Music of the Heart (30 page)

              “Did y’all already drop your bags in the room?  If we had known you were here, we would have ordered lunch for y'all.”

              Dixon leans down and grabs a handful of fries from Ava’s plate before answering me. 

              “No worries.  We saw Cross picking up your food so we stopped and ordered something to be brought down to us.”

              Their food arrives and everyone eats in silence.  Two more hours goes by with the guys hanging in the ocean, throwing the football and drinking beers while all the girls lay out and read on their Kindles.  A couple of hours later, I hear the sweetest little voice in the whole world.

              “Aunt Ashweigh!  Aunt Ashweigh!  I’m hewe!  I’m at the beach!”

              I jump up from my seat and run to my sweet little niece, Greer.  My brother-in-law, Aiden, isn’t far behind her.  The girls all get up and love on Greer who is decked out in a hot pink fringe bikini while the guys grab a beer for Aiden and start talking to him.  It only takes about five seconds before Greer sees Cross.

              “Cwoss!  You’wa hewe too!  Aunt Ashweigh, did you know Cwoss was at the beach too?”

              Everyone laughs and I tell her I did in fact know that he was here.  She runs over to him and jumps in his arms planting a big kiss on his cheek.  I turn around and walk to grab my drink so I can take a moment to breathe.  Seeing Cross with Greer and how much she loves him makes it hard to stay as mad at him.

              Catching the end of their conversation, I only hear her ask Cross, “well, why is she mad at you?  That’s not very nice.”

              I go to interrupt when Cross looks at me and shakes his head. 

              “Well, I did something that made her sad so she isn’t very happy with me right now.  I’m trying to make things right with her again because I think she’s pretty awesome.”

              “Aunt Ashweigh, you need to not be mad at Cwoss.  He thinks you’wa awesome and I weally wike him too.”

              I can’t help but smile.  Thankfully, being a child, she has a short attention span and forgets all about the conversation after a few minutes.  She hops down from his arms and goes running to the ocean.

We stay out a little longer and then we all go up and shower before we head to my parents condo for dinner.  I adore my parents and am so happy to be spending the next two weeks with them at the beach.  Walking into their condo, my daddy wraps me up in a big bear hug which makes me start to cry.

“Hey, what’s wrong sweet girl?”

“Oh, nothing Daddy.  I’m just happy to see you and I’m tired.  Nothing else.”

I excuse myself to the restroom to freshen up while the girls help my mom finish dinner.  I take a few minutes and hear a knock on the door.  I look up as Cross walks in. 

“Hey, sorry to bother you but your mom wanted to know what you want to drink with dinner.”

“Oh, um, a glass of wine would be great.”

He looks like he has more to say but just nods his head and walks back out. 

As we all sit for dinner after fixing our plates, my mom starts talking to everyone about how they are doing and the upcoming weddings.  She looks over at me with some concern in her eyes.

“Hey sweetie.  You doing okay?”

“I’m good mom.  Just tired.  The past few months have been a bit trying for me.  Hopefully, I’ll get some well needed rest at the beach.”

“I understand honey.  Hey, did you ever find out who was behind your forced break?  I know the label wouldn’t tell you who came to them but you haven’t mentioned anything else about it.  I thought you may have figured it out by now.”

You can almost hear a pin drop because all five guys and four girls are dead silent and just staring at me.  My mom and dad both look up with very strange looks on their faces while Merritt is looking at me with her questioning look of what I’m going to say.

“Well, mom, I’ve not really…”

“It was me.  Mr. & Mrs. Kennedy, it was me who talked to the label about her.  I’m a silent shareholder of the label and I talked to Jamie about Ashleigh and her voice.  I was worried about her and truly thought I was doing something helpful.  Unfortunately, all it did was make her mad and not speak to me.  And before you ask, no, she didn’t invite me to come here with everyone else.  I showed up to try and make things right again.”

Everyone is just staring at Cross. My parents look so confused.  My dad is actually the one to speak up.

“So, let me see if I have this straight.  Y’all met, became friends, felt something more for each other, started a thing with each other, then Cross told on you to the label and got you put on a break in order for you to get healthy again.  Is that close?”

“Yes dad.”

“Well, then all I have to say is thank you son.  Thank you for looking out for her.  She works herself too hard.”

My mouth just falls open that my parents weren’t mad or at least surprised.  For the love, they just thanked him for ruining my career.  Glancing over at Cross, I see a faint hint of a smile on his face like he just won.

I sit through the rest of the night ignoring Cross and wondering how in the hell I am the only one who thinks what he did is a bad thing.  We finally say our good nights and head to our condos.  None of the girls mention what was said to me.  I’m just ready to get in bed and forget about today.

CROSS

              Three days have gone by and Ashleigh is back to not talking to me or acknowledging me.  After dinner with her parents the first night, she shut down again.  Tonight is the night we are all going out to the dueling piano bar.  Ashleigh’s parents are keeping her niece and nephew at the condo tonight while her sister and brother-in-law have a romantic date night.  We decide to just go early and eat dinner at the bar.  Thankfully, between me and Ashleigh, we are able to get a large table in the front reserved for us.

              Ashleigh and I are sitting on opposite ends of the table but I have the best view of her.  We order our food and drinks.  We rented a car tonight to drive us around because I’m pretty sure this is going to be a long night of drinking.

              By the time appetizers arrive, the girls are ready for drink number two.  By the time, our meals arrive, the girls have already hit drink number four.  The guys aren’t much better.  We are already on number four and getting ready for number five.  We are all actually having a lot of fun and the guys playing the pianos are amazing.  We order another round and the waitress actually stops to ask Ashleigh a question. 

              “I hate to interrupt but aren’t you Ashleigh Kennedy?”

              “Oh, yes.  That’s me.”

              “I thought so and so did the piano guys.  They asked me to check and see if you would sing a song while they played.”

              The whole table is looking at her because they all heard the question.  I can tell she’s torn due to the situation with her voice but it’s one song and we’re on vacation so why the hell not.  Before I can say something, I hear her speak up.

              “Well, actually, I…”

              I decide to interrupt her before she turns them down.

              “Ashleigh, go ahead.  We want to hear you sing with the piano guys.”

              She gives me a strange look.  I think she’s surprised I told her to sing since I’m the reason she’s not on the road touring.  She gives me a questioning look and I just give her one back and smiles my big, full on dimple smile.  I know that will win her over.  Thankfully, I see a small smile and hear her answer the waitress.

              “Um, well, I guess that would be okay.  Will they let me pick a song?”

              The waitress leads her up to the pianos and I notice her talking to both of the guys.  I heard her ask the waitress before about requesting a certain song so I assume that is what she is doing right now.  The piano guys start talking and then introduce her.

              “Hey everyone!  Thanks for asking me to sing a song.  These awesome guys have let me pick one to sing and I want to dedicate it to a very special person I know.  And ladies, some of you may be able to relate to this song if someone has done you wrong.”

              The music starts and the moment she starts singing, everyone instantly knows what it is.  She won’t look at our table.  I’m already laughing because I know 100% this song is directed at me and it is pretty funny. She finally reaches the chorus and the whole bar is singing right along with her.

“You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you.  You’re so vain…”

She finally glances down at our table and of course, the girls are all singing along.  She catches my eye and I am just staring at her with a smirk on my face.  I start laughing which seems to surprise her by the look on her face. She finishes up the song and then hops off the stage to head back to the table.  I had asked the waitress to bring her a cold beer for when she was done.  I notice her take a long sip from her beer and I head down to her end of the table and sit right next to her.

“That was quite the song Ash.  Some people may have thought you were directing that at me.”

She snorts out loud and takes another sip of her beer. 

“Newsflash asshole.  I
was
singing that song to you but I’m pretty sure you already knew that.”

I just laugh again and she ends up laughing with me.  We actually end up getting along for a while but I’m pretty sure it has something to do with her being on beer number seven.  For the next twenty minutes, everything is right in the world.  The whole table is laughing and having fun.  I’m having a good time with Ashleigh and she actually seems to be enjoying being with me.  I just hope that we can stay this way with each other and not go back to the silent treatment.  I love this girl and I will do anything to make sure she knows it and that everyone knows she is mine.

Chapter Thirty-Four

ASHLEIGH

              The next two days go by in a blur.  My friends leave in two days and that includes Cross.  I have no idea what to think.  I mean, on one hand, he told me he loves me and I can’t help but think he meant well with everything he did.  On the other hand, he’s still an ass who ruined my career and I’m pretty pissed at him for that.  My family and friends are not helping make anything easier.  They all obviously love him which totally sucks for me right now.

              My mom has planned a huge beach dinner party for all of us and the beach service guys.  She does this all the time when we come to the beach.  We love it too because it means we can stay outside all day and never have to worry about going up to eat.

              I woke up a lot earlier than any of the girls this morning and decided to head on down to the beach.  I sent my mom a text telling her I was headed down for some quiet time to myself.  I usually wouldn’t miss breakfast with everyone but I am just in one of those moods where I need some time alone.  Thankfully the guys have our chairs and umbrellas already up so I fix my towel, pull out my Kindle and start reading.  After an hour, I set my Kindle down and decide to go out in the water.

Even though more people are out and on the beach, it’s still nice and peaceful.  I’m out about waist deep in the water when I hear something behind me.

“Hey.  You’re out early today.”

I turn around and see Cross standing behind me in the water.  A flood of mixed emotions comes again.  He is actually one of the reasons I came out here to think.

“Hey Cross.  What’s up?”

“Uh, not much.  Your mom mentioned at breakfast you had already come out here so I thought I would join you before everyone else got down.  Look, do you think we could talk?  I think we’ve put it off long enough, don’t you?”