Author's Note: Hey everyone! Thank you so much for the reviews and follows. I hope you are enjoying the story. It too me longer to get this chapter out, on account of work and writer's block. Unfortunately, I caught Covid, however, this did give me extra time to focus on writing.

Reviews always welcome and appreciated.

Chapter Three

Rayna

The soft glow of a lamp was the first thing she noticed when she got back to her suite. Worry gripped her. Had the girls woken up? Had they gone to wake her and realised she wasn't there. It was unusual but not out of the question for Daphne to wake her if she had had a nightmare. But then she noticed Tandy sitting on the plush chaise lounge, she looked over as Rayna clicked the door shut and she fixed her with an accusatory glare.

"Where have you been?" She hissed. Rayna took the hiss to mean the girls must still be sleeping.

"I couldn't sleep." Rayna whispered as if this provided an adequate explanation.

"So, you left the hotel room? Left the girls in the middle of the night?" Tandy stood and followed Rayna into her bedroom.

"It's not like I left them alone, you're here." Rayna pointed out.

"Yes, but where did you go? Why didn't you tell me?" Tandy seemed irritated by Rayna's night time absence and Rayna began to wonder exactly how long Tandy had been awake.

"Look, I didn't really have a plan. I couldn't sleep so I was just going to go for a walk…" She sort of trailed off, unsure whether or not to share the events of the past hour or so with Tandy. Tandy had never approved of Deacon, she was polite and civil to him in public, but she had never made an effort to hide her dislike behind closed doors. When Rayna and Deacon had first gotten together – or rather, stopped keeping their relationship a secret from Rayna's family, Tandy had constantly been on at Rayna about how Deacon wasn't a good match, sounding more and more like Lamar. She'd talk about how he wasn't from a respectable family, he wasn't brought up properly, he was too rough and he wouldn't be able to take care of Rayna or give her the life she wanted. Rayna had been quick to point out that she and Tandy wanted very different lives, and that hers didn't require a rich husband with a lifetime membership to the country club.

"You were going to go for walk? What did you actually do?" Tandy had taken a seat on Rayna's bed and eyed her suspiciously.

"Well, when I opened the door…I didn't invite him…he was already there." Rayna began to explain but Tandy had guessed what was coming.

"Of course, you were with Deacon." Tandy rolled her eyes dramatically before she continued.

"Hasn't he done enough damage for one lifetime? And doesn't he have a girlfriend now? That pretty little vet, what was her name? Tracy?"

"Stacey." Rayna muttered, before jumping to Deacon's defence.

"He hasn't done anything wrong Tandy, at least not recently." She pointed out.

"Yes, but he was also plastered across that magazine as one of the reasons for you and Teddy breaking up." Tandy reminded.

"That's not his fault, so was Liam – and it was all lies, you know nothing has happened with either of them whilst Teddy and I were together." Rayna had felt awful about the magazine, less for Liam, he wouldn't really care if people thought they'd slept together or not, he already had a bad boy image to perpetuate. But she'd felt awful for Deacon, being blamed for something that they'd both exercised self-restraint to avoid. She felt particularly guilty over the girls though, having to face rumours about their parents. Whilst Teddy was indeed in a new relationship, it seemed Rayna was a more interesting target for the media.

"Are you saying something happened with either of them after you split up with Teddy?" Tandy raised her well sculpted eyebrows in surprise. Rayna winced.

"I almost had a thing with Liam, just after Teddy and I split up." Rayna admitted.

"You almost had a thing?" Tandy was clearly intrigued. It seemed she still had some catching up to do.

"We just kissed a little bit, but that's not a thing." Rayna brushed it off.

"And Deacon?" Tandy pushed.

"No, I mean we talked tonight, about us, him and me." Rayna kept it vague, though she knew her sister wouldn't drop it.

"And? What about him and you?" Tandy's voice was becoming a little impatient.

"We both wanna see each other again, so we're gonna …he's breaking up with Stacey – like tomorrow." Rayna didn't see the point in dragging this out, Tandy always knew how to get her to cave.

"What? But what about the girls?" Tandy gasped, it was clear she wasn't exactly a fan of this development.

"Well, we're not gonna tell the girls right away. I mean they are still dealing with the divorce and so we're just gonna keep it quiet for now." Rayna's tone was cautious. She knew Tandy was fiercely protective of her, but this also extended to her daughters at times.

"Wouldn't it be easier just to have fling, get it out your system?" Tandy suggested.

"No Tandy, that isn't what we want!" Rayna scowled at her and continued.

"I'm going to sleep now. Goodnight." She said with finality, signally to her sister the conversation was over.

Deacon

Sleep still didn't come easily, or at all, once Deacon got back to his room. Stacey was still sleeping soundly, just as she had been when he had left. Lying next to her felt wrong though, like he wasn't supposed to be there, or she wasn't supposed to be there. He supposed in a way neither of them were. He strongly believed he should be sleeping beside Rayna, and felt excited that in the not too distant future, he would be. But at the same time, he knew that an awkward conversation with Stacey had to happen. Breaks up were never comfortable, even though he wasn't really sad to be breaking up with Stacey, it was still going to be uncomfortable, particularly after the stupid things he'd said about settling down in Nashville several hours earlier.

He wished he hadn't said those things. It was a stupid thing to say. He'd been feeling so determined to make things with Stacey work, that he thought by saying something that screamed commitment, it would somehow make it happen. The really stupid thing was, he was doing it to distract himself from Rayna. It hadn't worked at all, and since his most recent conversation with Rayna, it was now going to backfire. Stacey would no doubt be even more upset and shocked by his sudden change of heart than she would've been before.

By the time the sun began to rise, he'd decided he would give her the dog. Not that he expected that to make a huge difference, but Stacey was a lot better with the dog than he was and it was true, that the road was no place for a dog. He just hoped she didn't think he was trying to use the dog as a consolation prize.

The alarm went off and he felt Stacey begin to shift. He sat up ad swung his legs over the side of the bed before she woke up completely. Stacey had seemed to want to snuggle up to him in the mornings and it didn't feel right given what he was about to do.

He let her get showered and dressed before deciding to broach the subject.

"Wanna go get breakfast?" She asked brightly, dropping the towel she'd had been drying her hair with onto a chair.

"Stacey, I need to say something." He began. She stopped and sat down on the chair by the vanity table. She looked at him, her wide, doe-like eyes full of question.

"Um, this…us…it's not working." He said. He'd been more blunt than he'd expected to be, but he wasn't sure what else he could say.

"What? What do you mean?" Her face had creased into a frown, the corners of her eyes twisted in confusion.

"Stacey, I'm sorry, you're an amazing girl, but I just…it's not gonna work between us." He sighed, he didn't want to sound unfeeling, but he didn't want to draw it out any longer than necessary either.

"Are you…are you breaking up with me?" She asked him. Deacon looked back into her eyes that were beginning to shine a little, unsure what else to say, before Stacey continued.

"But all that stuff you said last night, about settling down. What about that?" Stacey's voice was beginning to waver. Deacon prayed she didn't start crying.

"I know, I'm sorry, but I was mistaken. That's not what I want." Deacon wanted to look away more than anything else in the world, but he knew that would seem cowardly, so he kept eye contact.

"Well fine, if you want to stay on the road, then stay on the road. I don't mind being on the road sometimes." She insisted.

"No Stacey, that's not it. You and me, we just ain't gonna work." He told her. Her face was a picture of crumpled confusion, until he saw a look of realisation cross her features.

"Is it because of Rayna? Is this about her?" Stacey asked, she was tearful but her tone had become a little more accusatory.

Deacon didn't say anything for a moment, but looked at the floor to avoid Stacey's eyes. It was all the answer she needed.

"Of course, it is, isn't it?, I should've known. You know, it was obvious from the moment I saw you two together. Are you ever gonna get over her?" Stacey sounded angry now, he understood why and he let her. There was no denying it. He wasn't over Rayna and he didn't want to be.

"I'm sorry Stacey – I honestly never meant to hurt you." Deacon said flatly.

"Then why did you?" Her voice was beginning to crack with sadness behind the anger.

"You should take the dog, he'll be a lot better off with you anyway." Deacon said nodding to the puppy.

"Yeah, you're damn right he will." Without another word, she grabbed her suitcase and the puppy's leash and left.

RAYNA

Rayna felt like she hadn't slept at all when she felt Tandy shaking her awake.

"Rayna, come on, you've got to get up, we've got to wake the girls, come on." She could hear Tandy talking but was having trouble making sense of what she was saying.

"Tandy, it's still dark out, go back to sleep." Rayna grumbled.

"No Rayna, we have to go, it's Daddy." Tandy hissed urgently.

"What? What about Daddy? Daddy's in Nashville." Rayna frowned in confusion and exhaustion. She glanced at the clock and realised she had probably only been asleep for maybe fifteen minutes.

"Daddy's in the hospital, we have to go back to Nashville. You wake the girls I'll pack up your things." Tandy whispered.

After soothing her sleepy daughters trying to reassure them that their grandfather would be just fine (she was hoping mostly for their sake that he would be), she left her hotel room and made the short journey to Juliette's suite to tell her what was going on. To her credit, Juliette was as understanding as Juliette could be expected to be and actually told Rayna to take the jet.

By the time the sun came up they were already in the air and it was at this point she realised she hadn't let Deacon know what was going on. She let out an audible sigh. Maddie looked up at her mother, her eyes wide with worry.

"Is Paw-paw gonna be okay?" Maddie asked. Daphne had more or less accepted Rayna's assurances that Lamar was going to be fine, but Maddie was less easy to convince.

"Yeah, I'm sure he'll be just fine. Aunt Tandy and I are gonna go see him when we get back and then as soon as he is ready for visitors your dad will bring you and your sister to come see him." Rayna smiled at her daughter, trying to sound confident and sure of herself.

"I'm just gonna get a drink sweetie, do you want anything?" Rayna got up and headed to the bar where Juleitte kept the refrigerator fully stocked, as Maddie shook her head.

She grabbed a bottle of water just as Tandy appeared next to her.

"What were you huffing about, just then?" Tandy asked narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"I forgot to tell Deacon what was going on." Rayna whispered so that Maddie and Daphne would not overhear.

"So? He'll find out one way or another." Tandy shrugged it off.

"Yeah, I know, but I didn't really want him to hear it from Juliette or someone. I just forgot to tell him in the rush." Rayna was worried Deacon would feel hurt after their conversation the night before, he would expect to be notified if she was leaving the tour (even if it was just temporarily).

"Oh Rayna, stop acting like you owe him something. This is about Daddy, why would he care?" Tandy snapped, whilst still keeping her voice to a whisper.

"It's not about owing him something, but he's breaking up with Stacey to be with me…and I'm not going to be there. He's gonna find out from Juliette – of all people." Rayna couldn't understand how Tandy didn't see why this was bothering her.

"Look there is nothing you can do about it now. Just sit down and try and relax until we get to Nashville, and you can deal with it from there." Tandy appeared to have given up trying to understand and opted to try and sooth instead.

By the time they touched down in Nashville Rayna was practically itching to take her phone off airplane mode and was surprised to find nothing from Deacon waiting for her. Knowing she couldn't call whilst still with the girls she stuffed her phone in her purse and got the girls organised as they got off the plane. Teddy had agreed to meet them at the airport and take the girls, so that Rayna and Tandy could head straight to the hospital. If there was one thing Teddy had always been, it was a good father.

She felt antsy in the car on the way to the hospital. She wasn't sure what to say to Deacon. She didn't have all the details herself. So, as the Nashville scenery sped past her, she fidgeted with her phone instead of calling or texting him.