All I Ever Wanted(71)

While being with Grady remained at the top of her list, she had to understand herself first. And there was no better place to go than the little brick house where she had learned to dance, laugh, and sing. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, she was heading to Cincinnati.





 CHAPTER NINETEEN



HERE WE GO

The next two days passed in a whirlwind blur of interviews and photo shoots. Devin was in his element, and he barely gave the brothers time to breathe, which, fortunately, helped keep Grady from going completely crazy with wanting to be with Arabella. He'd spoken to her briefly and shared a few text messages the night of the concert, but he still had no idea where she'd gone. . . .

Until the next night, when he was sitting up in bed, thinking, and, just like that, the answer came to him. He had to be right.

"Well, damn." Grady slapped his hand on the hotel bed, making Oliver sit up straight.

"What the hell, dude?" He shoved his fingers through his hair. "It's three o'clock in the morning and we've got an interview to do at ten. We're all gonna look like shit and say stupid shit if we don't get some rest." He punched his pillow and laid back down.

"Oh, come on, how can you sleep with Jesse snoring like a damned locomotive, anyway?"

"Would you asshats shut the hell up?" Jimmy grumbled from the other bed. "I'd finally fallen asleep. Or maybe my brain shut down from listening to Jesse. And he just farted."

Jesse snored away in blissful slumber.

"I warned you when he switched to bourbon after dinner he'd snore," Oliver said in a raspy whisper. "Oh, but did anyone listen? Well, you're sure as hell listening now. To that!"

"I wasn't cussing about Jesse snoring," Grady said. "I just realized, like a dumb shit, where I think Arabella headed after the concert. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner."

"Where?" Jimmy asked in a more alert tone.

"I'd bet anything she's at her grandmother's house."

"Don't tell me you're going all the way to Cincinnati without knowing for sure," Oliver said.

"I'll call her mom and ask if my hunch is right. I hope she still has the same cell number. If not, I bet she still has a landline. If not, I can give her dad a call."

"And you think Mindy will tell you if Arabella doesn't want you to know she's there?" Jimmy asked. "I can't imagine her mother doing that."

Jesse mumbled something in his sleep and then continued snoring.

"Jimmy, for the love of God, give him another shove," Grady pleaded. "Well, I'm going to give it a shot. I think I'll be able to tell by the tone of her voice."

"So you have a superpower?" Jimmy asked.

"I have lots of superpowers," Grady said.

Jimmy shifted to his side and looked at Grady in the dim light. "Do you think you should just give Arabella some space?" he asked in a low voice. "She only asked for a few days, Grady. Look at all that's happened to her in a short span of time. I think she just had a moment, that's all. I mean, what happened after the concert was way beyond what any of us expected. I wish now that we could have searched for her. Somehow gotten her to the RV with us."


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"Yeah. Why didn't I do that?"

"We were bombarded. It wasn't anybody's fault. Maybe let her take a break instead of chasing after her. Let some of this stuff sink in."

Grady considered the advice for a moment. "No," he said. "I couldn't chase after her the last time she ran out because I was in the middle of a world tour. Now I have the freedom to do it. And we're not kids anymore. I'm not going to let her slip away again. She overthinks things, and I want to be there to just talk."

"I get that," Jimmy said. "It's not often we get a second chance at love."

"You're right."

"Damn, I'd be happy with a first chance," Jimmy said with a low chuckle. "All my dates seem to end in disaster. They either want to date me because of Heartbeat or they're intimidated by the fame, which is silly," Jimmy said. "And the concert isn't going to help that problem. Once this is over, I plan on spending more time on my balcony writing songs and staying out of the limelight. But Arabella has always been different. She doesn't fit into either of those two categories. She never did."

"I think Jimmy's got a point, and I think you're right too, Grady," Oliver said. "You should go after her rather than wait for her to come back if she doesn't come home soon. But," he continued, "don't forget I'm heading to Nashville in a couple of weeks to set up studio time and hire some musicians for the EP. We need to keep this train rolling while the publicity is still hot."