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BLAKE FINISHED DRESSING for tonight's concert, left his hotel room and headed for the front. The limousine that would transport the band to the venue waited outside. He glanced around for Haley and then rolled his eyes, chuckling to himself. Creature of habit. Haley wouldn't be joining them tonight. She was probably at this moment driving over to the airport to pick up Brent. Like he hadn't thought about Brent a thousand times today, a shiver of excitement went through his shoulders.
He still hadn't actually connected with Haley. It was odd, but maybe she was busy with Ace in the Hole stuff. She was usually pretty good about leaving him out of the details so he could go into each performance unencumbered.
He climbed in and settled into a seat. He looked around at his bandmates. "Big show tonight, guys. My baby brother will be in the audience."
"Cool!" Lola, the keyboardist, said. "Can we meet him?"
"Of course. In fact, I'd love to get a photo of him with all of us." He launched into his normal brief explanation. He hated for anyone meeting Brent to be caught off guard and expose Brent to an uncomfortable greeting. "Just so you guys know, my brother is a paraplegic. He's permanently in a wheelchair."
Murmurs of what was probably sympathy, acceptance or surprise filled the limo. "What happened to him?" someone asked.
Blake smiled. No way was he going to transform their carefree ride into an emotional story about the tragic house fire that killed his father and mother and permanently disabled his brother. It was too fun a night for that. So he said, "He jumped out of a window."
They stared at him in surprise, then they all laughed and moved on to a new topic. "Where's Randall tonight?" Blake asked, noticing his absence in the limousine.
"He had to leave, had some personal business to take care of today. He won't be at the concert but he'll be back tomorrow or the next day."
The ride to the venue went smoothly and they all exited the vehicle and entered the huge concert hall through the back doors. Randall had told them it was their biggest venue yet, seating nearly twenty thousand fans. Blake claimed his green room, set out his few belongings, and started his stretches and vocal warmups. About a half hour in, his hair and makeup artist arrived. He was halfway through preparations when his phone rang. It was Aunt Gloria.
"Hey, Aunt Glo. You get Brent off okay?"
"Well, yes I did." Her tentative voice caused him to tense immediately. "He got on his plane fine, but that's why I'm calling. He just called me. He's at the Pittsburgh Airport but Haley isn't there to greet him."
"What?"
"Yeah, the airline associates helped him off the plane and into his wheelchair, but he's not sure where to go next."
Blake frowned. This wasn't like Haley, who was always so reliable and on top of all the details. "Aunt Glo, let me make some calls. I'll let you know what I come up with."
"Okay honey," she said. Blake detected the nerves in her voice. Although Aunt Gloria wasn't the overprotective type, this was a new experience for Brent. He hadn't taken a solo flight since his paralysis, and admittedly, they were both a little nervous about it.
"I'll call you back." He ended the call and called Haley. He felt huge relief when she answered on the first ring.
"Blake! Oh my gosh!"
"What's going on?"
Her elevated stress was evident in her normally calm voice. "We had an unexpected detour. The wing had a mechanical problem and we had to land in Charlotte. I'm delayed."
Blake frowned at his phone. "What are you talking about?"
"My flight to Myrtle Beach. We had to make a landing in Charlotte for mechanical problems."
He huffed his frustration. "Haley, why are you going to Myrtle Beach today? You're supposed to be picking up my brother in Pittsburgh and bringing him to the concert."
"I know, I know. I've been trying to get a hold of Randall to do that but I haven't been able to reach him."
All his triggers were tripped simultaneously and even though he knew he'd regret it later, Blake let his anger take over. He raised his voice and barked into the phone, "Haley! Randall's out of town. Brent's flight landed and he's all alone with no one to help him."
"Oh, my gosh," she started, and he interrupted her.
"You knew how important this was to me. My family is my top priority, and you assured me you'd take care of him." Blake's hair girl went still, eyes widened and tiptoed away, leaving him alone in his green room.
"I'm sorry, I ...,"
"Let me guess, this has something to do with Lindsay. You're abandoning my brother and rushing off to Myrtle Beach half-cocked because of Lindsay."
Her hesitation told him he'd hit the mark. He lowered his voice. "I can't believe this. I can't believe you'd do this, Haley."
"I'm so sorry. Didn't you get my note that I was going to Myrtle today?"
"Note? No note. Where?" He hadn't seen a text, a voicemail, a private message. If she'd left him a note he hadn't seen it. "Never mind. I'm gonna have to go to the airport myself and hope I can get him back before the show starts."
"No, Blake. Just ask someone ..."
"Haley, Brent is my responsibility. I thought you understood that. I trusted you with him. Now, I will pick him up." She started to speak again, but his anger and now the urgency in leaving for the airport got the better of him. "Good bye, Haley." He disconnected the call, rose out of his makeup chair and raced off.
HALEY SOBBED, HER EYES filling with tears that dropped down her cheeks as her shoulders wracked. She struggled to cry soundlessly to attract less attention in the busy airport, but she couldn't. She didn't cry often, but this one had the weight of the world behind it and she let it all out, her despair emitting from her. To discourage attention, she dropped her head and placed her hands over her eyes. Nothing to see here, just keep moving. A clean tissue infiltrated the barrier she'd built around herself and she grabbed it, lifting her head to see the back of a kind woman who'd tried to meet her physical needs without interrupting her misery.
Haley allowed herself a solid, unremitting cry for ten minutes and then dragged herself to her feet. She made her way to a public restroom. She took one look at her face in the mirror and wanted to cry again. Every last shred of makeup was either gone, or running a dirty track down her cheeks. She washed her face thoroughly with soap and water, then pulled her makeup kit from her small bag and reapplied. A quick brush of her long hair, and she could almost convince herself that she looked fine.
For it being the worst day of her life.
She'd blown it. She'd never heard Blake's voice infused with so much anger. In all the time she'd known him, he'd never so much as raised his voice. To anyone, let alone her. Even when they'd had the uncomfortable conversation about her job performance, he'd done it kindly. Sharing bad news with a gentle demeanor was so much better than with anger.
But today, she pushed him over the edge. She'd made him so angry that he yelled at her. Worse, she'd let him down and disappointed him in the worst way possible. She'd neglected her commitment to pick up Brent, when she knew what a big deal it was.
She was aware that couples fought at times and recovered. But Blake was so easy going and kind that she doubted that this was reversible. She made her way back to her seat in the terminal, waiting for the plane to be fixed. They were trapped in the Charlotte Airport while the world went about its activities outside of here. They had no control over when they would leave, when they would arrive.
Meanwhile, she had limitless time to think. And worry. And obsess.
Yes, she knew exactly how important Blake's family was to him. She knew exactly how Blake and Aunt Gloria took care of Brent. And this one time when Haley was in charge, Brent paid the price with her forgetfulness. He was stuck, unattended to, in a strange airport. Who had helped him into his wheelchair? Who had guided him to the baggage claim? That had been her job, and she'd dropped the ball.
Would Blake ever forgive her? How about Aunt Gloria? She'd only met the woman once, but Haley's regard for her was very high. She admired Aunt Gloria for the unselfish act she'd demonstrated all those years ago. She had let Aunt Gloria down too.
So Blake was, at this moment, racing to the airport. She wondered if he somehow found a car to drive himself, or did he ask the limo driver to take him? Would he get back to the concert in time? Would they have to extend the warm up acts and delay Frontier Fire's start time? They'd never had to do that yet. Frontier Fire's concerts were always professional and executed like clockwork. Until today. If Blake's tardiness caused a change to the concert timing, Haley would never forgive herself.
She wondered if Blake would break up with her over this. Could their relationship recover? The threat of renewed tears made her stop going down that line of thought. No more crying. She was done with that. If Blake broke up with her, she'd have to deal with it. It wouldn't be the end of her life.
Despite the fact that she was in love with him.
She closed her eyes to try to stop the flow of thoughts in her head. She tried to doze but her mind was still too active.
If Blake did break up with her, would that be the end of her job with Ace in the Hole? Could they ever work together after this? Would he even trust her with his band's business, or would he fire her over this?
If she lost her job with Ace in the Hole, what would she do? Her parents had already disowned her due to her tendency to flit from job to job with no direction. Getting fired from this job that was supposedly her niche would just cement their accusations. She’d been so sure that she'd found her career, the one thing that she excelled at, that she naturally gravitated to and delivered solid results. But if she could no longer work with Ace in the Hole, would any other band hire her?
She jolted her eyes open. She was driving herself crazy inside her own head. Her thoughts were leading her toward one worst case scenario after another. She needed to put all that aside for now and focus on getting to Myrtle Beach and helping Ace in the Hole deal with the potential Lindsay threat. Maybe it was the last task she'd ever accomplish with Ace, but she was determined to make sure that they were safe tonight. She had no idea how, or what she would do tonight if Lindsay tried something, but she had to be there.