Chapter Text
Julie Molina was known for many things.
To her mom, dad, and brother, she was the strongest woman on the planet. She’d taken on the mantle of caretaker in their family while her mom dealt with a devastating end stage renal failure diagnosis, three years of dialysis, and finally the kidney transplant that saved her life.
To her classmates, she’d always been the star of The Chattanooga Center for Creative Arts’ (and later, UTK’s) music program. Be it piano, violin, or voice, it was hard not to be equal parts envious and awed by the girl who was as kind as she was talented.
To the general public she was “an inspiring young woman who lost her music when she nearly lost her mother yet still managed to pull herself out of the depths of despair and move past her pain to continue creating music that moved people, body and soul” (at least, that’s what People Magazine said in her cover story) and the biggest pop star Chattanooga had ever seen Tennessee waltz her way to the top.
Yes, the world saw Julie Molina as this powerhouse of a woman who was carving out her place as a legend with poise and grace.
Flynn knew better. They’d been best friends for thirteen years. She was good at playing the sophisticated pop star, but in truth Julie was a twenty-three-year-old disaster child in need of constant supervision, a savings account for emergency bail money (on the very probable chance she went and got herself arrested for freeing all the butterflies in the aquarium’s butterfly garden, or something stupid like that), and possibly one of those animal shaped toddler leashes.
Julie was aware of all of this. Flynn had told her in those exact words many times over their long, long friendship.
And yet, even after thirteen wonderfully blunt years, Flynn still could not get the dork to care.
So when she showed up at Flynn’s apartment at three o’clock on a Friday morning with a packed car and a brand new pair of cowboy boots in Flynn’s size, Flynn just glared at her for a moment, then threw her own packed suitcases at Julie before stomping down the steps.
“Remind me why we’re leaving at zero-dark-thirty again,” she muttered, taking a long sip of her coffee. She hated coffee. Yet here she was, chugging down her second mugful of the morning so that she could stay awake to navigate for a wayward pop star who suddenly decided she needed a break. And was also on a country-music-cowgirl kick, apparently.
How had this become Flynn’s life?
Julie shrugged and dragged Flynn’s suitcases to her trunk. “Because Texas is seventeen hours away, and we’ll have to make at least eight stops along the way.”
Flynn plopped into the front passenger seat of the car and buckled up. “Why do we have to stop so many-”
Something cold and wet shoved itself into her ear, followed by long, warm, sticky strokes.
Flynn gasped. “Badger!” she shrieked, shoving the nose away and wiping out her ear. “We’ve talked about this! Dinner first, then tongue!” She whipped around and met a large pair of amber eyes shooting her a pitiful look for denying him his kisses. Well, that wasn’t fair. Flynn scratched the dog behind his wide, pointy ears. Julie's “several stops” comment suddenly made so much more sense. She was just about to kiss his soft muzzle when her common sense finally caught up with the situation. “Wait, Badger?”
Julie slammed the trunk shut and slid into the driver's seat. "Okay, Flynny,” she said, tossing her phone into Flynn’s lap, “Google Maps is your-"
"Julie, why is Badger in the car?"
“Hm?”
Oh, that was how she wanted to play it, huh? “You heard what I said. Why is your dog in the car with us and not staying with your parents like we talked about?”
Julie puffed up her cheeks and shifted her eyes around the car, looking everywhere but at Flynn. “I didn’t want to be away from him for such a long time.”
Beg pardon? “Julie, it’s a week. I know you love your dog, but you can take a break from him for a week, right?”
“Of course I can take a break from him for a week! Do you think I'm insane?"
Yes, in fact she did think Julie was insane. But that was beside the point. Flynn narrowed her eyes. “Then why is he in the car?”
And wouldn’t you know it, Julie suddenly could not take her eyes off the dash, shifting the information on the small screen under the speedometer between “Trip A/Trip B” and “Miles Remaining.”
“Julie…”
“We may be gone for a little longer than a week.” Julie’s voice was quiet, as if she was whispering instructions on how to move a sleeping bear without waking it up.
Flynn was the bear. And she was wide awake now. “How long will we be gone, Julie?” she muttered through gritted teeth.
Julie started the car and pulled out of Flynn’s apartment complex before answering, effectively trapping them both. "Um… Just, you know…" She mumbled the last couple of words, but Flynn was fluent in Flynn-is-about-to-kill-Julie-ese.
"I'm sorry, I thought you said a month!"
"I did."
Flynn couldn't speak for a minute. This wasn't a road trip, it was an abduction! She was being kidnapped, and she needed to call the police, or the CIA, or her mom, or someone before this crazy woman took her across state lines and she was out of the Chattanooga Police Department’s jurisdiction. She’d watch Law and Order, she knew how this worked!
“Look, Flynn, before you freak out-”
“Oh I am way past freaking out, Julie Molina! This is beyond psychotic! Who in their right mind just decides to abandon their life for a freaking month and drag her soon-to-be ex-best friend along with her?”
“Flynn!” Julie shouted, effectively shutting the other girl up. “Will you please let me explain myself before you jump out of the car?”
Flynn huffed. “You have exactly thirty seconds to convince me, or I stick my head out the window and scream ‘kidnapper.’ Start.”
Julie’s grip tightened on the wheel. “I have to get out of here. Not for a week, not for two weeks. I need to get away for awhile. Things at home are finally starting to resemble normal, and I’m done with the label. For the first time in four years, I have some time to myself. This is my chance to leave the craziness behind for a bit, maybe gain some new perspective on where I want my music to go.”
She flicked glassy eyes at Flynn, then blinked away her tears and smiled. “And I checked with Andi. You’ve racked up well over three months of paid vacation time that you haven’t used, and I’m your only client.” She leveled a guilty smile at Flynn. “So, if you really think about it, your refusal to take any time off or work with anyone but me are what gave me the leeway to plan this trip. You only have yourself to blame.” She grinned. “Besides, you’ve been saying you and I needed to use your vacation time to get away for years. So this is us. Using some of your vacation time and getting away.”
Flynn stayed silent for a moment, allowing everything Julie said to sink in. If she was being fair, Julie did need a nice long break from the madness that was the pop music industry. Especially now that she was no longer signed with her previous label. Especially after what had happened with them.
Finally, she sighed, resigned to her fate. “You do realize I meant Paris or Milan and not the twice-cursed deserts of central Texas, right?” she asked, rubbing her eyes against an impending migraine.
Julie’s face lit up in a relieved smile. “Next time, sweetie, I promise.”
“Speaking of ten gallon hats and bolo ties, why are we heading to the twice-cursed deserts of central Texas anyway? You still haven’t explained that to me.”
Julie blew out a long breath and ran a hand through her tangled curls. “Do you remember Mom telling us about her college roommate, Emily Wilson?”
Flynn raised an eyebrow. “Emily Wilson? You mean the Emily Wilson who basically single handedly closed down an entire chapter of a national fraternity at UTK due to their unprecedented number of accusations of hate speech, sexism, racism, and alcohol-related deaths? And who exposed several staff members who were working to cover up all those indiscretions as well? All before she was even a junior in college? That Emily Wilson?”
“Yes, that Emily Wilson.”
Flynn shrugged and examined her nails. “I think I remember your mom mentioning something about her at one point or another...” She trailed off.
Wait. One. Second. Why would Julie mention her? Unless…
She whipped her head around. “Are you telling me we’re going to meet the Emily Wilson on this trip?”
“Not just meet her!” Julie gushed as she pulled onto I-75. “We’re staying with her on her ranch!”
Now, if there was one thing Flynn took pride in, it was her ability to keep her cool under any circumstances. Julie losing her boarding pass five minutes before a flight? No worries, there was an app for that. Having the personal phone numbers of numerous A-list celebrities at her fingertips? Child’s play. But meeting Emily Wilson, her childhood hero?
Not this time.
“No way, no way, no freaking way!” Flynn squealed, earning a startled yelp from Badger, who’d dozed off in the back seat. “How did you ever score that?”
Julie laughed. “I told Mom I wanted to go somewhere that wasn’t here to hopefully get some inspiration for new material, but I didn’t want to spend every cent I had on the trip either. She and Emily recently got back in touch over Facebook, and Emily has been everywhere. Mom asked if she had any suggestions, and Emily offered her home.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.” Julie glanced at her. “Am I forgiven?”
“Halfway. We’ll see how I feel when we actually meet Emily Wilson.”
Man, she had to stop saying “Emily Wilson” every other word.
“It’s Emily Patterson now, just so you know.”
Flynn went back to examining her nails. “Irrelevant. She’ll always be Emily Wilson in my heart.”
Flynn could practically hear Julie roll her eyes, but she chose to ignore it. They fell into a comfortable silence as Flynn navigated.
A horrifying thought hit her just as they passed the I-59 Birmingham split. “Julie! I don’t have enough clothes for a month!” Sure she’d packed three extra outfits (one could never be too prepared), but that did not a month’s worth of wardrobe make!
“Yes you do.” Mischief flickered in Julie’s eyes as she grinned. “I knew you were going to be packed and have your clothes laid out super early, so I snuck into your place while you were out yesterday afternoon and grabbed the rest of your stuff. It’s all in the trunk.”
For a long moment, Flynn just stared at Julie, shocked. “Just how long has ‘Kidnap Flynn’ been the plan?”
“It wouldn’t be wrong of you to assume there was never another plan.”
Flynn shook her head, then sat back and laughed. “You’re irrevocably certifiable, you know that right?”
“So you tell me. Every single day.” Julie glanced around her, then rolled down her window.
“Jules, what are you-”
“Yee-haw! Texas, here we come!”
One of these days Flynn would wise up and find herself an actual adult to claim as her best friend. But for now, she was stuck with Julie.
And that was all right with her.
Google Maps was such a liar.
‘Seventeen hours,’ it said. ‘You’ll reach your destination by six o’clock p.m. Central time,’ it said.
Well, between Maps telling them about an exit after they’d already missed it, Badger taking twenty minutes to poop every time they stopped for him, and Flynn (who decided to punish Julie for kidnapping her by flat out refusing to drive at all) insisting they drive five extra miles out of the way to find gas that was below three dollars a gallon every time they needed gas, Julie rolled up to Ferus Springs Ranch at 1:27a.m. (even with the one hour time difference). She decided right then and there that she was never driving a car again. The memories of her aching back, numb rear end, and stinging eyes had traumatized her beyond any kind of logical reasoning. She hated automobiles. If she needed to go anywhere for the rest of her life, she would walk, thank you very much.
But then she got out of the car and nearly flopped to her knees on her barely functioning legs. Hm. Nope. No more walking either. Maybe she’d get a sled dog team. That sounded like a much more viable option.
“Julie, I swear, if you ever make me do something like this again, they will not find your body, do you hear the words that are coming out of my mouth?” Flynn stood and had to catch the top of the car to keep from collapsing herself.
Julie rubbed the tops of her eyes, fighting back a headache. “Shut up, Flynn. My ears are too tired to deal with your whining tonight.”
The darkness around them was much more complete than anything Julie had ever experienced before. The only light in the area were the dim porch lights on the front of the farmhouse, the ring produced casting a shallow halo around the house. Julie had to park right next to the porch so she could see what she was doing. She had no idea what the landscape looked like. It was so hot, even in the middle of the night, that Julie wouldn’t be surprised if they were smack in the middle of the desert.
Flynn slipped into A-list popstar manager mode like she slipped on a new pair of Prada boots as she popped open the trunk and began unloading their bags. “Okay, do you know if there’s anyone here to…”
Julie tuned her out as she opened her back door and let Badger hop out of the car. The dog twisted around a few times before stretching his back with a satisfied whine. Oo, now that was an idea; Badger had once again proven to be the best twenty-one dollars she’d ever spent. She bent backward to stretch her stiff back muscles, and nearly fell over.
“Flynn.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“- think she’ll expect us to sleep on the second floor? Because I’m going to need-”
“Flynn,” Julie called with a little more force.
“-all that rising heat is going to give my poor hair nightmares-”
That was enough about that. “Evelynn Grace Taylor, shut up and look at the most amazing sky either of us has ever seen!”
Flynn’s voice died in her throat. She shot Julie a dirty look but did as she was told. And her mouth immediately fell open in complete awe. “Wow.”
Julie nodded. “No kidding,” she breathed back.
The sky was positively covered in huge, twinkling stars. There were so many sprinkled across the heavens that Julie had a hard time finding the constellations that had become second nature for her to point out any time she went star-gazing back home.
Ha. How could she call what she did in Chattanooga “stargazing?” She’d never seen such a saturation of cosmic light. Chattanooga, especially the outer communities like Harrison and Birchwood, wasn’t the worst when it came to light pollution, but compared to Bribona, Texas? Who was she kidding. There was no comparison.
“Julie? Julie Molina?” a soft voice called in a light Texas drawl.
The girls straightened up and watched a small figure make its way toward them, a flashlight beam sweeping across its path.
“Mrs. Patterson?” Julie called back.
A petite woman in a thin houserobe made her way up to Julie and immediately wrapped her in a hug. “Oh, thank goodness you made it! I was just about to call you and see if I needed to send out a search party!” she exclaimed, squeezing Julie to her as if they’d been friends for years. “And it’s Emily,” she continued, pushing Julie back but holding onto her shoulders. “Let me get a look at you!” She grinned, her shoulders raising slightly in a quiet laugh. “Why, if you aren’t Rose’s mirror image!” Her smile widened and she pulled Julie into another bone-crushing hug. “It’s so good to have you here.”
Julie couldn’t help but squeeze back. “It’s great to be here! Thank you so much for having us.”
A gentle bump followed by a whine interrupted their hug as Badger came up to say hello to Emily.
Emily gasped and fell to her knees. “And who is this?” she asked, scritching the sides of his face as his tongue lolled out.
“Oh, that’s Badger.” Sudden panic tightened Julie’s chest. “I hope it’s okay that I brought him! I completely forgot to tell you.”
Emily waved Julie’s concern off like a mosquito. “It’s fine, Julie. We have loads of animals around here, so what’s one more?” She turned back to Badger and smacked a loud kiss onto the back of one of his satiny-soft ears. “And I think my Millie is going to just love you!”
A bump at her shoulder drew Julie’s attention to Flynn.
“It’s her,” Flynn whispered, holding her hand to her chest. “It’s really her.”
Julie rolled her eyes and threw an arm around her best friend. “Mrs. Pat-” Emily shot her a warning look. “Um, Emily, I’d like you to meet my best friend, Flynn.”
Emily stood and brushed the driveway dust off of her knees before yanking Flynn into a hug just as powerful as she’d given Julie. “Flynn! Rose has told me just as much about you as she has about Julie!”
Flynn froze. “She has?”
Julie had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing. Flynn Taylor, the pint-sized powerhouse who mowed her way through any ‘actual’ adult who told her she “just didn’t have enough experience to be a professional manager for one of the biggest rising stars in the country,” held a finger up in Brendan Urie’s face to tell him to wait while she finished a phone call with her mother, and bowed down to no one, had been reduced to a squeaky fangirl all over a woman whose name probably wouldn’t make it outside of her sleepy Texas hometown.
People could say what they wanted about Flynn’s sarcastic personality and lack of proper respect for her “betters,” but there was no doubt that the girl had her priorities in exactly the right order.
“All good things, hon, I promise,” Emily said, cupping Flynn’s face gently. “From what I hear, you are the one single-handedly responsible for Julie here getting discovered in the first place.”
Flynn tried to deny that, but Julie stepped on her toe. “Every word is true. Flynn was the one who tricked me into singing at an open mic night, filmed it, and sent it in to Destiny Management’s Chattanooga branch, all without telling me. I definitely have her to thank for where I am now.”
Emily’s eyes narrowed with a knowing smirk. “Ah, I see. A ‘forgiveness over permission’ kind of gal. Now that’s what I like to hear.”
Julie could have sworn she heard Flynn squeak again, but she chose to ignore it. Let the poor girl have her moment.
“Well, let’s get you three inside and into a bed. You look like you’re about to fall over. Here, let me help you with those.” Emily reached for one of Flynn’s three suitcases.
“Oh, no, I can get those!” Flynn moved to take it back, but Emily snatched it away with surprising speed.
“Flynn, I grew up on a ranch. I’m not as fragile as I look, I promise.” She nodded toward the house. “On a normal night I’d have Luke come out here and get all of these, but he’s been asleep since seven. He had a long day.”
That was a name Julie hadn’t heard before. “Luke?”
“My son. He’s about your age, and he pretty much runs the day to day around here on his own.” Something flickered across Emily’s face, barely a whisper of a look before she was smiling again. “All right, in we go!”
Julie and Flynn followed Emily inside, Badger trotting along right behind them. Emily led them down a hallway and pointed at two bedrooms. “You two can pick which one you want. Julie, if you’re keeping Badger with you, you may want the one at the end of the hall; the bed in there is a queen instead of a full.”
Julie looked at Flynn, who nodded. “All yours girl.”
“Okay then, sounds good,” Julie said, smiling at Emily. “Thanks so much for this again, Emily.”
That same odd, dim emotion darted through the older woman’s eyes again. “It’s been too quiet around here lately. I have a feeling you two are going to be just the spark this old place needs.” She turned and moved toward a closed door on the other side of the living room. “I’ll see you girls in the morning. Sweet dreams.”
Julie turned to Flynn and they both squealed as quietly as they could.
“I can’t believe we made it!” Julie whispered.
“I can’t believe I just got a hug from Emily Wilson!” Flynn spun in a tiny circle before wrapping Julie in a fierce hug of her own.
A sly smile curled up into Julie’s eyes as she squeezed Flynn back. “Am I forgiven now?”
“One hundred percent, no holds barred, yes times a million.” Flynn pulled back and shook her head. “Emily is already amazing, and we’ve only talked to her for, like, eight minutes. And she had the right idea earlier.” She held out her fist. “Forgiveness over permission?”
Julie tapped her fist against Flynn’s. “Forgiveness over permission.”
Flynn stretched, a yawn swallowing whatever else she was about to say. “Well, Jules, as glad as I now am that we took this trip, this has been one long day. I’m going to bed and sleeping until noon.” She looked down at Julie’s luggage. “Hey, you left your keyboard in the car.”
“It’s okay. I didn’t want Emily to feel obligated to carry it, and I’m too tired to go get it now. I’ll just get it in the morning.”
Flynn shrugged. “If you say so, Jules. ‘Night, girl!” She dragged her suitcases into the first room Emily pointed out and shut the door.
Silence fell over the house, broken only by Badger whining and pawing at Julie’s hand. “Hey, boy,” she said, crouching and scratching behind his ears. “You ready to crash? Because I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired.”
Badger shoved his nose against her cheek and swiped a long kiss from Julie’s chin to her forehead. Julie deadpanned, painfully used to it. “Classy.”
The dog just shoved his head in her chest, wagging his tail.
She giggled, grabbed her own suitcase, and went to the room at the end of the hall.
Julie didn’t know how exhausted she was until she saw the bed. She didn’t think she’d ever seen anything as beautiful as the bed covered in a thick blue quilt. She didn’t know muscles could ache this much from driving all day, but apparently she had an opportunity to corner the market on driver-cise videos.
Oof. Yeah, she needed to go to sleep. Sleep, good. Driver-cise? Big nope.
The mattress shifted a little and a soft, warm presence snuggled up next to her. “Badge, if I ever say I want to drive over twenty hours again for any reason, just shoot me,” she muttered, slipping away.
A faint sound slid through her sleepy mind.
Guitar. And it was beautiful.
Somebody must have left a CD on. Huh. She’d have to find out who the artist was in the morning. She could use that kind of talent on her next album.
Jule was excited to be in Texas. She really was. The future, at least for the next month, was wide open and full of adventures to have and trouble to cause.
But there was one part of home she was missing more than anything at that moment: blackout curtains. The sun poured through the windows on the other side of the room, piercing through Julie’s closed eyelids and making it impossible for her to go back to sleep. Even when she rolled onto her back and threw her arm over her eyes, she still couldn’t drift off again. She’d already seen it and couldn’t forget that it was there, lurking, taunting her to get up before she wasted an entire day.
Yeah, the Texas sun was such a jerk.
And Badger was its loyal minion, determined to keep sleep from her as he pawed at her arm, begging to be fed.
Julie glared at her dog. “Et tu, Brute?”
Giant puppy eyes just stared back.
And then her stomach, that traitorous cow, grumbled, and she knew her battle was over.
Fine. Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine. Julie groaned and rolled off the bed, stretching and rubbing her still sleepy eyes. Oh well.
“Please, Emily, have coffee. Lots and lots of coffee,” she murmured to herself as she trudged toward the door. Before she opened it, though, she caught a good look at herself in the full length mirror in the corner of the room and paused. Yikes. Between her wrinkled t-shirt, mustard stained leggings, and hair creeping dangerously close to “Just Can’t Wait to be King” levels, Julie looked like what her father would affectionately call a “who’d-a-thunk-it.” The shirt and leggings she could live with; coffee and food first, then shower. But the hair? That was not a look anyone needed to experience.
She opened her bag, pulled out a spray bottle, wet her curls, and pulled her fingers through them, detangling it just enough to split it into a pair of braided pigtails.
Good enough. Now food.
When Julie opened the door, the most heavenly scent she’d ever known wafted past her nose: bacon. Yes ma’am, thank you very much.
The gentle tinkling of dishes led her down the hall and toward the kitchen. “Emily, that smells amaz-” She froze mid-sentence.
At the stove, spatula hovering over a pan of sizzling bacon, clad in pajama pants and bare feet, shirt definitely nowhere in sight, stood the most beautiful man Julie had ever seen, staring at her like he’d seen a ghost.
Another scent filled Julie’s nose, this one turning her stomach, and she finally spoke. “Bacon!” She stumbled across the kitchen, taking the spatula from the guy (most likely and super hopefully Luke), and hip checking him out of her way. She flipped the bacon onto a waiting plate and sighed in relief.
She turned to look at the guy and slid the spatula back into his hand. “Sorry about that, but it was burning. And there will be no burned bacon on my watch, no siree.”
He just narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “Who are you and what are you doing in my house?”
Oh good, definitely Luke. Oh bad, he didn’t seem to know they’d be meeting today.
“Um…” She wasn’t sure how to take that. Surely he knew she and Flynn were coming.
Emily’s bedroom door opened, startling them both. “Luke, is that bacon I smell… Oh, Julie! I didn’t expect you to be up so early!”
Before Julie could explain her theory about how the sun in Texas had way less manners than the sun in Tennessee, Luke pounced. “Mom, care to explain why there is a tiny stranger and…” He eyed Badger, who sat at his feet with his large, pointy ears perked, hoping for a bit of bacon. “... her weird bat dog in our house stealing my spatula and leaving my bacon half cooked?”
Half cooked? Half cooked!? Was he out of his mind? That bacon was perfect, thick and not too crispy!
Oo, not the most important thing at the moment. Priorities.
Emily crossed her arms and leveled a look at her son that only the mother of a boy could possess. “I told you Julie and Flynn were coming-“
“There’s another one?” he snapped.
“-four times, Luke. I even asked you to get the guest rooms ready, which you obviously did. Who did you think you were doing that for?”
Luke snorted. “I don’t know! Your birthday is coming up, I thought Nana and Pops were coming.”
“And they would need both rooms, why?” Emily raised a skeptical eyebrow.
He shrugged, his mouth curling into a helpless grimace. “I thought maybe Grams was coming too?”
Emily sighed and rubbed at the bridge of her nose. “Lucas Mitchell Patterson, I swear you are going to be the death of me one day.”
“In my defense, Mom, every single time you tried to tell me, I was dealing with Dizzy, so you may as well have been talking to a stump.”
“Oh please, even when you’re not dealing with that stupid horse it’s like I’m talking to a stump.”
“Hey!”
Okay, as cute as this was…
“Hey!” Julie stepped in between Luke and Emily, extending her hand toward him. “You’re Luke? Cool. I’m Julie.”
Luke took her hand automatically (thank you, Southern manners) and shook it. “Nice to meet you.” Then he blinked. Hard. “Wait, Julie… As in Molina? The famous pop star, Julie Molina?”
Ugh, she hated this part. “Yeah, that’s me. You a fan?” She hoped he picked up on her sarcasm, or this conversation was going to get really weird really fast.
He just shrugged. “I don’t really listen to music. But I’ve been told your first album was pretty good.” He narrowed his eyes. “What are you doing all the way out here? Don’t you have a promotional tour for your second album or something?”
The question itself wasn’t rude; according to every pop culture magazine in the country, that’s exactly what she was preparing to do. But with her recent split from her label (which had only happened forty-eight hours prior) and the reason behind that split, that was obviously not happening now. And that was a topic she was more than a little sensitive about at the moment.
“Luke-” Emily warned.
Julie didn’t even have to ask if Emily knew what had happened. Mom probably told her everything, which explained why Emily had offered her home so willingly in the first place.
“As a matter of fact, I don’t. I needed a break for a little while, and your mother was kind enough to take me in.” She met his eyes with a glare of her own. “Any more questions?”
Luke said nothing.
The click of an opening door and a long, low moan signalled Flynn had emerged from her cave. “My kingdom for a donut. Are there donuts?” She stopped in the kitchen doorway and gasped. “Whoa. Hello, Hercules.”
Luke blew out a frustrated breath and crossed his arms over his bare chest. Julie wanted to smack her friend across the head with the bacon plate. Emily covered her mouth, but not before a snort of laughter escaped.
“Mom!” He turned on his mother, his face an almost comical mixture of horror and betrayal.
Emily snorted again, unable to fight off the laugh at all this time. “I’m sorry, honey, but-” Emily couldn’t finish before she broke down in a fit of giggles.
Luke stared at his mother for a moment, then rolled his eyes to the ceiling and sighed. “I’m getting to work.” He grabbed a hand full of bacon and flicked a half-hearted salute at Julie. “Nice meeting you, Julie.” He flicked another one at Flynn as he made his way down the hall. “Julie’s friend.”
“It’s Flynn.”
“Whatever.”
Silence hung in the kitchen as the three women listened to a door slam shut.
“Well,” Julie ventured carefully, “he seems…” Was there a word for super cute but also kind of a tool that wouldn’t offend his mother?
“Please, you don’t have to tiptoe.” Emily blew a stray piece of dark hair out of her face. “I’m sorry about Luke. He takes a minute to warm up to strangers, especially when he thinks I’m being too trusting.”
A heavy melancholy weighed Emily down for a moment.
“Emily? Are you all right?” Flynn put a hand on her shoulder.
The older woman jumped and patted Flynn’s hand. “Fine, Flynn. Just fine.” She took a shaky breath, then screwed on her seemingly permanent smile. “So, what would you girls like to do today?”
Julie wanted to address the fact that Emily changed the subject very quickly, but Flynn had never been good with feelings and she latched on to an opportunity to put some distance between them and whatever Emily left unsaid. “Oh, I need to do some shopping, for sure. I spent more time than I should have last night Googling Texas fashion trends, and I am grossly underprepared.” She whipped around and smacked Julie’s arm. “Why didn’t you tell me I would need eighteen different pairs of jeans?”
Julie shrunk back. “Ow! Dork, I didn’t even know there were that many different types of jeans!”
Flynn dismissed her with a wave before turning back to Emily. “Would you want to join us today? You seem like a woman who knows exactly where all the best shops are!”
The stunned look on Emily’s face nearly broke Julie’s heart. “You want me to come?”
“Of course!” Flynn wrapped an arm around Emily’s shoulders. “We’re about eleven hundred miles from home, and not only do we need a guide, but I’ve been waiting my whole life to meet you. No way I’m wasting a perfectly good Saturday to get to know you better!”
Emily said something about not knowing what to wear, and that was all it took. Flynn steered them both into Emily’s room with the promise of putting together the perfect mall-trolling ensemble.
Silence once again fell over the kitchen as Emily’s door closed. Taking a cue from Luke, prickly though he may be, Jule grabbed a handful of bacon and, tossing one to Badger, made her way back to her room. She threw a loose purple tank top, shorts, and her favorite black Converse onto her bed before finishing off her breakfast, feeding Badger, and heading to the hall bathroom.
Once she was showered and ready (and once Badger was peacefully napping in her room), she stepped out onto the front porch to wait for Flynn and Emily. The sight before her weakened her knees.
What Flynn described as the “twice-cursed deserts of central Texas” was anything but. Hills as green as emeralds rolled for miles in every single direction, dotted here and there with flat spots of lighter green pasture land. Julie took a deep breath, trying to quell the almost painful swelling in her chest. This land was healthy, wild, and utterly free, something Julie hadn’t been in a long time. How had she gone her whole life not knowing that somewhere this magnificent existed? A ghost of a melody flitted through her mind, mostly just the echoes of the wind in the trees and the distant rush of water. It wasn’t much, but it was more than she’d had in almost a year. If this place didn’t inspire something new in her for the next few weeks, nothing ever would.
Wait… Did all this land belong to the Pattersons?
“Keep moving, boy. Come on, that’s it.”
His voice was faint, coming from the other side of the house, but that was definitely Luke. She walked along the wrap around porch and turned a corner, ducking back a little before he saw her.
Behind the house stood a large round pen. Thick wooden posts formed the six-foot high, fence-like walls, and a gate at the back of the pen connected to a fence that stretched all around a wide pasture. The plain was dotted with about seven horses, all grazing on the lush grass.
Luke, fully dressed with a dusty cowboy hat protecting him from the already-hot midmorning sun, walked in a small circle in the center of the pen, spinning a long rope at his side, flicking it every few seconds at the absolutely gorgeous golden horse running around the pen. He continued to whistle and click at the horse, flicking the rope at its back legs and driving it on every time it slowed down.
Without thinking, Julie stepped around the corner of the house and wandered as close to the pen as she could without stepping off the porch. Leaning her elbows on the smooth railing, she watched as Luke kept pushing the horse away from him. What in the world was he doing?
The horse flicked his head up, and his huge, dark eyes fell on Julie. He slowed down again, this time stopping altogether. Luke went after him with the end of the rope, but this time the horse ignored him and kept his eyes on Julie.
“Hey! Dizzy.” Luke clicked his tongue at the horse and tugged gently at his halter, but no luck. He followed the horse’s gaze to Julie, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. He climbed up on the wall of the pen next to Dizzy’s head and slowly waved his hand in front of the animal’s face. The horse blinked, but that was the only indication that he even noticed anyone there.
Luke slid his gaze to hers again, his lips pursed in thought. “Hey, Julie, how comfortable are you around animals?”
Fun fact: Julie loved animals. Not just dogs and cats, no, she loved all animals. Except roaches. And mosquitos. And horseflies. Those could all die in a nuclear explosion and she wouldn’t give it a second thought. But the rest? Whether they had fur or scales or feathers or that weird slimy skin amphibians had, she was a fan.
Instead of answering him, though, she stepped out into the yard and approached the pen slowly. When she finally got to the tall wall, she held out a hand to the horse, allowing him to sniff her. His velvety lips slipped over her flat palm, searching for a treat, but he didn’t pull away from her.
Julie reached a hand up and gently stroked the side of his cheek. “Hey, boy. Nice to meet you.” She flicked a look at Luke. “What are you doing with him?”
“Trying to get him to join up, but he’s being difficult.” Luke’s voice was distracted, but when Julie looked at him again, his eyes were trained on where her hand touched Dizzy’s cheek.
Julie tilted her head at him. “Join up?”
He blinked hard and shook himself back to the present. “Uh, trying to get him to trust me. I can lure him in here with food now, but I’m hoping to get to where being with me is enough of an incentive.”
Julie tilted her head again. “Is that, like, a normal thing?”
Luke nodded. “Yeah, that’s kind of what I do. This is a horse training and rehabilitation ranch. My, uh… My dad started it after he took over from my grandpa.” He glanced at her. “Didn’t my mom tell you what kind of ranch this is?”
Julie shook her head as she moved her hand further down Dizzy’s neck, patting him as she went. “So, what’s this guy’s story?”
Luke started to answer, but then Flynn called her name from the front porch.
“I’m back here.”
Flynn sauntered to the back side of the house, her arm looped through Emily’s. “Come on, Jules! Emily is going to take us to her favorite boutique, and the owner is the one who designs the clothes! Couldn’t you die?” She finally looked behind Julie and noticed what was happening in the pen. “Oh, Hercules found himself a Pegasus, I see.” She leveled a sly smile at Julie. “Texas just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it Jules? This trip was a fantastic idea.”
Oh, Flynn was going to die later.
Emily grinned and waved at Luke. “We’re heading to town for a little shopping, Luke. We’ll be back this evening.”
Luke was silent for a long moment, then nodded slowly. “Okay. See you then. Have fun,” he said with a little wave.
The three women turned to leave, when Luke called after them. “Mom?”
“Yes?”
Hesitation melted into an impossibly tender smile. “You look great.”
For the first time, Julie noticed Emily’s outfit: a tan suede vest with a line of fringe around the bottom hung over a denim topped sundress dress with a burgundy paisley skirt. The look was finished with a pair of suede gladiator sandals the same color as the vest which Julie was pretty sure were Flynn’s. Luke was right. Emily was a knock-out.
And judging from his reaction, that didn’t happen often.
“All thanks to Flynn, honey. We’ll see you this afternoon. Don’t forget to feed both the dogs!”
“Wait, both?”
By the time they got back to the ranch, Julie was convinced that Flynn had single-handedly kept the Bribona clothing industry in business. Bags upon bags spilled out of the car.
“Let’s hurry and get these inside,” Flynn said, grabbing any bag she could reach. “All I want to do is kick these shoes off and sit in a nice long bubble bath.”
“Girl, same,” Julie sighed. “I’ll be shocked if my arms and legs don’t fall off before the night is over.”
As Emily opened the door, two furry bodies streaked out of the house and into the yard, chasing and nipping at one another. One was Badger, and the other was a beautiful speckled Australian shepherd.
“Ah, Millie finally found Badger. They should be plenty of company for each other while you’re here,” Emily said, leading the way back into the house.
The strong scent of fried chicken hovered in the air, and Julie’s stomach practically roared. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had fried chicken. Or fried anything for that matter. Her former label had always stressed that their singers had to look as good as they sounded. That meant bland food. Always. Man, being famous sucked.
“Hope you three are hungry,” Luke called from the kitchen.
“Starving!” all three women answered as they hauled their findings into the house.
Luke stood over the stove (shirt firmly in place this time), turning chicken legs and wings over in the bubbling oil. “Whoa,” he said when he saw just how many bags were in their hands. “Is there anything left in town?”
Emily rolled her eyes and pushed Julie and Flynn toward their rooms. “Stick to cooking and horses, dear boy. Stand up is not your forte.”
Oof, Emily was savage.
The stars in Flynn’s eyes twinkled a little brighter as she and Julie threw all the bags in Flynn’s room to sort through later.
Dinner was delicious. She was definitely taking this recipe home with her.
Luke practically inhaled his food, barely taking ten minutes to plow through two full helpings.
“Um, Luke,” Emily ventured, her fork hovering in front of her mouth, “were you planning on tasting your food today?”
“Sorry, Mom, gotta hurry. I’m…” He paused, scratching at the back of his neck. “I’m heading out.”
Emily lowered her fork completely, her food forgotten. “I’m sorry, you’re what? You do realize it’s already 6:30, don’t you?”
Emily’s words from the night before flooded back. Heavens, if Luke’s bedtime was always that early, when did he ever have time for fun?
Luke nodded. “Carrie and the guys have been trying to get me to come out with them for ages, and… I don’t know, I just feel like tonight’s the right night to take them up on it.”
A slow smile had Emily’s face glowing. “That’s wonderful, honey. And may I say, it is about time!” She jumped a little, an idea clearly sparking. “Why don’t you take Julie and Flynn with you?” She turned to the other women at the table. “What do you two say? You hung out with an old lady like me all day; why don’t you go make some friends your age too?”
Luke’s eyes widened. “Um…”
Flynn turned to Emily. “Oh, that’s okay, really.”
Julie’s blood surged in her veins. “Let’s go.”
All three of the other people at the table stared at her. Julie had said numerous times during the meal that she was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to curl up on her bed and take a fourteen hour nap.
And she’d been desperate to.
A minute ago.
But as soon as Emily had mentioned them going for a night out, something in her woke up and screamed, “Get going!” Even the thought of staying behind made her skin crawl. Wherever Luke was headed, she needed to be there too.
She stood and took her plate to the sink. “What’s dishwashing protocol here?” she asked, eyeing the dishwasher.
“Don’t you dare, Julie. I’ll take care of it,” Emily said, bumping Julie out of the way much like Julie had done to Luke that morning.
“Emily,” Flynn started, “are you sure-”
The older woman tutted Flyn silent. “I’ve had a busier day than I’ve had in a long time. A few hours to myself would do my heart some good.” She gazed out the window and scrunched her nose. “I may take Marmalade out for a ride. It’s beautiful this evening.”
“Mom.” Luke loomed behind his mom, his voice stern with warning.
“We’ll stay on the trails, Luke, I promise.” She turned around and tweaked his nose with her soapy fingers. “And for the record, young man, I’ve been riding this land longer than you’ve been alive. I know what I’m doing.” She pushed him off and shooed a hand at all of them. “You three go freshen up, and have a blast.”
Luke wrinkled his nose. “Freshen up?” He pulled at the gray flannel he wore over a black… Was that a Guns and Roses t-shirt? “I was just going to wear this.”
“No son of mine is going to show up anywhere in public smelling like the back-end of a horse.” Emily pointed to the stairs. “Go shower. Now.”
Luke gaped at his mother, and Julie thought he looked like a little boy who wanted to argue with his mom about not getting dessert. But he trudged toward the stairs anyway. She couldn’t help but smile; it didn’t matter how old they got, Southern boys would always listen to their mamas.
Emily nodded toward Flynn’s room. “Why don’t you two go change into one of those cute new outfits you got today! Julie, that light green sundress you bought would look fabulous with my denim vest.”
Flynn shook her head. “Emily, are you absolutely sure you want us to go?”
Instead of answering Flynn, Emily leveled a look at Julie. “Julie dear, what would you like to do?”
It sounded more like a challenge than a question, and that same inexplicable fire surged through her body again. “Come on, Flynn. Emily’s going for a ride, and we’re both about useless on a horse. We’d have to stay behind anyway. Let’s go.” Julie held out her arm.
Suspicion pinched Flynn’s features, but she hooked her arm through Julie’s and followed her.
“Don’t forget those cute boots you brought with you!” Emily called after them, a giggle in her voice.
Twenty minutes later, Julie and Flynn emerged from Flynn’s room, brand new dresses and shiny boots ready for… wherever Luke was headed.
Emily squealed and grabbed their hands. “You two look wonderful! Luke, don’t they look wonderful?”
“Stunning,” came a bland reply.
Julie hadn’t noticed Luke standing by the door, but there he was in all his flanneled-t-shirted-jeaned-and-booted glory. The exact same thing he’d worn to work, just different colors. Yeesh, could this guy be more of a cowboy?
The only difference was his hat; instead of the dusty brown felt from before, this one was made of soft, gray leather with a narrower brim, more for looks than actual function. Hm. It definitely wasn’t bad.
“You two ready to go?” Luke nodded toward the door.
“We certainly are.” Flynn snagged Julie’s keys from her hand and darted out the door. “I’m driving us!”
Julie turned to Luke, who still looked like he didn’t quite know what to make of Flynn. “I think Flynn wants to follow you. She saw your truck when Emily took us shopping and declared that the only way she’d ever get in it was if her legs were broken and she couldn’t walk.”
Luke huffed. “That’s-” He paused, then slumped a little. “That’s not unfair. All right.” He held open the door, gesturing for her to head out first.
Flynn sat on the sill of Julie’s open driver’s seat window, her arms resting on the top of the car. “Where we headed, Cowboy?”
Luke wrinkled his nose as he unlocked his truck. “Don’t call me ‘Cowboy.’ And it’s a little place called Mona’s.” He cranked his truck and rolled his window down as Julie reached for her passenger side door. “Oh, and ladies?” He hung his elbow out the window and threw them a smirk. “Do try to keep up.”
Then he peeled out of the yard and down the long gravel driveway.
Julie threw herself into the car and yanked her seatbelt into place. “Go!”
Flynn stepped on it, laughing as the wind whipped through her curls.
Julie’s cells sang as they followed Luke down the winding driveway and out onto the main road. It was unlike any feeling she’d ever had before, like her very bones were vibrating. Wherever they were headed, it was the beginning. Beginning of what? Who knew.
But Julie couldn’t wait to find out.