The Road to You

by Alecia Whitaker

  “I know,” I grumble, “but getting up at the butt crack of dawn for this appearance sounded a lot better when I had a chance of winning.”

  “Don’t mope,” Anita scolds. “I want to see sweet and sunny.”

  I bat my lashes theatrically.

  “You know they’re going to ask you about Kayelee,” she goes on. “So no mouthing off. Do you know what you’re going to say?”

  I look at myself in the mirror and think about the song I wrote with Bonnie, about people’s backstories and what makes them act the way they do. “I’m just going to tell the truth,” I say with a shrug. “I think Kayelee Ford is a good singer, and I think this rivalry is silly. I wish her the best and I look forward to her new album. That’s it.”

  Anita cocks an eyebrow skeptically. “Surprised but impressed.”

  I grin. “I keep telling you about my aura.”

  She actually cracks a smile. And then, uncharacteristically, she displays a little maternal nature by squeezing my shoulder before click-clacking out to the hallway.

  Alone in the greenroom, I take Maybelle out of her case. After my Grammys performance last night, the hosts want me to fiddle on air, so I practice while I wait for Anita to come and get me, letting the energy exchange with Maybelle calm my jitters. As I play an old Bill Monroe tune, I let the bluegrass fill the small room and study myself in the mirror. In a silk jumpsuit and three-inch heels, I don’t look like the typical fiddler, but then nothing about my life has ever been typical. I got my start in music from tragedy, and I got my shot at celebrity from circumstance.

  As my bow moves back and forth across the strings, I start to loosen up, the melody so familiar that it practically plays itself. I close my eyes and think about everything I’ve achieved this year. I toured America with a country music legend, I loved a boy and I think I was loved in return, I helped my family put down roots, and I won a CMA. So I lost the Grammy. I was nominated for a Grammy!

  I feel a smile work its way across my lips and the song transforms into something different, something new, something energized and fun, something for my new album maybe. One day, I will win that Grammy. I just have to keep making my music.

  “Bird,” Anita says at the door. “It’s time.”

  I nod and follow her down the hallway, letting my mind wander as I hear her mumbling about a headline tour this summer. I’m actually looking forward to getting back on the road again, and she’s right: it is time—it’s my time.

  “Our next guest is a CMA winner who gave a phenomenal, foot-stomping performance at the Grammys last night,” the morning show host says into the camera. “Please welcome Grammy-nominated artist Bird Barrett!”

  The crowd applauds, and I turn the corner, confident that it is, indeed, my time to shine.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I thought writing a series sounded great. Over the course of three books, I would really get to sit with the characters and know them. While that proved to be true—Bird and her family feel so real to me now—what I didn’t realize was that writing follow-up novels is no easy task. When I sat down with the outline to The Road to You, it felt like trying to start a push mower that was out of gas: No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get going.

  Luckily, I had my early readers, Bobbie Jo Whitaker and Becky Bennett, to urge me on. After reading Wildflower, they bombarded me with messages: “What’s happening with Bird? Has Adam called back? And how is her album doing? Platinum? Gold?” Wait, did I say these ladies urged me on? What I meant was they blew up my phone, texting and leaving voice mails asking where “their” pages were, to the point that I thought I may have to avoid running into them socially. So thank you, crazy gals, for loving Bird’s story enough to beg for pages and letting me send you each chapter, raw and unedited, the minute it was written. And thank you for not turning this into a Misery situation.

  To my real editing team, Pam Gruber of Poppy and Kathryn Williams and Dan Tucker of Aerial, thank you for the guidance as we crafted this novel. Each time we pass the pages back and forth, it sort of feels like we are on our own little journey. And to Alissa Moreno, thanks once again for helping me with the particulars of the songwriting business and for bringing another one of Bird’s singles to life in the back of the book.

  To Alyssa Reuben of Paradigm, thank you. I feel so blessed to have you as my agent, my advocate, my friend. We did it again. Now let’s go eat.

  Enormous gratitude to the people who helped watch my children while I worked: Glen and Vicki Whitaker, Joe and Loretta Fryman, Kim Pace, Paul Maguet, Jeff Maguet, Rhonda Moore, Tom and Becky Lundy, Denise Kirtley, Liss Marie and Mariah Mendez, Alisa Siwacharan, Michelle Goodman, Savannah Robertson, Ashley Buenaflor, David Cross, Kendra Wilkins, Melissa Mott, Chitra Bisraj, Kendra Wilkins, and Cindy Johnson. It takes a village.

  Thank you to Kristi Hall for the title to Kayelee’s song “Hashtag on My Heart.” Ridiculously perfect. Lisa Mantineo and Mike Brown, thanks for the Twitter character count help and day-making selfies. It’s the little things that got me through.

  To Gwendolyn Heasley, Rebecca Serle, and Jen Calonita, thank you for the sweet Wildflower blurbs. Lending your name to this series means the world.

  To Tracey Sinclair at Chase Bank on Park Avenue and Dennis Green of Westwood One radio, thanks a million for a desk when I was desperate. And to all the folks at NashFM, thanks for bringing country music back to NYC!

  To my fans, thank you for loving my books, for the words of encouragement on social media, and for the sweet e-mails you send. To the schools who have hosted me in Kentucky and New York, thank you so very much. Your students left lasting impressions on me, and I hope that I’ve done the same.

  Finally, I must shout from the rooftops about the men in my life: my husband, Jerrod Pace, and my two young sons, Knox and Rhett. I could’ve never predicted where life’s road would lead me, but I am so happy that it was to you.

  John 13:34

  TURN THE PAGE FOR THE COMPLETE LYRICS AND SHEET MUSIC FOR BIRD’S SONG, “SHINE YOUR LIGHT.”

  SHINE YOUR LIGHT

  VERSE

  You’ve got a light, a light that’s kinda hidden now.

  Don’t let it fade; let it paint the sky.

  It could shine so bright if you’d let it.

  I see you tryin’. Come on, let’s fly, fly.

  VERSE

  ’Cause we’re all born with dreams and things we think of,

  And we’re all made to live these stories out.

  And nothing’s wrong with being what you’re meant to be,

  So take your chance. Don’t let nothing get you down.

  CHORUS

  Just fly and shine—

  Live your life like it’s all gonna turn out right.

  Just ride and smile—

  In this crazy roller coaster of a whirlwind storm.

  You just got to hold your own, be bold,

  And shine your light.

  The world’s a little wild, and it keeps goin’ round and round.

  Be the lightning, be the shining star,

  ’Cause there is something that makes you really perfect.

  And all that is is exactly who you are.

  REPEAT CHORUS

  Solo or musical bridge

  Chorus

  Sheet music 2 pages TK