by Mandy Baggot
Contents
Mandy Baggot
Dedication
Playlist for Made in Nashville
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Chapter Twenty Two
Chapter Twenty Three
Chapter Twenty Four
Chapter Twenty Five
Chapter Twenty Six
Chapter Twenty Seven
Chapter Twenty Eight
Chapter Twenty Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty One
Chapter Thirty Two
Chapter Thirty Three
Chapter Thirty Four
Chapter Thirty Five
Chapter Thirty Six
Chapter Thirty Seven
Chapter Thirty Eight
Chapter Thirty Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty One
Chapter Forty Two
Chapter Forty Three
Chapter Forty Four
Chapter Forty Five
Chapter Forty Six
Chapter Forty Seven
Epilogue
About HarperImpulse
Copyright
About the Publisher
Mandy Baggot
I’m an award-winning novelist of strong contemporary romance and characters you’ll fall in love with. I am also a full member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and a contributor for Loveahappyending Lifestyle.
As well as being a self-confessed Twitter addict, I also like to show off my singing talents on YouTube! I’ve auditioned for X Factor, appeared on ITV1s Who Dares Sings and I long to duet with Bryan Adams. I love white wine, mashed potato, country music, Corfu and World's Strongest Man.
I live very close to Sting in Wiltshire with my husband, two daughters and two cats called Kravitz and Springsteen!
This one's for everybody with a little bit of redneck going on inside. Be proud of who you are - live, love and line dance if you want to! Be unashamed of Gingham, bandanas, Stetsons and Cuban heel boots!
Thank you once again to all my wonderful readers and supporters - I couldn't do this without you! Much love to the Bagg Ladies and the Loveahappyending Lifestyle crew - you are amazing!
Playlist for Made in Nashville
Songs to complement Honor and Jared’s story
Kick it in the Sticks – Brantley Gilbert
Your Side of the Bed – Little Big Town
Love Like Mine – Hayden Panettiere
Stars Tonight – Lady Antebellum
Highway Don’t Care – Tim McGraw (feat. Taylor Swift)
Pickin’ Wildflowers – Keith Anderson
Homegrown – Lynyrd Skynyrd
Goodbye Joe – Mandy Baggot
Done – The Band Perry
Runnin’ Out of Moonlight – Randy Houser
Outta My Head – Craig Campbell
No Easy Way – Logan Mize
Sin Wagon – The Dixie Chicks
Bonfire – Craig Morgan
Beat This Summer – Brad Paisley
Fall Into Me – Emerson Drive
It’s Five o’Clock Somewhere – Alan Jackson
American Beautiful – The Henningsens
Leave the Pieces – The Wreckers
Who I am – Jessica Andrews
Guitar Slinger – Vince Gill
Every Storm (runs out of rain) – Gary Allan
Crash My Party – Luke Bryan
Since You Left – Millers Daughter
Trapped by Love – Mandy Baggot
Redneck Crazy – Tyler Farr
Can’t Shake You – Gloriana
Carolina – Parmalee
Used Up – Logan Mize
What Matters Most – Raintown
Hard to Love – Lee Bryce
Somewhere With You – Kenny Chesney
A.M. – Chris Young
Gasoline & Matches – Leann Rimes
Days of Gold – Jake Owen
What Hurts The Most – Rascal Flatts
Goodbye in Her Eyes – Zac Brown Band
Prologue
2004
The lights were so bright, brighter than the strongest spotlight Honor had ever stood under. They were coming from all directions. Right. Left. Overhead. The crowd was roaring, clapping, stamping their feet, dancing. They moved like a sea, swaying, bobbing, rising up and falling back in time to the music. This was what she’d dreamed of since she was a little girl. Her place was here. She was born to perform, granted a gift from God in the form of a voice that seemed to know no boundaries. There wasn’t a note she couldn’t reach and in six months she had gone from supporting artist to headliner. At just eighteen she had everything she’d ever wanted.
She felt every note, every punch of the drumbeat, every chord of the guitar, every thump of the bass. When she sang she was lost. Caught up in that one moment of time where her vocals could reach people, where her lyrics could teach people, preach, about love and loss, the family she’d never had and everything she’d experienced at such a tender age.
She held that top C with every ounce of hurt, rejection and determination. It came from her gut. It was a statement. She was almost out of breath when she heard the sound of breaking glass. There wasn’t time to move. There wasn’t even time to scream.
Chapter One
‘Taylor Swift?’
‘I’m looking for a supporting artist not a girlfriend.’
‘You’re too old for her.’
‘Are you saying my life’s over at twenty-seven? Man!’
‘Mark Warren?’
‘Are you kiddin’ me?’
‘Jared, if we discounted every artist you’d ever had a bar brawl with we’d be down to two hands.’
‘Two hands? You do remember there are ten fingers on each hand, right? Anyway he deserved it. He was hustlin’ a waitress and you know how I stand with that. You don’t put your hands on a woman unless she asks you to.’
‘How about Leann Rimes?’
‘Now she’s cute.’
‘Thought you’re looking for a supporting artist not a girlfriend,’ Buzz mimicked. ‘And anyway, she’s married.’
‘That’s too bad.’
Buzz let out a sigh and folded his arms across his chest.
Jared hated it when Buzz did that. The pose reminded him of a school teacher he’d had. All the teachers had thought he’d amount to nothing but Franklin Barratt had worn his opinion of him all over his face. He’d shown him. He’d keyed his brand new car and framed the school geek.
‘Jared, you employ me to do two things. To advise you on what’s right and to try and stop you making a first class ass of yourself,’ Buzz said, holding his stance.
‘I take offence at that.’
‘Which part?’
‘All of it. I only employed you because I was jealous of your fro, man,’ Jared said, laughing.
Buzz put his hands to his hair and Jared laughed louder.
‘Well, I tell you what. You don’t want to work with any of these great artists, then you go out a
nd find someone. The tour organizers want faces and names on posters and they want them yesterday.’
‘Hey, man, I wasn’t meanin’ to be disrespectful … ’ Jared began.
‘I have to be somewhere other than here. I’ll call you tomorrow.’ Buzz got up from the diner table, collating his papers and iPad.
‘Buzz, come on, let’s say we have another coffee and look through the list again. I might be able to do somethin’ with Vince Gill. I mean everybody loves Vince Gill. Hell, I even love Vince Gill,’ Jared said. He stood, pulled his baseball cap down a little lower over his head.
‘I’ll see you tomorrow. Try and stay out of trouble for twenty-four hours will you?’ Buzz gave him one of his stern looks before buttoning his suit jacket and making for the door. Jared opened his mouth to speak but his advisor was already through the exit and heading for his car.
‘More coffee?’ the waitress asked, waving the pot she was holding.
‘Hell, why not? Thank you, ma’am,’ Jared answered. He smiled at her and sat back down.
‘I love your music,’ she began in a coy voice.
‘Really? Lookin’ so fine like that I was thinkin’ you might be a Carrie Underwood kind of a girl.’ He studied her face and waited for the blush. And there it was. Those pinked-up, heated-up cheeks he seemed to be able to magic up in women just by being polite.
‘Well, I…like things a little bit edgy now and then,’ she flirted.
‘Is that right? What’s your name, darlin’?’
‘Angie.’ She tapped the name badge pinned to her chest.
‘Well, Angie, it sure is a pleasure to meet you. I’m Jed Marshall and if you tell me you can sing you’re gonna get me out of a whole heap of trouble.’
Looking in the mirror, Honor traced her fingers along the Z-shaped scar that ran from the corner of her right eye to halfway down her cheek. Ten years and twice as many operations. It was no longer red, bumpy and angry but it was there, a silver, rutted streak that made her feel ugly every minute of every day.
Why in hell did she bother with moisturizing cream when only one side of her face saw the benefit? Now, if they sold cream that made zigzag shaped scars disappear overnight she would sell her house for it. Actually she’d probably sell her house and a kidney.
‘Are you OK in there, darlin’?’
Larry knew she was hiding. He’d put on his J R Ewing voice when he’d arrived. That meant he was going to try and sweet talk her into doing something she didn’t want to do. She wasn’t really surprised. It had been the same for the last ten years. Him always trying to drive her back to the place she’d left and her backing up.
‘Give me a minute, Larry. Ladies don’t just zip up and go,’ she called back.
Damn him for turning up. He hadn’t even had the courtesy to call her first. He’d just turned up at the door and expected her to be in. She did have a life. She’d become quite the regular at Target. She even had a loyalty card. And there was her job at the music shop. That job had saved her in so many ways.
She smiled into the mirror, widened her cheeks, trying to make them do the same thing. Symmetry was such a pain in the ass. She ran her fingers through her long, dark curls and settled her hair on her shoulders, pulling the right section forward to hide the scar.
‘No, Larry. I don’t want to.’ She sighed. ‘We’ve talked about this before, Larry and the answer is no.’ Was that determined enough?
Taking a deep breath she fixed a smile on her face, put her hand on the door and opened it.
‘Shall I make us some tea?’ she greeted, striding into the kitchen.
‘Sure, darlin’. I have to say you’re looking really wonderful today. Better,’ Larry announced.
He’d taken his Stetson off and was perched up on one of the stools at the central island. She knew when the hat came off he was disarming himself. It was like putting a pistol back in the holster. It was supposed to subliminally say ‘there’s nothing to be afraid of’. Except she knew him. Knew how he worked. If the hat was off he meant business.
‘Whatever it is, I’m not doing it,’ she stated, turning to face him.
Where had that authority come from? Usually she had a hard time doing anything but mumbling when Larry put another job proposition to her. It was often an hour of politely trying to say no in ten different kinds of way.
‘Now, Honor, you don’t even know what I’m going to say,’ he responded. He reached for his hat and put it back on his head. Hat back on. Gloves were off.
‘I do know what you’re going to say. You’re going to say the same thing you’ve been saying to me for ten years, only you’re going to try and word it differently. Honor, this isn’t about you, this about your fans. Honor, you can’t let what that man did ruin your life. I’ve heard it all before and more. I’ve had ten years of hearing it and the answer’s still no. I’m not getting up on stage again…ever.’
She’d fired the words out of her mouth with no consideration for breathing. It left her gasping for air and feeling faint. She clung on to the worktop, trying to maintain the impression she was in control. Epic fail.
‘The record company wants to bring out a greatest hits album,’ Larry stated flatly.
What? What had he said? A greatest hits album?
‘Now, it doesn’t have to be one of these twenty track super-deluxe albums with a free poster or a link to a secret fan message. We have your two great albums plus the best of the live recordings. But I thought we’d take the opportunity to pitch them something new. Get you back in the studio; get you back in the saddle. The fans will love the new stuff, they’ll beg for more and before you know it you’re out promoting a brand new record,’ Larry informed her.
A greatest hits album. The words sent shockwaves right through her. She was twenty-eight. She stopped performing ten years ago and had done nothing since. Her life in country music spanned two short years and Micro wanted to release a greatest hits album. It was official. She was done.
‘I don’t think so,’ she answered, no conviction in her tone.
‘Honor, I’m going to give it to you straight. Micro even talking about releasing something of yours is little short of a miracle. A greatest hits album is one hell of a compliment when you’ve not sung for ten years.’
The serious voice. The voice that contained his true feelings. The tone that said Honor, we all feel sorry for what you’ve been through but it’s gone on too long. Understanding had started to wear thin a good while ago.
‘I don’t have to live in this big house. Only this morning I was thinking about selling it. Downsizing,’ she replied, nodding.
‘Honor, no one is asking you to go on stage right now. I’m just asking you to get back in the studio. Make your beautiful music again, just a couple of tracks. You don’t even have to write them. I could see what’s out there,’ Larry said, his brown eyes pleading with her.
‘I don’t need the money.’
‘You think that’s what this is about?’
‘I don’t know what this is about. If Micro wants to release a greatest hits album I say we let them. They don’t need new material and I have nothing to offer them,’ she said.
The sentence pulled at her heart. She did have new songs. There were scores of them. She wrote alone, sang to the walls and locked the paper up in a drawer. How had this happened? Country music had been her life. At one time it had been the only thing she had. Because of one brutal act on one night, her life course had been altered entirely. There was no going back and there was no going forward either. Here she was. This was it. A retired country music star who would never make it into another karaoke bar let alone the Hall of Fame.
‘Honey, will you think about it? Just a couple of tracks?’ Larry asked.
‘Are you still on that weird sugar-free diet? Because I don’t think I have any sweeteners,’ she answered.
Chapter Two
‘…and that was Vince Gill with Guitar Slinger. So, right now on Countrified 103 I’m truly excited t
o welcome into the studio, CMA award nominated country rock sensation…Mr Jed Marshall.’
‘Hey,’ he spoke into the microphone. His host, Davey Duncan had stuffed a foot long Sub into his mouth seconds before they went on air and there was chili sauce still drizzling down his chin. Jared hated interviews and was easily distracted. Cue a wave from Buzz who was sat the other side of the glass.
‘CMA award nominee last year. How did that feel? Was it a realization of a dream?’
‘It felt awesome, man. I mean I just feel so blessed to have people supportin’ me and my style of music. And I know it ain’t for everybody, but I just feel lucky that right now it seems to be for the majority. There’s strength in them numbers.’