Girl in Love(114)
Her words wrapped around Kylie’s heart and gave it a squeeze. No, his childhood didn’t contain many happy memories that she knew of.
“For him, the time he was happiest, the one time in his life he never felt temptation to drink…It was being in Macon…with you.” Gretchen paused. “I’ll give you a minute to let that sink in.”
And sink in it did. Kylie just sat there, speechless for one of the first times in her life.
“He described this day, this long afternoon, of just horsing around with you on the farm. He said he fell in love with you that day. We all kind of figured more happened than he’d described. But from the way he looked, lit up and happy in a way I’d never seen him, the falling in love was the most important part.”
A tiny sound of surprise escaped Kylie’s lips.
“I’m guessing this is a lot for you to hear all at once. But there’s more. You okay?”
Kylie nodded and struggled to suck up the emotions threatening to pour out all over the place. “I’m trying to be. Go ahead.”
“The facility in Dallas…It was struggling. It’s this sprawling, well-hidden place that could seriously be like the rehab place for people in need of privacy, like celebrities and such, if it had the funding needed.”
“So he bought it,” Kylie finished for her. Of course he had. He was always trying to save everything and everyone. Except himself.
“Sort of. He and I agreed to go in half, like silent investors. There’s a Board of Directors already in place, so we would literally be just money and maybe do a few figurehead-type things. Kind of like with his A Hand Up Foundation.”
“I see.” So Trace and Gretchen were going to be business partners. That was major, but not as major as she thought.
“I know what you think—how it looks. But for the record, he didn’t leave you for me, and he and I haven’t ever been an item like the media makes it seem.”
“Why do I feel like there’s a but coming?”
Gretchen was quiet, just long enough for Kylie to feel a panic attack coming on.
“There was this one night, your birthday, actually. We had a fight because he said he had to see you and I told him he wasn’t ready for that. That he hadn’t been sober long enough to go dealing with your unstable ass. But it was your birthday, so he was determined to do something nice, like show up with flowers or take you to dinner so the two of you could talk.”
“Oh God.” Kylie’s heart sank like a heavy stone into her empty stomach.
“Yeah. Turns out you’d moved on. When he came back to my place—”
“No. Don’t tell me.” Kylie closed her eyes and shook her head. “I don’t need to know.”
She didn’t. It didn’t matter. If he’d turned to Gretchen for comfort that night, well, so be it. She’d have to find a way to deal with it.
“We didn’t sleep together, if that’s what you’re thinking. But I offered. He turned me down.” Gretchen shrugged. “And not for some noble reason like he didn’t want to hurt our friendship. He turned me down because he said he’d tried. He’d almost taken some waitress home after leaving your place, but all he could see was you. All he wanted was you.”
“So he went back to rehab?” Kylie had never gotten a chance to ask Trace why he hadn’t shown up at the party the label had thrown for their single. The rumor mill had answered the question for her and she’d assumed they were right.
“No. He went to Dallas and got everything in order so we could do the deal with the facility. The Second Chance Ranch we’re calling it.”
“Catchy,” Kylie said absently, still attempting to put the pieces together.
“Yeah, we think so. He’s funding this huge redesign to make it as similar to his farm in Macon. Because that’s the one place he doesn’t want to drink.”
“Because of me,” Kylie said softly.
The other woman nodded once. “Look, I told you I wasn’t going to blow smoke up your skirt and I didn’t. I won’t sit here and tell you life with him will be easy or even the best thing for either of you. Because who the hell am I to give anyone life advice?” Gretchen paused to put her jacket back on. “But I’ll be damned if I’m going to be anyone’s excuse. So if you don’t want to be with him, then don’t. But don’t try to pin it on me, because given the choice between me and you, Trace would step over my cold, dead body without blinking.”
Kylie frowned. “I don’t always make the best decisions in the spur of the moment. Especially when thrown into situations I’m not prepared for, I’ll admit that. But I’m not as completely vacant as you seem to think. I could tell pretty early into the tour that the two of you weren’t together together. That’s not why I left Macon when you showed up.”