Page 74 of A Country Kind Of Love

The silence is excruciating. Peyton can feel her phone vibrate in her pocket. Please be an emergency, nothing terrible or life-threatening, just emergency enough to get her out of this room. Shonda is staring her down like Cruella de Vil stares at Dalmatian puppies.

“Absolutely not,” Shonda declares.

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“What do you mean, she said, ‘no’?” Jesse asks. Peyton tries to juggle her phone against her ear as she enters their apartment.

“She said, ‘no’, Jess. I don’t know how else to say it. Her exact words were, ‘Absolutely not’.”

“Huh.”

“Yep. Now what do I do?”

“That is a good question. I hate to break it to you, but you probably would’ve had more negotiation power before you signed the contract.”

“Thanks for that.” She sighs. She needs a manager urgently, she should absolutely not be trusted to make any more decisions abouther future.

Peyton hears live music in the background. Jesse is at Arrington Vineyard for the last weekend of live music before they close forthe winter.

“The atmosphere sounds great there,”Peyton says.

“It’s so busy. Are you still coming?”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure I feel up to it now.” She flopson the sofa.

“Come on. You’ll have a great time, I promise. Plus, I’ve had three glasses of wine; if you don’t get here quick I might be too drunk to get on stage. That’ll be embarrassing for me. I know you don’t want to see me in that position.”

“Who am I? Your mother?”

“Pleeeeease,”Jesse begs.

“Okay,I’ll come.”

“Yes! Be here before 7 p.m. My set starts then.” Jesse shouts to someone in the distance.

“Did Shonda mention anything about getting you a manager?”Jesse asks.

“Nope.” Peyton reaches for the notebook in the centre of the coffee table. She aimlessly flicks through the pages.

“She might try to offer you Hank. I hear he’s great,” Jesse chuckles.

“Oh yeah, one of the best in Nashville. I think Carrie Underwood is about to snap him up,”she replies.

There’s a page towards the back of the notebook that goes into detail about Jesse, his band, their aspirations, their goals, how they’ll get there. It seems like a manifestation page or a mood board of scribbles outlining all the things he wants to do and how. She’s never seen it before. He has notebooks strewn all over the apartment. She assumed the majority contained song lyrics or Friday nightquiz ideas.

Then it clicks.

“Oh my god.”

“What?” Jesse demands. She doesn’t reply right away. “Peyton? What?”

“I have a great idea.” She jumps up and heads for the bedroom. “I’ll see you within the hour.”

?

When Peyton steps off the bus outside the vineyard she’s met with rolling hills of trellised vines. The property is surrounded by Tennessee countryside. The land stretches further than Peyton can see. At the entrance two giant barrels with informational plaques show customers the layout of the property, which spans seventy-five acres in total. There’s a large covered deck to Peyton’s right with unbelievable views of the sunset as the sun drops below the horizon. A golf cart screeches to a halt beside her and the member of staff asks if she wants a lift to themain stage.

She obliges.