CMSS: Austin [Book 1]

Part One

She left without leavin' a number

Said she needed to clear her mind

He figured she'd gone back to Austin

'Cause she talked about it all the time

Austin

She stared at the city in front of her. Austin, Texas was bigger than she had ever imagined. Jefferson, where she called home, was a tiny town, making it on the top 20 list of small towns in Texas. With a population of only 2,000, plus or minus some tourists, in Jefferson, she had now jumped up to a town – or city – more than 400 times in size.

She had lived in Jefferson ever since she was a small girl. Most people there knew everyone, and it was hard being a child and having fun when anything you did got back to your parents. Austin wasn’t ever a hard worker in high school, preferring the parties over the homework. When her parents found out, she was basically grounded eternally. In that small town, most everyone went away for college and to get a job. Austin’s family, though, wasn’t all that prosperous. Her father worked as a carpenter and her mother at some tourist attractions. Austin’s brother, Tom, went to the University of Texas at El Paso, a full 12 hours across the state. He only was able to move away because of his full-ride scholarship, though. Austin, though she wished to leave Jefferson, never applied herself in high school, and thus wasn’t able to get a scholarship to anywhere. There was financial aid, but it still wasn’t enough to cover the costs of college, so Austin stayed home.

In high school, the one class Austin enjoyed was home economics, so she got a job as a seamstress and dressmaker at Betsy’s Dress Shop. Austin liked Betsy well enough, but she longed for something more adventurous. So, she secretly saved up her money to leave this town. Buying a train ticket and bringing nothing but some money, clothes, and her guitar, Austin traveled 4 hours to Austin, Texas. It helped that Blake…

No, she thought. Now is not the time to think about him. I need to focus on what I’m doing in this city.

“Hey, watch out!” Some guy bumped into Austin, bringing her out of her reverie.

There were only a few people remaining on the platform as everyone departed from the train. Austin reached down and grabbed her suitcase. The train tooted as it swung out of the tracks. Taking one last glance at the soot-covered area, Austin vowed to keep moving forward. She had always dreamed of coming to this musical city, the “Live Music Capital of the World,” or so it claimed.

Even as a young girl, she loved music. Her guitar was like a third arm to her. She lived and breathed music, even writing some of her own songs. Once, as a teenager, she sent some of her recordings to Nashville, but they never got back to her. Still, she kept singing and playing, and now that she was 23, Austin wanted more. Sewing wasn’t really her thing, music was. Austin wanted to play in front of a crowd. She wanted to be a star. Screw Nashville, Austin was going to rock Texas.

She was in charge of her life. She would make it in this big, foreign, strange city.

At least, that’s what she hoped.

Blake

He rubbed his hand over his beard and sighed. The fences needed to be fixed and the grain was only half harvested, but there wasn’t much more he could do before the light left the sky. It was August, prime farming season. Blake turned the tractor around and headed back to the barn.

“How’d the fields go, boy?” Farmer Donald asked him.

“Good. Fields’re half done.”

“Finish the fields tomorrow, then. Go on, get some supper.”

Farmer Donald always called him boy, even though he was a man. Many of the other farmhands said he was much older than his age most of the time. He had to be, seeing as his father died when he was young and his mother was never around. His neighbors helped him out when he was a kid, but they had moved away to Northern Texas, and he was now on his own.

Blake went and grabbed some food from the cook and headed to the bunkhouse. That night, all he could think about was her. Beautiful country gal, with dark brown, curly hair and a laugh that made everyone around her smile.

No, I can’t think about her. He thought. Once this season was over, he’d move out. Mentally counting his cash, he reckoned he had enough to rent a place closer to town. He’d still have to work on the farm for some extra cash, but he could work at the train station most of the time. He was going to move out a month ago, but that girl…

Anyways, he’d have to work another few months to save up the cash for a place in town. Twenty four was a good age to start settling down into a place of his own. Maybe then he’d be able to move on from the girl who sang her way into his heart.