Willow Valley (Frank Adler AU) 18+

6

Hassie hadn't been at her cabin when Frank had headed there to apologise, but as he returned back down to the ranch he saw her trot in on one of the horses, dismounting flawlessly and then leading the animal over to get some water. 

"Been for a ride, superstar?" Nope, that name was sticking. He couldn't help himself. 

"What's it to you?" She asked, taking an apple from a nearby bag and feeding it to the horse. 

"It's not, it was just a question". 

Hassie glanced to him. "For you? That seems hard - and I've only known you a day". 

"I'll admit, we got off on the wrong foot, and that's my fault. So I'm sorry for what I said to you this morning". 

She stroked the horse's nose and nodded. "Did Roberta make you come apologise?" Knowing full well that it was something her friend would do. If you were wrong then she'd tell you, and sometimes in the past, Hassie had needed that extra kick up the ass that her friend would give. 

"Yeah but..." 

"So you don't really mean it then". 

"For crying out loud I'm apologising aren't I? And not just because Roberta made me, it's because she put things into perspective and made me see I was wrong ok? So you gonna accept it or not?" 

Hassie eyed him. "Begrudgingly yes". 

"Well that's good enough for me". Frank said and then went to go to his office. 

"Frank?" He stopped and looked back at her. "Roberta told me about certain things, about why you came here. I'm sorry about that". 

Frank pondered for a moment before replying. "Yeah, me too". 

**

Mary rushed into the cabin and settled down to do her homework straight away, Frank knowing that she was only doing so because it meant she would get to go and see Hassie. He'd avoided her for the rest of the day and planned to do so for however long she stayed. He'd apologised, she'd pretty much accepted and now there was really no need to even talk to her. 

"Done! Now can I go see her?" Mary asked, slamming the workbook closed and getting up. 

"Woah, hold your fire. Chores first". 

"Fraaaaaank" Mary made a face. "Please? Can't I do them after?" 

She was met with him simply pointing to her room to go and tidy, and with a sigh, she obliged and went to do it. Emerging half an hour later, he did the usual check and was satisfied. "Go on, she's at the cabin by the creek, you know where that is?" 

"Yep". 

"I'll see you there, just in case". He said, still unsure about letting her go off. For all he knew she could fall in the water and he wouldn't know. 

"I'm almost eight..." She justified. 

He snorted. "Even if you were twenty I'd still go with you, come on". Not wanting to waste anymore time, he walked with her to the creek, seeing Hassie on the desk sitting cross-legged in a chair, playing her guitar. 

"Hassie!" Mary ran ahead and the tune stopped abruptly. 

"Hey cow girl! I kinda forgot you were coming to see me". She grinned as Mary now looked at the guitar. "How long's your uncle giving you?" 

Mary turned to Frank, who had caught up with her and now walked onto the deck. "Couple of hours ok? She's got school tomorrow so I need her ready for bed". 

Hassie shrugged. "I'll bring her back at 7:30 then?" 

"Yeah. Good...right Mary, don't touch anything you're not supposed to". 

"I knooooow" 

"See you later". He said and then with a stiff nod to Hassie, he headed off back to the ranch. 

She watched him go and then realised that Mary was inside, looking in awe at the rhinestone cowboy boots and matching guitar that she'd not yet put away. "This is awesome..." The little girl was just staring. 

"Why don't you try them on for size?" Hassie grinned. 

"Can I?" And then without hesitation kicked off her own boots and slid on Hassie's that almost swamped her. "These are soooo cool". 

"Let me take a picture, you can show Frank when we go back". Hassie took out her phone and Mary now did her best superstar pose. 

Taking the boots off, and putting her own back on, She then looked at the pictures on the sideboard. "Is that Keaton Slade?" Mary picked up one picture and Hassie cursed inside. She'd forgotten to take the damn thing down. 

"Yep. That's Keaton alright". 

"I like his new song about Oklahoma. Is he nice in real life?" 

If only she knew. Hassie took the picture and smiled lightly. "If by that you mean, is he charming? Yeah, very. We were married y'know?" 

"What happened?" 

Hassie put the picture back. "It just didn't work out. Sometimes things don't..." 

"Like when you try and learn to ride a horse? But can't?" 

If they were gonna compare Keaton to a horse then sure, why not. Just not a stallion though. "Yeah...kinda like that. You try and try, but sometimes there's times where you have to stop. That was what it was like for us". 

"But you're still friends though, right?" 

Hassie nodded, "Yeah, in fact I'm going to Nashville in a few weeks to sing with him on tour for a night". Even now she was still dreading it. One song, that was all it was, and then she could just leave and escape back here.

"Can I come!" Mary blurted out. 

"I'm not sure that Frank would let you go running off with me to Nashville, kid. It's his call". 

"I'll ask him". 

Great. That would be another reason for him to dislike her. To get off the subject of that and Keaton, she showed Mary some more of her clothes, awards, things that she'd slowly kept there but had forgotten about. Of course the little girl was enthusiastic about everything. 

"Do you think I could play the guitar like you one day?" 

Hassie smiled. "I got my first guitar when I was your age. So yeah. You practice hard enough then you could be better". It was then she saw Mary's face change, a little disheartened. "What's wrong?" 

She shook her head. "I wanna learn. Frank won't buy me a guitar though". 

Thinking for a moment, Hassie looked at her. "Tell you what, I'll talk to Frank about giving you some lessons. You can start off with mine". 

"You'd teach me?" 

"If you're willing to learn and are serious? Yeah. I'll teach you". 

Now it was a case of trying to convince him that she wouldn't be distracting Mary from her studies or anything else. If the little girl wanted a hobby, then Hassie was prepared to help her with that.