4

He watched her through the windows that lined the front of the home as she poured over the documents painstakingly before handing them to a middle-aged woman with a kind face whom he guessed was her supervisor. He watched her sigh in relief, the tension nearly melting from her shoulders, when the woman smiled encouragingly at her and placed the papers in a file cabinet behind the desk. Chiles always was so desperate for everyone's approval.

She threw the straps of her tote bag over her shoulder and bid the woman goodbye before walking out the door with a great smile on her face. He couldn't help but feel his own mood lift as well.

It was impossible to miss him, with his truck and hat in place, and it took all her will power not to run towards him. "What are you doing here?" Her cheeks hurt from how big she was smiling at the sight of him.

"I figured your first full day of work here deserved some celebration." He shrugged his shoulders. "What are friends for?"

"Oh thank you. You didn't have to do anything." She climbed onto the seat with a bit of help from him. The stride in the step up was always a bit difficult for her short frame. He made sure she was buckled in before he put the gear in drive. "So where are we headed?"

"You'll see."

"Oh, this is beautiful, Beau." It really wasn't much. Then again, it never took much with her. "Really, you shouldn't have gone through all this trouble."

"It really isn't that much. Stop making a big deal of it." Even as he tried to get her to sit still and eat the take out dinner he had ordered from his local haunt, he couldn't help but admire her as she took in the sunset over the field. The light bathed her outline in a soft, peach light while the breeze blew through her hair. This was a song just itching at the tips of his fingers, on the strings of his guitar.

Finally, she turned her attention back to him at the little picnic table on the front porch. "You really didn't have to do all this. Thank you." Her wide eyes and smile were addictive. The shadow of her dimples made his head light and dizzy. It was getting more and more difficult to listen to his common sense and not rush into the nothing that they were.

"If by 'all this' you mean borrow my friend's porch with a view and getting two dinners in a paper bag, then you can stop saying thank you and just dig in. Tell me what happened at work. Did any old geezers try to ask you out yet? Anyone sneak in some booze?" Her mouth moved and he knew he was absorbing every word that she spoke, but he couldn't help but get distracted by the way her eyes lit up when she talked about the people she met. Even on her first day, she managed to know a few of the charges there and it was obvious that she delighted in taking care of them.

Under all the make up and the insecurity, she really did have a good heart.

The hum of her soft voice trailed off and his mind finally processed that she had stopped talking and even eating all together, but instead pushed her salad around with her fork quietly. "What's wrong? Do you not like the food?" He began to panic when she lifted her head slightly and he could see a gleam of unshed tears in her eyes. "We could never order from there again. Lesson learned." Somehow he was always making women cry when all he wanted to do was...

She shook her head quietly and a drop ran down the side of her cheek. She wiped it away quickly with the back of her hand. "No, no, this is all so lovely. It's just that..."

"Just what?" He rested his hand on the table, careful not to push her too far but just to let her know he was there.

"No one's ever been this kind to me before," she whispered quietly before covering his hand with hers. "I'm sorry it took me so long to realize..."

The quiet was suffocating. This was the turning point. He could reach out and tell her that it was all right, that they could be together now. But then he meant what he said that night. There really could have been someone else and... well, he knew that it shouldn't be so easy. Nothing ever worth having really was. The whole debacle with Kelly Cantor just proved it. More than that, it proved that maybe he wasn't the man who could really be there for Chiles. He couldn't screw up with her the way he did with Kelly. He knew something was wrong that night, he knew-

"Oh, I'm sorry. Look at what a mess I am... and after you went through all this trouble to do something nice for me. Just, just forget I said anything, okay? Let's eat."

And she had decided for him. The moment passed and the rest of the evening was spent in pleasant, if not careful and slightly tense, conversation.

A/N: I don't do these often, but I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's been reading and leaving comments. They definitely keep me on track and help me figure out if the story/character ring true or not. Also, I wanted to give a special thank to those of you who have spread the word about this story. I know that not a lot of people are checking the Country Strong Fanfiction page, so I really appreciate the extra exposure! I hope you guys continue to enjoy the story.