“What’s wrong, love?” Annabeth asked. “Didmy distraction not do the trick? Do you want to see my toe? It’s crooked for life now unless I let them break it again just to set it right.”
Willow laughed. “No… I don’t want to see it.” Although maybe visible confirmation that the beautiful woman almost five years her junior had at leastonephysical imperfection might not be the worst thing in the world. “It’s just…” She nodded toward where the ignored Ash sat sulking with his arms crossed on the other end of the couch. “You’re…fantastic. I get why Ash wanted to marry you.” She cleared her throat. “Did you come here to work things out?”
Annabeth burst into a fit of laughter. Ash shook his head and sighed. And Willow, who could no longer feel her frozen toe and almost half of her foot, furrowed her brows.
“That’s…funny?” Willow asked. Because neither she nor Ash were laughing, but somehow Willow didn’t think it was for the same reason.
Annabeth slowly let go of the bag of ice, and once certain it was balancing just fine on its own, slid back on the couch so she was sitting next to Ash. She took her ex-husband’s hand and clasped it between hers.
“Ash, love,” she began sweetly. “Did you not tell her the whole story?”
Willow’s stomach dropped, and she felt the familiar sting behind her eyes again, though shewasn’t sure why. Whatever the other woman had to say wouldn’t change what happened four years ago. But…would it change what was happening now?
Ash glanced up at Willow with the kind of look she swore she never wanted to see on his face again…apologetic.
“I tried,” he replied to Annabeth, but his gaze held firm on Willow.
“Right,” Willow mumbled. “Texts and emails that never quite made it my way.”
“I swear I did, Wills. You did block me and get a new number, but I understand if you don’t believe me.”
Willow straightened, and the towel full of ice fell to the floor. Both Annabeth and Ash made a move to reach for it, but Willow gave them one sharp shake of her head, and the two retreated like reprimanded toddlers.
Ugh. She hated that she couldn’t simply stand and give herself the higher ground. The two of them sitting across from her felt like a united front through which she had to break.
“I was humiliated and heartbroken,” Willow finally replied. It was one thing to admit those words to Ash, but it stung even more to say them in front of Annabeth. “I was escorted out of your tour bus so you could greet your newwifeand take announcement photos. Did you honestly think there was anything you could have texted or emailed that could have erased that sort of mortification?”
She heard Annabeth breathe in sharply before whispering, “Oh god.”
The muscle in Ash’s jaw pulsed as he shook his head. “No,” he admitted. “You’re right. There’s nothing I can say that will fix that, and I hate myself for it.” He scrubbed a hand across his stubbled jaw and sighed.
Willow shrugged. It was time to rip off the Band-Aid. After all the curated social media posts she’d seen over the years of the happy couple splitting their time between Nashville and Edinburgh when their schedules allowed…the magazine interviews that talked of the mutual love, respect, and support that kept their relationship going despite it sometimes being long distance…Willow needed to hear it all, and she needed it to be done quickly.
“Tell me, Ash. Tell me what you should have told me before you ever threw around that four-letter word.”
Annabeth whistled, brushed her hands together, and crossed one leg over the other. “Here we go,” she said, and Willow thought she detected a hint of nervousness in the overly confident woman’s voice.
“Here we go,” Willow repeated and hoped she wouldn’t regret it.
Chapter 21
Four and a half years ago, Ash had stormed out of the nearly empty pub, guitar still slung over his back, and paced the dark, puddle-ridden parking lot. Before the door could snick shut, Sloane had followed him outside.
“That’s another canceled contract,” he called over to her, as if she didn’t already know. “That’s the sixth venue so far that has booked me for two nights and canceled after the first…in case anyone’s keeping count.” He let out a bitter laugh. “And I use the term ‘venue’ lightly.” He nodded toward the blinking red sign that read THISTLE AND DRAGON. “If I’d actually sat on that stool, my knees would have been bumping the table in front of me. Not that it would have mattered since it was anemptytable.” He ran a hand through his damp hair. Was it raining? Or was there just a constant mist in the air? “Why are we even doing this, Sloane? It’s not like I’m Dolly Parton or something. We’re doing fine in the United States. We must be losing money right and left trying to make me a thing over here.”
Over here, of course, was the United Kingdom. Sloane had assured him that country music was onthe rise in the UK and that listeners were champing at the bit for someone new. But a two-week stint gigging off-the-beaten-path pubs had proven otherwise.
“We just need to find our angle,” Sloane assured him. “Your U.S. tour kicks off in a few months, and if we can generate some buzz over here before we head home…just get your name and your sound in people’s ears…” Her voice trailed off, and the silence made Ash stop pacing. Silence and Sloane either meant she was drumming up a brilliant idea or she alreadyhadthe idea and was simply using a dramatic pause to get his attention. Either way, it worked.
“What?” he asked as she tapped her index finger against her lips as if pondering her next move. When she grinned, Ash’s pulse quickened.
Five years ago, when he was only eighteen years old, he’d sent demos to music labels in California, New York, and Nashville. No one responded. So that summer, in between his shifts on the family ranch—and sometimes sneaking out on his brotherswithoutfinishing a shift—he’d hop a bus to Lake Tahoe to busk. When he’d socked away enough cash, he started doing the same in LA, crashing on couches when he could. It took six months, but once Sloane dropped her business card in his guitar case, the rest was history. He had a freaking career.
“We go back to your busking days,” she told him, and Ash barked out a laugh.
“I played the main stage on the concert rodeo circuit last year. I played the damned national anthem at Dodger Stadium and the Oakland Coliseum this past summer. And Ialmostheadlined at Stagecoach.”
Sloane snorted. “Your name was in thethirdrow of artists listed.”
