From Nashville's Shadow to Austin's Spotlight

ys were a speci

nothing monument

etrayal-soaked melod

ith Dr. Croft, his v

ilence between us thick with unspo

dropped

en. I was making cof

ying here for a bit," he

offee cup ratt

did yo

-clock therapeutic support. You' re... well, you' re too much

in. Into my guest

ity stole

ng so badly I had t

t be seri

My health. She unde

d of any empathy for what

The final, br

rprisingly steady. "She w

p for discus

rn through the shock. "This is my house, Jax. Bought wi

genuinely surpris

of his old vulnerability creep

ng my purse and keys from the

lked

letries, my own guitar – a cheap acoustic

s guitar, stayed. A m

, the kind with flickering neon signs

ter. It wasn'

ater, my pho

ope ignited. Maybe he was s

ing ones. Melody can' t find them, and she isn

No remorse.

tantly, replaced

Jax. I' m not t

and sort it out? This is rea

. Breathed in th

ax. I

s end. Impat

maybe we should just get divorced. All

t was.

like an old

ave his muse and his medication schedule

e words surprisingly ea

hrug. "Okay. Send me the

hun

y motel bed, a dry s

ef for the ma

sted. The love I' d poured i

ning, I call

d Cody Walke

iliar, a balm to my raw nerves. "L

aid, and then, the whol

ened, without judgment

done, there

et the hell out of Nashville. Come to Austi

st

ty. A fr

from the wreckage

," I whispe

belongings into

Nashville skyline i

ed the car w