Marcella Robinson
Chase Ryan sat on the steps of the tour bus, the morning sun warming his face and memories filling his mind.
Returning home to perform at the Eden County Fair should have brought joy. Instead, his chest burned with anxiety. This town was a reminder of everything he’d lost.
“Good, you’re up.” Doug, his longtime manager, leaned against the side of the bus, concern creasing his brow. “You gonna be okay?”
“A little bit late to be asking me that.”
“I still believe coming here will be good for you. Don’t think I don’t know where the inspiration for all those heartbreak songs came from,” he said, with an I-know-who look.
Chase frowned. “I doubt I’ll write a love song while I’m here. Besides, then where will we be?”
Doug put a comforting hand on Chase’s shoulder. “They love you, not just your music. We aren’t going anywhere.” He glanced at his watch. “Fifteen minutes until sound check. Get some food.”
“Yes, Dad.” Chase stood, the anxiety easing in his chest. Doug had been in his life longer than his own father.
Minutes later, Chase crossed the grass toward the stage, telling himself this was just another show, another county fair. The sweet scent of hay from the 4-H building wafted in the air, combining with the smell of stale grease from the food vendors.
When he reached the steps to the stage, his band was playing their first number one while they waited. Chase began to sing when he noticed someone standing nearby. Startled, his mind leapt from wondering where the security guard was to instant recognition.
Ashley Corbett. The muse behind every heartbreak song he’d ever written.
Thirteen years hadn’t dimmed the light in her blue eyes. Her brown hair was still long, capturing the sun in its strands. Wearing jeans, an Eden County Fair T-shirt, and a lanyard with a “STAFF” badge, she offered a radiant smile as if the last time they’d seen each other hadn’t been the day she broke his seventeen-year-old heart.
Her smile faltered. “Hey.”
“Hey. Didn’t expect to see you here.” His pulse spiked at the lie. Eden County would always be her home. Something he learned when he’d needed to leave and she wanted to stay, breaking a bond shared since kindergarten.
“I’m glad you agreed to perform. Doug hadn’t seemed sure,” she said, unfazed by Chase’s words.
“Well, speaking of performing, I need to do sound check.” Chase moved to go as her fingers grazed his arm. A memory rose to dizzying effect. Another time. Another fair. Sharing French fries drowning in ketchup. Her breaking his heart beneath the stars on top of the Ferris wheel.
A shadow passed overhead. Chase looked up at a gray cloud as a fat drop of rain fell on his forehead. He grabbed Ashley’s hand, a spark of warmth running up his arm. The privacy of the bus for this reunion was better than the stage.
On the road, the bus was spacious. But with Ashley, him, and their past, it didn’t feel that way.
She sat at the table, her gaze straying to an open notebook. “Something new?”
“Writing fills the time on the road.” Being close to her, his fingers itched to pick up a pen. To write a different story, a new version of them.
“I’m happy your dream came true,” she said, her voice soft, reminding him of long-ago moments sitting on the tailgate of his truck, watching the sun set and imagining a future together.
“Are you happy?” he asked, truly hoping she was.
“Yeah. But I didn’t expect seeing you would be so awkward.”
Chase angled his head. He’d wondered if seeing her would heal his heart. And surprisingly, it had. “What did you expect?”
“The past to not come roaring back.” Ashley bit her lip. “I’m sorry about your mom. That I didn’t tell you that night on the Ferris wheel. That I added to your pain instead.”
“If she were here, she’d be backstage cheering me on.” Chase’s promise to his mama before she passed had been the push he needed to leave. “And your family needed you.” He’d understood Ashley needed to help them financially, but hurt had taken center stage because she hadn’t chosen him.
She picked at a fingernail. “Do you ever think about…”
“Yeah.” A decade of pouring his soul into heartbreak songs and topping the charts proved it.
“I missed you, but I didn’t want to reach out for fear you’d think I was only doing it because you were famous.”
“I wouldn’t have thought that. Not about you.” Sitting on the bus, rain pummeling the roof, he saw the girl he fell in love with, not the one who broke his heart. “There’s no one . . . ?”
She met his gaze. “No. The only guy I ever loved I let get away.” Her cheeks turned an enchanting shade of pink.
She was enchanting. And he was . . . still in love with her. Even after all those songs about heartbreak. “We let each other get away.” Chase placed his hand palm up on the table.
Ashley slid hers on top.
His breath caught at another spark of warmth. “Do you feel that?” He hadn’t taken many risks with his music, but being in his hometown, it was the perfect moment to take one for his heart.
“Yeah. I felt it a little while ago, too. Same as when we were five, and you grabbed my hand because a storm was coming then, too. You wouldn’t let go until I was safe.”
“I don’t want to let go now.”
“Neither do I.”
He squeezed her hand and smiled.
She smiled back.
The rain ended, and the sun burst through the clouds, chasing the past away.
That night, as the lights of the Ferris wheel shimmered and stars glistened in the sky, Chase took the stage.
And sang about finding love again.
When not writing, she enjoys reading, taking pictures of nature, and walking at a nearby park.
You can find her on Instagram.
