Rayna stood in the empty dressing room with her phone to her ear.

You've reached Deacon Claybourne. Please leave a message at the tone and I'll get back to as soon as I can.

"Deacon...where'd you go?" Rayna asked. "Call me. Please."

She clicked end and stuck the phone in her pocket. She could hear the last set of the show starting and knew she'd better get back to the girls.

Ten years earlier

Rayna pulled up outside Soundcheck and parked. She looked in the backseat where Daphne was sleeping. She'd been on her way home from dropping Maddie off at kindergarten when her car had steered itself here.

Watty had been unapologetic about pulling the switch with Deacon on the duet the night before, but he had let it slip that Deacon was working in the studio this week on a few tracks on Martina McBride's new album.

She should just let it go. Deacon came. They sang a song. He left. Was she really going to wake a sleeping baby for that?

Daphne made a little noise and she looked back again. Now the baby's eyes were open.

"Well, I guess you called my bluff," she said to Daphne. With a sigh she opened the car door and got out. She grabbed her purse and the diaper bag and then with the practiced ease of a two-time mother, she freed Daphne from the carseat and tucked her in the crook of her arm.

As she was walking up to the door, it opened up and there stood Deacon.

"Hey," she said, stopping halfway up the steps.

"Hey," Deacon replied as he readjusted his grip on his guitar case. "Who's this?"

Rayna smiled at him and adjusted the baby so that she was sitting a bit more upright. "This is Miss Daphne."

"She's beautiful, Ray," Deacon replied. "Why are you here? You working on something new?"

"Uh, no," Rayna started. "Actually, uh, I was looking for you. Watty told me you'd be here."

"Oh," Deacon replied as he looked down at his feet.

"You got time for a cup of coffee?" she asked.

Deacon shrugged and looked at his watch. "Uh, yeah, I got time for that. I've got a...I've got a meeting at noon."

She'd heard that he was very diligent about regularly attending AA meetings. Frankly, if she had to be honest, there wasn't much of anything she didn't know about Deacon that she could find out without ever directly asking anyone or talking to the man himself. She knew he'd bought a house over in East Nashville, that he was doing a lot of studio work and occasionally going out on the road playing backup for different acts, but no one steady. She knew he'd kept that cabin along the Cumberland River that he'd bought for her.

And she knew that he'd never called her or tried to talk to her one time since he'd invited her to come to the meeting where he got his one year chip. He'd asked her to come and afterward he'd thanked her for saving him one more time.

And then that was it.

"How about that cafe over on Meridian?" Deacon suggested. "I've got a soft spot for their grits."

Rayna nodded. "Sounds good. I'll follow you."

She watched as Deacon headed to his truck, a gray Suburban. It looked new, something her circle of informers had not told her about.

She tucked Daphne back into the carseat and sat back in the driver's seat. Well, at least he didn't seem to be actively avoiding her.

Rayna parked next to Deacon and began the process of taking the baby back out of her car seat.

"Can I hold something for you?" Deacon asked as he walked up behind her.

She turned and held the baby out to him. "Sure. I just need to grab the diaper bag."

Deacon took Daphne from her, awkwardly holding the baby in his outstretched arms.

"Just put her in the crook of your arm, make sure her head is supported," Rayna coached. "You got her?"

Deacon nodded. "Uh, yeah," as he shifted her into his arms.

She pulled out the diaper bag and her purse and turned back to him. "You want me to take her?"

Deacon shook his head. "Nope, I think I've got it."

Rayna led the way into the cafe, holding the door for Deacon. They headed toward a booth about halfway down along the windows.

"Just let me slide in and I'll take her," Rayna said she she put her purse and bag down on the seat. She sat down and then held her arms out to Deacon, taking the baby from him. "Good job. Not the first time you've done that?"

She tried to not think about how the words sounded. Not the first time with my baby because I never told you about Maddie, cause you were never around when she was that little.

"Well, with my niece. You remember Scarlett?"

"Oh my, of course," Rayna replied. "Wow, how old is she now?"

"Just turned fifteen last month," Deacon answered.

"You see her very often?" Rayna asked.

Deacon shrugged and took a sip of the coffee the server had poured for him. "I was down in Mississippi a couple of months ago. My sister wasn't doing very well."

"Sorry to hear that," Rayna replied. The conversation between them felt so polite. So restrained. So weird. "So, last night…"

Deacon looked up from the menu. "Yeah."

"Where'd you go?" Rayna asked. "I was surprised that you didn't even wait until I was done. I wanted to thank you."

Deacon took another sip of coffee and shot her a look. "I got the sense that it would be a good idea if I split."

"Who gave you that idea?" Rayna asked, reaching for her glass of water.

"Your husband," Deacon replied. "You were busy on stage, but I think it's fair to say that he did not think much of our performance."

"Did Teddy say something?" Rayna asked.

Deacon shrugged.

"Did he?" she asked again.

"He told me that you had finally gotten over me, that I needed to disappear again, just like all the other times cause you were finally happy and I didn't need to ruin it. Again."

Rayna sighed. "Sorry. I hope you know I don't feel that way."

"Yeah, but he does have a point, Ray. I mean, us, keeping our distance. It looks like that's been good for you."

"Good and bad," she replied. "Yes, my life is full and I have my family that I love, but the music just isn't...something's missing Deacon and I've spent the past few years trying a lot of different things to figure out what that is, but I think what's missing is you."

Deacon looked out the window, then turned back to her, sitting across from him, holding Teddy's baby. "I'm not sure that's the best thing for you or me, Ray. It hasn't been all that long that I stopped seeing me, holding you, in our bed, every time I closed my eyes at night. The songs I write-they have two basic themes. You. And the bottle. That's it. I don't think I can be near you and not be with you."

His words shocked her. Because they were true for her, too. "So we can never be friends?" Rayna asked.

Deacon shrugged. "I don't know how."

He took a last sip of his coffee and laid down a five dollar bill on the table. "I should get going, but it was great to play with you last night, Rayna, and congratulations. You know I never want anything but the best for you."

He stood up and paused. "See you, Ray."

As she watched him leave, the baby started to fuss. Rayna looked down at her. Daphne was expressing exactly what she wished she could.

She couldn't have him. Worse yet, she couldn't not have him.

That night as Rayna got into bed, she turned on her side facing Teddy. "Did you say something to Deacon last night?"

Teddy set down the book he was reading and looked over at her. "Why? Did he say something?"

Rayna shrugged. "I was just surprised he left before I could thank him."

"Is that gonna be a regular thing again?" Teddy asked.

Rayna rolled on her back and looked up at the ceiling. "What do you mean?"

"Is Deacon coming back to your band? Are you going to perform with him again?"

Rayna looked over at him. "Would that be a problem for you?"

Teddy was quiet.

"You know I love you, that I am in love with you and our daughters," Rayna responded. "Deacon means nothing to me except as a friend."

"I saw the way you looked at him on stage," Teddy replied. "Everyone saw it. That isn't how friends look."

Rayna didn't respond. She didn't need to because he was right. Singing a song like that, with Deacon-it was never going to just be music. There had been too much between them in the past to ever be able to perform like that again without it going somewhere she couldn't let it go.

But maybe she could be friends with Deacon. If they had rules. It was definitely something she'd have to think about.

TBC

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