Hi everyone! Thank you for being patient with this one, I've been so busy! I went to see Taylor Swift two weeks ago and a few days after that I was in Nashville for a week. It hasn't been my first time there and I go way too often (it's the best city !) but this time I stumbled upon the building/set that they use for Highway 65 in the show! It's in downtown Nashville and I posted pictures on my Tumblr so check that out if you would like but omg I FREAKED!
I had an amazing time and I came back home with so much inspiration! Since it's my favorite place, I'm going to try and include locations and places in Nashville throughout this story. Like they say, write what you know! Haha, so I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
**I DO NOT OWN NASHVILLE OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS**
Cadence was awake early the next morning. As much as she wanted to sleep in, it was hard sleeping in a different bed and in a room she wasn't used to. She left the bedroom, headed down the stairs quietly, and into the kitchen.
The blonde started to open the cabinets in search of cereal, but no luck. Cadence then moved to the refrigerator and only found an almost empty bottle of water, butter, ketchup, and coffee creamer. "Does she not eat?" Cadence asked herself as she observed the empty refrigerator. "There's no milk anyways even if I wanted cereal."
She rolled her eyes as she grabbed the coffee creamer and set it on the counter. Walking back over to the cabinet, she grabbed the coffee blend she saw when she was looking for cereal. As Cadence prepared the coffee machine, the front door unlocked and opened. She knew it either had to be Glenn, Emily, or Lance so she continued making her coffee, waiting to see who it was.
Emily walked down the hall and heard someone in the kitchen. She entered, seeing it was Cadence who was awake at almost seven thirty. "Oh Cadence, I thought you were…um, your mom."
The blonde smiled, "Nope it's me."
"You're up early," said Emily.
"Yeah I had a hard time sleeping last night."
"Oh I'm sorry," said Emily. "What was wrong?"
"Just being in a different place that's all," said Cadence as she waited for her coffee. "Does Juliette usually never have food in the house?"
Emily took notice of how Cadence called her Juliette instead of Mom. Maybe Cadence wasn't ready for such a change. "Sometimes she does, but she's so busy these days that she hardly ever has time to cook."
"Oh," said Cadence.
"I'll have to go grocery shopping and grab some things for while you're here."
"Thanks," said Cadence as she grabbed a mug out of the cabinet and poured some coffee into it. She added sugar and the coffee creamer to it as well before sitting down at the long kitchen island on one of the bar stools. "How long have you worked for Juliette?"
"A long time," Emily said with a smile. "About seventeen years."
"Wow," said Cadence as she took a sip of her coffee.
"Yeah, it's never a dull moment working for your mom and it wasn't always easy either. But through it all, Glenn and I, we have stood by her."
Cadence couldn't help her face fall a little. In the end, Glenn and Emily were still with Juliette, even throughout her PTSD. Emily noticed the change in Cadence's expression and grew concern.
"Cadence?" Emily asked. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she said as she took a sip of her coffee and the room fell silent. Emily took the silence as a chance to tell Cadence something she thought she needed to hear.
"She loves you Cadence. It may not seem like she is ready to fully embrace you right now, but it's going to take some time. And I have a feeling it's the same way with you too."
Emily was right, her mindset changed once she had actually met Juliette. Things were still awkward which was why Cadence wasn't ready to call Juliette "Mom" just yet. Before Cadence could respond, Juliette came down the stairs and saw that Cadence was already awake.
"Oh shit," she said. "I was going to make you breakfast."
Emily and Cadence watched as Juliette opened the refrigerator in search for food. "There's no food in the house J," said Emily.
Juliette was pissed, she wanted to give Cadence a good impression by doing something motherly. "And why is there no food in the house?"
"Because you're busy and you're going on tour in less than a week," Emily explained. "But I will go out and buy some groceries for while Cadence is here."
"How about we just go out for breakfast?" Cadence asked, looking between Juliette and Emily. "Do you know any good places?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The three ladies arrived at Pancake Pantry, a little restaurant located in Hillsboro Village. They arrived before the major line that usually forms around eight thirty so they were seated right away. As the three women took their seats at the table, Cadence noticed a few heads turn their way, including a young girl getting excited at the sight of Juliette Barnes.
Emily handed Cadence one of the menus so she could decide what she wanted. "Do you guys come here all the time?"
"I haven't been here in a while but the pancakes are amazing," said Emily before giving Juliette a look to answer Cadence.
"No I have never been here before."
"Well the Swiss Chocolate Chip Pancakes look good," said Cadence.
"Miss Juliette Barnes how are you? I'm a big fan," asked the young waitress as she approached the table.
Juliette gave her a sincere smile, "I'm good, and thank you."
"Well thank you for coming to Pancake Pantry, what can I get for you ladies to drink?" the waitress asked as she pulled out her order pad.
"Coffee," said Juliette.
The waitress turned to Emily next, "Coffee too please."
She wrote it down and then turned to Cadence, "Umm…coffee please."
"Didn't you just have coffee before we left?" Juliette asked.
"Yeah…" said Cadence, unsure of where Juliette was going with this.
"She'll have an orange juice," Juliette told the waitress as she made the correction on the order pad.
"Alrighty, I'll be back with your drinks and to take your orders," said the waitress as she left.
"What's wrong with having more coffee?" said Cadence, irritated by what Juliette just did.
"You're sixteen, you don't need that much of it," said the older blonde.
"Are you kidding? Dad let's me drink it whenever I want to," she explained.
"Well you chose to be with me for the week, not him, right?"
Cadence had nothing to say back, she put her focus back on the menu and avoided looking at Juliette.
After breakfast they headed into downtown Nashville where Juliette had a meeting with Rayna about her upcoming party celebrating her twentieth number one single.
They entered Highway 65 and met up with Glenn who immediately greeted Cadence. "Is Rayna already in there?" Juliette asked.
"Yeah she is, she hasn't been in there for that long," said Glenn as they all proceeded into the conference room.
"Do you want to join in Cadence?" Emily asked.
"That's okay, I'll just wait out here," she said.
"Alright, we shouldn't be long," said Glenn. Juliette just continued down the hall and Emily turned to Glenn, "We had a minor issue at breakfast this morning."
"Already?" Glenn asked as they followed behind Juliette entering the conference room.
Since much of the walls were glass, Cadence could see through and into the conference room where she watched Juliette exchange a hug with Rayna James and had proceeded on with the meeting.
The front door opened and Cadence turned to the opening door and recognized the older man entering the building. She watched as Deacon Claybourne walk into the waiting area. Everyone gave him a friendly wave and greeted him as he made his way around.
"Do you want me to tell Rayna that you're here?" the receptionist at the front desk asked.
"No that's okay. I'll wait 'till she's done with Juliette."
She knew of him, had heard his music, and had seen pictures that Scarlet showed her, as well as from watching old tour videos on YouTube from when he was Juliette's guitarist. To Cadence's understanding, he knew just as much as Juliette, Glenn, and Emily had known, which was little to nothing. The only people that had ever known about Cadence and Avery's whereabouts were Scarlet, Gunnar, and his own family.
Deacon took a seat near Cadence and observed her for a moment, "Are you a new artist?"
The blonde looked over at him, "No um, I'm just waiting for Juliette."
Deacon gave her a look, almost sure he knew who he was talking to, "So you're just…waiting here for Juliette Barnes to finish a meeting?"
Cadence didn't want to get into details with him. She was worried that somehow her dad would find out she was with Juliette through Deacon telling Scarlet. "Yep," she said quickly.
"You are a horrible liar Cadence," he said looking over at her and then chuckling.
Cadence started to laugh as well. "What in the world are you doing here in Nashville? Is your dad here?"
"I'm by myself actually, he knows I'm here though," Cadence lied. "I'm just here for the week, getting to know Juliette."
Deacon's expression fell, remembering all that happened sixteen years ago. Rayna had told him the mess Juliette had made after leaving her for Jeff Fordham and eventually learned about what was really going on with Juliette mentally. After he won his battle with cancer, he helped Juliette overcome her own battle with PTSD.
"Oh I see," he said. "Well this isn't actually the first time we have met."
"It isn't?"
He shook his head and continued on with the story, "Your mom had called me over to help her write a song. It had been a while since I had seen her. I sat my things down and she was sittin' on the couch with you in her arms."
Cadence pictured it in her mind. It made her smile but on the inside it made her feel sad. She wanted so badly to remember something like that since she had no personal memory of Juliette. She only had to go off of stories her dad had told her along with the few pictures he had of them.
"I sat down next to her and I asked to hold you. She handed you to me and said, 'Baby girl, meet your Uncle Deacon'."
"Wow," said Cadence. "Maybe I should be calling you Uncle Deacon then."
Deacon chuckled, "I'm more than okay with that."
"So you and Juliette are close huh?"
"Well we have just gone through a lot together," Deacon explained. "We have a very strong friendship."
As time passed, Juliette's meeting with Rayna had finished up. "Now that all of the business stuff is taken care of, I would love to see Cadence," said Rayna as she started standing up. She turned around and saw Deacon had already been talking to the sixteen year old.
"But it looks like Deacon has already beaten me to the punch."
Juliette looked over to what Rayna was referring to and she couldn't help but let a small smile grow on her face. The two country artists exited the conference room with Glenn and Emily following behind. Deacon and Cadence were interrupted at the sight of Rayna and Juliette approaching them.
"It's about time," said Deacon as he and Cadence stood up. "Cadence and I were about to go and take a walk downtown if you guys didn't finish up soon."
"Well good thing or else I wouldn't have had the chance to introduce myself," said Rayna.
"It's great to meet you Rayna," said Cadence. "I'm a big fan, Maddie and Daphne too. You all are amazing."
"That's so sweet of you to say, thank you," said Rayna. "Your mom told me you're here for the next few days so I hope you're going to be at her twentieth single party."
"Yeah of course!" Cadence said in an excited tone. Why hadn't Juliette mentioned the party to her before. Did she not want her there? Cadence pushed the negative thoughts aside, she didn't want confrontation with Juliette for the rest of the time they had together.
"We better get going you guys. Juliette you have your final costume fitting at twelve," Emily reminded her.
"Well it was great seeing you Cadence," said Rayna as she opened her arms for a quick embrace.
"You too Rayna," she said as she accepted the hug. She pulled away and went back to Deacon to say goodbye.
"It was great talking to you Deacon," said Cadence as she gave him a hug as well.
"You too kiddo," he said with a smile on his face. The two pulled away and Cadence followed Emily and Glenn out the door.
"Rayna you have a call on line two," said the receptionist.
"I'll be right back," she said to Deacon, knowing he had been waiting for her. "Thanks for coming in Juliette."
"Of course," she said. Juliette turned back to Deacon again, "I'm glad you were able to see Cadence."
"She's a great kid Juliette," said Deacon. "She was tellin' me that you two haven't talked that much."
"Yeah well with what happened at breakfast didn't help at all," she said.
"She told me about that," Deacon laughed. "I think you both have a lot to talk about, it might help some of the awkwardness she was talking about."
"I just…" said Juliette. "I don't know how to talk to her."
"Talk about music. She was telling me about the instruments she plays and the songs she writes. She is just like you and Avery when it comes to it."
Juliette nodded, "Thanks Deacon."
"No problem," he said. "Now go get to that costume fitting."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Later that night, Juliette found Cadence in the guest room she was staying in. She first knocked on the door, "Can I come in?"
Cadence finished writing something down in her notebook and placed her guitar beside her on the bed, "Um, yeah you can."
Juliette entered the room, taking notice that Cadence was in the middle of working on a song. "What's up?" the younger blonde asked.
"I just wanted to see if you were up for talking," said Juliette, sitting on the side of the bed near her daughter.
"Okay, what did you want to talk about? Because there's a lot…"
"There is," said Juliette. "I do want to get to know you Cadence, I really do, and I'm sorry for not showing it at all today." Cadence looked at her mother and listened as she explained herself. "There's so much that I don't know about you and it scares me. I never wanted it to be like this for you, neither did your dad. He did what was best for you, I was too dangerous to be around you."
"But…you got better. Why didn't you try to see me again?"
"I just assumed you were better off without me. No matter how much I try to be happy, something gets in the way. I wouldn't have been a positive influence on you," said Juliette, tears forming in her eyes. "I'm so sorry for not being there for you Cadence."
"But you were," said Cadence.
Juliette gave her a confused look, "What do you mean?"
Cadence started to smile, "Dad may not have liked the idea of me seeing you again but for as long as I can remember he always played me your music and told me stories. He never kept your identity away from me."
"Really?"
She nodded as she adjusted herself on the bed, "Of course when I was younger I was quite an outspoken child and told everyone in my kindergarten class that my mom was a famous country singer and no one believed me."
The mother and daughter both laughed as Cadence continued, "Dad had to tell me to not share that information anymore but…I always listened to you whenever I was upset or whenever I just wanted to hear your voice. Also because you make great music."
"I hope you're not talking about my early work too," said Juliette with a laugh, quickly wiping away her tears before they fell down her cheeks.
"It's not that bad," Cadence chuckled. "But your stuff later on was amazing, especially when you worked with Dad."
"Yeah we were a pretty good team him and I," said Juliette as she thought about her fantastic music moments with Avery. Writing songs, him helping produce her album, stepping in as her guitarist. The musical chemistry her and Avery had was undeniable. "How is he?"
Cadence slightly bit her lip, "He's good, he has his own guitar store back home, he's also engaged."
"Engaged…wow," said Juliette. "Do you like her?"
"Yeah she's nice, we hang out and stuff like that but we're not close. He's happy with her, that's what matters."
"You're happiness matters too you know," said Juliette.
Cadence nodded and decided to change the subject, "He got me a Gibson Electric Hollowbody for my birthday."
"Well don't you have him wrapped around your finger?" said Juliette. "I still need to get you something."
"You don't have to get me anything," Cadence insisted.
"No I do, especially what I did to you at breakfast," said Juliette making Cadence laugh a little.
"Can you please tell me what that was all about?"
"I don't know," Juliette sighed. "I was just trying too hard to be motherly to you and it failed."
"You don't have to try so hard. I'm sixteen, not six."
"I know, I'm sorry," Juliette apologized. "The last time I saw you, you were a newborn. I'm still getting used to the fact that you're a teenager now. Plus my mama wasn't present so much in my teenage years so I don't know what is right."
That brought up another question that Cadence wanted to ask, her grandmother. She thought that would be something ask Juliette a different day. "Well you don't want to be insanely over protective. I have friends who can't go anywhere because their moms are worried and paranoid about everything. Right now, you're doing great."
"Thank you," said Juliette, giving her a sincere smile. She looked back over to the notebook and guitar, "Are you working on a song?"
"I am," said Cadence.
"Can I hear what you have so far?"
"Right now it's super choppy and I'm having trouble with the bridge and…"
"Let me see," Juliette stopped her as she held out her hand so Cadence could give her the notebook. "I've been known to write some great songs here and there."
The younger blonde giggled as she picked up her guitar again. She adjusted herself once more, closer to Juliette, so she could see the lyrics she had written down as she started to sing softly strum her guitar. Cadence hoped they would be up all night.
UGH that last scene was a joy to write!
I apologize for not having Maddie or Daphne in this like I had said they would in the last chapter. I kinda just went with what my mind made up with for this and it just didn't work out. They will be in the next chapter though!
Thank you all so much for reading! Don't forget to review, favorite, and follow if you like what you've read. Everything is noticed and appreciated!
NEXT CHAPTER: Cadence and Drew get to know each other and they start to build a good friendship but Juliette doesn't see it that way. Maddie and Daphne are introduced. Cadence asks about Jolene and Juliette doesn't hold back the truth from her.
