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Chapter four

Daniel had no desire to go home at the moment. He had stayed at Pony's for a good hour after Tally left. He had finished his beer and ordered another one. He didn't quite finish his second one though. He was mindful of having to drive and the early morning he was going to have with Crane and Brian gone.

He mostly just sat, listening to the jukebox and thinking. He had fed many quarters in the thing. Music...It was his constant companion. If he wasn't making his own, he was listening to someone else's. It was his life, after all. There was no reason to go home at the moment. He knew he wouldn't sleep. Crane wouldn't be there to talk things over with. He sure wasn't ready to talk about it with Adam. It would be a sore subject at best. Worst case scenario, it'd turn into another fight.

Adam was supportive of Daniel's music...as long as it didn't get in the way of the ranch. Daniel knew too, though, that after the number Tally did on him months ago, Adam wouldn't appreciate him having anything to do with her now.

Adam would be right in that regard, though, Daniel hated the thought of Adam being right when it came to his personal life. Sometimes Daniel wanted Adam to be a dad, but other times he wanted him to just be his brother...and his friend. But, Adam had a tendency of getting all preachy with Daniel like a dad would when Daniel wanted him to be a brother.

The thought of bringing up Tally's offer to Dad made Daniel shudder. He won't like it one bit. He won't hear me out and then he'll get all overprotective on me and start preaching a sermon, Daniel thought to himself. Nope, I ain't talking to him about this. I just need to wait and talk to Crane or Brian...Well, maybe not Brian. Daniel might feel comfortable talking it over with Brian if it didn't involve Tally...But he thought better of talking to Brian this time. He needed to talk to Crane...or maybe Hannah.

At eleven o'clock, the bar was completely dead. Wednesday's wasn't a particularly busy night in the Murphys bar scene. The bartender was giving him dirty looks and had picked up the broom and began sweeping, seeing how Daniel wasn't ordering anything. He decided it was time to leave.

He drove around for awhile thinking about what Tally had offered him. Not spending the night with her. He'd thought better of that right away. But, an opportunity to play with High Sierra...a permanent position in a band that was about to sign a recording contract. That was enticing. Hell, it would be for any eighteen year old musician, wouldn't it? Daniel had been busting his butt just trying to make something like that happen for his band...his band. There was the problem.

It wasn't an opportunity for his band. It was just him...and it was with Tally. The girl that had stomped on his heart and never looked back. They had agreed to part as friends and she had promised to keep in touch. It wasn't like he could write her...she was touring. He couldn't call her either. He was the one that could be reached at the same address and telephone number. But she hadn't bothered...not once. No phone calls, no letters. She had obviously moved on, so he had too.

He had kept up with her though. There had been articles in the newspapers and even some magazines he had read. He knew the Buddy Hooker tour had ended...Knew that High Sierra was playing in the more upscale nightclubs in Bakersfield...Bakersfield, CA. That place was happening right now. Country music had taken over the city. It was like...Nashville, West. That's what people referred to it as.

There were a lot of movers and shakers there. A lot of important people from the country music circles. It had it's own unique sound and Daniel was a big fan of it. His band's sound was heavily influenced by the 'Bakersfield sound'. He and his bandmates had spent many a night talking and dreaming about getting to play there one day...one day...if they could just catch the right break.

That break, was at Daniel's feet right now. But it was just for him, not the band. He remembered fondly how good it felt to play with High Sierra. He was jamming with some top notch musicians when he filled in for Spider. It was an intense high for Daniel. Until Tally had taken his heart and stomped on it. Dammit. Why did he let himself fall so hard for her?

He knew all along that she would leave. God, what an idiot I was. What did I think was gonna happen? She was chasing a career and Pony's was a short time gig. No sense rehashing all of that again, however. He'd beaten himself up about it months ago. It happened and there was nothing he could do about it now. At least he had learned an important lesson about songwriting. It had improved his writing a great deal too.

Songwriting...that was another thing. Bakersfield was full of great songwriters that loved to collaborate with other writers. There were also plenty of great artists in Bakersfield...artists with record deals, looking for hit songs. Daniel got excited about having the opportunity to pitch his songs to those artists. He was sure this was the big break he had been waiting for.

The more he considered Tally's offer, the better it sounded. He didn't want to get involved with her personally again. But then again, why should he have to? Why couldn't he use her to get what he wanted?

She had certainly used him and she didn't see anything wrong with it. Daniel knew instinctively though, that working that closely with her, it would be hard to avoid. He was still attracted to her. He had gone weak at the knees when he saw her tonight. He didn't want to feel that way about her. He wanted to hate her. He wanted to be completely over her. His brain told him that, but his heart wasn't exactly listening.

The smell of her perfume was intoxicating. He had found himself getting lost in her eyes. He couldn't stand the thought of getting hurt like that again. What was he going to do? He wanted to take this opportunity so bad, but he knew it was like pouring gasoline on a fire.

Daniel realized he had been driving for over an hour. He promptly turned the truck around and headed back toward the ranch. It was twelve-thirty and he was well over an hour from home. He sure hoped that nobody had woke up and missed him. He didn't want to have to answer any questions about why he was out so late in the middle of the week. He just wanted to do his work and wait to talk to Crane.

Crane would understand. He knew as much about Bakersfield as Daniel. He too, knew how important it was for Daniel to break into the music business. He would be able to help Daniel decide what to do. He just had too.

to be continued...