Riley's POV:
Everyone has this vision in their head that they think will be what their life will look like when they get older. Some saw themself playing for a professional sports team or holding down their dream job on Wall Street. Some saw themself raising a family with the girl they fell in love with in high school while others dreamed of meeting the person they spend their life with when they least expected it. And some, well, they saw themself living the life of a perpetual bachelor or bachelorette because they had been hurt one too many times and swore they would never deal with that pain again.
But me? Well, all I had ever wanted was to sing my songs hoping that people connected with them as much as I do, raise a family with the woman that I thought hung the moon, and have the type of marriage that I'd watched my parents have all of my life.
But we all know what they say about best laid plans...
While the dream of singing my songs for the world came true, I didn't have the marriage that I had dreamed I would have by the time I was this age. I wasn't writing love songs for the women that I loved, seeing her face in every lyric. Instead, I was writing them hoping that someone could relate to them. I wasn't having little arguments over how the interior of the home I'd just finished having built should be decorated. However, the dream of starting a family had come true, in the form of my six-year-old daughter, Kelli. To say she was the best thing to ever happen to me, my biggest supporter, and the one girl on the face of this earth that was capable of getting me to give in to whatever she wanted with one simple look, would be an understatement.
Kelli is and always will be the apple of my eye, my whole reason to be the best man I can be. I just wish that I could have made things work with Hannah, my ex and Kelli's mom. But, you can't make things work when only one person is really trying. The spotlight that came with modeling, the lifestyle that Hannah had fallen in love with, and the people that she met while doing so had been more alluring to her than watching her daughter grow and learn to be her own person. She hadn't been there to see Kelli's first steps. Hadn't been there to hear her string her first sentence together. Hadn't been there when Kelli smiled with sheer pride when she had successfully tied her shoe for the first time. In fact, Hannah hadn't been there for much other than Kelli's first few months of life, the ones where even though she was present, she didn't really care for the little life that she and I had created.
It was hard not to be bitter towards Hannah for the way that she had walked out of both Kelli and my lives, but I tried my best because I never wanted Kelli to feel like she was to blame for her mothers actions. I knew the day would come when she would undoubtedly feel like she was part of the reason that her mom had left us, but I would handle that when it came about. I just hope that it happens well into the future and I can better tell her what happened without the sting, betrayal, and the hurt she caused by walking out on us jading my words.
As it was, at six years old she was already asking questions that I didn't really know how to answer. Questions like why the little girls in her school had their moms dropping them off at school while she either had me, my parents, or my sisters –Lindy and Casey. She was already asking things like 'Why did she leave?' and just the other day, she hit me with the 'Did she not love us?'. And both questions left me tongue tied and not really knowing what to say.
Anger had bubbled up to the point that all I could see was red. But instead of telling Kelli that the woman who was her mother was a piece of shit, instead of telling her the hard truths right now, I'd given her a weak excuse, telling her that sometimes things don't work out like we want them to. Thankfully, she let the question die after that and didn't press me any further. Thank God for small miracles...
Needing to get my mind off the past and what I can't do to change it, I turned my attention back to where it should have been in the first place... my daughter's upcoming seventh birthday and how I was going to pull off the whole duck hunting mixed with Barbie theme without it looking tacky as hell. As it was, I'd already resorted to scouring Pinterest in hopes that I could find some ideas. The problem was, I could find plenty that dealt with duck hunting and plenty that revolved around Barbie... Just not one that combined the two without looking like it was for some wannabe country girls bachelorette party.
When you think about it, planning a party, being creative, and making things happen the way they should ought to be easy for me. After all, I do sing and write songs for a living. I mean, I can take a simple word sometimes and turn it into a whole song. I can hear a single cord and before I know it, there is a whole melody in my head. But something as simple as a party is tripping me up unlike anything ever has.
Which leads me to the here and now and why I am standing outside on the curb in front of Cotton Blossom Events, the highest rated event planner in all of Jacksonville according to Yelp. I hated that I was about to put the fate of my daughters party into the hands of a stranger, but since this place was the highest rated on Yelp and all the reviews were outstanding and boasted about how the owner made sure to make every idea you had in your head become a reality, I knew it was the best shot I had at giving my daughter the party that she deserved.
With a deep breath, I tugged on the bronze handled door and walked into the space, taking in the small seating area, reception desk, and different photos all over the walls. Unlike most places in this part of town, this place did not boast old photos of Jacksonville's historic district and the things that built this town into what it is. Sure, there were photos that I could see that had some of the old buildings in the background or were taken inside a few that had been turned into event spaces, but from what I could tell, most of them were photos of parties, weddings, graduations, and baby showers that this business had been a part of.
I found myself looking at the different photos, recognizing a few events such as homecoming at Jacksonville State a couple of years ago, and any misgivings I had about putting Kelli's party in the hands of a stranger dissipated. If this place, the owner, and the people she hired to make things go off without a hitch could handle something as big as a university's homecoming, a birthday party for an about-to-be-seven year old girl would be a breeze, even if it was one that wasn't what a typical girl would want.
"Welcome to Cotton Blossom." said a voice from behind me, causing me to turn in the direction of the voice. When I did, the last thing I expected to see was the girl that I had known all my life, the one that I had briefly dated when we were in middle school and just learning what boyfriends and girlfriends were. It had been so long ago that she and I had dated, I couldn't even have told you why we broke up but was willing to bet it was over something that was childish and stupid.
Back then, Natalie Calhoun had been the curly haired, short, flat-as-a-board preteen that had not yet started to develop into a woman like the other girls our age. While the other girls were starting to get boobs therefore gaining the attention of all the hormonal little dipshits, Natalie had been the girl that just wanted to be included in all the things that the boys were doing. She loved hunting, fishing, mudding, and being rambunctious just as much as the guys. So much so that all the guys started looking at her as one of them instead of a girl that they might one day be crushing on since she would be the prettiest girl in the whole school.
"Lord have mercy, Riley freaking Green has graced my business with his presence." she sassed, a smile on her face that revealed the little dimples on her cheeks. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Without responding, I found myself moving towards her, wrapping her in my arms and hugging her like old friends tend to do.
I don't know what it was, but it was as if my world and the constant voices in my head all came to a standstill as I stood there hugging my old friend. I honestly can't remember the last time that my mind shut off so easily, when I felt as if I had a minute to breathe. All I knew was that I liked the peaceful feeling I felt –even if it was brief and fleeting– that came from holding Natalie in my arms. But even as much as I liked that feeling, I knew that I would never act on it. I knew that I had too much other crap in my life right now without adding in the complications that came from a woman being in your life. Not that I was looking...
Pushing the feeling of Natalie in my arms to the back of my mind, I pulled back, my hands landing on her hips as I looked down into her eyes and smiled. "I'm just regular ol 'Riley when I'm home. Not the country music star that everyone else knows me as."
"Still as humble as always I see." Natalie smirked.
"You know me. Always eating humble pie. I like to think it makes me lovable."
"Maybe for the fans." she said with a sarcastic huff. "But for those of us that really know you Riles, you will always be the secretly cocky, competitive, slightly goofy guy that may be lovable on the outside but is rotten on the inside."
"I plead the fifth." I said with a smile.
"You better." she laughed, pulling away from me. Instantly, my hands missed how her body warmth had felt on my palms. "Because I'm still pissed at you for breaking my preteen heart all those years ago."
"Oh come on, Nat. There is no way that you remember why we broke up. Hell, I sure as hell don't." I said, stepping closer to her.
"I hell I don't!" she said, her voice rising as she did. A soft pink coffin shaped nail landed on my chest at the same time as her pale green eyes locked with mine. They danced with equal parts mischief, pissed off, and amusement. "I remember it like it was yesterday. I mean who picks Micheal Jordan as their favorite baseball player over Chipper Jones? That's not something that you ever forget."
A laugh slipped past my lips unchecked as the memory of that argument came back to me as if it had just recently happened. Nat and I had been sitting on the front porch at my house talking when the topic of sports had come up. She and I both were avid Braves fans, always talking about the sport. Somehow the topic had morphed into other teams and she'd asked me who my favorite baseball player of all time was. Most people would have said Babe Ruth, Catfish Hunter, or Hank Aaron and all of them were legends in the sport. But I'd wanted to mess with Natalie so I'd given her the Micheal Jordan response since I'd just recently watched Space Jam –The original, not the Lebron remake.
Natalie had balked at my response, telling me that I was crazy for picking a basketball player who was trying his hand at baseball when there were so many to choose from. She then rattled off the typical response that people would give, arguing that they had more talent for the sport in their pinky toe than Michael had in all of his body. The argument had gotten heated and when she wouldn't see that Michael was a good player, I'd tossed out that no girlfriend of mine would deny that Micheal Jordan was an asset to the sport and that if she couldn't see that, I didn't want to date her anymore. Of course I had only been joking but Natalie had not taken it that way.
"I could argue the same thing." I smirked, giving her my trademark crooked smile. "Who picks Chipper Jones over Hank Aaron? Especially when we're talking strictly about the Atlanta Braves."
That same coffin shaped nail landed in the center of my chest once more as she closed the distance between us. She stopped in front of me, only leaving about six inches between us as she looked up into my eyes. "Well, that's easy to answer. Someone would choose Chipper when they liked the way he filled out his pants and wasn't old enough to be their grandpa."
"And you women talk about us men objectifying women."
"We're more subtle about it." she said with a shrug, turning her back and walking away from me.
She walked over to the reception desk and began fiddling with the items on top. I watched as she made herself look busy without actually doing anything productive, all the while thinking about how much she had changed from the girl that I'd dated at twelve and even from the young woman she had become by the time senior year rolled around.
She had been gorgeous back then, seriously the prettiest girl in the school. She had been the perfect mix of tomboy and girly girl that most girls couldn't master. Natalie had been just as comfortable in her short shirts and halter tops as she had been in cut off shorts and oversized tees, making both looks insanely hot without even really trying. But now, she was all woman, with curves in all the right places, a maturity about her that only came with age.
Suddenly, I found myself wanting to know everything about her. What she has been doing since graduating Jacksonville State. What interested her now. Had she found a man that could deal with her tomboyish ways and not feel intimidated? Hell, was there even a man in her life for that matter?
"So, I'm assuming you didn't waltz in here just to reminisce about the past or to simply catch up since I have been open here for the past three years." she asked, pulling me from my thoughts. "So, that being said, what can I do for you Riley?"
"Well, I was hoping that you could help me pull off a Barbie themed birthday party but with a duck hunting twist for my soon-to-be seven year old."