Rayna sat down on the couch in the dark family room and pushed the button on her phone again. She listened as Deacon's message greeted her again.

"Deacon, please call me back. We need to talk," she said before ending the call.

She pushed the button to call again. Message. She called again. Message.

After ten unanswered calls, she set the phone back down.

Why was he shutting her out now?

Ten years later

Rayna looked down at the sheet of paper in front of her. They could do this if there were rules. Now she just needed to figure out what those rules would be.

- No duets

- No singing any of the old songs

- She would give Deacon a real job

She picked up the phone and dialed the familiar number. It rang seven times before she heard his voice.

"Deacon," he said brightly.

"Hey," Rayna started. "It's...it's Rayna."

"Hey, Ray," he responded. "What's up?"

She folded the paper in front of her in half and pushed it away. "I was wondering if we could get together. I've got something I need to talk to you about."

"You think that's a good idea?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I'd like to talk about it at least. Can we meet?"

She heard Deacon sigh.

"Yeah, we can do that. Where?" he asked

She sat for a moment. Every place they had ever met before had so many memories, so many potential issues.

"Uh, do you know Percy Warner Park? Out here by my house?" she asked.

"You want me to come to Belle Meade?" he asked laughing. "Things have changed, Rayna Jaymes."

She explained where she would be and he agreed to meet her in an hour. As she hung up the phone, she unfolded the paper. Yes, if there were rules, this could work.

Rayna parked her car and pulled Daphne out, this time putting her in the stroller. As she walked toward the stone steps by the river, she could see the baby's eyes were beginning to close.

She had waited for about ten minutes when Deacon walked up. She couldn't help but let her eyes drift down his body. Plaid shirt, worn jeans, scuffed boots but at the same time he was healthy, eyes bright, just the right amount of scruff.

Rules.

"Hey, looks like you brought my new best friend," Deacon said as he walked up, a smile across his face.

"Shhh….she's asleep," Rayna warned.

Deacon sat down next to Rayna. "And you don't wake a sleeping baby, do you?"

Rayna shook her head.

"So, three times in a week, Ray. What's this about?" he asked.

Rayna stuck her hand in her pocket feeling the paper. She didn't have to bring it out. She didn't need Deacon to see that not only were there rules, but that they were in writing. Maybe it was a better idea if it was just more conceptual.

"So, I'm going to go back into the studio at the end of the month," Rayna began. "And I'm wondering if you'd be willing to do some session work with me."

Deacon looked over at her. "Yeah?"

Rayna nodded. "Yeah. I've got probably seven tracks picked, but I need a few more. Randy's brought me some good stuff like Already Gone but I'd like to write a couple."

"Sounds like a good idea. I wondered why you kept working with co-writers. You know you could written a lot of your recent stuff yourself, Ray. You've always been a good songwriter."

Rayna frowned. "I don't know if it's the baby or what, but I'm stuck, Deacon. I've got a couple of things started, but they just aren't quite there."

"So, you want someone for session work and you need a co-writer?" Deacon asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Rayna replied. "Session work and some writing. Would that work for you? I mean, if I had Bucky draw up contracts and send them over?"

"And where does this lead?" Deacon asked. "We just leave it at that?"

Rayna shrugged again. "If it goes well, then maybe you consider joining the tour as my band leader. I'm on the market for someone new."

"And what will Teddy think?" Deacon asked. "I can't imagine he'd be too happy about that."

Rayna looked over at the sleeping baby. "You leave Teddy to me. But us working together, being friends-he has nothing to worry about if that's what's going on."

"And would that be what's going on, Rayna?" Deacon asked, his voice quiet.

She looked away from the baby to find him looking straight at her. "Yes, that's what it would be."

Deacon stood up. "Let me think about it?"

"Yeah, think about it," Rayna replied. She stood up as well. "Nice to see you, Deacon."

He looked over at her. "Nice to see you, too, Rayna."

Rayna looked across the table at Deacon. "So, I have this start...might be something there." She pushed her notebook across to him.

"'I can't remember the last time I laid down in a field of wild flowers'," Deacon read off the sheet. "I like this, Ray. I think we can do something with it. How about this for a next line-'felt the wet grass on my skin'."

Rayna nodded.

They worked a bit longer on the chorus and bridge until Deacon laid down his pencil. "Why don't I work on tracking this out and maybe we can try recording it tomorrow?"

Rayna thought for a moment, then pulled her calendar out of her bag and flipped it open. "I've got a well-baby appointment for Daphne in the morning after I drop Maddie off at school, but I could probably come back in the afternoon or better yet, maybe tomorrow night after the kids go to bed? Would 8 pm be too late for you?"

Deacon laughed. "How many years was it before we ever even went on stage before 10 pm?"

Rayna nodded and laughed as well. "Well, I'm a wife and mother now...things are different and 6 am comes a lot sooner than it used to in the old days."

Deacon nodded, but didn't respond. He always got quiet when she talked about her life now, but she had to. It was a fact. She was Teddy's wife and she was Daphne and Maddie's mother.

And she was Deacon's friend. She repeated it in her head again. They were friends.

Rayna finished reading a third book to Maddie. As she closed the cover, she looked down. The little girl had finally fallen asleep. She eased off Maddie's bed and turned off the light. The room was filled with a warm glow from the nightlight on the wall.

She walked across the room and pulled the door most of the way closed behind her.

"You leaving now?"

She looked up to find Teddy standing there. "Quiet-it took 3 books to get her to sleep tonight. I don't want her waking up again."

"And I don't think I want you going to the studio at night," Teddy shot back.

"Then tell me when to do it," Rayna replied. "You're gone during the day, I only have three hours when Maddie's at school and you were the one who didn't want a nanny."

"You were the one who didn't want a nanny," Teddy replied.

"Well, I want one now," Rayna responded. "I need to get back into the studio and finish this album. And then I'm going to be back on the road and I'd like to have the girls with me when I can."

Teddy leaned against the wall. "And how exactly is that going to work, Rayna? You're on the road, Maddie's in school, where is the baby? How does a nanny help with all of that?"

Rayna shrugged. "I don't know, Teddy, but I'm trying to figure it out, but if I don't get this record finished, we won't have to figure anything out, cause there won't be a tour."

"Maybe that's something we should think about," Teddy replied. "What about taking a break for a little while?"

"And do what?" Rayna asked. "Be a housewife?"

Teddy raised his fingers up to his lips. "Shh...remember, sleep babies, or maybe you don't want to be a stay at home mom to your daughters."

"Teddy, we're gonna talk about it later," Rayna replied as she started walking down the hall away from Maddie's room. "I'll be a few hours tonight. Don't wait up for me."

"Tell Deacon I said 'hi'," Teddy shot back as she continued walking away from him.

When Rayna pulled up to the studio she was still fuming. Teddy knew this was what she did, what her passion was. Had she ever suggested she'd consider leaving music?

She sat in her car for a minute when there was a tap at the window. She looked up to see Deacon standing there, holding his guitar in one hand.

"You coming in?" he asked his voice muffled through the closed window.

She looked up at him. Damn. Coming to make music with Deacon after a fight with Teddy was not a good idea.

"Ray?"

She unbuckled her seat belt, opened the door and got out.

"Everything okay?" he asked as he held the door for her.

Rayna sighed. "Yes, it's fine. Hey, did we come up with a title for this song?"

"I think it has to be American Beauty," Deacon responded. "I love what you did with that chorus."

Rayna followed Deacon down the hall into the studio. "Thanks again for coming in late like this. Was it a problem for the rest of the band?"

"Nah," Deacon replied. "They were just excited to get back in the studio with you."

She looked back at him. "Were they, now," she teased. It hurt her heart a bit to admit it, but she had thought of little else but being back in the studio with Deacon. She wondered if she would get that feeling of invincibility that was always present when she worked with him before. Cause that feeling had been hard to come by in the years without him. Everything seemed just a little less…

"Okay, let's get it set up," Deacon said as they walked in and greeted the sound engineer. Rayna shook hands with the new producer Bucky had found, an up and coming guy named Randy Roberts.

They had been working for about three hours when Randy pulled off his headphones and waved them into the booth.

"I think we got it," he said as Deacon and Rayna joined him. He ran the tape back and hit play.

Rayna's voice and Deacon's guitar filled the room along with the rest of the band. Rayna's head nodded as the track played along.

"That's it," she said as the last notes finished.

"Great," Randy replied. "So, give me a call when you're ready to do the others?"

"Definitely," Rayna replied. "And, you know, I'm thinking maybe we should redo Already Gone with Deacon. Listening to the crowd at the Opry, I think that could be the single."

"I was thinking the same thing," Randy replied. "And I think it's going to be the first single. Because this one is gonna need a release as well. You're really gone deep here, Rayna."

Rayna looked back at Deacon, standing by the door, his guitar still slung over his shoulder. "I got a good partner."

"So, do you want to come in tomorrow and do those tracks, Deacon?" Randy asked.

Rayna looked at him, then at Randy. "How about we do the whole thing, my vocals, everything. Night after tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Randy said. "I can do that."

Deacon looked at her, a little frown on his face. "Yeah, that works...if that's what you want to do, Ray."

She looked at him and smiled. "I do."

She pulled into the garage next to the dark house and sat in the car for a minute. She hadn't broken any of the rules. It wasn't a duet. It wasn't an old song. But it had been there, just like she thought it might be, like it was magic. That spark between her and Deacon, it still existed.

Now she just had to figure out how to stay close enough to the flame to get the warmth without getting burned.

TBC