At this point, Rayna suspects the director is willingly trying to torture them. She has kissed Luke five times already under the fake mistletoe, and the director deemed none of the takes convincing enough.

To be fair, she can't say he's wrong.

Luke is still sulking because of last night and barely talking to her when the camera is not rolling. And Rayna... her mind is a million miles away.

She didn't sleep much either, which is not helping. After having tossed and turned for an hour, she decided to get up and go to the music room. She ended up writing an entire new verse for their song, and all she wanted to do in the morning was to call Deacon to ask what he thought of it. She refrained, though, as she figured it wouldn't be the smartest move to help mend things with Luke.

The house is teeming with crew members, half of them having already asked her to sign her and Luke's Christmas album. Every time, she's reminded of how ridiculous that album cover looks. Or maybe it's because she isn't a fan of the holidays in general ever since her mom died. For her, Christmas is a time that has to be endured rather than a time to look forward to. At least this year she'll be on a beach in St. Lucia come December 24th, as she and Luke have planned to leave for their honeymoon right after the wedding.

That is, if the wedding is still on. Because at the moment, her fiancé is sitting in the chair next to hers, properly ignoring her.

The director calls out to them. Here we go again. Maybe the sixth time will be the charm.

—

She believes it's been the longest 48 hours of her life.

She managed to patch things up with Luke, and they wrapped up filming in time, so at least she won't have to do anything even remotely Christmas-related until next year. There's that.

She dropped Luke off at the airport ten minutes ago, and she's now on her way back to the house. The next time they will see each other, his whole family will already have arrived in town for the wedding.

The seamstress, Susie, is supposed to come to the house later today for Rayna's final dress fitting. It's only one of the million things Rayna has on her to-do list for the next two weeks.

That's why, she should probably drive straight back home.

What she should not do is pull up on the side of the road and call Watty to ask if he happens to know Deacon's address. She's been dying to show Deacon the new verse, so she'd slid her notebook in her purse before leaving for the airport. Just in case, she'd told herself.

Watty asks how the session went, and she can picture his smug smile on the other end of the line, because of course his instinct about Deacon was right. Watty White is always right. About everything. She should know that by now.

She tucks her phone between her head and shoulder while she scribbles down the address on the palm of her hand with a pen.

—

She has knocked twice already, but it seems no one is home. She waits a few more seconds before she tries knocking again.

"Can I help you?"

When she turns around, the man strolling up the walkway freezes in his tracks. She's used to that kind of reaction from people who recognize her. "I'm looking for Deacon Claybourne. Is it the right address?"

"It is, but I know he's not home." The man climbs up the three steps to join her on the porch. "I'm Vince. I live in the appartment upstairs."

She shakes the hand he's holding out for her. "Nice to meet you."

He clears his throat. "So, you're..."

"I am."

"You just made me lose 50 bucks," he says. Rayna gives him a puzzled look. "Deacon told us he'd been writing with you, and I bet our friend Adria 50 bucks that he was just messing with us."

"Sounds like you enjoy losing money."

Instead of looking offended, Vince seems amused, like it wasn't the answer he was expecting from her. "Harsh, but fair enough."

"So, Vince, do you happen to know when Deacon will be back home?"

"Likely not until tonight. Do you want me to tell him you dropped by?"

She supposes she could tear out the page with the verse from her notebook and ask Vince to give it to Deacon. She could.

"No, I'll... come back."

—

"From what I can see, we just take it in a little bit right here, it'll be perfect."

Rayna is standing in front of her bedroom's mirror as Susie checks her dress one last time.

"What do you think?" Rayna asks Tandy who's sitting on the bed, sipping on a glass of wine while surveying the scene. It's only three in the afternoon, but Tandy seemed to be in one of those moods when she arrived, so Rayna knew better than to comment when her sister went to take the bottle of Chardonnay out of the fridge.

"It's great."

Rayna frowns. "But?" She was expecting at least one or two remarks from her sister. Tandy has been nitpicking about everything regarding the wedding until now.

"No but, it's great."

"Then... I think we're good," Rayna tells Susie. "Thank you so much again for coming over."

"Oh, no worries."

After Rayna has changed out of the dress and seen Susie to the door, she comes back to the bedroom.

"You still wish I would have chosen that other dress I'd tried last month, right?" she asks as she plops down on the bed next to Tandy.

"Honestly, yes, but it's your wedding and it was your choice."

"Well, it was more Luke's choice. He's a traditional guy. And you're the one who keeps telling me that marriage is compromise."

"Right."

There's a silence.

"Is... everything alright with Richard?" Rayna asks when she notices her sister is unusually quiet.

"Couldn't be better," Tandy snorts, the sarcasm evident in her voice. Rayna decides not to insist as it's obvious her sister is not in the mood to talk. Tandy, indeed, tries to change the subject. "What's this?" she asks, eyeing Rayna's hand.

"Oh." Rayna starts to rub the palm of her hand like the ink might magically dissolve this time even though all her previous attempts failed. "I've tried everything, but it won't come off."

Tandy grabs her sister's wrist so Rayna will keep her hand still long enough for her to read. "Whose address is this?"

"A songwriter I've been working with." She tries hard not to smile, but she fails miserably.

Tandy cocks an eyebrow. "And he wrote his address on your hand?"

"No, I was in my car, and... never mind, long story." She really, really needs to stop smiling like this. Tandy keeps mute, she takes a sip of her wine while studying Rayna's face. "What?" Rayna asks.

"Oh, nothing. Not a thing."

—

This time, when Rayna pulls up in front of Deacon's, she can see the lights inside the house are on. She grabs her notebook on the passenger seat and gets out of the car.

It's colder than usual for the season, and she shivers as she runs to the porch. She stands there for a few seconds before she knocks.

To her surprise, it's a little blond girl who opens the door.

Rayna is almost certain Deacon wasn't wearing a wedding band, but she realizes she'd never asked him if he was married or had a family. Her heart drops at the possibility, and she'd rather not think too long as to why.

"Uncle Deacon!" the girl yells. "It's... Rayna Jaymes," she whispers, then, like she has trouble believing it's really her.

Deacon appears, and for a second he looks even more surprised to see her than she was to see the girl. He composes himself, though. "Hey, come on in."

Rayna steps inside the house. Deacon closes the door behind her and turns to his niece. "Lost your tongue, cupcake?" he asks.

The girl giggles. "No."

"Then what about you go get Rayna a glass of..."

"Water will be fine," Rayna fills in.

The girl scurries off to the kitchen while Rayna and Deacon sit down on the living room's couch.

"Listen, I wanted to get your opinion on something I wrote, but I don't want to be a bother."

"You're no bother," Deacon is quick to object.

"I mean, if you have your niece visiting and—"

"Oh, no, she's not... visiting. I'm her guardian. My sister died when Scarlett was two, and I've been raising her since."

Oh. Oh.

Rayna is not sure what's the right thing to say in this kind of situation. "I'm really sorry about your sister. How old is your niece?"

"She'll turn eight in two months."

Rayna remembers what he'd told her about having to leave Nashville. Six years ago is what he said, right? It adds up.

Scarlett emerges from the kitchen, holding a glass of water that she hands to Rayna. "Here."

"Thank you, sweetheart."

"I know all your songs by heart, Miss Jaymes. Uncle Deacon and I, we listen to your albums all the time."

Rayna could swear Deacon seems embarrassed for a second, and it has to be a first. "Is that right?" she asks Deacon, amused, before she turns back to Scarlett. "I appreciate it, honey, and you can call me Rayna, you know."

"Do you like lasagna?" Scarlett asks. "You could have dinner with us," she adds, not waiting for an answer.

"I cooked, so it really depends on how adventurous you feel," Deacon quips.

Rayna holds his gaze, smiling. "It sounds like... a risk worth taking."

—

TBC