Page 59 of Baby, It’s You (Clairesville #1)

Hunter

I ’m currently driving to my hotel room after filming the McClaine's wedding at a small country club in a rural area of Tennessee, when I hear my phone start to blow up with notifications from the passenger seat.

What the hell? I pick it up for a second and see notifications for comments that say stuff like “Omg!” or “This is amazing.” I toss my phone back into the seat, assuming one of the skate videos I filmed a while ago is going viral right now.

Sometimes they will randomly get a lot of interest, even years later.

It’s not until I drive for twenty more minutes, my phone lighting up the whole ride, that I start to get confused.

I pull off the dirt road into the parking lot of the small hotel I’ve been staying at this weekend and put my truck in park.

I’m exhausted from filming the entire day, start to finish, of another wedding, but I am also happy and fulfilled by how my time was spent.

I push wild strands of my hair out of my face. It’s grown almost to my shoulders in the past year, and I have thought about cutting it off many times, but then I hear the nickname Curls in my head and I can’t do it. Anything to keep her in my mind.

My phone screen flashes for the millionth time, and I let out an exasperated noise as I pick it up again. I swipe open my home screen and open the YouTube app to see hundreds of notifications pouring in. I wonder which video it was , I think to myself as I open the tab to read the recent comments.

“This is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Wait, what?

“I want a love like this.”

I keep scrolling to see multiple people have written things with a similar sentiment. I click on one of the comments and it takes me to the video.

The video loads slowly on my screen; the service isn't great out here and I curse silently at the fact that I don’t recognize the title, “It’s You.” It shows it was uploaded just thirty minutes ago. I wonder if I’m hacked when the screen finally loads.

My breath is taken away as the song “Baby It’s You” by Smith starts to play and I’m instantly transported back to that moment with Olive in my truck, with her singing the lyrics on our ride to Onilley Lake.

The number of times that I’ve listened to this song since losing her, relating deeply to the lyrics, makes me feel stunned in this moment.

Olive appears on the screen suddenly and my heart races seeing her.

It looks like she’s standing outside somewhere, against a wall.

She looks stunning, her eyes bright and lively.

She looks healthy and carefree, like she has put on some needed weight following the stress of last year.

I reach out and run my finger across her face, while on the screen she begins to speak.

“Hi! Some of you may recognize me from a video series Hunter did last year. Crazy to say that was an entire year ago, but it was. I own the bar now, which is great, uhm, so Whiskey Jane’s lives on!

” She pauses and looks nervous; it seems like someone encourages her from behind the camera to keep going and she starts to talk again.

“Sorry, I’m not used to being on camera like this.

” She laughs. “But I have something that I would like to share. So here it goes. A while ago when we were working on the video project together—Hunter and me, that is—he asked me if I wanted to film an episode talking about my relationship with Jane. I told him yes, but never got around to it because I was so consumed in losing her, I couldn’t even speak about it.

But when it’s all said and done, I don’t even think my stories with Jane were needed.

Our relationship spoke for itself. She was a mother to me in every single way but biologically.

” Olive looks sad for a second and then lights up as she says, “Jane was looking out for me, though. She knowingly blessed me one last time after she passed away by giving me the bar. But she also blessed me in another way, without knowing it. Without the bar, without Jane’s legacy, I never would have met Hunter Rowe. ”

She looks directly at the camera now, confident, like she is speaking to me only.

“He is the most incredible person I have ever met. He is selfless, loving, intelligent, creative, and not to mention, so beautiful to look at.” Olive chuckles slightly and then grows serious again.

“I seriously fucked up a chance with a perfect man, big time. Oops, sorry! Can I swear?” she asks the person behind the camera, and I hear Eddie’s laugh.

“It’s fine,” he says in the background.

Wow, I guess the fact that my YouTube email and password has been the same since I started the channel when we were all kids has caught up to me. I chuckle to myself. Need to change my password, noted.

Olive continues to speak, “There isn’t a day that goes by that my thoughts aren’t consumed with my love for Hunter.

This part is for him only.” She grins and scoots closer to the camera.

“Curls, I am so sorry for the way I treated you. I was horrible and I didn’t appreciate you when I had you.

I used your kindness and didn’t thank you when I should have.

“I am so thankful for everything you did for me. You always showed up for me when I needed you. I have spent a long time getting to the place I needed to be at, so I can show up for you, too. I am ready to love you for the rest of my life, if you will accept my apology. There is no one else in the world I want to be with. I am madly in love with you, Hunter. I choose you. Baby, it’s you . ”

The video fades to black and I stare at my phone in shock before quickly snapping out of it, dialing Eddie.

He answers, “Yello?”

“Where is she?” I breathe out.

“She’s at her apartment.”

I hang up without even responding and throw my truck in reverse.

I'm going to get my girl.