She laughed too. “You deserve good things, Warner.”

He wasn’t looking at her, but her voice carried her truth and he knew in that moment she meant it. Maybe she could move on with him and not worry that his past would creep back in and destroy him.

The news stations had quickly picked up on the story that Patricia Little’s stepson had been beaten by one of the co-stars of his own reality TV show.

Clara turned it off the moment they began to talk about Patricia and her TV legacy.

“You didn’t want to hear about me on TV?” Warner mused as he sipped his coffee at the kitchen table.

“Are you kidding me? I live in my own naive reality. And my story says you should see the other guy.”

Warner winced when she said it. “You don’t really think looking like this that I got one blow into him do you?”

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I said that was my reality. Don’t mess with me.”

He laughed, but there was a serious undertone to her voice.

“You leave on Thursday, huh?” He asked as he stirred sugar into this coffee.

“Yeah. I don’t know if I’m ready for this.”

“You’re ready.”

“We’re talking thousands of people, Warner.”

“And you’ve performed for thousands of people.”

She let out a choked laugh and sat down at the table. “Not all at the same time.”

Warner reached across the table and took her hand. “The lights are so bright it’ll only look like you have a theater full.”

“Comforting.”

“I try.”

Chapter Nineteen

Clara packed her suitcase and repacked it. All of her outfits that she’d wear while performing were already on a bus and headed to the first leg of the tour.

“Did you sneak in some cheesy picture frame of your husband to put on your night stand?”

She turned to see Warner leaning against the doorjamb. He looked better already, though the black eye was going through that yellow stage, but the cut was healing nicely.

“My cell phone is full of them if that makes you happy.”

“I’d really like to be at that first show.”

“Can’t you arrange that with Jeremy?”

Warner shook his head. “I’ve been out all week. He was gracious to do that.”

She had to agree. Jeremy Smith had really come to Warner’s aid since he’d been attacked. Not only had he given him time off to heal, he’d fielded most of the media. And he’d put everything in a good light—Warner didn’t seem like a victim when Jeremy was done fielding reporter’s questions. He had agreed with Zach though and a restraining order was issued against the guy who had beat him up. She assumed Warner had agreed to it to calm her down.

Warner walked into the room and wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder as she continued to recount the clothes in her suitcase. “Ten cities—three and a half weeks.”

“Seems like a lifetime.”

“We do tend to rush things a little, so yea, it does seem like a lifetime.”

Clara turned in his embrace and wrapped her arms around his neck. “This is it, isn’t it? No matter why they put me on this tour, this is the time for me to show what we can do. These are your songs.”

“They sure are and I can’t think of anyone making them sound as sweet.”

“I can. You’d make them that way.”

He pressed his lips to hers gently. “Well then, here’s my proposition. When you get back we begin to record the songs as a duo.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Wright?” she joked.

“Maybe.”

Clara let out a sigh. “You should be going on this tour with me. We should be doing this as a team. I’m just waiting for the witch to come after me, but she hasn’t yet. Because none of this makes sense, Warner. Who picks a person to perform at their concerts like this?”

“People do it all the time.”

“I just didn’t think it would ever happen to me.”

He reached his hand into her hair. “Maybe that’s why it did. You’re not pretentious or needy. You do this for the joy of it. That comes across loud and clear.”

“I love you. I’m going to miss you.”

He kissed her again. “Make me proud.”

***

Clara relaxed her head against the seat on the chartered airplane. This was nice, she thought. No lines. No extra fees, she laughed.

Trent stood above the vacant seat next to Clara with a beer in his hand after takeoff. “Would you like some company?”

“Sure.” She smiled up at him as he sat down next to her.

“How’s your husband doing?”

“He’s fine.” She relaxed again. “I assume you heard the news.”

“Who hasn’t? That was a low blow.”

Sure was. “Some people can’t take it.”

“My wife is afraid something like that is going to happen to me.”

Clara turned her head toward Trent. “That was selective. Is she still worried about you on this tour?”

“Yeah. See, she couldn’t come with me because she’s pregnant.”

Clara lifted her head from the seat. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks. I wouldn’t get to be here if we weren’t only doing a few shows.”

She was glad it was only a few too. It would be enough to get some exposure and experience. But already she wanted to be back with Warner.

Trent had been good conversation on the flight. They were a lot alike. They both had big families, were recently married, and wanted a house full of kids.

Trent had a lot more experience performing the kind of venue that they were headed to. He’d given Clara a few tips to ease her mind, but most of all he’d given her a friend to turn to if she needed him.

Their first show was in Anaheim, California. Clara had expected the weather to be much warmer, she was pleasantly surprised to find out it was rather cool in the fall.

They were expected to settle into their hotel rooms and then meet up for the bus to take them to the Honda Center where they would perform the first show of Savannah’s tour tomorrow night. There would be a full run through and rumor had it that if they thought Savannah was critical of them during rehearsal, she was worse on the road.