Love Songs
Page 35

Warner was going to sign on to do the TV show, they were going to record his music and try and either sell it or get him signed, and she was going to need to decide on which path she was going to take now. Realizing that her lead men were a full ten years younger than she was had hit her hard. And she wasn’t sure she was ready to play the matronly roles yet. Though she’d toyed with telling Arianna that they should do Annie again and this time she thought it would be fun to play Miss Hannigan.
The moment the plane landed in Nashville both Clara and Warner reached for the phones and turned them back on. It was only a moment later that Clara’s phone chimed with a text message.
“Who’s looking for you?” Warner asked with a grin.
She looked at the screen. “Mom wants us over for dinner tonight.”
“Do you think they know?”
After her conversation with her brother she was sure they all did, though she never actually said she’d gotten married or planned too.
A moment later Warner’s phone chimed a text message too.
Clara elbowed him playfully. “And who’s looking for you?”
His brows knit as he looked at the screen. Then his lips pursed and his cheeks grew red.
“Warner, what’s wrong?”
He rubbed his hand over his forehead. “We were sold out.”
He held up his phone to her to see that Jeremy Smith had sent him a congratulations text and a video clip which had already hit the gossip shows. It was a clip from their wedding shot from the back of the chapel.
Clara let out a sigh. “I guess we know that my folks know now.”
“He says Patricia was already interviewed by the local news and is playing up some sob story about me running away to get married and not even including her or my grandmother.”
Clara dropped her shoulders. “Does she really think you’d invite her even if it had been a big event?”
He lifted his brows. “She’s demented. She thinks I’m her kid or something. When I went over the other day to confront her…”
“You went to her house?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“You had a show to do. I guess it slipped my mind.”
Clara bit down on the inside of her cheek. He was her husband and they were still learning things about each other. She was going to have to deal with this and now his stepmother—ex-stepmother—was her problem too.
Then she thought more about what he’d said. “Your grandmother is still alive?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know that either.”
“Clara, I don’t have anything to do with her. She did what she had to and when I was eighteen I had a one way ticket out the door. I already told you she dumped me off in Vegas with an aunt. She’s no more my kin than my own mother.”
The very comment stung. This man needed so much love. It was a good thing she came from a good home. Even though it wasn’t going to be easy, and she could already tell that, she could give him that stable home he needed and deserved. But would he accept it?
Once they made it through the airport and collected their bags they hurried to find Clara’s Jeep. Clara wondered if he was aware of the man who had been following them since they’d collected their suitcases. But just as they threw the last bag into the car Warner turned around and headed toward the man.
“What do you want?” His voice rose in anger and Clara kept her distance.
“I just wanted to ask you a few questions.”
“Listen, pal. I don’t have anything to share with you.”
Warner turned around and headed back to the Jeep, but the man hadn’t gone on. “Why did you elope?”
“None of your business.”
“Is your wife pregnant?”
That stopped Warner in his tracks. He turned back to the man. “Who are you? I am no one you would be interested in.”
“Sure. Everyone is interested in Patricia Little’s son.”
“I’m not her son. She’s not my blood. I wish ya’ll would just leave me the hell alone.”
“But she owns Master Records now, how do you feel about that?”
He thought he just might be sick. That was why Jordan Farr was at her house.
“Listen, I had no future at Master Records. I guess she’ll be making albums now. Good for her.”
He turned around and walked back toward Clara. “I heard Savannah heard you sing.”
Warner kept walking. “That one is public knowledge, pal.”
He hurried and opened the door for Clara and shut it once she got in. She could hear the man rattle a few more questions off to him, but Warner ignored them.
This was going to be strange for her to get used to. Sure, she’d been giving interviews since she was thirteen about the shows they did at the theater, but no one had ever hunted her down. Then she felt the bead of sweat roll down the back of her neck. But someone once had. It felt like that night when she stood on that stage and knew someone was there. Someone who wanted to hurt her.
She tried to suck in a breath. She could still feel his hands on her covering her mouth. Never in her life had she been so afraid, but that night she thought she’d die.
Would Warner’s unwanted fame bring those kind of people into their lives? What if he did sell and become a big name in the industry? What if Savannah really did want him to tour with her?
Clara’s palms grew damp. She and Warner were crazy to put themselves out there so people could hurt them.
He reached over and touched her thigh. Her first reaction was to jump and he quickly retracted his hand.
“I’m sorry. That man has me worked up,” she said.
“That’s going to be the norm. Especially now that she has one more angle to hate me.”
“Do reporters do that to you all the time? Just come after you like that?”
“More lately, now that I’m trying to get my music out there. I can’t wait for her time in the lime light to be over. I have to move on or I have to move away. But if I’m not in Nashville, I’m not where I need to be.”
He seemed to have a level head about it. She sure wished she did.
Warner pulled her Jeep into the driveway and quickly hopped out to open her door. Clara had been quiet the whole ride home and he hoped that reporter, or stalker, didn’t bother her that much. This was Nashville and they were moving themselves into the music industry. If everything worked out this would be the norm and not just because Patricia Little had been married to his father and drove him to suicide.