It's been snowing all night, and Rayna realizes that if they had gotten here this morning instead of last night, she's not sure how they would have made it to the cabin.
She grabs her coffee mug and gets up from the kitchen table to go stand in front of the window. Everything outside looks so peaceful.
So quiet.
Deacon is quiet, too, but he's been like this for the last three weeks of the tour, since the night she told him about the article.
She had expected him to get mad. Instead, he'd just refused to talk about it. She would rather he had gotten mad, she would have known how to deal with it. But this Deacon, this withdrawn and brooding Deacon, she's not sure what to make of. After the tour had ended, she'd suggested they stop by the cabin for a few days instead of going straight back to Nashville.
"Does it always snow this much?" she asks, turning to Deacon who is still sitting at the kitchen table.
"Not always," he says. He is a man of very few words these days.
When she presses him for more info, she learns it's a guy named Bert who drives the town's snow plow, but since they aren't supposed to be here and no one knows they're back yet, Deacon doubts Bert will clear the road leading to the cabin. He says he needs to call him to see when he can do it, but they may be stuck for a day or two.
Rayna smiles.
She doesn't mind in the least.
—
Deacon has been outside for a good half hour, shoveling a path from the cabin to the lake. He went out right after breakfast, and she's not sure why he made it sound like it was such an urgent matter that it couldn't wait. The thought he may be trying to avoid her has crossed her mind.
She's getting a little tired of this game. This can't go on like this. They will have to talk about it at some point, and the sooner will be the better.
She grabs her boots and parka, puts mittens and a beanie on, and she heads outside to join Deacon.
The snow muffles the sound of her footsteps, and so he doesn't hear her approach. "Babe?" she calls.
He stops what he's doing and turns around. "Hey, baby."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Will you stay here?"
"What do you mean?"
"When I'll get back to Nashville, will you stay here?"
He looks baffled. "Of course not, what makes you think that?"
"Well, I don't know. You're in this dark mood all the time. You're not talking to me, you're not talking to anyone. It's hard to know what's going through your mind lately."
He's caught off guard, and so he stands still for a few seconds before he walks toward her, closing the distance between them – in more ways than one. "I'm sorry, baby," he says. "I'm really sorry. I'm so used to... shut off when things get bad." He leans down to kiss her then, his lips cold against hers at first, but soon getting much warmer.
When he pulls back, she looks up at him. "So you're not out here in order to avoid me?" she asks.
"No, of course not." He turns around, pointing a gloved finger at the lake. "It's frozen," he explains. "I was thinking once the road will be open again, we could go to town to find you skates."
"Oh. That's why you're..."
"...clearing a path from the cabin to the lake? Yes." He pauses as if something just occured to him. "You can skate, right?"
She chuckles. "Yeah, I can. And... it would be great."
"Good."
"Babe?"
"Yeah?"
"We still need to talk."
He sighs. "I know." There's a long pause. "But... first," he says, and she squeals as he shoves a handful of snow down her neck. "That's for thinking I might ever let you go."
"You're so going to pay for this."
He grins. "Oh, yeah?"
He doesn't have time to flee before she launches herself at him, and they both fall back in the snow, laughing. He ends up lying on his back with Rayna straddling him. She doesn't try to get her revenge, though, she just stares down at him.
"Ray?" he asks, puzzled.
"I've missed this."
"What, snowfights? Because if so, let me tell you you're not doing them right."
She chuckles. "No. I've missed you smiling."
—
"I wasn't so naive as to think my past would never resurface. I just thought I would have more time to... get myself known on my own terms. To have people judge me on my present, not my past."
They're sitting on the dock, their feet hanging just above the ice. She's freezing cold, and the wind doesn't help, but it seems to be the spot where Deacon has finally decided to confide in her, and so she doesn't want to ask him to move or do anything that might make him reconsider.
"No one will judge you on this stupid article, Deacon. Everyone loves you."
"It's just... I'm not used to having my life be exposed like this." He sighs. "I don't know how you do it. Dealing with the fame, the press, the strangers who think they're entitled to have an opinion on everything you do or say."
"Well, I'm not sure how good I am at dealing with it, let me remind you that the reason we met is because I had run from all this."
"Yeah, but those were extraordinary circumstances."
She looks down, the tip of her boot drawing a circle on the ice. "Are you... having second thoughts?"
"What? No, baby, no." He makes sure he's got her full attention. "Meeting you has been the best thing that ever happened to me. It's the happiest I've ever been. Being on stage with you, playing our songs, it's... the best feeling in the world. I don't have anything close to a second thought. But there are some aspects of this new life that... I'm going to need to learn how to cope with."
"I understand." She removes one mitten and reaches her hand out to brush snow off his stubble. "It's just... you need to talk to me. You can't shut me out like this."
"I know. And I won't again, I promise."
—
As they drive through the woods on their way to town, everything is covered in a thick blanket of white.
It looks so beautiful.
Almost surreal.
She loved this place in the summer, but now she thinks she might love it even more in the winter. In fact, after having spent the last two days stuck at the cabin with Deacon, she knows she loves it even more in the winter.
She must look as awestruck as she feels because she catches Deacon in the driver seat glancing at her and smiling. He reaches for her hand and laces his fingers with hers.
They're silent for the rest of the drive, but this one is the best kind of silence.
—
They called Beth earlier, and so after a stop at the rental shop for skates, they head to The Landslide.
Beth is already there, sitting at the bar, but it's Landon who spots them first. "Look who's here!"
Beth spins around and lets out a happy shriek before she jumps down her stool and rushes to them. She pulls Rayna in what may be the world record for the longest hug.
Landon gestures for them to sit at a table near the fireplace before he joins them with drinks. Rayna realizes she hadn't even noticed there was a fireplace in the summer.
Beth and Landon want to hear all about Nashville and the tour and Deacon's new life, and Rayna is content to listen to him enthusiastically talk about the last few months. There are anecdotes about that time the bus left without them after a stop at a gas station or that time everyone was convinced the hotel they were staying at was haunted.
They spend the afternoon catching up, laughing, talking about everything and nothing. As time goes by and the bar gets more and more crowded with locals, more friends stop by their table to chat.
It feels like being back home. A home Rayna didn't even know existed a year ago.
They don't notice when night falls or when it starts to snow again. It's only when they see people shake white powder off their coats as they walk in that they realize it would be wiser to drive back to the cabin before they get stuck here.
Landon, though, makes sure they don't leave until they've promised they will drop by again one evening to play a set of their new songs.
—
Power has been on and off since the middle of the afternoon, but Deacon doesn't seem too worried about it. He assures her it's pretty common at this time of year. He's got a generator in case it should last, but for now, they light a fire and place candles all around the living room.
They spend the evening curled up together on the couch, Deacon strumming on his guitar, and Rayna singing.
She's not sure exactly what prompts it, if it's something she says, but she can pinpoint the exact moment it happens. He's looking at her when his expression... transforms. Like he's come to some sort of realization.
"Gosh, this feels so right," he says.
He gets up without a word and disappears in the bedroom to come back out a few seconds later with a napkin in his hand.
"Babe?" she asks.
"I wrote something yesterday when we were at the bar."
She'd noticed him scribbling on a napkin at some point, but she hadn't paid too much attention to it. It's something he does all the time when he gets an idea he doesn't want to forget. She's even caught him writing on the back of a cereal box at the grocery store once.
"It's not even close to finished," he continues, "and I wanted to wait for the perfect place, for the perfect time, but there will never be a better place and a better time than here and now."
She's a bit confused. "What do you mean?" she asks.
He sits on the coffee table in front of her and grabs his guitar. He hands her the napkin as he begins to play.
There's no music, no confetti
Crowds don't cheer and bells don't ring
But you'll know it, I can guarantee
When the right one comes along
You think you know what you're looking for
Til what you're looking for finds you
When he's done, he puts the guitar back on the couch. He reaches inside his jeans pocket and gets a ring out.
Oh.
Oh.
That is what he'd meant.
Now it makes sense.
It makes sense, but she isn't any less stunned.
"I love you, Ray. I love you more than anything else in the whole world. Let's do this, baby, please. Marry me."
—
TBC