Outlaw Country (7 page)

Kathleen headed back to Gracie’s green room just before the final number ended. She liked to make sure everything her daughter needed post-show was ready. It was just as much Kathleen’s cool down routine as it was Gracie’s. A few glasses of water, a few notes on the show, and some relaxing mother daughter time while the equipment was loaded up for the next show.

For the first few minutes, Kathleen assumed Gracie was jammed up backstage with twice as many band members crowding around. After that, she began to worry. Fifteen minutes after Gracie was supposed to come back to her dressing room, Kathleen stormed out. She was furious and looking for Colton Wade.

“Roger, where is he?” Kathleen was pissed, and he knew it. Unfortunately for Roger, he didn’t know answer to her question. He would’ve guessed that the band was at their usual Nashville haunt, but The Guilty Party was back in the warm-up room. It was only Colton and Gracie who were missing. That worried him, because Kathleen was a lioness when it came to her little girl.

With Gracie’s mother storming a path right for him, Roger put his hands up. “Hey, hey. I don’t know where they are.” He tried to make his voice as soft as possible. “But were going to find them, and everything’s going to be okay.”

“Everything’s going to be okay?” She was right in his face, and Roger would have preferred dealing with the fallout from one of Colton’s drunken destruction spells rather than Kathleen Hart. He remembered in that moment why he was still single, and he made the grave mistake of smirking at the thought.
 

“Mr. Ellery, I sincerely hope you’re not laughing at me. That hooligan that you claim to represent stole my daughter, and you have no idea where he is? I knew from the first moment that this was a bad idea. I knew he was a corrupting influence and—”

Roger had had enough. He cut her off, “Corrupting influence? Jesus. Get over yourself.” Roger pulled out his phone to call Colton.

Kathleen ignored Roger’s biting remark. “Oh, don’t bother. I’ve called Gracie a dozen times, and she’s not picking up. She probably switched it to silent. It’s what she does when she doesn’t want me knowing what she’s up to.” Kathleen stepped closer to Roger, almost growing in size right along with her anger. “I’ll have you know I am very much interested in what she’s up to, or should I say, ‘what Colton Wade is up to?’”

Colton was no saint; Roger would admit that any day of the week. He wasn’t a criminal, though, either. He was girl crazy, but he wasn’t a rapist. Roger had seen the way that Gracie looked at Colton, and he suspected that whatever they were up to, it was very consensual. “Mrs. Hart, we’ll track them down, and we’ll make sure—”

It was Kathleen’s turn to cut him off. “Just Kathleen is fine.” She hated being called Mrs. “And we’re not going to make sure of anything. You’ve proven time and time again that you can’t control that boy. This rock ’n’ roll lifestyle is not something I want to subject Gracie to. I’m calling the record label, and we’re going to deal with this. I don’t know, maybe we’ll call it a one-off show and be done with it.”

Roger had gotten very good at defending Colton. It was both necessary, and worth it. Colton was a superstar in the making, and Roger Ellery wasn’t going to let anything happen to his future star. “Dammit, Kathleen. Take a look around you.” Roadies were hauling sound equipment past them toward the loading dock. “If you didn’t want to subject Gracie to the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle, you should’ve put her into art classes or some other boring activity. She is a pop star, and you cannot protect her from the world. I’m sure you want to, really I do, but it’s impossible. Colton’s not a bad guy. Impulsive, unruly, and selfish, but not bad. As for this tour?” Roger knew that Kathleen was tough, which meant he had to be tougher.

“This tour is going to go on. The record company cares way more about the bottom line than about your precious morals. Gracie Hart moves ten thousand units a week. Colton moves five hundred. Did they tell you their projections for the duet?” He gave her a second to answer. “
Twenty
thousand. Double what Gracie sells in a good week, and a fuck load more than Colton could ever dream of. I know your story. Single mom trying to do the best she can, trying to make sure Gracie doesn’t make the mistakes you made. Kathleen, you’re staring at a mistake right now. I can promise you that.”

She shot a cold look back at him. Kathleen wanted to burn him down, but he had smothered her fire. She knew he was right, and she knew she was wrong. It was impossible to protect the same daughter that she was trying to market. Her anger turned inwards again. Kathleen brought her fist up to her forehead. Pressing her closed fingers to her head, she turned away from Roger and counted to ten inside her head. Gracie was her a Hart, but she wasn’t Kathleen. She didn’t make the same choices Kathleen had made. Kathleen knew that her daughter was worlds smarter than she was. At least, that’s the mantra she repeated over and over again.

Kathleen didn’t turn back to Roger. “Sorry.” Her voice was shaky, but Kathleen had to go on. “Everybody knows about Colton’s reputation. Gracie got out of a bad relationship not too long ago, so I’m just a little on edge about the whole situation.”

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Her first instinct was to shove it away, but Kathleen stopped herself. For too long, there were only two people in her life. Kathleen made sure that she and Gracie lived in insular life. Her daughter was an adult, and Kathleen couldn’t keep her caged up any longer. Roger gave her shoulder a friendly squeeze. Kathleen was surprised to discover that it actually helped calm her racing mind.

After a deep breath, Kathleen got her emotions under control. She turned back to face Roger. After a strategic wipe beneath her eyes, Kathleen apologized. “I guess you and I are partners for the next few months. That means I’m not allowed to treat you like shit. You or Colton. I’m sorry, I know I can be a lot to handle.”

There was empathy and Roger’s eyes, even when he smiled and let out a short laugh, “That’s putting it lightly.” He lifted his hands, surrendering. “I’m kidding. I’m kidding. Before Colton, I managed a singer-songwriter named Raylene Evans. She had a real Emmylou Harris thing going on. Very young, very green. I really believed in her, so I understand. I tried to protect her from the world, and I wasn’t even her father. I’m not faulting you at all, Kathleen. I guess I’m just asking for a little bit of trust.”

Kathleen’s mind reeled through all of the artists she knew. Raylene Evans wasn’t one of them. She was just another one of the thousands who never made it. She could hear the softness in Roger’s voice, and she could tell that he had cared about Raylene. Between the ten second meditation and a small show of emotion from Roger, Kathleen allowed herself to let loose.

“Trust you or trust Colton?” She wore the smile of a woman who had known how to have fun in her day.

Colton’s manager smiled “I know it’s alot to ask, but how about both?”

Kathleen stepped forward and poked Roger square in the chest. “I’m beginning to trust you. Colton on the other hand? I don’t trust Colton any farther than I can toss him.” Kathleen pulled up her daughter’s number in her phone and hit
send
for the umpteenth time.

“This isn’t a road, Colton.” Apparently he hadn’t heard her. “Colton, this isn’t a road!” Gracie grabbed the oh-shit handle as Colton launched the pickup over a bump. It came down hard, but he didn’t slow down. It didn’t help that he had just shut the headlights off, leaving only the yellow parking lights glowing.

“Are you crazy?” Gracie regretted every stupid thought she’d had about Colton. He was reckless, and after a taste of danger, she was over it. She was over it hard.

“Crazy like a fox.” She could see his pearly whites in the glow off the dashboard’s light. “It
is
a road, so ya know. It’s an access road for the power company.” His deep voice jumped at the same time the truck hit a low spot on the dirt path. “And before you ask, the headlights are off because technically this ain’t exactly a legal excursion.”

She wasn’t sure if her heart could take much more. “Just how ‘ain’t exactly legal’ are we talking? Unlike you, I’m not used to community service.” She was afraid, sure, but she did feel a certain safety beside Colton. They weren’t going that fast, and he had great control over the truck. She knew it was just her cautious side trying to win out, but Gracie was so
over
cautious. She wanted to throw that caution from a cliff.

“This is owned by the airport, so if we get found out, you’re gonna have an awful hard time with the TSA.”

Gracie gave Colton a smug look. “Then make sure we don’t get caught.” He missed the look because his eyes were squinting out into the darkness in front of the truck.
 

“No worries. I told you, I know this place. We roll through Nashville on the regular. I wish there was a place like this in every town.”

They drove on for another few minutes. Gracie could see the light pollution from the city, or maybe it was all the lights of the airport. She didn’t really care. She was sitting next to Colton on their way to some secret, secluded spot. Her fears had disappeared as every bump pushed their bodies closer together in the truck.

Colton brought the old truck to a stop and cranked it into park. She was impressed with how well he had done in the near pitch-black area. The orange glow of the parking lights didn’t give her any clue as to what was in front of them, but Gracie was in an adventurous mood.

Sliding the bench seat forward, Colton grabbed a small cooler and slammed the door. Gracie followed. He used the flashlight app on his phone to lead them through a clearing in the brush. Gracie strained to see anything resembling a lake in front of them. Some wooden planks came into view, and then she could see the whispers of waves on the black water.

Colton set the cooler down and turned to his right. He pulled a blue tarp off of a lump that turned out to be a stack of plastic deck chairs. He handed Gracie a chair and took one for himself. Gracie struggled to stop herself shivering from giddiness. It wasn’t a wild night, but Gracie was looking forward to some alone time with Colton in front of a quiet lake.

They sat at the shoreline and Colton handed her a beer. “You drink, right? Not sure, but if I’d known, I’da brought come Cokes or somethin’ else.”
 

“I drink.” She took the beer that he held out for her. It wasn’t exactly cold, but it would do. Gracie popped the can open and took a frothy sip. She wondered what he’d say if she told him aside from the occasional sip of wine, it was her first real drink. Gracie wondered if Colton would even be interested once he found out that she...wasn’t experienced.

“What’s this lake called?” She looked up to see the stars that weren’t drowned out by Nashville’s bright lights.

“Oh hell, I’m sure it’s got a name. They all do, but I don’t know it. We just stumbled onto this place one very drunken night after a gig at a place called Rippy’s. That was probably three years ago, and now comin’ here’s a bit of a tradition with the band. Every time we play Nashville, we come out to the lake.”

Gracie didn’t say anything for a while. “Wait. This counts, doesn’t it? Why isn’t the band out here then?”