Dandelion

Eighteen

Greyson dropped Myrick off at his parent's house and immediately turned around to go back to Briar. Something wasn't right, she wasn't okay. He got to the end of Myrick's drive and stopped. If he went over there, it could make things worse. He didn't want to push her to say something she wasn't ready to talk about, but Greyson couldn't deny how pale she turned to moment Jane-Anne brought up Detective Winters. Maybe he should give her space, she would call when she was ready. Greyson sighed as he turned and went to his own parent's house to shower and change.

The day went by quick, his mother put him on to putting together a massive pool as well as pulling out all their old picnic tables from the barn. When the sun began to set, Greyson went and checked his phone and noticed a message from a number he didn't recognize as well as a missed call from both Quinton and Leon. Greyson walked up his parent's back porch and sat down on the swing and checked the text. It was from Briar. She apologized and said she would see him later this week. Why was she sorry? Greyson called her, but it went to voicemail. He sighed and decided to call Quinton. It also went to voicemail. With that, Greyson finally got the nerve up and called Leon back after ignoring him.

"Greyson! Where the hell have you been?" Leon shouted.

"Vacation," Greyson bit out.

"When are you coming back? Lawrence was talking about getting you in the studio this week. Says he has a couple of songs you might like," he continued.

"I write my own songs, you know this," Greyson grumbled.

"Of course, man, of course. When are you coming back?"

"When I'm ready, Leon," Greyson said through gritted teeth now. Why was he being so damn pushy about Greyson getting back all of a sudden?

"Well, we really should get on a new round of songs here, get back on another tour. We've got fans to please, we can't let them down," Leon pushed.

"When I'm ready to come back, I will. End of discussion," Greyson snapped and hung up the phone. At the time, hiring Leon as his manager had been the best decision Greyson could have ever made, but since then he's felt like he's signed his soul away to the devil. Leon was a snake in sheep's clothing, that was becoming evidently clear.

"Trouble in paradise?" Greyson's mother peeped her head out of the screen door. He looked up.

"Just Leon pushing me to head back to Nashville," he answered. She nodded and walked back in, a few minutes later she walked back out with Greyson's first real guitar. Ada bought it for his tenth birthday, and ever since he's loved music. She even had him singing in the choir at their church when he was younger.

"You don't have to leave yet, but you can still be working on your music. I haven't heard you sing or even see you pick up a guitar since you've been home," she said and walked over and sat next to him. She placed the guitar in his hands and sat back on the swing. Greyson chuckled at the memory of Briar's words from their first date. He loved to sing, but damn he was tired of it.

"What would you like me to sing, mama?" He looked up to see her eyes closed.

"You know my favorite," she smiled. He chuckled. It was the first real song he learned to play for his mother. It was her favorite song, by her favorite singer, and Greyson made sure he learned it by her birthday that first year he learned to play.

"Wine Colored Roses it is then, mama," he whispered as he slowly started to strum the guitar, reacquainting himself with his old friend. Greyson grew up on Jesus, George Jones and John Wayne. It was a fun childhood to say the least. He started to sing for his mother, feeling a piece of himself find it's way back. This was the music he loved. This was the music Greyson always wanted to sing. Not just songs with meaningless words and the same old tunes, but real music, that broke your heart and made everyone feel a different way with the same words.