She’s My Kind Of Rain (Rawlings Ranch #1)

Chapter 30

30

DAISY - JULY 24, 2004

I knew Sawyer would sing his heart out tonight because opportunities like this don’t happen for everyone. What I didn’t know is that he would put his chance at fame on the line to sing a song I know is meant for me.

I expected him to choose something that felt like it was different enough to set him apart, but I didn’t expect him to write a song completely on his own. I didn’t even know he was capable of it, he’d never mentioned writing songs before. He sings with heart and it’s like the entire room is just as entranced as I am—something at this point I believe he will be well known for when he performs.

The first time he sang, it was clear that the song itself meant something to him. But this time, it’s clear that the moments he sings about mean something too. Every line is a testament to the time we shared together. Every perfect moment of our story wrapped into a beautiful melody that he chose to share with the crowd.

I do everything in my power to hold back my emotions. Someone finding out about us is most definitely not on my bingo card for today.

I look from the stage, to Blake and Mr. Jordan. They both seem mesmerized by him, neither of them looking away from Sawyer for even a second. My heart warms, not only to hear a song that I know is intended for me, but also to see two very prestigious record label owners enthralled by him.

A smile permeates my face as I turn back to watch Sawyer do what he does best, captivating the entire crowd, and when he finishes the song, the crowd erupts with praise.

I notice Blake nod to the gentleman on stage as Sawyer walks off. Once the man is back at the mic, he clears his throat and quiets the crowd. “Another moment in music history, friends,” he speaks out to the room. “One more round of applause for Sawyer Mason, who just so happens to be a future Telluride Records recording artist.”

The room resumes their applause for Sawyer, while the table I’m sitting at seems to shift to tension.

“Not, until you have those papers signed Blake,” Mr. Jordan scoffs, doing his best to pretend he’s unbothered, but failing miserably. He gets up from the table, shakes our hands, and walks away. This time Victoria doesn’t hide as much of her distaste for me when she only shakes Blake’s hand before scurrying behind her boss.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” He looks as if he’s considering his next words carefully. “Miss Holloway, consider me impressed that you found Mr. Mason before someone else did. Nice work.” A confident grin resides on his face, and though this complement might not resonate with everyone, it makes me feel almost as good as getting a Grammy would. “I had our lawyers write up a contract in case I felt this went well. As I’m sure you are aware, it’s not common for someone who isn’t known all over Nashville to play here, so I had assumed that he had great potential before the performance had even begun.” He pulls a manila envelope out of a briefcase I hadn’t even noticed him carrying. “Make sure Mr. Mason gets this, and let him know that our meeting has been moved to Monday morning. I would like to get ahead of Mr. Jordan by offering him a contract.”

“Thank you, sir, and absolutely,” I say, taking the envelope from him. “I will make sure he gets this right away.”

“Have a nice weekend, Miss Holloway, and again, great work.” He walks away from the table and my eyes follow him until he makes it to the front door where he exits.

Excitement and trepidation surge within me. A part of me is ecstatic that Blake thinks so highly of my choice and that he wants to officially sign Sawyer, but another part of me almost wishes he didn’t want to—saving us the trouble of navigating what will inevitably follow when Blake finds out about us. Thoughts of the dating policy swirl through my mind, but I try my best to push them away because I know bringing them up now only ruins what Sawyer has just achieved. I can’t allow myself to be the reason he doesn’t get this chance.

I just can’t.

I wait an additional few minutes, just in case, giving Blake ample time to officially be gone before I get up to go in search of Sawyer. Pushing all my worries under the rug for another time because it feels more selfish to ruin this than it does to allow myself the pain of remaining quiet on the matter.

As expected, I spot Rhett at the bar, but much to my surprise Kaylee is right beside him.

“Uh, hey, guys.” I sit down next to Kaylee, leaning forward to look at both her and Rhett. “I didn’t know you were coming to the show…together?” I question this odd sight since I was rather convinced to never see them together besides by force.

They both look at one another, Kaylee rolling her eyes once she meets Rhett’s stare. “I didn’t plan on coming, but I wanted to show you support so I left the shop early today. Dipshit, here—” she gestures to Rhett “—just happened to be sitting here when I arrived.”

“Yeah, what Angel said,” Rhett scoffs at Kaylee before returning his attention to me. “Well, he done did it again, didn’t he? Told ya he was the spark ya were lookin’ for.” His chipper tone and confident grin is warranted, but also seems to be motivated by a bit of alcohol too—I guess that explains why he hadn’t moved when Kaylee arrived.

“Did Nancy make you another one of her special drinks?” He gives a fake exaggerated frown, all three of us laughing at his antics. “Where’s Sawyer?”

“We both thought he was with you.” His eyebrows furrow, looking from Kaylee to me. “Maybe he got caught up backstage. That was pretty big news, he didn’t mention that he was already signed with y’all.”

“Yeah, uh—” I look down at the folder in my hand and then toward the stage. “I’ll be back.”

They both nod, and for a moment, I’m curious how they are even capable of spending any time near each other, but my biggest concern is that maybe Blake springing something so official on Sawyer is the very reason he hasn’t come to find me yet.

I snake through the crowd toward the door that leads backstage and show the guard my ID. After he looks it over, he opens the door and allows me through. Not much to my surprise, it’s just as beautiful backstage as it is everywhere else in The Westmore. I step through the door, and the guard closes it behind me. Surveying the performers, I see many faces that have crossed my desk at one time or another, but seeing them like this humanizes them, making it that much harder to be one of the people in the way of their dreams, especially while holding a contract to make someone else’s dream come true. I notice Sawyer off in the back talking to a girl. Her long blonde hair cascades down her back and she’s taller than I am—though it doesn’t take much being only a few inches over five feet.

I watch for a moment, not sure if it’s out of curiosity or because I don’t want to interrupt. Her back is to me, so I can’t tell her expressions or who she is, but Sawyer’s smiling as he talks with her. Part of me worries that if I walk over I may look bad, like I didn’t trust him or something, but that part of me is most likely the part that failed relationships created. I have never been jealous, mostly because I have never liked a guy enough to warrant it, but also because I truly believe the right guy would never put me in a position to have to feel that way.

I wait only a moment longer, deciding that watching them is far more strange than interrupting would be. As I approach, the smile on Sawyer’s face grows, and with that, the girl turns toward me. Just as she turns, a wave of disbelief washes over me.

Sage Summers.

What are the odds that the same two people I wanted to sign know each other?

She smiles, knowing exactly who I am once I approach. “Well, hello, Miss Holloway.” Her personality shines just like her name.

“Hey, Miss Summers, it’s great to see you. Are you performing tonight as well?” I shake her hand, taking in her beauty now that I’m so close. Her eyes are the most beautiful light caramel—they truly look like beaming light—and her personality is exactly how I pictured it to be.

“Oh, no, I wish. I help backstage here occasionally. I thought maybe if I got my name or face in their sights it might up my chance to one day play here. I didn’t know Mr. Mason here,” she nudges his arm with hers, “was signing with y’all. We have quite the past, he and I.” She nudges him again and throws him a wink.

I suddenly feel a bit put off, never considering that the singer’s circle can be small and it would be possible that Sawyer could have dated half the people backstage if he wanted to. I look from her to him with a happy expression still on my face, because I’d hate to assume this is a moment I’m meeting an ex, but also not convinced I’m not. Even worse, she’s someone I would really like to sign.

Sawyer looks uncomfortable at her comment and my heart drops just the slightest in my chest. For the first time ever, I feel like there is something I don’t know about him.

He lets out a huff. “So, uh, Sage got to see my first ever performance—if we could even call it that—” He rubs the back of his neck and I know he’s nervous. “So, this is actually my third ever performance, and as Rhett likes to say, I’m one lucky shit .” He musters up his best Rhett impression and all three of us laugh. “Anyways, to put it lightly, she performed before me. I went on stage and choked. Didn’t even spit out a single word.”

I feel more than one emotion at the confession. Shock that he ever had a moment like that, relief that she isn’t an ex, and elated that I have found him before someone else—in more than one way, to be honest.

I do my best to keep a professional front, when all I want to do is give him a kiss and tell him how proud I am of him, all while knowing I shouldn’t.

“Well, then consider me just as lucky because anyone could have heard you sing for the first time and scooped you up before we did.”

A smirk comes to his face, and I hope he knows my reasoning for keeping this as professional as possible without me having to say it out loud.

I look to Sage, extending my hand. “Nice to officially meet you in person. I have no doubt your time on that stage is coming, but I do know your time in our office will be even sooner. So, I hope that helps lift a bit of the weight.”

She’s ecstatic by my statement, smiling ear to ear. “Thank you, Miss Holloway, truly! And congratulations again on another successful set, Sawyer.” She high fives him, and if I had been any more nervous about their connection that alone would have settled it.

“It was great seeing you.” I shake her hand. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have some business to discuss with Mr. Mason.” I hold up the envelope, and she wishes us well before returning to her job helping backstage.

“Hey,” Sawyer says in a soft husky tone, winking at me before looking around the room, then back to me. “Want to have that talk elsewhere, Miss Daisy?”

“Happily, Mr. Mason. Lead the way.” I wish he could take my hand or whisk me off my feet, but, to save face, I know it’s best that he doesn’t.

I follow him through the crowd of other entertainers, smiling and nodding as I pass by any that make eye contact with me. We reach the back door that leads to a little alleyway, the same that we had escaped to the first time we kissed. The memory of it brings me joy.

Besides people occasionally walking through to get to their cars, the alley is quiet and the most alone we can get here in such a popular location in Nashville. The moment the door closes, Sawyer takes me in his arms and kisses me like it’ll be the last time. Both of his hands slip around me and grasp my ass, pulling me closer to him and making me want him, just as I always do. I kiss back, and then the feeling of the envelope being crushed between us brings me back to the purpose of our professional conversation that we’re wildly failing at having. I pull away from him, looking into his eyes. I kiss him once more just for good measure, and then hold the envelope out to him as I take a step back.

I hear someone clear their throat from behind and up walks Victoria with a smug look on her face. She bumps my shoulder as she passes by me, giving Sawyer a sultry look and gliding her hand across his shoulder.

“Nice set, Mr. Mason. Give me a call.” She hands him her card and walks toward the side door. Both our gazes follow her as she reaches up and knocks once before showing her rep badge and being let in.

Sawyer gives me a puzzled look, then glances down at the card. “Victoria Eden of Jordan Entertainment?” He lets out a laugh tossing the card onto the ground. “If it didn’t say some stupid quote about making music dreams come true I would have thought she was offering a different service.”

I laugh, then tease “I think they are supposed to be nice to their clients, but I’m not sure any amount of money would make her nice. Pretty sure Rhett’s rubbing off on you.”

“Don’t you tell him that.” He chuckles. “You know her?”

“Yeah, she works for our competitors, but she applied for my job. I think she just doesn’t like people in general, but me getting the job definitely doesn’t help.” I control my urge to roll my eyes. She clearly has some sort of issue with me, whether warranted or not. But she isn’t here now, so I’m not going to bother thinking about her any further. “So, anyways, since when could you write songs? How come you never told me?”

“You never asked,” he chuckles. “But really, this one just came to me. I’ve dabbled a little here and there, but nothing ever felt like it was good enough to perform.”

“Yeah, well I’m gonna need to see the rest of the songs.” I present the best fake stern voice I can muster.

“I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours.” He winks, bringing a smile back to my face.

“No, really, Sawyer, it was beautiful.”

“That’s because it’s written about someone beautiful.” His eyes beam just as bright as the neon signs we stand under, and I can feel my cheeks flush at the compliment.

He points toward the envelope. “What’s this?”

I raise it toward him again, and he grabs it from my hand, sliding the papers partly out of the top. I watch in anticipation for him to see his dreams literally in the palm of his hand.

His expression reads rather neutral before he begins to speak. “Holy shit, I thought the guy on stage had made a mistake somehow when he announced that I was with Telluride. Does this make it official? Like, if I sign it?”

“Yeah, it would definitely do that.” The weight of what it means if he signs resides on my chest, and I can’t decide if I should say something about it or let him live in this moment. Either way, I think it will send everything crashing down for the both of us and I’m not ready for the fall.