Wounded But Not Scarred (New Adult Rockers 2) (7 page)

She considers the question. “I
really don’t know,” she says honestly, “but he’s in such a fragile place.”

“I don’t know, Paige. He doesn’t
seem that fragile to me. He seems more confident and sure of himself than I’ve
ever seen him. He’s practically got that gym finished at the house, and he’s
been serious about his new lifestyle.”

“Yes but it’s only been a couple of
weeks.” She counters.

“Well, maybe a woman with a similar
lifestyle would benefit him.”

I see Paige think it over, and I
can see that my idea has won her over.

“You know, you might be right.
Maybe I should set Daddy up on that date. And Jami’s mother certainly is
beautiful.”

We enjoy the rest of our lunch and
then I drop Paige back off at home. I’ve got some errands to run, and I need to
get some work done around my house. The place needs to be cleaned, and I’ve got
a stack of mail and bills that I need to go through. The weeklong marathon
recording session nearly killed me.

As I pull into my driveway, I see a
familiar looking red car parked out front and I feel anger flood my system.

I jump out of my truck, just as
Savannah gracefully exits from her driver’s side.

“Hey Blake,” she drawls, walking
towards me. She’s dressed in her normal, over-exposed attire. Her black and
white print dress seems to be painted on, and the hemline is shameful. She’s
wearing sky-high spiky heels, and her hair is even more blonde-streaked than
before.

“What are you doing here,
Savannah?” I ask, skipping all niceties.

She pouts. “You aren’t happy to see
me?”

“Of course not,” I snap.

She pretends to look hurt.

“I thought I’d just stop by to pay
you a visit.”

“Bull shit,” I spit.

She shakes her head, smiling
patronizingly at me.

“I thought you might change your
mind,” she admits, “but you haven’t come crawling back.”

“You knew that wasn’t going to
happen.”

She shrugs, and examines her
manicured nails.

“Selling your house?” she asks, her
voice venomous.

“What’s it to you?”

“Getting cozy with your new
girlfriend?” Her face twists into an ugly snarl, but I refuse to take her bait
and instead I wait for her to speak again. Her face smoothes over as she
collects herself.

“My parents are very unhappy that
you embarrassed the family,” she purrs.

“So, I’ve heard.” I roll my eyes.
“I really don’t get it Savannah. Your parents never thought I was good enough
for you anyway, so what’s the big deal?”

“True, they didn’t,” she says
coolly, “but it’s an entirely different matter regarding the way you ‘dumped’
their daughter.”

“I’m not listening to this crap any
more, Savannah, get out of here,” I say, waving her away and starting to make
my way into the house. I’m so fucking angry, but I know that I need to just let
things go and ignore her taunts. The last thing we all need is more drama from
Savannah’s family.

“It’s not crap,” she says sharply,
“it’s funny how your music career seems to be taking off now that I’m out of
the picture and your dating the boss’ daughter.”

I turn around and narrow my eyes.
“How dare you.”

“Look how well you’re doing now,”
she points out.

“So what? My music is taking off.
Maybe that’s happening because I’m talented and
because
you’re out of
the picture.”

“Oh, so that little tramp,
Paige
,
is helping your music?” she asks snidely, practically spitting out Paige’s
name.

“You better watch yourself,” I say
in a low voice. “Now get the hell off my property before I call the cops on you
for trespassing.”

“You wouldn’t,” she challenges.

“Try me.”

She steps back, evaluating my face,
and then shrugs. She turns and saunters away.

“This isn’t over, Blake,” she calls
as she gets into her car and roars out of the court.

Balling my fists, I head into the
house, determined not to let her get to me.

I brood over Savannah’s visit all
day. I have a strict policy about being honest with Paige, but the last thing I
feel like doing is telling her that Savannah was waiting for me in the driveway
when I got home.

I purposely avoid calling Paige
until it’s after dinner, and by then I can’t put it off any longer.

“Hey!” she answers happily after I
dial her number.

“Hey baby. How are things?”

“Really good. Daddy and I just had
a nice dinner together, and we’re getting ready to watch a movie.”

“That sounds really nice. Sounds
like you two are really bonding.”

“We are,” she gushes, “It’s just so
nice seeing him like this. I’m really proud of him.”

“You should be proud of yourself
too. He wouldn’t be doing as well as he is, if you hadn’t forced him to go to
rehab.”

I can almost see Paige’s face flush
through the phone. “Well, either way it’s working.” She lowers her voice.
“Though I haven’t told him about the possible date I might be setting him up
on.”

I laugh. “I bet Kenny will love
that.”

There’s a long pause as I gather
the courage to tell Paige what happened.

“Blake? Are you still there?”

“Yeah. Look, there’s something that
I need to tell you.”

There’s silence on the other end
and I’m sure I’ve made Paige nervous.

“Savannah came by to see me today.”

“What?” She doesn’t hide her
irritation.

“When I came home from lunch, she
was waiting outside the house.”

“What did she want?” she demands.

“I’m not actually sure. She made
some comments about wanting to see if I changed my mind about us, and how her
parents were upset that I embarrassed her family.”

“Did she mention me?”

I had wanted to avoid this part.
“Just a snide comment. It was almost like she was checking up on me. And I think
she was surprised to see the house was on the market, and I definitely think
that pissed her off.”

Paige sighs loudly. “Is she ever
going away? Even though it’s over, we hear that her family is causing trouble
and now she’s showing up at your house. It’s been almost two months, what a
crazy bitch!”

“I know, I know. Look, I refused to
get into it with her, and after a minute or two of her bitchy,
passive-aggressive comments, I told her to get the hell off my property.”

“I don’t like this, Blake,” she says
vehemently.

“Neither do I. But there is nothing
that she can do to derail you and I. Let’s not feed into her games, and
hopefully she’ll go away on her own. It’s been relatively quiet since we broke
up, so let’s hope this is just a rare instance.”

Paige is quiet on the other end.

“I hope so.”

“Alright, let’s forget about it. I
didn’t even want to tell you because I knew it would upset you, but I always
want to be honest with you. We’re not going to let it ruin our week.” I close
my eyes to rid my mind of Savannah. “What day do you have to go back into the
studio again?”

“Wednesday.” She says quietly.

“We go on Thursday. We also have a
meeting with Liam tomorrow.”

“I meet with Liam on Thursday. I
guess they’re bringing us both in to go over the plan for the albums and
possible tour dates.”

I’m relieved that Paige has let
Savannah go and is talking about music instead.

“Probably. Let’s talk tomorrow and
we’ll figure out some time that we can spend together before you go to Bristol
this weekend. When are you leaving?”

“I’ll probably leave after
breakfast on Friday, and I’ll come home sometime on Monday. Maybe you can check
up on Daddy over the weekend? Would that be too much to ask?”

“Not at all. Maybe I’ll swing by on
Saturday and say I have some things to drop off for you.”

“That would be great,” Paige says,
her voice getting brighter.

“Oh, I almost forgot. I spoke to my
mother earlier, and she said she would be free for lunch on Thursday. I know
you said that you have your meeting with Liam that day, though.”

“I could do lunch,” she pipes up.
“My meeting is at ten, so I could meet your mom afterwards.”

“Okay. I’ll talk with her again and
then you guys can firm things up.” I pause. “I love you, Paige.”

“I love you too, Blake.”

We say goodbye and hang up.

I feel better that I told Paige
about Savannah, but I still can’t stop the nagging feeling that Savannah’s
visit was more than just a random drop by.

I spend the next few days stewing
about that vapid bitch Savannah, though I try hard not to let it interfere with
things. I make plans with my momma and grandma, and they're ecstatic that I’m
coming to visit. Daddy is also happy that I’m going to visit them and he’s even
generous enough to offer his house if they ever want to visit Nashville.

My parents sure have come a long
way.

I see Blake briefly on Wednesday in
between my studio session and his meeting with Liam. The studio session only
lasted a few hours and wasn’t nearly as painful as I thought it might be. The
mixing guys had already done a ton of work, and I basically had to sing a few
“oohs” and “ahhs” here and there, a few back up bits, and other small
corrections. It was actually just a lot of sitting around while they lined
everything up and then a minute or two of singing before I had to sit around
some more.

Of course, that left me with plenty
of time to Google the Prescott and Devlin families, but the more I read, the
worse I felt. They were an even bigger presence in Nashville than I had
assumed.

I did, however, email Jami, and as
crazy as I felt, I was setting my daddy up on a date with her mother, Daisy. Of
course, I still have to tell Daddy, but I'm saving that for this evening. Jami
and I are aiming for a Friday night date. That made me happy because I'll know
exactly what Daddy's going to be up to on Friday night, and then Blake will be
by to see him on Saturday. I can call him on Sunday to check on him and then
he's back to work on Monday and I'll be home by then.

I know I can’t keep tabs on Daddy
at all times, but it's only been a few weeks since he's been out of rehab, and
for the time being I'm going to be overly cautious.

Daddy won’t be home for dinner
tonight, so I go about making myself something from leftovers. Afterwards, I
change into my pajamas, even though it’s early and curl up in the den to watch
some TV. After a while, Daddy appears in the doorway.

“Hey Daddy,” I greet him.

“Hey yourself. You look nice and
comfy.”

“I am. Just relaxing a bit.”

“Good for you.”

“How was your day?" I ask. "Did
you have a good dinner meeting?”

“I did. The day went well. Very
busy. I think I’m going to call it a night though and just veg out in my room
if that’s alright.” He turns to head out of the room.

“Daddy! Wait!” I call, sitting up
on the couch. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

He takes a step into the room, a
curious look on his face.

“It’s about this Friday night,” I
say, suddenly uncomfortable. “Remember that girl Jami, the stylist, who helped
me with the tour?”

“Yeah sure,” he says slowly, not
following.

“Well, I bumped into her at lunch
the other day, and she was with her mother, a very attractive lady,” I quickly
add when I see my dad’s face cloud over. “And, well, we thought it might be
nice if you and her mother, Daisy, had dinner together on Friday night.” I look
down at my hands, afraid to look at my father.

“Like a date?” he asks
suspiciously.

“Well, yes. A date.”

“Paige,” he says exasperated, “Do
you know how long it’s been since I’ve been on a date?” He does not sound
happy.

“No,” I answer in a small voice.

“Almost a year.”

“Well, maybe it's time, Daddy,” I
say boldly, looking at him. “Her mother seemed very nice and Jami told me that
she loves to work out too.”