Southern Hearts (Southern Love Series) (6 page)

"Farrah? Did you hear me?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, what?" she said, looking at him.
"I asked for your opinion," he said.

"I can't." She stood up from the table and
gathered their dishes.

"Why not?" He stood up from the table and took
the dishes from her.

"Because we had sex, and my opinion could be
biased," she said, looking at him. "I want to hear your
thoughts," he said.

"Fine." She threw the dishrag on the table.
"You guys would be husband and wife. I think you guys should have talked
about the issue of sharing a life together. How many kids you want,
religion—those questions are major due to the fact that you guys are going to
spend the rest of y'all's lives together."

"Do you feel like I'm making a big mistake with
her?" he asked.

"What do you think? Do you feel like you're making a
poor decision?" she asked him.

"I hate when you do that, Farrah." He glowered at
her. "You always answer a question with a question."

"No, Austin." She pointed her finger at him.
"You want me to sit up here and tell you that you're making the worst
decision of your life, and I can't do that." When he didn't say anything,
she continued. "I can't save you from the choices that you make. You have
to go to sleep with her at night. I don't." She turned away from him,
picked up the dishrag, and finished washing the dishes in the sink.

***

Austin was trying to hide his disappointment. He wanted
Farrah to tell him not to marry Rebecca. Lately things hadn't been right
between them, and he had chalked it up to wedding jitters. But the truth of the
matter was he was beginning to realize that Rebecca didn't make him happy. He
couldn't picture himself marrying her and having kids with her. He looked over
at Farrah, who was washing dishes. She would make an excellent wife and mother
to some lucky man.

He stood there watching her as his mind replayed their
lovemaking last night. When he was around Farrah, he felt like he could be himself,
the silly country boy. He didn't always want to be the famous rich country
music singer every day of the week. For once, he was just enjoying himself in
the company of a beautiful woman who didn't see the money or the fame when she
looked at him. When Farrah looked at him, he knew she saw just Austin McBride
and not Austin McBride the singer. She made him feel wanted every time she
looked into his eyes. Farrah was the woman he was meant to be with.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked,
looking at him strangely. "Huh?" he said.

"You were staring off in space." She laughed.
"I think there was even drool running down your mouth," she teased.

"I was thinking," he said, smiling.

"About?" she asked.

"We could have a cooking lesson today." He
waggled his eyebrows at her.

"A cooking lesson?" She stood against the
counter, looking at him. "Okay. Why don't you show me what you can do in
the kitchen?"

"I thought I already told you that I can only boil
water."

Farrah shook her head in pity. "So your mom didn't
teach you how to cook?"

"I was the outside type. Never was interested in what
was going on inside the house. My momma used to always say I better marry
someone who could cook." He chuckled.

"You didn't need to do that." She smiled.
"Instead, you became this big country music singer who can afford a
chef."

"Yeah, but there is nothing wrong with coming home to
your wife cooking a meal that she made with love," he said.

"You don't have to cook a four-course meal to make
your significant other happy," she said, leaving him in the kitchen.

"If I could cook for you, what would you want me to
make?" he asked, following right behind her.

"I'd take a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,"
she said.

"Nice pick," he said. "If you play your
cards right, I just might surprise you with a PB&J sandwich."

"I actually only chose that because it was less risk
for us to get food poisoning." She laughed.

"Really." He stepped closer to her, smiling when
her breathing hitched. "I'll cook lunch, and you cook dinner," he
said with his mouth inches from hers.

"Who said we're going to be here for dinner?" she
said, looking at his lips.

"Listen," he said. Rain drops beat down on the
roof; the wind was blowing hard. They would definitely be here for dinner.
"The rain will let up sometime overnight."

"I'll cook dinner if you keep your hands to
yourself," she said and moved away from him.

He pulled her back to him and pinned her against the wall.
He kissed her slowly until she was pushing at his chest. He looked into her
brown eyes that were filled with desire. "You never said mouth," he
said breathlessly.

"Let me amend my statement for you. I will cook dinner
if you keep your hands, mouth, and genitals to yourself," she said before
walking into the bathroom.

Austin couldn't help but laugh at Farrah. He saw how she
was trying to keep her distance from him. For a split second when he kissed
her, he'd seen vulnerability in her eyes. Farrah appeared to have barriers
surrounding her. He wondered if she ever allowed anyone to get close to her.

Austin sat in the recording studio going over two new songs
that he wrote after his time with Farrah. For the past two days, she had
avoided him, but he told himself to give her some space for now. Austin
listened to the track he'd just recorded; the song was about a woman leaving a
man who loved her and wanted her back.

"Girl I want you

"I need you back in my life

"This life is lonely without you."

"Damn, man, what has gotten into you?" Julius
said, nodding his head to the beat of the song.

Love
, Austin thought to himself. He was in love with
Farrah. "Sounds good?" Austin asked his producer and friend.

"Boy, you haven't recorded shit like this in a
while."

Austin leaned back in the chair as he listened to his
friend ribbing him about the track. "You're writing about love, something
you haven't done in a long time," Julius said.

Austin wrote the song for Farrah. He replayed in his mind
the night at Lake Lewisville when they made love.

"I'm leaving for today, but I'll be back with more
work." Austin stood up and shook hands with the sound engineers.
"Don't forget about the cookout on Friday."

"We got ya," Julius yelled out.

***

Farrah enjoyed the time at the lake with Austin, but she
had to be real with herself and him. She couldn't allow herself to cater the
wedding knowing full well that she had slept with the bride's future husband.
It was best if she returned the deposit and resigned from the wedding. The last
thing she ever wanted to do was come between two people who were in love.

That was why she had made the decision to see Rebecca
today. She knew that Austin wouldn't allow her to quit, but she was determined.
Maybe Rebecca would accept the resignation letter since she never really wanted
Southern Rose Eatery to cater her wedding in the first place. It should be a
win-win situation for the both of them.

Farrah sat in a chair across from Rebecca. She looked
around the room, which was decorated in all white.

She had been sitting there for exactly thirty minutes
waiting for Rebecca to talk to her, but instead the woman and an older version
of her that Farrah presumed was Rebecca's mother were
ohh
ing and
ahh
ing
over china and wedding patterns.

"I'm not going to be able to cater your wedding."
Farrah took a breath as Rebecca's blue eyes narrowed on her.

"My fiancé wants your restaurant to cater it, and what
Austin McBride wants, he eventually gets." Rebecca dismissed Farrah with a
slight wave of her hand as she continued talking to her mother.

Farrah started to say something when the man she had been
avoiding for the past two days walked into the room. Deciding that she wasn't
going to get anywhere with Rebecca, she stood up and left.

"Hello, Mr. McBride," Farrah said as she walked
out of the room.

***

Austin watched as Farrah left. "Did she drop off the
menus?"

"No, she brought over some funky resignation letter,
but I told her that you wanted that ungodly food, so I didn't accept it."

"I'm going to see what that is all about." Austin
practically ran out of the house to catch up with Farrah before she made it to
her car.

"Not now, McBride," Farrah said as she walked
towards her car.

"I had this feeling that you were going to do
that." He smirked.

 Farrah stopped dead in her tracks and turned to look at
him. "I'm not a slut or home wrecker," she said through clenched
teeth and opened her car door.

"When I look at you, I just want to hold you in my
arms." Austin had to stop himself from reaching out to her.

"Well, I will hire a manager to see to your wedding,
so this will be our last time seeing each other," she snapped.

"Farrah," he said, but Farrah wasn't hearing
anything from him. He watched her jump inside her car and speed down the dirt
road away from him.

***

Rebecca's mother, Gwen Stephens, stood at the window
watching Austin and Farrah. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say it
looked like a lovers' quarrel was going on out there between the chef and the
country singer."

She looked at Rebecca, who didn't pay her any mind.
"Rebecca, dear, how well do you know the lovely chef?" Gwen said as
she stared out of the window.

"Austin was fascinated by the woman's culinary skills
at a wedding we went to," Rebeca said as she went over some color patterns
for the wedding.

"He looks very chummy with her." Gwen turned and
looked at her daughter. "Is there anything you know about the woman
besides her cooking abilities?"

"Mother, you know the McBride family is very
country." Rebecca put down the patterns and looked at her mother. "Is
there something you're trying to say?"

"It's crazy how you let that beautiful woman be around
your husband all the time. Didn't you say that they went fishing alone?"

"Yeah, and what's the problem with that?" Rebecca
put her hands on her hips and stared at her mother.

"They were arguing about something, and it looked
really personal. Think about it, sweetheart; she waltzes in here trying to
resign from catering the wedding that is two months away. There has to be a
problem somewhere.

Didn't you say that they spent two days due to poor weather
at the lake house?"

"Yes, it was storming bad, and the lake flooded the
road," Rebecca said, getting annoyed. "Mother, I can assure you there
is nothing going on between Austin and Farrah Rue. He likes her cooking. That's
it."

"Well, Rebecca, it seems like Farrah is cooking up
something else apart from food, and Austin seems like he's eating every bite
that Farrah is giving him."

"Mother, drop it. Austin is not like that, and
besides, Farrah is not his type." Rebecca rolled her eyes.

"You're a silly woman." Gwen laughed.
"Didn't I tell you a man will fuck anything with a hole?"

Rebecca looked at her mother strangely. She always used to
ignore her mother's rants about infidelity. Her mother hadn't been the same
since Rebecca's father, Peter Stephens, had cheated on her and torn apart a
thirty- year marriage. Her parents were still duking it out in divorce court.

"Mother, please, not now. I just want to finish
looking at these patterns."

"All I want you to do is watch Ms. Rue." Gwen
kissed Rebecca's forehead and left the room to make a phone call.

***

Austin could feel Rebecca's heated stare on him as he
talked on the phone with Rocky, his road manager for his upcoming tour. He
would be on the road for the two months until the wedding. The dates for the
tour were written in stone at the beginning of year.

"I really hate the fact that you're going on
tour," Rebecca snapped when he got off the phone. "It's my job,"
he said as he wrote down dates in his calendar.

"Singing those damn songs is your job," she said,
"not to mention playing with those damn horses."

"Rebecca, we've been dating for years; I always
suggest you travel with me, and you always say no." He sighed.

"Oh God no, I have to listen to your singing every day
here. What makes you think I want to hear you sing in front of thousands of
people?" she said with a look of disgust on her face.

Rebecca's words stung. She might not have thought they did,
judging from the way she was laughing uncontrollably, but every time she made a
rude and obnoxious comment, it pushed Austin a little further away from her.

"Cancel the wedding. The money I make from touring
goes to this lavish lifestyle you want to maintain, not to mention the
vacations you and your mother take. And this fucking wedding!" he yelled.

"Forgive me." Rebecca ran over to Austin and
started to kiss him all over his face. "I'm just stressed out, baby; I
can't wait until we get back to New York."

"Rebecca, we agreed to move to the ranch fulltime, so
we could slow our life down." He drew her face to his.

"And you said we could work on having a baby after the
wedding."

"No, I heard you and I nodded my head, but I didn't
reply verbally. It's just, I think we should wait and have kids maybe five
years from now," she said as she moved away from him.

Austin counted to ten in his head to control his anger.
"In five years, Rebecca, I will be thirty-eight," he said. This
wasn't what they had talked about. They talked about having kids after they
were married and moving to the ranch. He wanted to raise his children in the
country, away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Rebecca shrugged, picked up a wedding magazine, and flipped
through the pages.

"In a marriage, we both have to make
compromises." The tone of his voice became soft as he looked at her.

"Compromises?" Rebecca faked a laugh. "I
know all about compromises. I totally compromised on the menu because of you
and your country-bumpkin family. I compromise every month when you are in a
different city singing your ass off."

Austin needed to get away from Rebecca and her ways.
Grabbing his boots, he left the house and sat in his truck. How could he ever
have a meaningful conversation with Rebecca when she went head-to-head with him
over every word like a small child?

A knock on Austin's window caused him to jump. Rolling down
the window, he said, "What, Hank?"

"Sorry, don't chew my head off." Hank held his
hands up and backed away from the truck.

"Sorry, man." Austin ran his fingers through his
hair.

"Trouble in paradise?" Hank asked.

"You have no idea," he said, banging his fist
against the steering wheel.

"Why get married when there is so much trouble between
you guys?" Hank looked at him.

"Maybe you're right," Austin said as he started
the truck. "I'm going out, so could you put Shadow in his stable?"

"I got you, bro," Hank said as he tapped the side
of the truck.

Austin drove until he reached the Southern Rose Eatery. He
needed to talk to Farrah. She was the only one who understood him.

***

Farrah opened her car door and walked up to her house. The
sound of someone walking behind her made her turn around.

"Stalking?" she asked when she saw Austin walking
up behind her. "Unfinished business," Austin said as he stood in
front of her.

Farrah couldn't get enough of the cowboy as he stood in
front of her wearing jeans and a red shirt along with his cowboy boots and hat.
"You shouldn't be here, plus there is nothing to talk about." She
turned around and walked away from him.

Farrah was at the door, opening it, when Austin's strong
hands covered hers. "Austin, leave," she said through clenched teeth.

"Not until we talk." He looked around the
complex. "You should let me in before someone recognizes me." Farrah
groaned and moved to allow him to enter.

Putting her bag on the sofa, she watched him kick off his
shoes and make himself at home. "I like the way you made yourself at
home," she teased before going into the kitchen. She could hear Austin
following her. He stood there in silence watching her prepare dinner.

"You have exactly ten minutes to say what you're going
to say," she told him. "I'm staying for dinner," he said,
smiling sheepishly at her.

"Well, McBride, you're lucky that I bought two
porterhouse steaks." She smiled. "You can make the salad."
Austin went to the sink and washed his hands. She gave him instructions on how
to prepare a salad.

"I have a small garden on the patio, where I grow
tomatoes, snow peas, cucumber, and the herbs for the dressing," she said
as she grabbed a bowl for him to put the items she needed in.

"You're like a little farmer," he joked.

"I have a green thumb. Fresh veggies and fruits are
the way to go if you can."

"My mother had a garden on the ranch. Maybe you should
come check it out. You could use the vegetables and fruits for the
restaurant."

Farrah stopped rubbing the steak with garlic and rosemary.
Looking into Austin's grey eyes, she shook her head. "No."

"Why not?" he asked.

"I can give you a hundred reasons," she said,
turning her attention back to the steaks sizzling in the skillet.

"Come to the ranch, Farrah. I want you to see the
garden that my momma worked hard in. I know it needs a little work, but I think
you'll be surprised how many vegetables she squeezed into this small
area."

Farrah was having a hard time thinking. "I'll go check
out the ranch. Plus, I need to meet with Megan to plan the décor for your
event. I also have the menu for the wedding, but I'm still tweaking it."

"There is not going to be a wedding," he said.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees.
Farrah couldn't believe her ears. "Repeat yourself," she said,
refusing to look at him.

Austin made Farrah face him. "It's hard to fight these
feelings. Every day I think about you and it's become harder to get you out of
my system. I don't want to lose you. You're the one I've been waiting my whole
life for."

Farrah touched the side of Austin's face. "I can't.
And we shouldn't see each other, Austin. All we're going to do is hurt people;
think about Rebecca."

"I'm going to end it with her." Austin stroked
the side of Farrah's face.

"Austin, I'm not the woman for you. We're
different."

"How? Is it because you're black and I'm white?"

"No." She shook her head. "But we come from
different lifestyles, and I don't fit in yours."

"Do you love me?" he asked softly.

"Yes, but I have been in love before, Austin, and I
have been hurt before. I don't want to repeat that with you."