Part 12 (1/2)
Chapter 6.
”Where do we go from here?” Kate asked over dinner on the patio. They'd whiled away the entire day in bed, emerging only when they couldn't go any longer without eating.
”I don't know exactly.”
”You live here. I live in Nashville-when I'm not touring. I'm having a hard time picturing how this will work.”
”How about I come to wherever you are when you're working. And when you're not working, we come here.”
Kate stared at him, incredulous. ”You'd do that? You love it here.”
”Yes, I do.” He reached for her hand and touched his lips to the inside of her wrist. ”But I love it here even more.”
The vibration of his voice against her skin made her s.h.i.+ver. ”Are you sure that's what you want? You have a life here, friends and-”
”I'm very sure that's what I want.”
”I've been thinking about cutting back on the touring.”
”You keep a relentless schedule. I don't know how you do it.”
”For so long, I felt like it was necessary to go, go, go and get out there so I wouldn't be forgotten or overlooked or some other terrible thing that would ruin my career.”
”It's probably safe to a.s.sume at this point you won't be overlooked or forgotten, darlin'. Your fans adore you.”
”I'm so lucky to have such faithful fans, and I feel obligated to make myself available to them.”
”You have to think of your health. I don't like those dark circles under your eyes.”
”They're so ugly. I hate them.” Kate raised her hands to her face, self-conscious about the purple grooves under her eyes.
”You need some rest and some downtime to rejuvenate. What do you think about staying here with me for a while? And not just a week or two.”
”Stay here?”
”That's what I said.”
”I need to see Thunder. I promised him I'd be home, and he'll be wondering where I am.”
”I could fly you home any time you want to go.”
”You still have your plane?”
”I have a new one since I last saw you-a sweet twin-engine Cessna. It'll get us to Nashville in a few hours.”
”So it could really be that simple? I stay here with you and go home once in a while?”
”It could really be that simple. You could rest, relax, write some new music, shop, sleep. Whatever you want.”
Kate sat back in her chair and took a drink of her wine. ”G.o.d, that sounds heavenly.”
”Some St. Kitts therapy might be just what the doctor ordered.”
”I don't know...”
”What don't you know, darlin'?”
”It'll sound stupid.”
”Say it anyway.”
Kate's face heated with embarra.s.sment. ”I don't know if I'd feel comfortable staying with you in the place you shared with Mari.”
”Then we'll get a different place. I rent month to month. I have for years.”
”Oh. I figured you owned it.”
He shook his head. ”I didn't want to be tied here if I decided to move on. I spent so much of my life chained to that gigantic house in Nashville. I didn't want those kinds of obligations anymore.”
His words stuck a chord of fear in Kate. What if they'd conceived a child? Would he want that kind of obligation after already raising a child?
”Kate? What is it?”
”You don't want obligations, yet you're committing to this whole life with me.”
”I don't want real estate. That's a different kind of obligation.” He reclaimed her hand and kissed her palm, her wrist and the inside of her elbow. ”There're obligations, and then there is joy and pleasure and peace. Finally, some peace.”
”You haven't been at peace here?” She gestured to their view of paradise.
”There was always something-or I should say someone-missing. Our relations.h.i.+p was unfinished, and that left me unsettled. I was content but not entirely happy. Now I have a chance to be both, so you bet I want to be obligated to you.”
Without releasing his hand, Kate got up and went to him.
Reid guided her onto his lap and put his arms around her.
”That might be the sweetest thing you've ever said to me,” she said, ”and if I'm recalling correctly, you said some pretty sweet things to me way back when.”
His laugh rumbled through her as his love surrounded her-steady and sure and as solid as it ever was.
She rested her head on his shoulder and ran a finger over his bare chest. ”My life is very different than it used to be.”
”Besides the obvious, how so?”
”I can't go anywhere in public without security, for one thing.”