Wounded But Not Scarred (New Adult Rockers 2) (15 page)

Blake snuggles up behind me, and I
let him.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he says.

We’ve never fought before, even
though this really isn’t a fight, aside from the time when he told me he was
getting back together with Savannah. That was awful, but we weren’t together
then.

“I over-reacted,” I say in a small
voice. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”

He kisses the back of my head, and
I know, just like that, I’m forgiven. I feel a blanket of peace come over me,
and I’m asleep almost instantly.

Four Weeks Later

“Wait. What city are we in again?”
I ask, wrapping a sweater around me as we step outside into the chilly air.

Blake laughs. “Boston.”

“Right.”

A camera flashes the second we step
out of the hotel and I blink, still adjusting to pictures being taken of us at
random.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used
to that,” I admit.

“I know,” he grumbles. “Me either.”

It's the week before Thanksgiving
and we only have two more shows to play before we head back to Nashville for a
five-day break to enjoy the holiday. I personally can’t wait. I missed Daddy
like crazy, and spending so much time on the East Coast had been an adjustment.
Everybody moved and talked so fast up here. I always felt like I couldn’t keep
up.

But I had to admit, there were way
more country fans out here than I had ever imagined.

We duck into a Starbucks to get
coffees, and then head back out onto the chilly streets. We arrived late last
night, and I had to admit that so far, Boston is a beautiful city. We're playing
two nights here, so we should get some time to explore the city, too.

“So are you sure you have all our
Thanksgiving plans worked out?” Blake asks, and I shoot him a warning look. I
had been trying my best to try to work out seeing everyone around the holidays,
but it was proving difficult considering my mother and grandma are in Bristol
and Daddy now has Daisy, not to mention Blake’s family.

“It'll be fine,” I say, annoyed. “I
just want to make sure that we see everyone while we’re home.”

“And we will, baby. But don’t
forget we’ll be back three weeks after that, and then we’ll have a nice two
week break at home.”

“I know, I know.”

“And we have those houses that we
can look at,” Blake says carefully. “If you want to.”

“I
do
want to!” I assure
him.

Blake’s realtor, Cici, had sent us
a bunch of links of homes for sale knowing that we would be home for a few days
soon. We'd narrowed it down to three that we're interested in looking at, but
it'll be tricky to see them over the holiday weekend.

“No rush,” he says, “There will
always be houses for sale, and we can look at some around Christmas, or once we
finish the tour.’’

“I know,” I say, pulling my sweater
even tighter. “But I really wanted to see these.”

One house in particular that hadn’t
even gone on the market yet looked especially promising. The husband was being
transferred to the west coast in the spring, so the family wouldn’t even be
moving until March, but they were getting ready to list the house.

We’re about to head into a store,
when I see my momma calling.

“Hang on. I should probably take
this. I haven’t talked to her in a while,” I sigh, flashing Blake my phone
screen. He nods, and we duck under an awning.

“Hey, Momma, how are you?”

“Hi, sweetheart. I need to talk to
you.” I can tell from her voice something is wrong.

“What is it?” I ask panicked,
straightening up. Blake notices immediately and looks at me with concern.

“It’s Grandma,” my mother says, and
I think she’s been crying.

“Oh my god, is she alright?”

“Yes, yes, for now. But she’s had a
stroke.”

“A stroke?” I repeat, dumbfounded.
Grandma had been getting old, I knew that, but she was still
Grandma
–
she was always hearty and solid.

“It happened last night, but I
didn’t discover her until this morning when she didn’t answer the phone. I took
her to the hospital and they operated, but it looks like she has some permanent
damage. Right now she’s in a medically induced coma, but they’re planning to
bring her out in a few days. We’ll know more then.” Her voice breaks.

“Oh my god,” I say again, sinking
back into Blake.

“I don’t want to worry you honey,
and I know you’re coming home in a few days. Hopefully they'll be waking her up
by then, but you might want to—’’ her voice breaks again. “You might want to
see her soon because...I just don’t know.”

“Of course, I’ll come see her
Momma. I’ll come as soon as I can!”

“Well, don’t rush off and do
anything now. Finish up your shows. There’s nothing anybody can do now anyway.
Once she’s awake, the doctors will know more.”

“Okay, Momma. I’m so sorry. I’m
sorry you’re dealing with this all by yourself.”

“It’s okay honey,” she hesitates,
“I won’t be completely alone. Jackson is on his way up here right now.”

I stop, surprised, but then act
like it's not a big deal. “Well, that’s good. I’m glad he’ll be there for you.”

My mother had mentioned him once or
twice in passing over the weeks, but I didn’t have the impression that they
were that serious, or even actually dating. But it must be something serious,
if he’s coming up to be with her.

“Alright,” I say. “Well you let me
know if you hear anything else, and I’ll be praying for her. And we’ll be home
Tuesday night.”

“Okay, sweetie. I love you.”

“Love you too, Momma.”

I hang up the phone and look over
at Blake. “It’s my grandma. She had a stroke and they have her in a coma for
now. They’re going to wake her in a few days.” I stop. “I just can’t believe
it. Grandma was never ill, just getting old.”

Blake pulls me into a hug. “I’m
sorry, baby. I’m sorry.”

I’m in so much shock that I can’t
even cry. “And Jackson Deveraux is coming up to keep Momma company,” I say,
dumbfounded.

“Jackson?” Blake asks. “That’s a
surprise. Are they dating?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? I know they
reconnected at our release party and my mother has mentioned him a few times,
but maybe they are dating. God, I feel like a terrible daughter. I don’t even
know what’s been going on with my own mother.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it.
You’ve been on the road for a month. And before that, we had a crazy recording schedule.
Let’s just worry about your grandmother.”

“You’re right. Jackson is
unimportant. I mean,” I say quickly, “I’m glad he’s there for my mother, but
that’s not what this is about.”

Blake kisses me on the forehead,
and I sag into him, silently praying for my grandma to get better.

Our two Boston shows go better than
we could have hoped for, but I find myself distracted because of my grandma. I
say lots of prayers, and talk to my mother a few times, but there are no
changes and she's still being kept in a coma.

After our show on Monday night,
everyone pitched in to quickly pack up and get on the road. We had a
nineteen-hour drive back to Nashville, and we had all opted to sleep on the bus
instead of wasting a night in a hotel room and having to wake up at four in the
morning to drive home. We were hoping to beat holiday traffic too.

Blake and I lucked out because we
were given the bed to sleep on since we were a couple. Liam was going to take
the passenger seat next to Elvis, who had spent the day sleeping in preparation
of our overnight drive. Jack, Ben, Ryan, Jason and Reese were going to fight
over the couches.

“I feel bad,” I say as we board the
RV. I’m dressed in my pajama pants and one of my sleep sweatshirts.

“Don’t sweat it,” Ryan says,
lugging a blanket. “I call the floor.”

“The floor!” I frown. “Now I really
feel bad.”

“Are you kidding? Look at all this
leg room,” he laughs, laying his blanket down.

“Seriously Paige, we’ll be fine,”
Jason assures me, fluffing up pillows on the couch. “I can sleep sitting up.”

“So can I!” Ben says, sitting on
the opposite end of the couch from Ben.

“I’ll be up for hours,” Reese
admits, sitting at the table. “I can never unwind after a show.”

“Well, you’re more than welcome to
use the bed in the morning if you need to nap.”

“Thanks. I just might,” Reese says
smiling.

I’m exhausted, especially from the
emotional stress of my grandma, so Blake and I head right back to bed.

“Are you happy to be heading home?”
Blake asks quietly, after we turn the lights out. I flip on a white noise app
from my phone to drown out the sounds from the main part of the RV.

“Yes,” I say sleepily. “I miss
everyone and I want to get up and see my grandma.”

“I’ll go with you, if you want?” he
offers.

“I love you.”

Next thing I know, I’m waking up
and I see that the spot next to me is empty. I can tell that it’s light outside
and I reach for my phone. It’s just after seven in the morning, which means
we’ve been on the road for just about seven hours. Suddenly the door opens, and
Blake comes back into the room.

“A lot of them are still sleeping
out there,” he tells me. “I just spoke with Elvis and Liam for a few minutes. Jack
and Ben are up too.”

“Any problems?” I ask, rubbing at
my eyes and sitting up.

“Nope. We’re around Hagerstown,
Maryland. Still have about twelve hours to go.”

I nod.

“We’re going to go through a drive
through for breakfast in about an hour or so. I’m guessing the rest of the guys
will be up by then.”

I swing my legs over the side of
the bed, and twist the blinds so I can see outside. “Well, they can come sleep
in here if they need to nap more. I know Reese said he probably wouldn’t get
much sleep.”

I check my phone again to see if I
missed any calls or text. “I’m going to call my mom in a bit to see if they
have a day set for taking grandma out of her coma.”

Blake nods, and I make my way out
and into the bathroom. I wash my face and brush my teeth and then come back in
the room to get dressed. I dress comfortably since we’re going to spend the day
on the road.

We hear more talking outside the
room, and when we open the door, we notice everyone is up.

“Hey sleepy heads,” Ryan says
sleepily.

“Speak for yourself,” Blake shoots
back, “We’ve been up.”

We go through a drive through and
order breakfast, and everyone seems to perk up after they’ve had food and
caffeine. We all start doing our own thing, and sure enough some of the guys
disappear into the bedroom to nap, and Ben dozes on the couch some more.

I get in touch with my mother and
she says the doctors are going to take Grandma out of the coma on Wednesday. I
head back over to Blake to tell him.

“So, Grandma is coming out of the
coma on Wednesday, but my mother told me not to come up until Friday so we can
enjoy our holiday.”

“Sure. I’ll go with you then.”

I nod, and then don’t say any more.
I begin to feel lighter as we get closer to Nashville. We’ve made good time,
and hit very little traffic, so we should be back home around seven.

Elvis drops off Reese and Jason and
then Liam and Jack. The next stop is Daddy’s and I’m thrilled to finally see
him. Blake’s parents apparently dropped his truck off at Daddy’s so that Blake
can get off with me, which also saves Elvis a stop.

We pull up at the bottom of Daddy’s
driveway and he’s standing there in the dark, smiling.

“Daddy!” I cry, hugging him.

“Hey, sweetie. I missed my baby
girl.” He hugs me back.

Even though it’s dark out, I can
see from the streetlight that Daddy still looks great. He’s healthy as ever,
and he looks even more fit than he did six weeks ago.

“Gosh, you look great, Daddy! Still
working out, I see?”