Page 59 of Waiting for Acceptance (Nashville Nights #5)

LAUREN

“Pack your bags, Trouble. We’re going to New York.

” I wake up to Fitz kissing my nose and telling me to pack a bag, but when I open my eyes I see that the sun isn’t even up yet.

If it weren’t for the fact that I’m traveling with the guy about to own the company I work for, and the way Jack and Barbara don’t care if I take off as long as I get my work done—which miraculously, I’ve been doing—I’d be worried about being jobless.

“Oh my god, this company has a lot of events. No wonder it’s as big as it is.” I groan, pulling my pillow over my head.

“Flight leaves in three hours, better get moving.” He squeezes my ass and the way my heart starts racing wakes me up almost immediately. I pull the pillow off my head and give him a suggestive look and he smirks.

“Fuck it, we can be a little late.” He pulls his shirt over his head and pounces back on the bed, making me scream out in laughter. “Better here than the airport bathroom, right?” He growls into my neck and I push him over, to straddle him.

“Right.”

I look at Fitz and frown when I realize we aren’t at the airport we usually fly into.

“Fitz, what on earth kind of event is out here?” He smirks and his face twists into playful confusion.

“Who said we were attending an event?” My mouth pops open but no words come out because…

he’s right. I did just assume we were coming for an event because that’s the only reason we ever do.

Maybe there’s another acquisition happening and he’s bringing me along for the job?

After driving country roads with little to nothing on them, I start to second-guess my theory.

“Here we are.” We pull onto a dirt road and I look over at Fitz in complete confusion and shock.

If he brought a tent for us to sleep in and didn’t warn me, so help me…

“Welcome to Shadow Hill Ranch.”

“What is this place?” I ask, just as we come into view of the most beautiful farmhouse I’ve ever seen. It’s not like the modern farmhouses you see these days, though. It’s original, with blue siding and red bricks, worn wood on the porch, and a swing blowing in the summer breeze.

“ This …is my childhood home.” He shifts the car into park and my mouth falls open.

“What?” I almost laugh the question out. I'm completely stunned.

“Time to get to know the last little bit of me, Trouble.” He hops out and rounds the front of the car.

“I have no words,” I mumble to myself just as he pulls the door open. He drapes his arm around my shoulders and when I look up I see the brightest smile on his face.

“You’re going to love Gran and Pops.” My stomach twists as we make our way up the stairs to the porch, and without even knocking, he opens the screen door and walks right inside.

I’m about to meet the people who raised him, completely unprepared.

Doesn’t he know me well enough by now to understand he can’t do this to me.

“Anybody home?”

“Vincent? Is that you?” I hear a woman’s voice exclaim.

He stalks through the house so quickly I barely have time to take it all in.

An older woman with gray hair pulled back in a clip and an apron comes around the corner and screams with a smile on her face.

“Ahhh! My boy! It’s about time you came back home to see us.

” She reaches up and kisses his cheek and he wraps his arms around her, squeezing her tight before letting her go again.

“Gran, this is Lauren. Trouble, this is my Gran. Otherwise known as the greatest woman in the world.”

“Seriously, Fitz, with the Trouble?” I mumble to him as I walk over to Gran.

“Oh, stop it.” Gran swats his arm, opening her arms for me.

I lean in and she wraps her arms around me. “Hi! It’s so nice to meet you.” She smells like homemade bread and flowers and hugs me like she’s got love to spare.

“I am so happy you could come. I’ve been dying to meet you ever since Vincent told me about you.” I love hearing her call him by his real name. I raise a brow at him over my shoulder.

“You told her about me?” He simply winks at me without a word before someone comes stomping through the back of the house.

“Joann? Are you in here?” The gravely tone of voice makes me assume this would be…

“Hey, Pops.” Fitz smiles as the old man’s eyes grow wide.

“You rascal! What are you doing here, boy?” He comes over and bear-hugs Fitz, slapping his back with a thunderous sound that makes my breath stall.

“Well, I missed you guys. Plus, I wanted you guys to meet Lauren and to show her the ranch.” Pops looks over at me and I smile, walking over to give him a hug.

“It’s so nice to meet you.”

He pats my back and laughs. “Well aren’t you just sweet as pie.”

“That she is.” I feel my cheeks heat and while I’m sure Gran and Pops have no idea why, I can tell by the look on Fitz’s face that he definitely does, and I’m blushing for a good reason.

“Oh, I’m just so happy you both are here. I still can’t believe it.” Gran puts her hands up to her face and smiles. “Come on in here and have a seat, I’m just getting something whipped up for lunch. Are you hungry?”

“Always,” Fitz answers before I can, but I’m grateful he does. My stomach has been growling since we pulled in the drive. “I’m going to grab our bags, I’ll be right back.” He kisses my nose and runs outside.

I watch after him, seeing the screen door slam as he trots out to the car.

My eyes scan the room quickly, taking in the country plaid couch with matching curtains, the fact that there are fresh flowers in old metal watering cans and mason jars on every solid surface, and the worn boots next to the bench by the door.

Everything here would be considered antique to people my age, and I love every single thing in this house.

The creaky wooden floors, the China cabinet full of matching dishes, the old record player in the corner, and the rug that looks like it’s been around forever.

“So, Lauren. Tell me, how did you two meet?” I pause for a moment, turning back to face Gran while trying to remember the story we agreed to tell everyone else, but it feels like…I don’t know, a sin or something, to lie to Gran. So I don’t.

“Well, we actually met at one of the summer conferences The Fitzgerald Firm hosted last year.” I lean against the kitchen counter, admiring the fresh food spread she has out while she works on lunch.

“Those are always a very big hit. Were you speaking there?” I laugh out loud, then cough to try and cover it up, catching a playful glance from her.

“No, nothing like that. I was one of two people chosen from my firm in Nashville to attend. I just happened to meet Fitz at a mixer that night.” She smiles and continues working on lunch so I, of course, keep talking to fill the silence.

“I was actually getting hit on by some other guy who didn’t understand the word no , and Fitz kind of swooped in and saved the night. ” Her smile reappears.

“He’s a good boy that way.” Gran winks at me.

“Glad the manners we taught him seem to have stuck,” Pops adds. Warmth spreads in my chest at their appropriately placed admiration for their grandson.

“The best.” Gran slides a bowl of fruit my way, handing me a fork along with it.

“What are my two favorite ladies talking about?” Fitz walks back into the room, standing behind me to rest his chin on my head.

“You,” I answer simply, looking up at him.

“Uh oh.” Gran and Pops laugh at his reaction.

Pops walks over and grabs Fitz by the neck, giving it a firm shake. “Why don’t you come help me and Lochlan with the rest of the cattle?”

“I thought we were having lunch?” Fitz asks, and Pops picks up a small loaf of uncut bread and holds it to his chest.

“Lunch isn’t ready yet and we’ll be done before it is. The city is making you soft on me.” Fitz shakes his head with a small grin. I can tell by the look he gives me next that he wants to make sure I’m comfortable staying with Gran—which I am.

“You boys have fun.” I smile and he kisses my head, takes a massive bite out of the bread, and grabs an old cowboy hat from right by the back door before putting it on his head with a wink and disappearing outside.

I watch after him, still not quite believing that this was his life up until college. I really have no idea who he is, do I?

“We keep his hat right there waiting for him until he finds time to come back home.” A soft smile plays on her lips.

“Can I help you with anything, Gran?” I offer, looking around at the spread she has on the counter.

“You know what, as a matter of fact, you can. Would you mind squeezing these lemons for the lemonade?” She slides a bowl of lemons and a juicer my way. I hop up to wash my hands before returning to my seat to squeeze them. “So, tell me, do you enjoy working in real estate?”

“I do. I actually got kind of bored with it for a while before Fitz came along.”

“Bored? How so?” She continues mixing what I believe is chicken salad.

“I guess I just didn’t feel challenged enough? Coleson is such a small firm, and while we’re highly sought after, it just got…”

“Boring?” Gran smiles at me and I laugh.

“Yeah. I don’t know. I just… I have my strategies down to a science on when to reach out to past clients, and when it’s time to find new ones.

I make myself present on social media a lot more than the other agents so I get contacted more, meaning I know how to handle a busy schedule and get everyone into the houses they want to view, and I’m quick to get houses listed when it’s time.

I don’t know. It sounds silly now that I say it out loud. ”

“It sounds to me like you’re excellent at what you do, but that you’ve outgrown the position.

How did Vincent change that, though?” I think back to all the things he had me doing when he first came to Coleson—making me go through training with him, only to put me in charge of leading training the next week.

How he pushed me to do more and was constantly giving me scenarios to come up with a solution for, even though it would never be necessary, and how he would do anything to keep me from sitting on my ass for any length of time.

“He gave me more responsibility. He pushed me, and while at first I thought he was doing it just to piss me off, I realized how bored I was when he wasn’t there.”

“He’s good at that, knowing when people can handle more, and entrusting the right ones to do so.”

“Yeah, I guess he is,” I think out loud.

“It sounds like he met his match with you. Sounds like you probably gave him hell during all of that pushing .” She winks at me and I laugh, feeling my cheeks warm.

“I suppose he doesn’t call me Trouble for nothing.” She laughs out loud and it makes me smile. I wish I had parents, or grandparents, to talk to like this. “So, what was he like? Growing up, I mean.”

“Wild. Funny. Sweet.” She smiles, looking out the window to the backyard. “He would about give me a heart attack trying to climb any tree with a low enough limb to hoist himself up on. Always messing with Dexter and causing trouble with the cows.”

“Who’s Dexter?”

“Dex was his dog. They were thick as thieves, always running through this house like two bats out of hell. Then they’d fall asleep on the couch, or in a blanket fort he’d make with Pops and I’d catch a glimpse of the sweet, peaceful version of him.

” I smile thinking of a young Fitz running around here like that.

“He would pull pranks on me all the time too, and while it made me absolutely crazy, this house was filled with laughter all hours of the day. He would go from taping the sink hose down to spray me when I’d start washing dishes, to bringing me a bouquet of wildflowers from the field.

He would grab my face in his little dirt-covered hands, make me look him right in the eyes, and tell me you’re my favorite gran in the whole world.

The little stinker would make me cry every time.

” I see her eyes shimmer with unshed tears, and mine begin to sting as well.

“I don’t think I’ve seen that sweet, boyish smile on his face since he started his senior year of high school.

Not until today, at least.” She wipes her hands on her apron, puts the food she’s been prepping in the fridge, as well as the lemonade I finally finished, and turns back to face me.

“I need some apples from the orchard. Care to join me?”

“You have an apple orchard here?” My eyes widen in surprise.

“The best one in upstate New York.” She grabs two baskets from the corner of the kitchen, handing me one as she grabs her sunhat.

Then she grabs another one and places it on my head with a smile.

When she links her arm with mine, I selfishly wish I didn’t have to prepare myself to lose her sometime in the near future.