Dandelion

Twenty-Four

Briar's phone rang relentlessly in her purse as she dropped Eli off at school. Once she pulled off, she dug around for it.  Lani's name was bright and glowing. Briar flipped open the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, are you near a tv right now?" She asked excitedly.

"No, I just dropped off Eli and now I'm headed into work," she said slowly.

"Hurry up and get here," she said quickly and hung the phone up. Briar sighed and drove slightly over the speed limit. She felt sick the entire week, and one thing was for sure, she missed Greyson. Each day that seemed to pass, the more she regretted her hurtful words, and the more she wanted to go to him and fix things. However, the hard truth remained, she would be asking too much of him. He needed to go back to Nashville, and she had responsibilities here in Kinston. Briar drove in silence, letting her mind wander to the few happy moments she had to hold onto of him. Soon after, she pulled into the diner parking lot, and climbed out of her truck. When she walked inside Lani and Mara were there staring up at the tv.

"What's going on?" Briar asked as she walked over and looked up. Her heart raced as she stood there and stared at her face on the tv, singing next to Greyson. The music silenced as the reporter spoke next to the now frozen picture of her and him smiling at each other.

"The scandal that loomed over our favorite Greyson James is no longer the thing in question," the older man chuckled as the screen flipped to a woman.

"Look how they look at each other. Do we have a name?" She asked.

"No, but this is not her first time performing, nor the first time her and Greyson were caught together. This next video was found online from a small-town bar website in Alabama," the screen switched to Briar singing to Dolly and her face began to burn.

"Oh my god," Briar groaned in horror.

"Woo, girl got some moves," Mara giggled.

"Now, here's what's interesting, not long after she appeared on stage, Greyson was called up to sing and he sure enough did not disappoint," the man spoke as the video switched to Greyson right before he sang that night at the bar.

"I uh, wasn't prepared for this," he chuckled nervously, "but this is  for the woman that has my heart," and soon he started to sing, but the music cut out.

"Woo, fan me it's hot in here!" The woman began to use her hand as a fan, "I do believe there is no question which woman has his heart, but instead what is her name? Who is this musical soulmate to Nashville's favorite golden boy?" Briar walked over and changed the channel to the tv and turned the volume down.

"I didn't know you two were that serious?" Lani said excitedly.

"I didn't even know you two were a thing!" Mara shouted. Luckily, there was no one in there except them and Joe in the back who was no doubt playing candy crush on his phone.

"We weren't and we're not. That's just gossip," Briar said curtly as she walked through the kitchen doors to put her purse in the locker.

"Um, no the hell it's not. He declared to everyone that you were the woman who has his heart!" Mara said excitedly. Briar shoved her bag in the locker and walked past them again back into the lobby to check all the table caddy's.

"No, he declared a song for the woman who had his heart, and then conveniently we sang together," Briar corrected, feeling her heart race at the memory of the morning after the bachelorette party.

"Ma'am you two were in the same bar the same night," Lani remarked. Briar looked up.

"Don't buy into that shit," she sighed.