"Deep down, I know you didn't mean it. It was just hard for me to hear."
"Please know that I've regretted it every single day. It was the reason why I haven't called you."
"What do you mean?"
"I was afraid that because of the things I said, you'd never forgive me."
I widened my eyes at him. "I thought you hadn't called because you didn't want to forgive me."
Gabe smiled. "It sounds like we could really improve on our communication skills."
"I'd say so."
"You know, I wrote a song for you about what happened between us."
"You did?"
"Yes, but it's terrible."
I smiled. "That's what you always say, but your songs are always works of art."
Gabe chuckled. "No. Trust me. This one was so bad that Eli made me swear I wouldn't sing it to you."
"You're kidding?"
"I wish I was. He thinks I could probably sell it to one of those screamer bands or some goth group."
"Sounds like it was pretty dark."
With a nod, Gabe said, "It was reflecting where I've been the past week without you. More than anything in the world, I wanted to make a grand gesture to show you how sorry I was, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make the right words come, the words beautiful enough to show you just how much I care for you."
I swallowed hard. "You got writer's block again?"
"I just can't seem to write a song without you, Rae."
With a sigh, I countered, "I can't be with you just so you can write songs."
"I'm well aware of that, and it's not the reason I came to see you." Leaning forward, he took my hand in his. "I can't seem to do life without you."
"You can't?" I questioned softly as I fought to regulate my out-of-control heartbeat.
"If there's one thing that has become abundantly clear this week, it's that I love you."
Oh God. He had said those three little words-the ones that any woman desires to hear from the man she cares about. Not only was my heart beating erratically, but now I found it hard to breathe as well.
Cupping my chin, Gabe tilted my head to look at him. "I love you, and I don't want to be without you. I don't know if you can ever forgive me for what I did, but I want you to know how sorry I am. If you do give me a second chance, I swear I will never undermine your parenting ever again. I will always be upfront and honest with you about even the tiniest detail of my private life. I promise that I'll-"
"I love you, too, Gabe!"
A beaming smile lit up his handsome face. "You do?"
"Yes, I really do."
"And you can forgive me?"
"Yes, but it's going to take some time."
Gabe's elated expression slowly faded. "It is?"
"Just because we said we're sorry to each other doesn't mean our trust in each other is magically repaired. It's going to take a little time to build it back. To look beyond our mistakes."
"You're right, it will." With a grin, he added, "I'll do everything I can to speed the process along."
"I hope so."
Taking my face in his hands, Gabe said, "I love you so much, Rae Hart."
"And I love you, Gabe Renard."
He tilted his head in thought. "How long do you think it'll be before we'll be able to get things back working in the bedroom department?"
I laughed. "Why am I not surprised you brought that up?"
"Some things never change."
"We do have the house to ourselves … "
While Gabe appeared to be momentarily lost in lascivious thoughts, he shook his head. "No. I believe we need a little romance first."
"We do?"
"Have you eaten?"
"No."
"Then I think the two of us should have a night out on the town in Hayesville."
"Which would be dinner at The Hitching Post and in bed by nine o'clock," I replied with a smile.
"It sounds wonderful." Gabe rose off the couch and then offered me his hand. "Are you in?"
"Yes, I'm in."
As we started to the door, Gabe flashed me a wicked grin. "They don't have any horse-drawn carriages around here, do they?"
Nine months later
At the screech of the guitar strings, I winced while Linc muttered, "Dammit."
I cocked my brows at him. "Hey man, watch it with the language."
"You say worse," Linc countered.
"That's no excuse. You're supposed to do as I say, not as I do."
Linc rolled his eyes. "Now you sound like Papa."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm some old fart. Now back to the music. That was supposed to be a B flat to an E flat, not a G flat." When Linc followed my instruction this time, he hit the chord perfectly. "There ya go. Now try it a few more times."
Almost a year had passed since I'd first made the deal with Linc to get a very reluctant Rae to hang out with me in return for getting him a guitar. In some ways, it seemed like just yesterday, while other times, it was hard to imagine a time in my life when Rae and Linc hadn't been a part of it.
With Rae now on board with Linc learning the guitar, he was progressing way past what he'd done in the talent show. I also liked to think he was excelling because of my expert tutelage, although with me back on tour with Jacob's Ladder, our time was somewhat more limited. Of course, whatever musical talent Linc's father had seemed to be magnified in Linc. I could totally see him pursuing music as a career, although I tried not to say that in front of Rae. While she might've made peace with Linc playing the guitar, I knew there was no way in hell she wanted him to become a musician.
As for the two of us, things were progressing as well. She'd flown out almost every weekend we'd been out on tour. Sometimes she brought Linc, but most of the time, she came by herself. While trying to have private time with my girl, I could see why each of the members of Runaway Train had eventually bought their own tour bus when they settled down. Even though she got along great with my siblings and the road crew, I didn't like sharing what time I had with Rae with the others. I also didn't like our lovemaking being tempered because Rae was afraid Eli and the others would hear her.
Others might have thought we hadn't been together long enough to be thinking of the long-term, but I really didn't give a shit what they thought. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that there was only one woman in the world for me, and I'd found her in the backwoods of Georgia. I wanted to build a life with Rae, and because of that fact, I'd been doing some serious thinking about popping the question. I just needed to talk to Linc first, and when I glanced up to look at him, I knew there was no time like the present.
"Can you put the guitar down, buddy?" I asked.
When he scowled at me, I felt like I was looking at Rae. "But we still have fifteen minutes of practice time."
"I know that. It's just, I need to talk to you about something … something really important."
"If this is the facts-of-life stuff, I already know it."
"You do?"
"Yeah. Papa talked to me about it last year."
"While I'm glad you're informed about sex, that's not what I want to talk to you about."
"Fine," Linc muttered. He swiveled in his chair to put the guitar back in its case. Once he was finished, he peered expectantly at me. "So, what's so important that it cuts off my music lesson?"
Now that I had his full attention, I found myself feeling extremely nervous, like I was sitting in an interrogation room with a light beaming down on me. I wiped my suddenly sweaty palms on my jeans before I cleared my throat. "Your mom and I have been dating for a while now."
Tilting his head, Linc appeared lost in thought. "How long has it been?"
"Eleven months."
"Is that a long time?"
It is when you've previously been a commitment-phobic asshole. "For some people, it is, and for others, it isn't. I feel like it's a long time for your mom and me-long enough for me to know how I feel about her."
"You're not breaking up with her, are you?"
I chuckled. "Hell no. She's the only woman for me, ever."
Linc exhaled a relieved breath. "You scared me there for a minute."
"I'm sorry." I leaned forward in my chair. "Not only do I love your mother, I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I'm planning on asking her to marry me."
"You are?"
"Yes, I am."
Linc shot out of his chair to throw his arms around my neck. "That's awesome. And you'll be my stepdad?"
"Yep, I sure will."
He pulled back to stare wide-eyed at me. "I can't believe it."
I chuckled. "I'm glad you're happy about it."
Confusion suddenly replaced the elation on his face. "Wait, you said you were planning to ask Mom to marry you. Does that mean you haven't asked her yet?"