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LIFE WAS GOOD, IN HALEY's humble opinion. She and Blake had gotten over the craziness of the Lindsay drama. They were getting along better than ever, and their new love was growing. He made her heart beat faster from the affection he shared with her daily.
Frontier Fire concerts were mountaintop experiences for both her and Blake every single night, and Ace in the Hole gigs were going extremely well too. In the week since she'd gotten Randall's approval to send out the promo email, Ace in the Hole had seen slightly bigger crowds, even to the point of venues having to turn away fans at the door because they were beyond capacity.
Haley was busy with phone calls to venues for repeat performances, taking Ace in the Hole's schedule well through the end of the year.
In fact, life was going so well, Haley had to remind herself just how far they'd come ... how far she'd come in her life. Whenever she stopped to think about it, she made the effort to be grateful, and to verbalize her thankfulness to the One who had made it possible: thank you, Father. Thank you for your love and blessings, today and every day.
Today was a big day, the day Brent was arriving. Blake had been looking forward to Brent's visit for weeks. Haley knew the brothers would want to spend every moment they could together, talking, catching up and having fun. She would make herself available to them if they wanted to include her, but she'd also be willing to make herself scarce so they could have time alone.
She'd awakened mid-morning after last night's late concert, wanting to get a jump on some of her booking phone calls. She was on the phone, on hold with a country bar in Hilton Head when another call buzzed through. She glanced at it and saw it was Robbie.
She continued to wait for the bar manager to pick up her call, figuring she'd call Robbie back when she was done. But instead of leaving a voicemail, Robbie sent her a text. She held her phone away from her ear to read it: Spotted Lindsay in the crowd last night.
Haley's heart jumped. She hung up on the bar in Hilton Head—she'd call them back later—and immediately phoned Robbie. He picked up right away.
"Hey, sorry to bother you," he said, his voice sporting a tired edge.
"No, it's not a bother. Tell me what happened."
"Nothing, really. We were local last night, playing The Bowery, and we're there again tonight."
Haley nodded. The Bowery was an iconic Myrtle Beach landmark, a bar and grill with a long history of offering live country music for going on fifty years. It was not only a tourist favorite, but it boasted thousands of local fans who stopped by for a burger, beer and music every weekend. It was one of those places that Ace hadn't broken into until recently, and Haley was determined to get them into the regular rotation.
Robbie continued, "We had a two hour gig, and I didn't see her until well into our second set. In fact, I wasn't sure it was her at first. But I kept my eye on her while we were playing, and I watched her push through the crowd to get closer to the stage and then I knew. Definitely Lindsay."
"Did she make eye contact with you?"
"No. She glanced at me, but looked away."
"How about Jake?"
"He didn't notice her."
"Could you tell anything about her demeanor, her mood?"
"Well, she wasn't smiling and dancing like most of the crowd there. I guess she seemed pretty low-key."
"Low-key angry, or low-key calm?"
Robbie let a sound out of his teeth. "I don't know, Haley. I'm not a psychiatrist or a psychic. I don't know what she was thinking or feeling. But you told me to tell you if we ever saw her, so that's what I'm doing."
"No, that's good. Thanks. I appreciate it. Stay safe tonight."
Haley hung up with Robbie. So, Lindsay had made an appearance, finally. She didn't even have to travel to go see her ex-favorite band. They were performing right in her back yard. But Lindsay wasn't stupid. She was well aware that Ace hadn't been playing in The Bowery when Lindsay was in charge of their schedule. She knew what a huge step up this was.
And Haley knew that fact was killing Lindsay.
Jealousy, anger, envy. Haley knew all those things were swirling around in Lindsay's head. Not to mention she was still getting over Jake's breakup. This was a recipe for disaster. Lindsay's negative review campaign was one thing, spreading her anger on the internet. Now she was there in person, in front of the band. Did she choose last night, the first night of a two-night gig to scope out the place, get the lay of the land? Stay quiet and unassuming so she could come back tonight and wreak some havoc?
Was Lindsay that unstable? Or were Blake's fears about Lindsay's potential for danger prompting Haley's imagination to run away with itself? Were they creating drama where it didn't exist?
On the other hand, maybe she was being an intuitive and proactive band manager, preventing a potentially dangerous situation for her guys.
Haley stood and paced the length of the hotel room. She wrenched her hands, squeezing them, shaking them out. She couldn't shake a bad feeling about this. Why had Lindsay shown up?
She walked to her laptop and sat down. It wouldn't hurt to find out about flights to Myrtle Beach today. She knew her mind would be completely wrapped up tonight if she weren't there. She wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything until she got a report from Robbie, and that wouldn't be until late night. She'd be absolutely useless to Frontier Fire, when her heart and soul were telling her that her place tonight was with Ace in the Hole.
She jumped on the airline websites and discovered she could get to Myrtle Beach today, but flights were limited. She'd use the Ace in the Hole credit card to book her flight, and she'd go to The Bowery tonight. Heck, maybe she'd even enlist a few extra security people to provide protection and an extra set of eyes. Who cared if she was going overboard? The safety of her band members made it well worth it.
She navigated through the screens to book a flight, and then glanced at the time. She'd have to hurry. Between catching a ride to the airport, checking in and getting through security, she didn't have much time to waste.
She pulled a small bag out of her closet, threw a handful of clothes into it and zipped it shut. Her heart was racing but she didn't want to speed off half-cocked. She needed to let Blake know what she was doing.
He was normally sleeping at this hour, and would be for at least another hour. She didn't want to wake him with a phone call or even a text. She'd communicate with him the old-fashioned way.
She grabbed the hotel notepad and jotted a note: Blake, I'm flying to Myrtle Beach today. I'll explain later. Have a great show tonight and I'll most likely see you tomorrow. Haley. She ripped it off the pad, then after a second thought, she inserted the word, Love, in front of her name.
She rushed out the door and wandered down the hallway, trying to remember Blake's hotel room number. 403? 405? "Shoot!" she exclaimed, and then remembered. She slid the note under the door and raced to the elevator.
BLAKE AWOKE, THE ROOM artificially darkened by the light-cancelling shades. He rolled to his side to glance at the digital clock. It was noon. His normal wake up time. He stretched his arms above his head and rotated his hips. He pushed himself out of bed and trudged to the shower.
Then he remembered. Tonight he'd see Brent! Haley would pick him up at the airport and bring him right to the amphitheater tonight and he'd get to show off a little in front of his brother. Elation washed over him as he stepped into the shower.
As he lifted his face to the oncoming spray his thoughts went to Brent. Although it had been a fantastic summer traveling with Frontier Fire, the opportunity of a lifetime, he had really missed his small and dedicated family. Aunt Gloria worked way too hard, and couldn't possibly take a few days off to travel across the country to come see him. And without her, it was difficult for Brent to travel solo. He needed help and accommodation. This mini-vacation for Brent was unique, and the two of them would savor it to the hilt.
Showered, shaved and dressed, he placed a call to Haley to see if she wanted to grab a meal with him. It went straight to voicemail. She either had it powered off or she was on the line. Neither one surprised him. He sent her a text, telling her where he was going and she could meet him there if she wanted.
He left the room with a happy whistle.
HALEY WAS SITTING ON the airplane, 30,000 feet in the air midway between Pittsburgh and Myrtle Beach when a thought assaulted her mind: Brent was arriving today! Brent was quite possibly en route at this moment from Myrtle Beach to Pittsburgh while she was flying in the opposite direction. Or maybe he hadn't boarded his plane yet. Regardless, she needed to contact someone to pick him up.
How could she forget that detail?
Her pulse flitted through her veins and she tried to talk herself down. She had a lot on her mind, and she had completed a million details correctly. She only missed one. Her odds were pretty darn good.
However, the one detail she missed was a huge one. No way could she let Brent arrive at the Pittsburgh Airport and not have anyone to welcome and assist him.
She pulled out her phone which she had placed on Airplane Mode. She typed a text to Randall, knowing it probably wouldn't be sent until they landed. She stuck the phone back in her pocket, and swallowed the lump in her throat.
She'd have time. Once she landed, she'd immediately call Randall and ask him to go to the airport or send someone. No reason to stress. There would be plenty of time.
She had to make it happen. If she abandoned Brent, Blake would never forgive her.
BLAKE FINISHED HIS meal. He had developed this weird schedule of sleeping till noon and eating his first meal of the day when most normal people were eating their second meal of the day. He couldn't dive into eating with a hamburger and French fries. His stomach would revolt. So he normally found restaurants that would serve him breakfast for lunch. Today's selection, a ham and cheese omelet with toast hit the spot.
He'd eaten the entire meal alone. He wondered where Haley was, and whether she'd remembered to eat. The girl was a work horse, which was a fact that gave him a mixed reaction. As her boyfriend, he worried that she would throw herself full force into a project, forgetting to stop and do anything secondary, like eat. Or sleep. But because the work she was always doing benefitted him professionally, he reaped all the reward from her efforts. And they were monumental, he couldn't deny that.
She was a delightful blend of smart and forgetful, determined and flexible, confident and insecure.
She was his, and of that, he was most proud. He had no idea what he'd done to deserve her, but he sure was glad she'd fallen in love with him.
He paid for his meal and a tip with his band credit card and left the restaurant. On the walk back, he placed a call to Haley again. Maybe she was done with her previous phone call and he'd reach her.
Nope. The phone went straight to voicemail again.
IT WAS ONLY BECAUSE Haley was sitting by the window directly over the left wing that she was aware of a problem. And it was only because she was staring out the window, obsessing over her communication failure surrounding Brent's pick up that she wasn't calmly reading a magazine and missing the whole thing.
No, she had the best seat in the house to observe a small metal flap on the far end of the airplane's wing suddenly flip up, drawing her attention with a muffled thud. The strong airstream flowing over the wing caught hold of it, and after a few frantic flaps in the blustery breeze, it ripped away from its connection. Now, instead of being held down firmly in two corners as it was designed to work, one nut and one bolt succumbed to the pressure and disengaged, flying never-to-be-seen-again into the air, while leaving the metal flap rapping wildly against the wing like a rock climber in trouble, determined to hold on for dear life with one arm.
Haley gasped as she stared wide-eyed out the window. She tore away her gaze long enough to reach above her head and push the button to summon the flight attendant. A young woman came a few minutes later. "May I help you?"
Haley pointed out the window. "You see that metal flap? Right out there on the wing? Look, it's hanging on by a thread."
The flight attendant leaned closer and her attention followed the direction of Haley's index finger. "I'm sure it'll be ..."
Before she could finish her sentence, the remaining screw, weakened by all the battering, gave up and flew loose, releasing the metal flap into the air, leaving a three by two inch rectangular chasm in the wing.
The flight attendant looked at Haley, her eyes wide with surprise. Haley was certain, based solely on the woman's age that she had never come upon this situation before. It may have been in her flight attendant training class she had a year or so ago, but practical on-the-job experience didn't aid her here.
"Excuse me," she said and headed quickly up the aisle of the plane, her hip bumping every three seats or so on random passengers’ arm rests.
Haley darted her attention back to the hole in the wing. Searching for a sign of trouble or despair, she was relieved that she couldn't detect one. The flapping sound of metal against metal was now gone. The wing seemed to be operating as expected, despite the portion now exposed.
In ten minutes, a dinging over the sound system alerted everyone to a message. "Good afternoon, everyone. This is Captain Miller in the cockpit. I have an announcement. We have become aware of a minor maintenance issue regarding the left wing of our aircraft. Although we anticipate absolutely no issues or problems at all, we have been asked to make an unscheduled landing in Charlotte en route to Myrtle Beach. The Charlotte Airport has promised us they will provide maintenance professionals to examine our aircraft promptly and make any repairs needed on a priority basis. We do not expect to be off schedule for long however I must warn you that we will most likely arrive at Myrtle Beach later than originally planned." He turned the microphone off briefly, then his deep, calm voice returned, "Please stay in your seats with your seatbelts on until we land. Again, nothing to worry about. Slight delay. Thank you for choosing to fly with us today."
Haley stretched her hands out in front of her, observing the fingers shaking. Delay, delay, delay. She hated being off the grid, especially with a dire need to use her phone. Helpless, she closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing in and out.