“You should probably answer that,” JC said, nodding towards her phone.

Whitney hesitated.  “Are you sure?”

He nodded and turned his attention back to the piano.

She reached for her phone.  “I’m sure he just wants to confirm things for tomorrow.”  She stood and moved away from the piano bench, opting to situate herself across the room by the large bay window overlooking the backyard. 

“Hi Charles,” she said.

His voice was low, “When are you comin’ over tonight?”

Her eyes flicked to JC who was idly playing at the piano, but was within earshot.  “You can meet with JC tomorrow at his house?  That’s perfect.”

“Oh, are we playin’ this game?  Fiiiine.”

“Sure, I think around 3 would be just fine.”

“You know, if I don’t see you tonight I am gonna have a hard time keepin’ my hands to myself tomorrow,” he chuckled into the receiver.

“I’ll be sure to send over directions to his place.”

“Well, you have a nice night, darlin’.”

“Have a nice rest of your evening,” she hung up.  “Everything’s all set for tomorrow,” she said, settling beside JC once more.

He kept his eyes in front of him, toying with the keys.  “Kind of late for him to be calling, huh?”

“Oh, sometimes he runs on, um, Central Time – jet lag and all that.”

He continued to play, avoiding eye contact with her.  “Right, Central Time since he’s from Nashville.  That makes sense.  That’s two hours ahead of us, though.”

She swallowed nervously.  “I guess he’s a bit of a night owl.”

“I guess so,” he said flatly.

“So,” she cleared her throat, “What were you saying before?”

He shrugged.  “Oh, it was nothing important.”

She bit her bottom lip.  “Are you sure?”

He kept his focus on the music he’d written out.  “Hey, listen to this bit for me.”  She nodded as he started humming with his eyes closed. 

“Oh, I can’t believe I finally found you baby

Happy ever after, after all this time

Oh, there’s going to be some ups and downs

But with you to wrap my arms around

I’m fine.”

She smiled, “I love it.  Is this supposed to be Hillary’s verse?”

He nodded, “I was thinking she’d come in after Charles with this.  Do you think this has her sound?”

“The only thing I’d say is you want to make it country so you could change the ‘There’s going to be’ to ‘There’s gonna be.’ That would definitely sound more natural for her.”

He grinned, “I like it.  You’re going to have to help get me in touch with country music.  It’s a little out of the box for me.”

“Yeehaw,” she chuckled as she made a lasso motion. 

“How did a girl from the Northeast end up being into country music, anyhow?”

She smiled, “Actually, I hadn’t really listened to country until I started working for the band.  My work for the label was bi-coastal, but all the band members had primary residences in Nashville so I ended up spending a lot of time down there before touring. “

JC smiled, “So Nashville won you over?”

“Something like that,” she said, covering her mouth as she let out a small yawn.   She glanced at the clock and saw that it was now 11:38.  “Are you going to stay up all night writing this?”

He pursed his lips, “I won’t be able to sleep until it’s finished.  Even if I get sleepy the piano will be judging me across the room.  You can get going though, it’s late.”

“Alright, just promise me you’ll try to get some shuteye.”

**

Whitney had arrived for work and found JC in his studio mixing the demo he had recorded of himself.  It was clear that he had not slept at all since she had left him hours prior.  She had let him work by himself, opting to do her paperwork upstairs in the kitchen.  The only time she had checked on him was in the early afternoon to bring him a sandwich.  She was pretty sure if she did not feed him he would stay locked in the studio all day starving himself.  She busied herself with following up on renovations that were being done at his home in Florida. 

The roar of a motorcycle in the driveway pulled her from her work.  She felt a nervous pull in her stomach at the thought of Charles being around all day working with JC.  Obviously it had been her doing and she thought that producing a song for Lady A could be really beneficial for JC, but having Charlie around with him put added pressure on the situation.  She headed towards the front door and opened it to find Charlie taking his helmet off as he approached her. 

“Well darlin’, you look particularly pretty today,” he leaned up against the doorway. 

She smiled as she slid out of the doorway so that he could enter.  “Thank you.  JC’s in the studio.  I’ll show you where it is.”  He put his motorcycle helmet on the entry table as he passed by it.  He slid his arms around her waist from behind.  “Behave!” she chided him, shaking her head as she pushed his arms away. 

He put his arms up in defeat, “All business.”  He followed her down the back staircase to the recording studio. 

“Hi Charlie,” JC said, looking up from his desk. 

“Hey JC, I’m excited to hear what you’ve put together,” he said, clasping his hands together. 

“Sure, have a seat.  I’ve been working on this song When You Got A Good Thing.  I think it would make a great duet with you and Hilary.  The song is mid-tempo and Whitney has been kind enough to try and help me make it a little more country,” he smiled as he looked over at her.  She smiled back as she tucked her hair behind her ear. 

“Ah yes, well Whitney does know her country music,” Charles chuckled.

JC nodded and played the demo he had cut.  Whitney was surprised at how much he had accomplished, even with working straight through the night.  She looked over at Charlie, trying to read his expression.  He grinned widely as the song ended.  “I like it.  I like it a lot.  This has our group written all over it.”

“Alright, that’s great news,” JC beamed. 

“Let’s do this; send the track to Hillary and Dave so they can both weigh in and then we can figure out the best time to set up a studio session.  I’m sure that Dave will give you a few notes on guitar riffs.”

JC grinned, “That sounds like a plan.  Do you want to try a few takes?”

Charles nodded, “Sure thing.  Let me see those lyrics.”

“I’ll connect with Hillary and Dave while you two spend some time in here,” Whitney offered.  “I’ll talk to them and see what I can arrange.”  She headed up the stairs to make her phone calls in the kitchen. 

**

“Whitney, it is so good to hear the sound of your voice,” Hillary gushed.

“I miss you too, Hills.”

“So, Charlie had said you set up a collaboration with JC?  How’s it going?”

“Charlie came over today and met with him.  I think JC put together a really great song.  Charlie liked it and he definitely isn’t one to settle.  I told them I’d reach out to you and Dave and see what I could set up for the four of you in terms of meeting up.”

“Well, Chris and I are pretty booked down here through the month for sure.  What with being newlyweds and finally being off tour I made sure we plan out as much family and friends time as possible.  Is there anyway we could record down here?”

“Oh, maybe.  I’ll have to ask JC and see what we could work out.”

“Aw, Whit it would be amazing if y’all came down here!  We’d all love to see you and we could go out and show y’all a good time.  It’s been such a long time since you’ve been down to Nashville.”

Whitney smiled, “It would be fun.  I’ll see what JC says.”

“Okay call me back!  I am going to get the guest room ready for you with fingers crossed!”

“Talk to you soon,” Whitney hung up and headed back downstairs.  Charlie and JC were cracking jokes with each other and listening to a vocal playback.  “Hey, I talked to Hillary and she is pretty booked in Nashville through about the next month.  She was thinking that it might make more sense to record in Tennessee.  What do you think?”

“Whatever is easier for the group is definitely fine by me.  With the show wrapping next week I have a much more open schedule,” JC said. 

“I think it might make more sense to record out here in Los Angeles,” Charlie said, crossing his arms.

“The whole band is down there, though.  It would probably make the process easier for all of you to set aside some time in Nashville,” she put a finger to her chin.  “What do you say?”

Charlie cleared his throat, “Yeah, if it will be easier for everyone that will work.”

JC smiled, “Alright, Whitney why don’t you figure out when we could set aside some time to go to Nashville?”

“We?”

“Yes, of course I want you to come.  You’re my assistant and I’m sure you’d like to spend some time with your old friends.”

“That sounds perfect.  Let me call Dave and figure things out from there,” she said, giving a small wave as she slipped back out of the studio. 

Charlie turned to JC.  “I should probably make a few calls, too.  I’ll be right back.”  He followed after her towards the kitchen.  “Whitney,” he whispered.

“What?” she asked, putting a hand on her hip for emphasis.  He answered by slipping his arms around her waist and leaning in for a kiss. 

“I missed working with you,” he said, chuckling as he kissed her again. 

The sound of heels tapping across the floor soon pulled their attention.  “Oh,” Bianca said, with a grin on her face.  “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”