Page 70 of Just Business

I reach over, gently tugging her chin up so that she’s looking at me.

“I’ve spent my entire adult life without a home. Yes, I have a physical home. But between traveling back and forth from Nashville to Texas and all the time spent touring, I’ve basically been a nomad for twelve years. Never in all those years has anything felt so right as this right here. With you I’m home.” I tap my index finger over my heart. “You’re my home.”

Penny’s lips part slightly, like she wants to say something, but no words come at first. Then, after a breath, she whispers, “You’re my home, too. I was so lonely, and then you walked into my life and filled up all the empty corners that you didn’t even realize needed filling. I’ve had so many days where I just wanted to know someone was my person and I was theirs. And every time I look at you, that’s exactly what my heart says.”

I’m scheduled to fly out of Singing River Airport in three days and Penny’s schedule has slowed down a bit. She’s at least getting out of there at a reasonable time this evening. I finished all the repairs on the studio today and she and I have planned for a quiet evening at home together tonight.

I’ve decided that tonight is the night I tell her how much I love her. Yesterday, Cassie helped me plan out everything I’d need for a romantic candlelight dinner followed by a movie of her choice and an evening in bed.

All day long I’ve been running the words over and over in my head, rehearsing every possible way to tell her, but despite writing over a hundred songs in my life, I’m coming up empty on this one. How do I put into words what she’s become to me? How do I capture the way she’s woven herself so effortlessly into the marrow of my bones? I don’t think I’ll ever have the right words to tell Penny just how much she means to me. But tonight I’m giving it a try.

I’m lost in my thoughts putting all the tools in her garage that I physically jump when she bursts through the door. I nearly drop the drill in my hand, my heart slamming against my ribs. There’s a frantic edge to her tone, and before I even turn to face her, I brace myself for the worst. Whatever this is, it’s bad.

“Austin!” she rushes over, her face bright red. “Liam texted me. Look at this.” She’s waving her phone frantically in front of me, her hand trembling. Gently, I catch her wrist, steadying her enough to try and make sense of what she’s showing me. Her grip is still tight on the phone so I ease it from her grasp to take a closer look.

My throat tightens when I look at her screen. On it is a social media post from a popular tabloid site. With two fingers I zoom in on the photo to get a closer look and my pulse kicks up a notch. There’s no mistaking it, it’s a picture of us at the River Fest. My first thought is that we look damn good together, but that’s quickly drowned out by white hot anger. A moment we shared has now been twisted into click-bait for strangers to comment and weigh-in on.

“Read the caption.” Her voice is tight as she jabs at the phone screen.

Who is Penny Miller?Over the past month, Austin James has been increasingly elusive, sparking speculation about his whereabouts. Could this small-town Alabama recording studio owner be the reason he’s gone off the radar?

I scroll through the comments, my stomach sinking. It’s painfully clear why she’s upset. Not only has her privacy been blown wide open, but the comments are a minefield of vitriol. There’s everything from“He could totally do better than her”to“Wow…she probably fucks every musician that comes through. He better get checked. I hear STI’s suck.”

The words on the screen hit like a sucker punch and I tighten my grip around the phone. I’ve always known social media is toxic, and I guess over time I got used to it, but this is different. This ismyPenny being dragged through the mud by people who don’t know a damn thing about her.

Miraculously, my family has always managed to stay out of my spotlight. I guess they were just boring enough for nobody to care. They tried taking pictures of Tyler once, but nobody would buy them. It was photo after photo of him sitting in a corner reading one of his boring books.

I glance up at Penny, at the way her jaw is set, her arms crossed tight like she’s holding herself together by sheer force of will. Her whole body is vibrating with barely contained anger.

“How’d this happen?” Her voice is sharp, with an edge of desperation to her question. “Singing River is our safe space. I’ve worked my ass off to keep my reputation squeaky clean and now I just look like I’m hooking up with musicians.”

Her words sting, but I’m stunned speechless. Everything between us is more than just sleeping around with a musician, and she damn well knows it.

Then there's the guilt for dragging her into my mess in the first place.

“Say something!” Penny’s voice cracks on the last word and that snaps me to action.

I wrap my hand around the back of her neck, bringing her to me. “I have no idea, baby. No idea,” I murmur, my voice low and firm. “But I plan on finding out.”

Her chest rises and falls in quick bursts against me and I can tell she’s trying to hold back tears.

Her phone is still in my hand, so when it starts vibrating, I pull back to glance at the screen. “It’s Josie,” I say, tilting the phone so she can see. “Do you want to talk to her?”

She gives a quick, jerky nod and drags in a shaky breath, taking the phone from my hand. I squeeze her arm once before stepping inside to give her some privacy.

As soon as I shut the door behind me, I’m pulling out my phone to call Tyler. He picks up on the first ring.

“Already on it,” he says, his voice clipped and straight to business. “Kate’s making some calls trying to track down where this started.”

“Ty, the comments are brutal. Penny read them.” My voice shakes with anger as I pace back and forth across her kitchen floor.

I hear Tyler mutter a string of curses under his breath. He knows how quickly this can get out of hand.

“This is exactly what she was afraid of,” I grind out, my pulse hammering. “And if we don’t shut this down fast, it’s only a matter of time before the other tabloids pick it up. Then this whole goddamn town will be swarmed with paps.”

“We’ll figure it out, I promise,” Tyler assures me before the line cuts out. His words should be comforting, but they do nothing to loosen the knot of frustration in my chest.

I step back outside to check on Penny and it looks like she’s calmed down a bit. She’s sitting on the bumper of my truck staring at her phone but her breathing has slowed. When I approach, she looks up at me. The sharp edge of anger has faded but it’s been replaced with a heaviness. Seeing that sadness there because of me is like a punch to the gut.

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