Dear Life

Getaway

"To nobody's surprise, I do like this chocolate cake," Hunter smiled, "but I'm really feeling that vanilla with the caramel buttercream."

"I have to agree," I said, having one more taste of the frosting, "It tastes like a fall wedding flavour."

"Well, then I think we have come to a decision," Lenny, the pastry chef made a note. "Three tiers, vanilla sponge cake with the caramel butter cream frosting. Did you want fondant or any kind of décor?"

"Well, we were thinking traditional white fondant and cake topper" I showed Lenny a photo of a synthetic branch wreath with artificial red berries surrounding the bottom tier like a border." Lenny sketched it out on his paper pad and replied, "Perfect. Pleasure meeting with you both today."

We shook hands and headed back to the jeep. "One more thing off the list." Hunter lifted up my hand and kissed it. "Any plans this weekend Jen?" 

I glanced through my calendar shook my head, "CMA fest is over, I don't have any commitments until Tuesday,  so I'm a free girl."

Hunter smiled coyly, "Well, pack a bag for two nights, we are going to head home and take a nap before we head out later tonight."

"Excuse me," I laughed as we started the car home, "Are you kidnapping me?"

"No, I am taking you on an adventure. Dress comfy, and expect warm weather." No sense in prying where we are going. Hunter is full of surprises and I like that he can be spontaneous at times.

As Hunter said, we had a nap and I woke up an alarm at 11pm. I'm glad this man knows I need a good sleep before any kind of adventure. 

"Here sweetie," he passed me a travel mug and proceeded to pick up our duffle bags and load up the jeep.

 "Can I get a clue as to where on earth we are going?"

"I will tell you that you have never been before and you will have fun,"Hunter smiled as he turned the key, "I promise you will love it." He released the break and we rolled out of the driveway into the night.

Barely awake, I fiddled with the radio and synced my iPod, the opening guitar chords to Remind Me came through the speakers. "Let's have a little concert," I placed my hand on the back of Hunt's neck, gently running my fingers through his hair.

"I love the sound of that." He guided my hand around to his face and kissed it. We sang along to countless songs along the lines of 'Remind Me', 'Home Alone Tonight', and 'Just a Kiss', "Jen, seriously you are an incredible singer. I'm not just inflating your ego because I love you. You are truly talented."

"Thank you Hunter," I sipped my coffee and realized we had been driving for a few hours,  and were likely out of the state already, "can I ask, how much longer are we driving for?"

"Well we have crossed over into another state about two songs ago," he laughed, " about four hours down and 5 to go." 

I glanced at the time on the dash, "Well, we can stop for breakfast whenever you need it," I turned the dial on the radio volume and started singing along to "Young in America", I caught a smile beaming from Hunter's cheeks. 

I must have drifted off during our car karaoke concert because I felt Hunter rubbing my shoulder and the smell of baked goods and coffee, "Morning sunshine. I got you a fresh coffee and a muffin."

"Thanks babe," I sat up and kissed his cheek, "How long was I out for? Where are we?"

"We are about forty five minutes away from our destination." He handed me my cell phone, opened to the google maps application.

I zoomed out of the map to see we were an hour away from New Orleans!! "Hunter Easton Hayes - stop! Are you serious?!"

"Well, we're here aren't we?" he laughed. We trekked on the last forty five minutes to our hotel. We were just a few blocks out of the French Quarter. "My parents are coming down for dinner tonight and mom's hoping we can get her outfit for the wedding."

"That's fantastic," I admired the architecture of the hotel as Hunter unloaded our bags. "Do your parents know this was a surprise?"

"Yeah," He smiled, "I figured we could use a getaway, see my parents and cross something off your bucket list. I have lost count of how many times I've been here." 

The weekend was eventful, catching up with Lynette and Leo, exploring the historic and lively French Quarter and spending some distraction-free time with Hunter. We found Lynette's outfit for the wedding, talked about my slow but positive progress surrounding my EP and in the blink of an eye, we were packed up and ready to drive back to Nashville.

"Thank you, for the surprise, for the time with your parents," Hunter interjected before I could finish.

"Jenna, you don't need to thank me," he held my hand, "I love spending time with you, I love being in your presence. Thank you for trusting me to drive us in the middle of the night on an adventure."