedly before Alex could say anything more. "A man of my own heart; well you came to the right place."

Alex was still pretty sure the right place would have been the French Riviera, but he didn't say that.


Alex was still trying to find the TV an hour later when Tanner found him poking around an anonymous bedroom. "Dude, what're you doing in my sister's bedroom?" Tanner asked, eyeing him wearily from the doorway.

"This is Stella's? I thought it was where porcelain dolls went to die," he replied sarcastically and gestured around the room to the dolls on every available surface and the lacy, pinkness of the room. He hadn't known that real girls could stand so much… girliness.

Tanner laughed appreciatively and gestured for Alex to get out. "You better not let my mom or Stella hear you say that or else you'll never hear the end of it. Apparently doll collecting is acceptable 'round here."

Alex scoffed and hopped out of the room. "Au contraire, doll collecting is acceptable in no culture unless you're six."

"Well to Stella and Ma, that's about as good as it gets."

"So?" Alex asked slowly. "What's there to do around here?"

Tanner shrugged. "Well Pa wanted to know if you wanted to go fishing tonight. He has this theory that fish like to have dinner 'round dusk, so that's the best time to catch them."

Alex snorted. He could have sworn Tanner was joking. It took him several moments to discern that he was in fact perfectly serious. "And what do we do until then?" Alex asked once he'd regained his composure.

"Well I got some people I have to go see. You should come meet some of the locals with me," Tanner suggested. Alex conjured up images of buck-toothed, inbreeding families that always kept their shotguns within reach. His reluctance was evident immediately. "Oh c'mon," Tanner pleaded. "We're just gonna go see Claire and the Hollys."

"You want to go see your ex?" Alex asked eyeing him oddly. Maybe he was a Martian. No respectable man would purposely go see his old high school girlfriend. "What kind of place is this?"

Tanner shrugged. "You've obviously never met the Hollys. They're a very respectable family here. They're known for Mrs. Holly's famous jam and having three of the most attractive daughters in all of Alabama. One of which just happens to be my ex, but what can I say? 'All my exes live in Texas.'"

Alex was a bit confused. He was pretty sure Tanner had never dated a girl from Texas. "They do?" he asked ignorantly as he followed Tanner down the stairs.

Tanner stopped on his step and turned to his best friend, his eyes glowing in mirth. "Oh, you did not just say that. Not recognizing a George Strait song," he continued shaking is head sadly, "that a capital offense around here, Alex." He started back down the stairs again. "You better hope that Andy isn't around. Boy, she'd have a field day with you."

Alex shrugged and continued to follow Tanner. He still wasn't sure what Texas had to do with the matter.


About ten minutes down the road was where the Hollys, lived. Alex was still a bit floored that it could take so long just to get to the nearest neighbor. You never had that problem where he came from. Man, you could scream for days out there on the Daniels' farm and no one would be the wiser. They must have an unusually high murder rate.

The Holly's house was a quaint little house on the edge of town that backed up against an untamed forest with a hand-painted sign out front that cleverly dubbed the place "Holly-wood." They had a customary rusted pick-up and a beat up yellow bug in their driveway, which Tanner parked behind before he eagerly jumped out of their rental. "Do I look alright?" he asked anxiously as he licked his fingers and used the moisture to settle a stray piece of hair.

Alex laughed; once again he falsely thought his best friend was kidding. "What's it matter?"

Tanner shot him a dubious look. "Claire Holly is the prettiest girl I've seen in my entire life, and that includes our model friends. She's got this whole girl-next-door wholesomeness about her that makes you want to throw her over your shoulder, take her on home with you, and corrupt her until the sun comes up."

Alex shot his best friend yet another doubtful look. Wholesome didn't sound sexy to him at all. He much preferred flat out sexy.

"Her sister's aren't that bad either," Tanner added with a flicker of his eyebrows and a quick suggestive smile. "I'd say Andy's more your type, but it don't look like she's here."

Alex thought Tanner was a bit naïve to think that Alex would find anyone his type in a place like this, and there was no way this Claire girl could be that attractive. Plus how did Tanner know Andy wasn't there? Did he have her car memorized or something?

Tanner nervously stepped onto the Holly's "Welcome" mat and laughed when he saw the byline someone had tacked onto the bottom of the mat in black sharpie. It now, quite cleverly, read: "Welcome to hell!" Tanner followed Alex's eye line to the mat. "That'll be from-" he began but was cut off when the door swung open and a plump older lady squealed in delight. "Tanner? Why I hardly believe my eyes!"

Five seconds later a gorgeous blond in a flowery sundress raced up to the door, slightly breathless. "Why Claire! Look who's here!"

"Momma you almost gave me a heart attack with all that hollerin'. I thought you'd gone and fainted again," Claire rambled as she peered around the door and immediately her delicate face lit up. "Tanner!" she whispered in disbelief.

"See I knew you just be out of your head," the lady, who was obviously Mrs. Holly, bustled as she moved out of the way and whirled her hand for them to come inside. "And lookey here! Tanner's brought himself a friend!"

"Yes ma'am," Tanner uttered politely as he bowed his head a bit for respect and Alex tried not to stare as the gorgeous blond, Claire, blushed sweetly. Alex hadn't believed it, but there was undeniable proof right there in front of his eyes; Claire Holly most definitely lived up to her reputation. "This is my friend Alex. He's a bit shy."

Alex scowled. Few people had ever described Alex as shy, but he immediately understood why his friend had labeled him as such; compared to these people, even domineering Kim looked shy and docile.

"Well that just won't do, honey. We'll just have to coax you out of your shell." Mrs. Holly continued to speak almost nonstop as she led Alex by the arm to a chair at their kitchen table. "Now would you like some jam? I got raspberry. Oh what am I sayin'? No one says no to raspberry jam!"

"Mmm-hmm," Tanner agreed as he too took a chair at the kitchen table, and Claire gracefully fell into a chair of her own.

"Now would you like toast or a biscuit?" Mrs. Holly asked quickly. Alex hesitated a few moments trying to decipher what she'd said, but at that point Mrs. Holly had no need for his reply and vowed to get him one of each.

"You just missed Carolynn," Claire said gently to Tanner. "She'll be real upset too. She's been dyin' to see you for years now."

Tanner blushed slightly and smiled at the girl. Alex couldn't tell if Tanner was happy or mesmerized by the look he was giving Claire. Alex hadn't seen Tanner so enamored since before he'd found out about Katie's affair.

"Oh, Carolynn's been dyin' to see Tanner, even before he skipped town. She's been jelly-legged for Tanner since that girl could talk," Mrs. Holly continued as she dropped a biscuit in front of Alex and Tanner followed closely by a small jar of jam that was laid in the middle of the table then hurried off to put some toast in the oven. "Why if she weren't married, I'd be worried she'd make a move on you Tanner dear."

Tanner's blush quickly subsided and he looked up at Claire silently asking her a question as Alex vowed to later ask him what exactly "jelly-legged" meant.

"Oh that's right!" Claire exclaimed recognizing Tanner's puzzlement. "You weren't around for the weddin'! I forgot that anyone could not know, the way Carolynn made such a fuss about it."

"Who's she married to?" Tanner asked as he chomped away on his biscuit after covering it in hefty amounts of the odd colored jam.

"Ben from down the lane," Mrs. Holly said as she hustled back to the table and dropped the toast onto each of their plates as well. "He's a sweet boy, works so hard to provide for my little girl." Alex had no clue who "Ben from down the lane" was, but it didn't sound like this Carolynn girl had set her sights too far in life if she'd only made it down the lane. Mrs. Holly finally stopped rushing around the kitchen and dropped into a seat beside Alex. "I just had an awfully smart idea!" Mrs. Holly exclaimed in delight, but based on her vernacular and grammatically incorrect phrasing, Alex seriously doubted it. "We should have a little party for your homecoming; just a little get-together so that you can get reacquainted with everyone!"

"That'd be real nice ma'am," Tanner agreed readily. "I was just wonderin' how I was going to introduce Alex to everyone." Alex tried not to wince at such an idea, if he couldn't follow a conversation with just three other people; he wasn't sure how he'd fare against a whole town of them. He also tried to ignore how Tanner's accent was growing stronger with every sentence. You can take the boy out of the south, but you can't take the south out of the boy.

Mrs. Holly smiled excitedly. Obviously the woman was bored and in need of something to occupy her time. "It's just a shame Andy won't be 'round for it?"

"Where is Andy these days?" Tanner asked seeming genuinely curious.

"Hells bells, I don' think no one knows that!" Mrs. Holly yelled out seeming slightly frustrated by such an idea. "That girl don' tell her family nothin'."

Tanner laughed at the woman's outburst, but Claire supplied delicately, "'Bout a month ago she called. She was headin' to either Dallas or New Orleans. She hadn't decided which."

Tanner whistled. "That's quite a choice. Not quite the same type of places, are they? Do you know which she chose?"

Claire shrugged helplessly and her mother butted in yet again. "Chose? Who's to say she did? That girl never made a decision in her life and I be damned if she'd started now!"

"What brings you two to town anyway?" Claire asked changing the subject, her eyes obviously glued to Tanner. Apparently she really liked his new "city boy" look.

Tanner patted him hard against the back. "Oh just tryin' to get Alex here over a fresh break-up."

"Needin' a bit of rebound sex, eh son?" Mrs. Holly asked simply.

"Momma!" Claire hissed in embarrassment, Alex felt his eyes grow wide in shock, and Tanner tried not to choke on his biscuit. That was a bit brash, even when talking to a "city boy."

But Mrs. Holly ignored all three of them and instead chose to fret about Alex's untouched food. "Try it with some jam," she prodded. "Or do you prefer marmalade? I have more flavors if you like. We got peach, strawberry, my famous mango-"

"That's all right, Mrs. Holly," Alex interrupted, thinking that her list could go on for days at that rate. "I'm just not hungry."

"Oh," she replied, sounding almost hurt then dropped her shoulders pathetically.

There was a short awkward silence that Tanner eventually broke with a cough. "Would it be all right if we hung around and watched a bit of TV? Ours is on the fritz and I think Alex would like a little prime time lovin'."

Claire smiled slightly and nodded. "It's right in the den," she said softly and led the two boys to a small room filled almost to the brim with homemade pillows of every color. She turned on the TV and flicked through the channels until she came to a stop on an old Fiends rerun.

Finally, Alex thought relieved, a little bit of home.


It was about twenty minutes later, when the show ended, that Alex finally realized he was sitting in a stranger's den all by himself. It turns out Tanner and Claire had left for a walk almost ten minutes before without him even noticing. He was a bit miffed by such an action and quickly left in a huff to go find Tanner.

He felt a bit weird looking through a person's house without their supervision and quickly stepped outside, hoping that they'd gone for an outdoor walk, like they indeed had, and that he'd discover them without poking through a strange house. He quickly located a pair of white Nikes sticking out from under the rusty blue truck and assumed them to be Tanner's.

"Did that old bag trick you into fixing her cars now as well, Tanner?" he asked the sneakers. "Or are you just trying to seek refuge from her incessant ramblings?" The owner of the sneakers didn't respond, but Alex continued on without a doubt. "Are you still mad at me for doubting you about the Holly girls? Ok, Claire lived up to her reputation, I'll grant you that, but there is absolutely no way the other two are as pretty as you say. I mean one married the boy down the lane and the other is off rattling her way across America. What is she, in the circus or something?"

Suddenly, the white sneakers moved. They pressed their soles firmly against the ground and pushed off sending the owner of the sneakers sliding out from under the truck. There lay a girl upon a dolly with flowing brown hair splayed all around her and round, brown eyes that peered up at him from a sea of scattered freckles.

Alex blinked down at the girl in shock for several long seconds, before the girl smiled knowingly and spoke. "Well, hi there!" a heavily accented voice spoke as the girl stood up and offered Alex her hand. "I'm Andy."


I told you guys to expect a chaper pretty soon. I've been dying to post this for a very ong time now, but, as you can see, it has very long chapters so updates may be a bit difficult to come by. I'm just laying that out there...

Sometimes I read this and think it's a bit too Southern. Like maybe you won't understand that "All My Exes Live in Texas" is a legendary George Strait song (my favorite country artist, as you will soon see. I use his music a lot!) and have absolutely no clue what "Fishin' in the Dark" is all about. Well it's nothing a little internet research cant fix. Look up some of these songs and listen to them. They're all of my favorites and I'm, by no means, a country music fanatic. I do love George Strait though and if you at all enjoy country music I suggest you listen to some of these songs (if you don't know them already. I 'm sure at least some of you will.)

Also, I'm quite sorry about the typos. You're right, I do need a Beta because I'm a dyslexic with clumsy fingers. When I read it I still read what's in my head and not necessarily what I put on the screen. I'm too close to the project to edit it. (Plus I'm one o those people that only read the first and last letter, leaving the rest in my head) When I read things later I look at it and think I must be such an idiot to let that slide through. I'm really sorry. I'm planning to get some serious editing done. If it really bothers anyone to the point that they cant concentrate on the story line, I'm willing to accept Beta volunteers.

Ok I'm done boring you to death now. So do you like Alex? He's my favorite Darcy I've created.