Restless Heart

Table of Contents

 

 

Dear Friends,

I was blessed when I fell into music as a young woman. Before then I’d been independent and unconventional, feeling out of step with the world around me. When I found music, I knew I’d found the place where I belonged. But being famous at eighteen isn’t easy, and the chaos of fame can be overwhelming. My life has played on a stage for everyone to see: good and bad, every choice lit with a spotlight.

Restless Heart
is the story of another woman called to music at a young age. Destiny Hart discovers her path on a dare—a prank draws her to sing before an audience for the first time, and in that moment, Destiny’s life is altered. Success is elusive, and years in Nashville, isolated from her family and friends, have taken a toll on Destiny. And that’s when Seth walks back into her life. The boy next door, Seth has always been Destiny’s friend, but reuniting as adults brings the two of them closer than ever before . . . close enough that now Destiny has to choose: the man who makes her heart sing or the singing career that makes her feel alive.

I wanted to tell a story of a young woman with her life unfolding before her, facing incredible challenges and incredible opportunities, and making good decisions. A story of dreams and love, of family and friendships, of reaching for the stars and keeping your feet on the ground.

 

 

Enjoy!

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First published by New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

 

First Printing, February 2011

Copyright © Wynonna Judd, 2011

All rights reserved

REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA: Judd, Wynonna, 1964-

Restless heart/Wynonna Judd with LuAnn McLane. p. cm.

eISBN : 978-1-101-18817-0

1. Women country musicians—Fiction. 2. Kentucky—Fiction.
I. McLane, LuAnn. II. Title.
PS3610.U35R47 2011
813’.6-dc22 2010036620

 

 

 

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

 

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

 

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

 

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

I
’d like to thank Kara Welsh and NAL for publishing another one of my projects. Laura Cifelli for her fantastic editing work. Mel Berger, my WME literary agent, for always making the right things happen, and LuAnn McLane for her immense help in creating such an interesting, talented, driven, and compassionate character—Destiny Hart.

 

“
A
ll right, folks, let’s give Danny-Kirk Nelson a big ol’ round of applause!”

Gamely clapping along with the rest of the audience for yet another singing cowboy, Destiny Hart hoped poor Danny-Kirk had a decent day job, because it didn’t seem likely he’d be giving it up for country stardom anytime soon.

What did I do to deserve this torture on a beautiful summer night?
she wondered, watching Danny-Kirk keep right on taking bows even after the polite applause had trickled away.

She’d had a feeling she should have lied when her friend Cooper Sparks popped over earlier to ask whether she had any plans tonight.

“Why do you want to know?” she’d asked warily, noting the gleam in his eye and wondering whether he might be up to some kind of mischief, as was often the case.

With a shrug—and a hurt expression—he’d replied, “I thought you might want to hang out with me and Annie and Seth, but if you’re busy . . .”

She wasn’t. And so here she was, sitting on a folding lawn chair in a muggy field with her three best friends and a few hundred strangers, slapping mosquitoes beneath the orange glow of the waning sunlight as one wannabe after another took the stage.

“And now for our next contestant in the WKCX Kicks Country Kentucky Idol search . . .”

Leaning toward Annie McPhearson on her left, Destiny whispered, “Please tell me Coop’s not going to make us stay till the bitter end?”

“—is Destiny Hart!”

Destiny Hart . . .

No. No way. Her own name couldn’t have just been announced over the PA system . . .

Or could it?

“Annie—”

“It wasn’t my idea.” Her friend was suddenly awfully busy tugging her strawberry-blond hair—a longtime, telltale nervous habit.

“What wasn’t your idea?”

Annie didn’t answer.

Seth Caldwell, in the chair beside Annie, shook his head, looking concerned. “Don’t do it.”

“Do what?”

“Destiny Hart of Wilmot High School, come on down!” the PA boomed.

She swiveled her head to Cooper, sitting on her right with his long legs sprawled in front of him. He blinked at her with his own attempt at brown-eyed Ashton Kutcher innocence, but the slight twitching of his lips gave him away.

“Oh no, Coop. No. Please say you didn’t.”

“Yeah,” he said cheerfully, “I sure did.”

“What?”
Destiny’s usually husky voice rose an octave and she sat up so straight that her lawn chair tilted backward. She teetered for a moment and would have toppled over if Seth hadn’t reached past Annie and grabbed her.

“Destiny Hart, are you in the house?” the DJ persisted, peering out over the crowd with one hand above his eyebrows.

Destiny glared at Cooper. “What makes you think I’m going to get up on that stage?”

“I
dare
you.” He arched one dark eyebrow and gave her another classic Cooper grin.

Ah, he knew her too well. He’d been daring her—and vice versa—since they were both thirteen and the new kids in school.

She’d been down that road countless times before—making new friends, only to lose them a year later when her father, an air force colonel, was transferred. Finally, though, he’d retired, and Destiny was here to stay; her mother promised that the bonds she made at Wilmot High were going to last awhile—maybe even a lifetime.

So far, she’d been right.

Destiny first met Cooper in the guidance office, waiting for orientation to begin. The secretary was away from her desk, and there was a delicious-looking chocolate bakery cupcake sitting on it.