Something in the Water

Where It's At

"Sutton I am so proud of you," I kissed her cheek and wiped off where some of my lipstick got her, "do you want dad and I to stay on the side here?" She nodded and Hunter handed her the acoustic guitar.

"Go get em baby." He kissed her and we stepped back into the wings as the host of the open mic started the show. I saw the crowd was a decent size, I had butterflies in my stomach as I saw Sutton standing in the edge waiting for her name to be called.

"Let's give a warm CMA welcome to Miss Sutton Hayes!" The crowd cheered and Sutton took the stage.

"Hello everybody, I'm going to play you the very first song I learned in guitar, it's called You Belong With Me." Sutton strummed the opening chords and began to sing, her voice flooded through the speakers. Hunter held my hand and I think I was holding my breath. The final words escaped her lips, her guitar faded out, and instantly the crowd cheered. Sutton bowed and came back side stage.

"Sutton! That was brilliant!" Hunter and I hugged her and walked back toward the car.

"There were so many people!" She smiled, I could tell she was buzzing off the energy of the stage.

"Hunter! Jenna!" I heard a familiar voice and turned to see Thomas Rhett, "Sutton - wow what a performance. We met a long time ago, I think you were about two or so. Sutton looked at me for validation and I nodded. "I just wanted to stop y'all and tell you what a great job you did." Sutton thanked him and we made our way back. As Hunter drove I scrolled through Instagram and saw several posts of Sutton and saved them to my phone. We got home to find Lynette and Leo in the back with the boys, swimming while Millie slept in the early June sunshine. Sutton changed and jumped into the pool and I pulled Hunter inside.

"I am so proud of her but this is something we should talk to her about," I handed him my phone with the pictures, "she's almost twelve. I just don't want her googling herself, or what have you."

"I understand Jen, if this is what she wants... to perform and sing she will learn both sides of it all. It was so different growing up and not having that social media til I was like, eighteen, nineteen years old." I nodded, just trying to express my concern. Hunter placed his hand over mine, "She's a big girl, we can talk to her about it. It's a conversation worth having if she's going to be getting a cell phone anyhow." We enjoyed the afternoon outside with the family, had dinner on the bbq and Hunter headed out to a fan fest event while I stayed in with the kids. I got the kids showered and in bed by nine and went knocking on Sutton's door.

"Hey sweet girl, can we talk?" She nodded and put her book down. "I am so proud of your performance today. That was a pretty big crowd."

"I was a little scared. But once I started singing , it's like the crowd wasn't even there." I nodded.

"I know exactly what you mean. I just wanted to talk to you about some of the ups and downs of performing. You know daddy has been doing this for a while, and when he started, there was no social media, people taking pictures of him and putting it on the internet..." I took a deep breath realizing how hard this actually would be, "I just want to remind you that people might not always be nice, especially on the internet. And you can't let the mean things people might say stop you from following your dreams and doing what you love."

"Have people said mean things about you?"

"Oh heck yeah. From divorce rumours to way back when dad and I were dating." Sutton asked how I handled it. "Well, to be honest, the first few times it upset me. Your dad reminded me that those were strangers and they didn't know me. You are not the opinion of someone who doesn't know you. All that matters is you be yourself, and do what you love." I hugged her, "I'm proud of you. I want you to get a good night sleep." I headed to bed and turned out the lights, just as I heard the garage door open, and a few moments later the beep-beep of the alarm. He quietly made his way upstairs and to bed.

"You asleep sweetie?" I rolled over.

"Just turned the lights out. How was the event?"

"Dramatic actually. I had to get ushered out a back door and sent home early. There was someone there who wasnt supposed to be."

"What do you mean, wasn't supposed to be?" I felt him roll over to flick on the light, his face was serious.

"I started getting messages on Instagram from a fan and it went from friendly fan mail to crazy, obsessive. This girl, she was sending mail to the office, letters... and stuff. She followed my car from the studio to the brewery." He sighed, "I should've told you."

"Uh, yeah. That's crazy! How long has this been going on?"

"Three weeks." He went on to say how he filed a restraining order that this person, Maggie, couldn't be within five hundred feet of him. "Sam spotted her. I'm not sure if she's a threat but the restraining order applies to all of us, my parents included." I shook my head.

"You don't think she would do anything do you?"

He shrugged, "I don't think so, but I'm the same breath, that doesn't mean she wouldn't harm herself to get my attention."

"I wish you told me. I'm sorry it ruined your event."

"It's fine. I'm happy I'm home."