The Price of Love (Rockin' Country Book 2) (13 page)

“I’m so fuckin’ sorry.”

Hannah smiled brightly at him, and that was almost his undoing. “I can tell by looking at the picture that you were not into it. I’m not mad at you, honest. I’m mad at her, whoever she is. When did we, as women, stop having respect for ourselves?”

“God, I love you,” he chuckled. “We’re okay?”

“We are fine. I’m confident in what we have here. The two of us need to remember who we are. Even though we see ourselves as normal, we have to remember that not everybody else sees us that way. Let’s promise now that we stop putting ourselves in these situations.”

Somehow the roles had reversed. “As funny as this sounds, I’m proud of you for being the one to lift me up this time.”

She laughed loudly. “It is kind of weird, huh? I guess it’s what we do when we love each other.” Her eyes shone brightly with the laughter.

“I can’t wait to see you,” he told her softly. He wanted so much to reach through the screen of the phone and push her hair back from her face.

“I can’t either. Have you taken a look at your schedule?”

“I have,” he nodded. “I think I can make it out for a day next week. I know you can’t do anything, they’ve fuckin’ booked you solid.”

Hannah groaned and frowned. “Shell and I received the last of my dates yesterday. In this entire eight-week stretch, I have a total of five days off. Can you believe that?”

“They want to be sure and cash in.” He rolled his eyes. “Seven more weeks, and I can see you next week. We got this.”

She hoped he was right. It was hard to feel completely confident when everything was working against you. “What day do you think you can make it out next week? One of my days off is next week. Maybe we can meet in Nashville and tour that house?”

“You are so excited about that damn house.” He shook his head.

“I am!”

“Okay,” he relented. “Send me when and where, and I’ll be there with bells on.”

“Sounds good.” She clapped her hands. “I gotta go for now, I have a radio interview. Be sure and take a shower, cause you look like you stink.”

“Love you too.”

She blew a kiss at him. “I do love you, that’s why I’m being honest. I’ll see you in a few days?”

“See ya.”

He disconnected, glad that he had been able to call her and get it worked out. The countdown was now on for next week.

*     *     *

Hannah stood in Nashville International Airport waiting for Garrett to walk through the baggage claim area. He’d texted her five minutes ago that he’d landed.

“I hate to bother you, Harmony, but do you think I could have an autograph?”

That soft voice interrupted Hannah’s stalking of the entrance, and she glanced around, seeing a girl who was probably in her early teens. An older woman came to a stop behind the girl.

“I’m so sorry, I told her that you were busy, but she got away from me,” the woman told her, her breath coming quickly.

“It’s okay,” Hannah told them, smiling as best she could. “Do you have anything for me to sign?”

Sometimes it was hard to be polite, especially when her heart was in her throat, waiting for the other half of her soul to meet her. It had been a long week, and all she wanted to do was let Garrett wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. Sometimes, though, duty called. She watched as the girl reached into her messenger bag and pulled out a Sharpie, along with a notebook.

“Can you sign here?” she asked, indicating the first page.

“Am I the first one?” Hannah asked, noticing that the notebook looked brand new. That was kind of exciting.

The girl nodded. “We’re here on vacation for the week, and I was hoping to run into some people to get autographs from. You were the number-one person I wanted, I can’t tell you how excited I am about this.”

“Aww, thank you,” she told the girl. Her excitement and nervousness over seeing Garrett abated a little. It was this girl’s dream to meet her. “What’s your name?”

“Madison.”

Hannah started signing and decided to keep the conversation going. Garrett wasn’t anywhere to be seen yet, anyway. “Have you wanted to come to Nashville for long?”

“Yes.” The girl nodded, not offering anymore.

Glancing up at the mother, Hannah noticed tears in her eyes. The way the girl had said yes made her think there was more to the story.

“It’s what kept her going,” the mother whispered.

Hannah didn’t have to ask. “I just went into remission from cancer,” the girl told her. “This is my dream come true.”

“Wow.” Hannah breathed to keep the tears from coming to her eyes as well. She hated that people had to go through these things, especially children. “Do you wanna take a picture?” she asked, as she finished signing the notebook.

Madison nodded. “Can I take one with him too?” She pointed behind Hannah.

Hannah glanced behind her, noticing that her husband now stood patiently waiting. “I don’t know,” she winked at him. “You’ll have to ask Reaper yourself.”

He caught Hannah around the neck, pulling her flush to him. Her back to his front. “She likes to try and make me blush. What’s your name, sweetheart?” he asked as he let go of Hannah and motioned for the notebook.

“Where are you and Madison staying?” she asked the mother while Garrett kept Madison entertained.

She rattled off the name of a hotel that Hannah knew wasn’t in the best part of town. “You don’t want to stay there, trust me.” Putting her hand on the older woman’s shoulder, she pulled out her cell phone and spent a couple of minutes texting while they continued to make small talk. “Okay, you’re set up. I want you and Madison to have a great time. There’s a car waiting outside for you, it will take you to the hotel that I’ve booked for you for the week, this car will also be at your disposal for your trip here. Have a great time, and if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call my assistant, Shell.” She wrote Shell’s number on the back of a card and handed it to the woman.

If someone had asked her, she would never be able to tell them why she felt the need to do this. She’d never done anything like this before, but there was something about this girl and this woman that made her want to help. She didn’t have to do it in front of a group of people, and she didn’t even want a thank you. The tears in the older woman’s eyes was enough.

Garrett put his arm around Hannah again as he and Madison came to stand closer to them. He reached out and shook the mother’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to be able to be number two in her book. I hope you have a great time in Nashville; I’m still learning about it myself, but what I’ve seen so far, I love.”

His words seem to put the other woman at ease—it gave her time to get control of her emotions. They took two more pictures, and then Hannah hugged the mother. “Have a great time.”

She and Garrett quickly made their way out of the hustle and bustle of the airport to her Land Rover that her mom had dropped off at the airport for her earlier in the day. Once there, he grabbed her up in a hug, kissing her softly on the lips before opening the passenger side door for her.

“I’m excited that we both got here around the same time.” She grabbed his hand as he backed out of the parking spot.

“Me too, but I’m getting to where I fucking hate airports.”

She frowned at his choice of words. “We got out of there just in time; we have to meet the realtor in an hour, and it’s going to take us a little while to get across town.”

He grinned over at her. “Have you seen it yet?”

“No, I’ve been waiting on you.” She bounced in her seat.

Hannah wasn’t sure why she was so excited, she just knew that this felt like another part of the progression of their lives as a married couple. This was the type of thing she saw them doing when they got married, not flying red-eyes at all hours trying to see each other for a few minutes here and there. She had to keep reminding herself that it would all work out in the end. She had to believe that.

*  *  *

W
hen they pulled up to the address that Hannah had put into the GPS, Garrett whistled. “This is awesome.”

“I know.” She clapped her hands together with excitement. In person, she could see that the pictures on the internet didn’t do the house justice. She had loved the gray exterior in the pictures she had seen, but in reality, it blended in so well with the surroundings that it looked as if it had been carved out of the landscape. When she got out of the SUV, she glanced around the property and noticed that she also liked the land it sat on. While the house was in a subdivision, it still had a little over two acres worth of land. The house sat in what she thought to be the middle of those two acres.

“Hannah?” A man in a suit approached her.

She smiled and stuck out a hand when she noticed it was the real estate agent that she had seen a picture of on the website. “Hi. Jacob, right?”

“Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Same here. This is my husband, Garrett.” She introduced the two of them and waited while they shook hands, and then Jacob rolled up his shirt sleeve to show Garrett a Black Friday tattoo he had.

“If I wasn’t a rocker, I would be the same way, dude,” Garrett laughed. “All buttoned up with my tats a secret, so I could make it in the corporate world.”

“Okay, so Hannah, I’ve told you everything I know about the house, I toured it the other day and it’s spectacular. Do either of you have any questions for me?” he asked as they made their way to the front door.

“Can we, for the love of God, go in?” she asked, impatient.

He laughed, used to people being excited to tour the house that they wanted to make their own. “We sure can.” He disengaged the lock that was on the front door, and then stepped in, turning off the alarm system before he motioned them in.

Garrett grabbed her hand, pulling her in behind him. “So this place is already equipped with security?”

“It is,” Jacob answered. “The person who owns the house now is a well-known producer, and at one point had people dropping off CDs and drives with songs on them all the time. Word has it that someone got a little over-zealous and actually got into the house one night. He upped the security after that. Should you decide to make an offer on this house, the security is top-notch, and we can go into that at the end if you want.”

Garrett nodded, feeling better about the situation. He wanted Hannah to be safe when he wasn’t around. Finally, he allowed himself to take a look at his surroundings. There was a definite cultural difference from California houses to houses in Tennessee.

“While this is modern,” Jacob was saying, “you’ll still see a lot of hallmarks of southern homes, which Hannah will probably get a whole lot more than you.”

“I love these hardwood floors.” Hannah’s eyes were already bright, and they were only in the foyer.

“It’s not hardwood through-out, but for the most part it is. There is a mother-in-law suite, which you could see to the left of the house when you pulled up, that’s connected by a walk-way. It’s being used right now as an office, and it has carpet, as well as the movie room. There’s tile in the dining room too, it’s got a nice mixture, I think.”

“There’s a movie room?” Garrett asked, eyebrows high and a bright smile on his face at the sound of that.

“Yes, there is,” he confirmed, consulting the printed-out folder he had in front of him.

“I sent you the link,” Hannah gently scolded him. “Didn’t you take a look at it?”

“Kind of.” He shrugged. “I didn’t really need to. If you’re excited, I’m excited.” He slung an arm around her shoulders.

“I guess that’s sweet, but I wanted you to know what you would be coming to look at.”

“I do like it,” he assured her. “The pictures that I did see didn’t do this place justice.”

They made their way further in, both admiring the lighting coming from the large windows and the big rooms.

“It’s going to take a lot of furniture to fill this place up,” she laughed as she held onto Garrett’s arm.

“Or a lot of kids,” Jacob joked. “It’s got four bedrooms.”

They glanced at one another; neither of them had broached that topic yet. “Someday,” Hannah answered, vaguely.