Mayfly Melodies

Thirteen

Bailey

Country music has become the music that best represents the reality of American life—Brad Paisley

Bailey didn't hear from Noah Hartley for four days.

She tried to pretend that she hadn't noticed the fact that he hadn't called her.  Perhaps he'd forgotten or maybe he'd only asked to be polite.  But then she remembered the way he'd chased after her and knew in her gut that he hadn't been asking for the sake of politeness.  And that revelation only made her wonder more about why he hadn't contacted her.

It wasn't like she was waiting for his call every minute of the day—as it were, she was actually quite busy—but her phone was almost always near her and so she was typically aware of its presence and when it was, or wasn't, chiming out for her attention.

What she had been doing during the time that Noah Hartley wasn't calling her was catching up with some old friends.  She'd gone out for breakfast at Annie's Diner with Tara Anderson, Vicky McDaniels, Josh Persaude, and Peter Davis, four of her closest friends from grade school.  They'd laughed and joked and Bailey had been treated normally, as only people who had known her forever could treat her. 

Though it had been slightly uncomfortable when three separate members of the wait staff asked for her autograph and another seven patrons in the diner had followed suit.  It was the price of fame and, most of the time, Bailey was willing to pay it.  But she hadn't been able to help the small edge of annoyance that settled in the pit of her stomach when the crowd began to grow around her table, ebbing only when Annie Eckhart shooed them all away for nothing but a grateful look from Bailey.

It was also weird hearing about the lives of her friends.  As Bailey had been out in Nashville and touring across the country, they'd been growing up.  Josh was halfway through his college program—he was training to become an electrician—and Vicky had gotten married to Johnathon Knowles, her high-school sweetheart.  They'd eloped in Vegas and had never been happier.  Tara was preparing for a six-month backpacking trip across Europe and even Peter, who had always been the least ambitious of the group, was managing a prestigious horse training facility on the other side of the county.

Sometimes, Bailey felt like she'd never gotten the chance to grow up.  It was almost as if she were still a child, singing karaoke on a grand stage in front of thousands instead of dozens at Annie's, as she'd done as a young girl.  As her friends had gone onto more realistic dreams, leaving behind those reckless impossibilities of childhood, Bailey had continued to act out a life that hardly anyone else got to live. 

She was grateful, of course.  She loved to sing and being onstage had always sent a thrill through her.  Bailey was absolutely certain that music would always be a significant part of her life.  She wasn't just sure yet in what capacity it would be.  She'd yet to submit demos to other recording companies and her agent had been almost worryingly silent.  While Bailey wasn't actively out searching to advance her career, the notion that no one wanted her, as they'd so eagerly wanted Mae and Kyra, was daunting.

That afternoon, several hours after she'd left her friends at Annie's, Bailey had met Caroline in the woods.  She'd walked up to where they'd met the day before and she was surprised to see that the other woman was already there waiting for her.  Caroline had looked up when Bailey approached, blue eyes unsure until Bailey had smiled and waved in greeting.

"Hey, Caroline."

Bailey had set her things down on the ground and leaned against the rock as she went to retrieve the guitar from its case.  She'd handed it to Caroline without a second thought as she'd dug around for a pick and her song book.