Page 67 of Nashville Lights

I roll the quad bike out of its shed and Roxie climbs onto the back, wrapping her arms around me. “Hold on tight, Tuck.”

I push the quad bike for all it’s worth. We round the hill and I can see the pink of her princess outfit and the strawberry-blond halo of her hair in the distance.

Thank you, God.

We pull up next to the little cemetery of two that we made just for them. The flowers we brought last weekend are wilted in their vases now. Daisy is sitting cross-legged between the two stones. Her little face is streaked with her earlier tears, but dry now. “Hi, Uncle Nate. Hi, Miss Roxie.”

I help Roxie off the quad bike. Then I go over to Daisy and pick her up, giving her a big, wildly relieved hug. “You can’t do that to me, sweetheart,” I murmur.

“I’m sorry. Sometimes I just need them.”

“I know. Just tell me next time so I can come with you.”

“Okay.”

Daisy sees that Roxie has tears in her eyes too and she reaches for her. Roxie takes her and gives her another one of those heartfelt hugs. “You okay?”

Daisy nods as Roxie smooths her hair.

“That’s my Mommy and that’s my Daddy,” Daisy points out.

Roxie puts Daisy’s little hand on her heart. “They’re still right here. Always. Just like mine are.”

“In the beat of my heart,” Daisy whispers.

26

It’s late now.We got Daisy home and cleaned up and Nate took her down to the school as Travis, Vaughn and I finished cleaning up the house.

My brothers left to go see Aunt Lou and Uncle Earl for a few hours before heading back to Travis’s country house, where they were going to pick up Ruby and Gigi and drive into the city to see Kade. No one’s heard from him in a few days and they wanted to check in on him before going to a gig they wanted to see. I joked that their favorite hobby seems to be barging in on everyone’s love lives, but they just said it’s because they care. Our hugs felt different when they left. Like we’re somehow equals now instead of just big brothers and a little sister. And like we love each other more every day.

Daisy’s tucked in, asleep. I helped her lay out her school outfit and we packed her backpack with the school supplies she and Nate picked up on their way home.

Nate tried calling Ainsley Beal a few more times but it went straight to voicemail. I can tell he’s on edge, but tomorrow he’ll meet with her and explain whatever it was she didn’t understand.

We’re sitting in the hot tub on his bedroom’s deck, the bubbles fizzing around our shoulders. “What a job,” I muse. “Going around judging people and making assumptions about their lives. She hardly even stepped inside.”

“I’m sure her intentions are good. I think she just got the wrong impression.”

“The part she didn’t see is that Daisy’s living her best life under the circumstances. A sticky face after a birthday party and a hoedown while wearing your favorite outfit is a good thing, not a bad one.”

“Yeah. We know that. I just need to make sure Ainsley Beal does too.”

I’m laying on his lap in an underwater molded lounger with his arms around me, his body flush against mine, warm and hard underneath me. His finger twirls a long curl absent-mindedly. “Nate?”

“Yeah?”

“I really, really meant it when I said I wanted to take you on. Your music career, I mean.”

“I don’t have a music career.”

“But you so easily could. Will you let me manage you?Please?You can’t say no. You’re too good.”

I feel his chuckle more than hear it, if that’s what it is. “One day. When there’s time.”

I turn over so I’m on top of him, facing him. Straddling him. “It’s something you shouldmaketime for, Boone. I can help you. Please let me. I’m going to offer to manage Luke and Leo too. They’re good enough, Nate. I really think you could all be hugely successful.”

“You should offer it to them.”

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