This is the next to last episode of Season 1, so obviously next chapter is the last! Hope you enjoy!

CHAPTER 16

One Hundred and Seventeen

We rented a car today.

Since we are keeping a low profile, Ray and I can't be seen walking off a plane or bus together. And Juliette is still mad at me for quitting. I think she also resents the fact that I called Dante from the beginning. So instead of getting weird looks from the band on Ray's bus or start tongues wagging in the press, we decided to get a car.

It was a four hour ride and the rental place only had compact cars. And it reminded me of all the times we had to get in cars to drive to New York and Chicago and Dallas for auditions. Truth is, neither Ray nor I had driven small cars in years. She prefers her big expensive SUVs for the girls and I've had my same ride for years.

We went through a fast food driveway off the highway. As I drove, Ray fed me French fries and then bites of chicken. She laughed as I licked her fingers. Then she grabbed my arm and made me hold her hand.

Ray admitted she felt like she was nineteen again. I know the feeling.

One Hundred and Eighteen

Deacon and I have discovered cell phones.

We have both had them for years. Hell, I'm probably on my fourth or fifth cell phone. But only in the last 48 hours or so have we discovered what fun they really are. It started when I was at sound check and I texted him, asking what he was doing. He sent a message back telling me he was in the shower.

I joked in the response that I wanted a picture. He stunned the hell out of me when he said that I had to send him a picture with the top two buttons undone on my shirt. By the time the show started I had some pretty damn sexy pictures of Deacon. And he knew exactly what kind of lingerie I was wearing. We were smart enough to include no faces with our pictures. We may have been horny but we weren't stupid.

When I got back to the hotel Deacon was waiting. He held his phone sideways as I undressed. Every button I undid, he snapped another photo. We ended up naked on the carpeted floor of the penthouse. Afterward, we laid side by side and deleted all of our pictures and most of our texts.

Somewhere between the kisses and the laughter, Deacon admitted to me that he'd known how to text for years. He'd known how to text for years before I got that angry text from him about my divorce. He told that he didn't want us to get in the habit of texting. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and his eyes turned blue-grey. It made me catch my breath. It was the shade his eyes turned when he thought about Vince, or his mama. It was the same shade I'd see when he Teddy would come to rehearsal.

I whispered that I loved him while stroking the stubble along his jaw. We just looked at each other for a moment, letting it sink in that we were really back together.

He smiled back at me. It was one of those slow smiles that always makes me melt and then asked if I knew what he really wanted to do right now.

He took his phone and turned it around and leaned into me. He kissed my cheek as he raised his hand up a second before I heard the 'snap' of the phone. He turned his camera around and we looked at the picture he'd just taken.

It was our first picture we'd taken in years that was just us, really us. Kissing and happy. And I sent up a special thanks for whoever the hell invited cell phones.

One Hundred and Nineteen

The bathroom is a mess.

It is also almost as big as my house. Wet towels from Ray's shower are thrown on the tile floor. Her makeup bags are spread across the marble counter with brushes and compacts thrown everywhere. She has two different blow dryers plugged into the wall on one side and her hot curlers are plugged in to another wall. She has lotions and sprays standing up near the mirror. There are fingernail polishes and her perfume bottles. The bra Ray was wearing yesterday is hanging by a strap off the counter. The shower's built in counter is full of her soap and shampoos and conditioners.

Her used coffee cup is smudged with her lipstick, lying on the side of the bathtub. The earrings she couldn't find are on the floor beside a random pair of shoes.

And the whole mess just makes me smile.

I walk back into the master suite and spot Ray digging through one of her suitcases. Then she picks up my bag and starts digging through that too. And I just watch her scramble around throwing clothes haphazardly on the bed and floor.

She catches me staring and asks what I'm grinning at. I just shrug. She just smiles back and keeps digging through her bags. Triumphantly she holds up a bracelet and smiles. She puts it around her wrist and walks over to me. She gives me a quick kiss and tells me it's time to go. I glance back again at the bathroom again and can't help but smile.

One Hundred and Twenty

My sister sounds like a giddy school girl.

I swear Rayna completely loses her mind when it comes to Deacon. Bucky complained that Rayna literally giggled and blushed twice during a conversation today. Then Buck said Rayna and Deacon were all over each other in the dressing room. That is new too, him in the dressing room with her.

They have twelve stops left and three weeks until the tour is over. Bucky did say they are doing a good job of being subtle thus far. In Bucky speak that means they are staying in their hotel room and avoiding public displays of affection.

One Hundred and Twenty One

I am wearing six dollar sunglasses.

They are cheap plastic, the color of mud, and cover half my face. Deacon picked them up at the drug store this morning. He also got both of us baseball caps. His hat is a deep green color with the local high school emblem on it. My hat is black from the hockey team that plays here.

Deacon's wearing a non-descript black t-shirt and jeans. With my hair pulled back and the sunglasses on, the likelihood of being recognized went way down. We have been hanging out in the penthouses for weeks. Neither of us had any complaints about late night room service or coffee in the room. It's just that we have waited so long to take a walk together holding hands or sit on the same side of the booth at a restaurant. So we decided to venture out.

The two of us walk through the mid morning bustle of downtown D.C. The May weather is warm but the light breeze makes it comfortable. We grab a pretzel at a street vendor and wonder the streets. We find a small public park with a large fountain in the center. The benches are full of young women with strollers and older couples reading books. But there is a soft spot of grass under a tree and so he sits down and find a comfortable spot between his legs.

Eventually I end up with my head on his shoulder and my right hand joins with his left. We stay quiet for a while enjoying each other's company. Then we discuss finding a new artist for my label. We've listened to probably a hundred demos in car rides and early mornings on the couch. Buck says I'm being too critical. Deacon says that I'm being too picky but he's only found a couple of artists that he thinks have potential too. But I'm not going to settle, so we'll just keep listening to demos until I find someone as perfect as Scarlett.

Deacon says we need to start heading back to the hotel but I sigh and insist on five more minutes. He doesn't argue.

One Hundred and Twenty Two

I went on a date with Goldie last night.

Yesterday we went walking in D.C. and on the way back to the hotel; Ray found a small costume and novelty shop. She bought a blonde wig. Then tonight after the show, she put on halter top, tight jeans, the blonde wig and some red lipstick. Then she named herself Goldie

We've snuck around before. We did it when we were kids. Lamar had the police chief and the Sheriff over for dinner at least once a month. There was the time we played at a bar that the fire marshal showed up in and closed down due to overcrowding. Then another time police wrote us a ticket for some bullshit noise violation charge. Hell, one time I got arrested for a damn jaywalking ticket. It was Lamar's doing, all of it. But it was worth it, Ray was worth it. So, we would have to sneak. We'd use back doors and side entrances. We would borrow cars from friends. She would go grocery shopping by herself and I'd buy soil for her flowers alone. Back then it wasn't all that exciting. It was annoying. It was Lamar throwing his weight around. It felt like life-or-death, it was our relationship, our dreams, and it was our career.

Now it's kinda fun. We ate a local place a block from the ocean. It had decent seafood and damn good hushpuppies. Had anybody seen Goldie's hand during the last ten minutes of the meal, we would have been kicked out. But instead of heading back to hotel, we walked around the beach. The water was freezing but it didn't stop Ray, excuse me Goldie, from splashing her legs to get my shirt and pants wet. I returned the favor.

We rode back to the hotel on one of those rickshaw things peddled by some college age kid. Between the cold water and the late night, we were both shivering. After we made it back upstairs, I found a coffee machine in the spare bathroom and she turned on the Jacuzzi tub. I made her take off the wig. I don't mind flirting and kissing Goldie, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna have sex with anybody but Ray.

One Hundred Twenty Three

I choked on my coffee this morning.

I don't wanna think about Bucky having sex. Or Tandy having sex. Or Bucky and Tandy having sex.

I mean I've always gotten along with Buck. As for Tandy, well I burned that bridge a long time ago. But then this morning out of nowhere Buck mentions that Tandy is, and I'm using his words, "a tiger" in the bedroom. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Instead I just choked on my coffee. When Ray asked what was wrong I just said the drink was hot.

Then Rayna told Bucky that we'd found two more artists she thought had potential. I listened as the two of them reviewed the day's schedule. Two radio show interviews to do before lunch. Then she has a publicity interview for her show in Raleigh next week.

Truth is, the last couple of weeks have been fun. I like getting to sleep in my mornings. I like that I can strum my guitar for hours on end trying to find a melody that fits. I like that my schedule is whatever I want it to be. I don't have wait around for sound checks. I don't have men in tights thrusting at me while I try to play a song. I can play the songs I wanna play, how I want to play them.

But I miss the stage. I miss performing. I miss being up there with Ray and the guys in the band. I miss the heat of the lights and the roar of the crowd.

Ray's band has known for at least a few days that I'm with her. Hell they probably knew earlier than that. But last night was the first time we did something with any of them. It was just Mark and Johnny. But the two of them came up to the penthouse with the guitars in hand. The acoustics in the bathroom were amazing so the three of us guys sat on the tile floor. The three of us played for over an hour and took turns singing. Ray was content just to sit against the wall, sip her diet drink and eat a grilled cheese sandwich. It felt like old times.

Eventually the two guys left and it was just the two of us. We sang duets that we didn't write like'Jackson' and 'You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma'. After that, I played the chords I'd been working at all morning. We wrote a really good first verse. Then she started yawning. She insisted she was fine but ten minutes later she was asleep against my shoulder.

One Hundred and Twenty Four

I miss my babies.

And in two days I'll see them again. But it also makes me nervous. Things have been amazing with Deacon. The girls are enjoying their last month of school. Maddie seems happier than I've seen her since the divorce. Daphne is her usual self. Teddy and I have been very civil on the phone.

I'm afraid of shifting this positive turn we've all taken. Deacon comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. He whispers he'll give me a penny for my thoughts. I let out a contented sigh and tell him what I was thinking about.

He kisses my neck before we sit down on the bed.

We've already talked about how things were going to go when we got back to Nashville. When I have the girls, I'll stay at Belle Meade with them. Bucky knows that I need my schedule to fit with my new needs and time schedules. I want to maximize my time with Deacon during the day and with the girls once school is out. When it is Teddy's week, I'm going to stay with Deacon at our house. Just the thought that it is going to be 'our' house again makes me smile.

We both want the girls to be comfortable with our relationship especially considering how Maddie found out about Peggy. Just thinking about how sweet and considerate Deacon is of the girls makes my heart melt.

I lean back against him and ask him if he knows how happy I am. I feel him smile against my neck and relax. He tells me that we better get going or we'll be late for the show.

One Hundred and Twenty Five

Deacon brought apple pie.

And they were singing. Maddie was beaming at Deacon's compliments and the three of them sounded like angels together. I just wanted to stop cutting up vegetables and listen to them, watch them. Deacon's eyes were lit up, like how they get when the lyrics finally click together or when he finally gets the ending to a song to mesh like he wants to.

Then Teddy came in and tried to ruin the whole thing. Deacon came to check on me but I insisted everything was okay. Maddie was still in a weird mood for a while, quiet with her eyes looking down at the floor.

Deacon and I laughed as Daphne recited her three lines for the fourth grade pageant. Maddie finally got less weird as she started asking a million questions about Juliette Barnes and how Deacon started in the music business. Deacon kept everything PG-rated. Then it was time for dessert.

Deacon encouraged the girls to eat the pie right out of the box. So we sat around the coffee table in the living room with our forks. We added whip cream and very quickly the pie was gone.

So we decided that we were still hungry and we pulled out vanilla ice cream. Maddie helped me get out the sprinkles, some fruit, chocolate syrup and the whip cream again.

I cut up strawberries, sliced the pineapples, and poured out the cherries. Then we made our own Sundaes in the ice cream bowls and went back to sit around the coffee table. With our bellies full, Maddie wanted to play more music. She asked if we could play one of our old songs. We chose 'Maybe Now' cause it was one of the few that didn't explicitly involve the idea of sex, alcohol, or those three little words.

It was after nine before Deacon left. I walked him to the back door and for just a second he took my hand. We'd already agreed no kissing but it was hard not touch him. I'd gotten so use to kissing him and hugging him and touching him again that it seemed like I was being punished as he walked to his truck.

Of course two hours later when the girls were asleep, I was awake and highly enjoying Deacon's teasing texts messages.

One Hundred and Twenty Six

Maddie knows we're dating.

And in some ways it is a relief and in other ways it makes me queasy. I usually don't let myself think about Maddie as his daughter. It was a decision I made a long time ago, when Deacon belonged to people named Jack Daniels and Jim Bean. It was a choice I made to protect Maddie and Deacon and if I'm a little bit honest, I did it to protect myself too.

I know Maddie is confused about a lot right now. Teddy's reaction last night was unacceptable and him taking out a restraining order is just ridiculous. I just hope Maddie believes me when I tell her that I love her. I just hope that she doesn't think I'm lying to her like Teddy did about Peggy.

One Hundred and Twenty Seven

Using Lamar was my idea.

After Ray and I finished the rehearsal, we went back to my house. We just laid on the couch and she told me about the restraining order and Maddie overhearing our phone conversation.

I know I should be concerned about the bullshit Teddy is pulling. But she didn't turn to Liam or Teddy or Bucky about this. Rayna told me, she confided in me. We are figuring out how to handle the situation together. Just like we have doing for the last couple weeks on the road. It was my idea to have Ray go see her father.

After all, if I had to put up with Lamar friends-in-high-places crap for decades, I think it is time that Teddy started feeling Lamar's wrath.

One Hundred and Twenty Eight

We were at the Opry tonight.

Don't matter how many times I've been on the stage, it still feels holy. And tonight I got to watch my only niece make her Opry debut. Hell, I got to play with her. I could see her face light up in awe when the crowd rose to their feet. And I got to see Ray's eyes sparkle as she announced her new record.

I took Scarlett out for dinner. I listened as Scarlett squealed to my sister on her phone. She recounted at least a dozen times how it felt to be on the stage. Ray sent me a text that the Judge had cancelled the restraining order. I can see the girls, I can be with Rayna, Scarlett's career is just starting, I'm going back on tour with Rayna and working on some new stuff.

Things are just good. Things are always good when we play at the Opry.