Invisible Strings

Chapter Forty-Two

Brantley's POV:

While Delaney was upstairs packing her things for our trip, I made a quick call to Chase to make sure that the invite to come to Frisco was still open –something that I already knew would be but just wanted to make sure. I sure as shit didn't want to make the drive to the coast and have to scramble for a place to stay. Not that it would be an issue since the small village had more than a few vacation rentals –ones geared towards people like Chase and I. And if I had to rent one of those places, I surely would. But thankfully, Chase's place was free, or would be by the time we got there tomorrow.

"You're sure I'm not putting you out?" I asked, taking a pull off my cigarette.

"Hell no man. I've got to get back to Nashville and do some recording. Just came out here with the family to relax before things got crazy again. My place is all yours if you want it." Said Chase, referring to his wife, Leighanne, and their three kids, Devin, Westin, and Blaire.

"How'd you manage to get Leighanne to agree to leave the beach? She would live there year round if you could record from there." I said with a laugh, thinking about his wife.

Much like Delaney, she had packed up all her things as soon as she could legally move out of her parents house, leaving behind the small fishing village of Frisco, wanting a faster pace of life than what the small town could give her. Fast forward a few years later, three kids, and a marriage to a country music star and all that came with that, and the deep roots of home had called. And of course Chase had given his wife the one thing she never knew she wanted until she left it –a home on the coast of North Carolina, a place that was slow-paced and an escape for them when things in Nashville got too hectic.

"You're right about that." said Chase with a laugh. "But seriously, she loves it here but she misses Nashville too. After being here for a little better than a month, she's missing her Starbucks."

"I feel you on that." I said, laughing. "I don't have to tell you how Amber was when it came to Bar-b-que. All it took was her being out on the road pregnant with Barrett and the hankering for some good bar-b-que to come over her before she was ready to catch a flight back to Georgia."

"Hell no." Laughed Chase. "I thought she was going to rip my head off when I offered to fly in some Eastern North Carolina style."

"She definitely didn't do vinegar based stuff." I said, putting out my cigarette.

Chase and I chatted for a few more minutes, each of us catching the other up on life. I gave him a very brief summary of why I was packing Delaney and all the kids up and bringing them to his place on the beach. He told me about the new record he had in the works and about the special appearances that would appear on the record when it came out. To say I was proud of how far he'd come in his career would be an understatement. It would have been easy for him to fall into the whole do-as-I-say side of the industry –and he did for a while– but he pulled himself out of that, and decided to do the music that he wanted to do and not the stuff that the label thought was best.

"Anyway man, I can't wait to meet her. Luke told me that she's a pretty one." said Chase, as we were about to end the call.

"You and Luke better keep her name out y'all's mouths." I said, jokingly. "I swear, the two of you gossip worse than the women at the beauty shop in town."

"Well someone has got to keep me updated on your life. You sure have been quiet about it." said Chase. "But if the photos I've seen posted online from Atlanta are any indication, she's good for you BG. You looked happy and that she sure as hell did too."

"I am happy." I said on an exhale. "Happier than I ever thought I would be after losing Amber.

"I can tell," said Chase. "You can actually talk about Amber now and not turn into a raging pitbull. You don't have that lost sound in your voice anytime you say her name that you had a few months ago."