The endless fields passed by in a blur but he's not paying attention. The radio's playing softly in the background but he's not listening. The lack of sleep he's had in the last week is doesn't matter to him either.

His sole focus right now is the woman beside him. His fingers laced through hers.

She's here. With him. Listening to him go on and on about all the stress and drama in his life.

"So then he says to me, ‘you better make time to do this otherwise the tournament is going to be a bust'." He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. A feeling of relief washing over when he finds her eyes trained on him. "Can you believe it? It's my God damn golf tournament!"

She nodded her head, giving his fingers a light squeeze. "You'll figure it out. You always do."

"Like dealing with Johnny isn't enough, my mom calls and starts to ask questions." He clenched and unclenched his hand around the steering wheel. "Wants to know how I'm doing, when I'm coming home to visit, do I need her to come out and see me."

"Baby, it'll be fine. She's just worried about you." She reassured him. "She's your mother. It's her job to be concerned about your wellbeing."

The smile that formed on his face couldn't be stopped if he tried. This is the reason why he loves her. He knows she has her own life and she's got her own issues with work and family but she always makes the time to listen to him, truly listen to him. No matter how insignificant it may seem to him.

 "Listen to me," She turned her body fully in the passenger seat to face him. His hand still clutched in hers. "You are amazing. You've done amazing things in your life and you've done most of them on your own. No one made those decisions for you.  That was all you. You had the best family behind you to support you and be there for you not matter what.  But ultimately it was all you. You just need to clear your head and do what's best for you." She paused. "Because that's all that matters. Your happiness."

She always seems to know just what to say to him to calm him down. Or to make him laugh. To make him feel like the world isn't spinning out of control.

"And if dropping everything to jump in your car with your crazy girlfriend is what makes you happy," She continued. A smile on his face that he knew too well. "Then I'm happy to be here."

He threw his head back and laughed. "No one said you were crazy."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I believe the first time Johnny ever met me he said, and I quote, ‘that crazy girl who works at the theme park'. Yeah, Johnny Wright called me crazy."

"Welllllll, you do work at a theme park. However the crazy doesn't kick in until Halloween." He continued to laugh. "The fact that you're favorite holiday of the entire year allows you to dress up like a zombie and scare the shit out of people is a little crazy."

"Why is that crazy?" She mock pouted. "You liked me the first time we met."

He smiled as he got lost in the memory of that night.

He and Trace had taken his little brothers to Knotts Berry Farm for Halloween. All they could talk about was going to see all the scary stuff the park had and go on all the rides. It seemed perfectly harmless as the four of them walked the park. That was until they go to Ghost Town. He could see the fear in the two younger boys' eyes. They both stayed close to him or Trace, gripping a hand when something scared them.

Just as he was telling the boys that there was nothing to be scared of and nothing would hurt them a woman wearing a bloody wedding dress ran out from behind one of the buildings, waving a machete and screaming. He let out a yell and jumped back so fast that he tripped over Steven and fell flat on his ass.

Once Trace and the woman stopped laughing, she reached down to help him to his feet.

"Sorry about that." She smiled at him. He winced at the makeup job they had done to her face and neck. It really looked like someone had slither throat.

"I'm fine." He brushed his backside one more time. "Don't worry about it."

"Dude, I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life." Trace chuckled.

"I thought you said nothing scary was going to happen." Steven accused, hands on his hips.

Before he could open his mouth to respond the woman was kneeling in front of his little brother. Steven took a step closer to Justin and his hand went to his shoulder, letting him know he was right there.

"It's ok sweetie." She told him. "It's all fake. I'm ok. This is all just make up and pretend. You play pretend don't you? Cowboys and robbers?"

He looked up at Justin before looking back at the woman. "Singer."

The woman glanced up at Justin and he blushed when Trace and Jonathan laughed. "Well, this is all that is. Pretend. In fact, how about I take you guys on a tour behind the scenes so you can see how all this gets put together. Would you like that?"

"Yeah!" Steven all but yelled. "Please can we?"

The woman stood and looked at Justin. He looked down at his little brothers' face. "Sure, we can do that."

After a night full of innocent flirting he left thinking he'd never see her again. A week later he was back at the park, alone because telling Trace he was going back to find this girl was something that he'd never live down. He had spent all day in the same area where he had met her and never saw her once.

It wasn't until he was leaving that he heard her.

"Didn't I scare you enough last time?"

He turned to see her standing there. Face devoid of any make up and blood. He couldn't help but notice how green her eyes were. How cute her nose was.

He shrugged. "Thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad the second time around."

"Was it?" She cocked her head to the side.

He grinned at the teasing tone in her voice. "Nah, nothing I haven't seen before." He took a step closer when she smiled at him. "Besides, I've seen all the behind the scenes action so I know there's nothing to be scared of."

He asked her out before leaving the park that day and they've been together ever since.

She was his sounding board. His confidant. His friend. His lover.  She was the one person, apart from his family and Trace, that was a constant in his life.

He had never been the type of man who thought he'd ever get married. The thought scared him more than words could even begin to describe. But being around her made him feel like it was possible to find that one person who is truly made for you. That one person who you can spend the rest of your life with and have that happily ever after with.

That's why, after three years together he had that little black box tucked neatly in his pocket. A beautiful ring that he had designed for her based off an antique she saw in some history documentary she forced him to watch.

That had been the easy part. It was finding the words to express to her how he felt that was making this so hard. You'd think after all the songs he's written that finding the words to propose to her would be easy but that was far from it.

So he packed an overnight bag for the both of them and told her to be ready to go when she got home from work. She didn't ask questions when he hit the highway and just drove. She knew better. She just let him talk and get out all of his fears and frustrations. It was a little like therapy for him.

"What're you doing?" She asked when he pulled over into a deserted parking lot. "Everything ok?"

He nodded and turned the car off. "Yeah, everything is great."

She gave him a confused look. "Ok."

He took a deep breath and turned to her, reached out and took both her hands in his. "I've been doing some thinking lately and there's something I want to say to you." He looked at her. Her face showed only confusion. "I love you. I'm in love with you."

She waited a beat for him to continue. When he didn't, "That's good. Considering I'm in love with you too."

He smiled when he saw her bite her lip to contain her grin. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her lips. "You are the most....wonderful person I've ever met. You've done nothing but love me, flaws and all. You've never asked me for anything in return. No matter how much I ask of you. You're understanding and kind and full of heart. I feel," he licked his lips, trying to find the right word. "I feel honored that you feel the same way about me."

He looked at her and was surprised to find her eyes glazed with tears. "So I'm going to ask you one more thing and then I'll never ask you for another thing again." He reached up and brushed away a tear that trailed down her cheek. "Will you marry me?"

The words left his mouth and the tears poured from her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak and he saw her lips moving but heard no sound.

He tilted his head. "I didn't hear you."

She opened her mouth but again no sound.

A feel of panic took hold of his chest and it was like his worst nightmare come true. He reached a hand up to brush the hair from her face but his hand was met with thin air. He blinked to find the seat in front of him empty.

He quickly looked out the window in search of her and found nothing. He pushed the car door open and climbed out, running around the front of the car. It was like she vanished.

After twenty minutes of searching, he found nothing. There was no sign of her anywhere.

Sliding his hands into his pockets he leaned against the hood of the car. His fingers touched something in his pocket and he pulled it out.

Unfolding the paper his eyes scanned over the words. Once. Twice. Four times before his hands started to shake and he heard the sound of his own heartbeat ringing in his ears.

The newspaper clipping in his hands was the obituary from her funeral.

Three months ago.

Suddenly he remembered everything. The car accident. The funeral. The way he locked himself in his house and refused to talk to or see anyone.

Until one day he just got up, packed a bag and got in the car. He just drove for days and days. He didn't know where he is or how long he'd been gone now but being alone with his thoughts and the open road was therapy for him.

Like she used to be.