HONESTLY

Truth

That night when Nate came over to my studio, I ordered Chinese food, hoping he was still a fan.

I emptied the brown, paper bag and placed the takeout boxes on the kitchen table. I turned the Echo on, calling out to "Alexa," to, "play some country music."

When Nate arrived at my door, he handed me a mason jar filled with sunflowers.

"Seems a little redundant now that I can see your garden," he laughed as he handed me the flowers.

The last time he visited the studio, it was too dark outside to see my father's impressive sunflower garden.

"You can never have too many sunflowers," I reassured him with a smile.

I placed the bouquet in the middle of the table as Nate noticed the familiar takeout boxes. He smiled, and confirmed Chinese food was still his favorite. I opened the bottle of red wine Nate had brought the last time he was over and poured two glasses. We walked over to the couch and took a seat, this time our bodies closer together and not in separate corners.

"So...what's life been like since you moved to Nashville?" he asked, taking a sip of his wine.

"Um, well..." I said as I contemplated my answer, "It's mostly been great. I mean, I get to produce music, my way, especially with this second album. I got to meet Lily, who is just the best." 

I paused for a second, taking a sip of wine to ponder the negative parts, "Mostly, everything's been positive, except for losing my mom," I said softly.

Nate nodded his head, agreeing the last part must've been the hardest.

"Have you been dating much?" he asked nonchalantly, like he'd just asked me about the weather.

I was taken aback by his question.

"No, not really," I said slightly evasive.

"I would've thought guys would be lined up at your door," he sweetly replied.

"My music comes first. I don't really have time for anything else. I'm pretty much a homebody," I said with a slight twinge of guilt in my stomach.

I glanced over at the barn beam hanging so prominently on my wall.

My relationship with Reed was complicated, to say the least. In theory, if I hadn't received the letter from my old high school, we might've secretly still been boyfriend and girlfriend. In reality, we were not together, and I wasn't going to bore Nate with the details. Besides, Reed and I had an agreement between the two us to never divulge our relationship to anyone, mainly because we were both afraid of Walt.

"Are you hungry?" I said, changing the subject before Nate asked me anything else too personal.

As Nate and I devoured everything I bought, we decided to turn dinner into a friendly competition. Who had better skills when it came to using chopsticks? I always seemed to have issues with any type of rice so I wasn't surprised when Nate declared himself the winner. He had way fewer pieces of fried rice left on his plate than I did.

After, we cleaned off the table and retreated back to the couch, not before I replenished our empty wine glasses.

I plunked down next to him, feeling like I finally had the courage to circle back to the conversation we were having before dinner.

"So...what about you? Have you dated much since you moved back home and started teaching?" I asked.

"A couple dates here and there, but nothing special," he said, instantly perking up at my line of questioning.