Title: When Lightning Strikes (The Thunder Rolls) Chapter 2
Author: Romantique
Email: dolph1n
Classification: Rayna Jaymes
Rating: T for language (but no worse than the show)
Summary: This is a fantasy fic. (I'll let on I what mean when the time is right.) It starts after the airing of "You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)," but before the not yet aired "Lovesick Blues."
Disclaimer: This fic is based on nothing but my imagination.
Legal: These characters do not belong to me. I'm just a fan and have not made a dime. Please email me to obtain permission to post.
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Once they reached the car, Lucas opened the door to the SUV for Rayna. She thought perhaps he was being a gentleman because she was wearing an evening gown. He soon joined her on the passenger side after placing a duffle bag on the back seat. Rayna quickly pointed out the buttons on the door so that he could adjust the seat back further, giving the tall gentleman some more leg room.
She couldn't help but notice how good he smelled when she released the parking brake and took off towards the expressway. It was a clean, woodsy fragrance … that of a man's man.
"So, you were my husband's college roommate?" she asked, breaking the awkward silence in the car. "Then, how come I'm only now meeting you for the first time?"
Holding his hat on his lap, sitting stiffly upright, as if he was at 'attention,' Lucas answered while staring straight ahead at the road, "Well, it's probably because I've been overseas for most of the past 20 years."
Rayna thought for a moment and suddenly remembered his name from their wedding invitation list. "We invited you to our wedding, didn't we?"
"You did," he nodded. "Again, I wasn't Stateside and regretfully could not attend."
"But you did send a gift," she recalled. "A really nice bar set from the United Kingdom."
"I hope it was okay," he said. "I wasn't sure what to send."
"Oh, it's a lovely set," she gushed. "We still have it."
"And you thoughtfully sent US Savings Bonds for each of our girls when they were born," she smiled.
It was all coming back to her. And then, she noted that he was a strikingly handsome figure of a man.
"Yes, Ma'am," he almost dutifully nodded.
She glanced over at the modest, decorated military man.
"Thank you, in person," she smiled.
"You're welcome, he nodded with a tight-lipped smile of his own.
After another awkward silence, she asked, "Tell me, what brings you to Music City?"
"Conferences," he answered, still looking straight ahead.
His answers were short, concise. He had such a nice profile, Rayna noted. A perfectly straight nose, strong jaw line and bone structure, and a nice head of dark hair that was cut very short along the neck and around the ears. He even had noticeably well-shaped, well-proportioned ears.
"Yeah?" she took a breath, trying to make herself relax. "What kind of conferences?"
He finally looked over at her and said, "It's classified, Ma'am."
"Ohhhhhh," she looked at him, receiving a rather stern look. "I'm so sorry. I was just trying' to make conversation."
She sounded embarrassed.
"That's quite alright, "Ma'am," he responded.
"Lucas," she said. "If you're going to stay at my house, you're going to have to call me Rayna," she sounded insistent.
"I can do that," he nodded. "Thank you. And thank you for allowing me to stay at your home. I was hoping to get to spend some time with Teddy, but with his campaign and all ... with what is going on ... we'll see."
Rayna's tone changed. "Teddy told me that he told you about the trouble he's having with the Press?" she gently prodded.
"He told me about some compromising photographs that are going the published in the big Nashville newspaper," he responded.
"Yeah, the shit is about to hit the fan," she said with a heavy exhale, satisfied that he did, indeed, know about the pictures. As an afterthought, she added, "Excuse my French."
Lucas looked over and gave a little smile for the first time since she'd met him. It was a nice smile, a genuine smile.
"Sounds like the title of a good country song," he said.
"Which one?" she smiled back. "'Shit is About to Hit the Fan'? Or 'Excuse My French'?"
"Either one," he chuckled to himself.
She chuckled, as well. It was the first time she'd let out a laugh, in days.
"Do you sing?" Rayna asked him.
"Oh, God, no," he shook his head. "I can't carry a tune to save my soul."
"Reason I ask is, your speaking voice is really nice, almost soothing," she looked over at him.
"I did some radio when I was younger, coming up through the military ranks," he shared. "I was told I could probably make a living doing commercial work with voice recordings, but my career took a different path."
"I know I sure would like to thank you for your service, Colonel," she said, thinking what she had said about his voice sounded silly. "Our men in uniform, you all are the best."
"Thank you for that, Rayna," he nodded his head.
"Are you married? Have a family?" she continued to avoid that awkward silence.
"I was married for fifteen years," he said. "Have a daughter who just started college last September. I lost my wife to breast cancer, four years ago."
Not expecting that answer, Rayna said, "I am so sorry for your loss. And I'm sorry to bring it up. I didn't know."
"It's alright," he said. "Talking about her reminds me that she was here. And she was."
Rayna could hear the love in his voice for her.
"Do you like to talk about her?" she asked, treading lightly.
"At times," he answered. "Her name was Melinda. I met her when I was at the Academy. She was an art student attending the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. We sure were an unlikely pair."
An almost wistful look came over his face.
"Can you tell me some more about your daughter?" she continued to gently pry. "Is she an only child?"
"Yes, Nicole, is an only child," he answered.
And for the first time, he shifted his weight in the seat. "She's a lot like her mother. Artistic, sensitive. The last couple of years have been really tough on her. If it hadn't been for my sister stepping in while I was traveling, I don't know what we would have done."
Not knowing what to say, Rayna went with the first thing that popped into her head.
"It's wonderful when family can be there to help, circle the wagons during a tragedy," she remarked.
Lucas smiled and looked over at her.
"That's an old military term, you know," he nodded to make his point.
After a beat, she said, "Yes, I suppose it is. I'm so sorry to be peppering you with all these questions. I suppose I'm just trying to get my mind off the release of those pictures tomorrow. You're arrival has been a nice distraction," she confided. "To be fair, if there's anything you want to know about us, ask away."
"Teddy emails me pretty regularly," he informed her, "keeps me up on things going on with him and in the Conrad home."
This was also news to her. She suddenly felt as if she was at an informational disadvantage. Teddy never spoke much of his old college roommate. All she knew about him was that Lucas Redmond was an old college friend of his who was in the military.
"He asked if I could stop by for a drink yesterday when I emailed him that I would be in town, and that's when he told me ... everything," Lucas informed her. "About the real estate project that went under, the questionable loan, these pictures."
She was again surprised, but somehow relieved to know she wasn't the only one carrying this 'secret.'
"I advised Teddy to tell the truth," Lucas sounded sincere. "Because it could be worse, and lying to the Press will surely get him there."
Rayna slowly nodded. "That was some very sage advice."
"If I had a question, I guess it would be: How are you doing with all of this, Rayna?" he asked, very directly.
And for the first time since they'd met, he turned and carefully watched her face.
She tightened her lips and then, wetted them. Then, she took a hard swallow.
"To be honest, I don't know how I feel." She confessed, "I just found out about all of this only a few hours ago, right before the fundraiser tonight."
Now, it was the Colonel's turn to feel that maybe he'd asked a question he shouldn't have asked.
"I'm still at the part where I don't know whether or not I can believe Teddy," she confided. "About the affair."
"Trust and fidelity are the backbone of a marriage," he uttered. "Do you trust Teddy to tell you the truth?"
"Wow. You're questions are a lot tougher and to the point, than mine were," Rayna quasi-complained.
"Sorry," he shifted his weight, again. "It's my interrogation training."
"Oh," the information registered with her. "I'd like to learn some of those techniques," she tried to lower the sudden level of intensity by injecting a little humor.
It was the Southern way, to use humor when things got tense or tough. Then, she shifted her thoughts.
"I guess I don't know how much I can confide in you," she became more direct, herself. "I just met you, and I don't understand your relationship with my husband. I suppose that's an answer I need to give directly to Teddy."
"Yes, you should," unflappable, Lucas said, "but I can assure you I would never do anything to make your situation any worse than it already is. Anything you tell me would remain in the strictest confidence."
"Why, what are you? A priest or something?" Rayna fired from the hip. "If it's all the same to you, I just met you. You'd have to earn my trust."
There was little more of a hot pepper sauce to her last, stinging remark.
"Fair enough," the Colonel said, maintaining his level tone that held no emotional charge.
Her spicy and defensive tone, in stark contrast to his even tone, pretty much answered the Colonel's question.
(To be continued ... )
