“Hey, Warner. I was looking for you,” Jeremy said as he walked down the hall. “We’re going to do some more camera shots of you all to get the opening shot.”
“You guys are really pushing to do this fast, aren’t you?”
“Keeps costs down.”
“I see.” Warner looked down at his phone as it buzzed in his hand.
Signed! I love you and we’re going to be big!
He smiled as Jeremy looked over at him.
“Text from the wife?”
Warner nodded. “Yep, seems as though she just signed to tour with Savannah.”
“Ya don’t say?” Jeremy smiled.
“You might have given me some warning so I wouldn’t look like an ass in that interview,” Warner said.
“C’mon. It’s all about reaction.”
At that moment, Warner’s reaction was to punch this guy in the gut. But that’s what they wanted. They wanted to see how far this guy would go before he’d break like his father did. Well he had news for Nashville and the world—he wasn’t going down like that. And they weren’t going to pull his wife down either.
He thought about the tattoo on her wrist. The word “family” in the infinity symbol. They were family now and a family stood together and fought together. Well, he’d be damned if the need for good TV was based on him falling to pieces. Patricia Little could have all the bad press she wanted. He wasn’t interested. What he was interested in was getting his music out there and it seemed as though Clara was doing just that.
They wanted good TV? They would get it. Only not once was he going to say the woman’s name aloud. He was going to write and perform and let Clara carry his music to the masses. She had ten show dates, he had ten episodes. In the end they’d still have each other. After all he was a Keller now, as she’d told him, and Kellers stuck together.
Oh, Jeremy Smith thought he’d get some dirt because he too despised Patricia Little. Patty was going to work any angle she could to show the world Warner now could fail on TV and in anything he did. But they were going to be disappointed. Mr. and Mrs. Wright were going to ride this to the top.
Warner walked into the studio where the others from the show had been waiting. Kill ‘em with kindness, he thought and gave everyone a big smile. “Let’s get this show on the road. I got a wife with a touring contract to get home to.”
Chapter Sixteen
It was nearly seven o’clock before Warner made it home. The only person there was Christian. He’d really hoped to have a few moments to talk to his wife, but she hadn’t answered his call on the drive home or any of his texts in the past hour.
So much had happened in one day and it wasn’t until he was alone in his truck, with the radio off, and nothing but the sound of traffic on the street that he realized all of this was too coincidental.
Three weeks ago he was being told he had no talent. Jordan Farr had given him a little hope and then Warner found him at Patty’s house. Now Patty owned part of the record label most likely to ever sign him. He gets a gig to play in front of someone, whom he now knew was Savannah. Suddenly he’s signed to do ten episodes of some TV reality show and his wife, who only sang backup to him and Randy, except for once when she sang his song, now was going to tour with Savannah. None of this made sense and at the same time, wasn’t it what they wanted?
Warner pushed open the back door and Christian was at the kitchen table. He looked up at him.
“Hey.”
Warner shut the door. “Hey.”
“Clara’s not with you?”
He set his keys on the counter. “No. She’s got something going on.”
Christian nodded his head. “Was just hoping to talk to her. I need her opinion.”
“Anything I can help with?”
Christian winced, thought Warner wasn’t sure he knew he had, but then he nodded. “Maybe. You’ve been through this already.” Christian pushed a small box to the middle of the table. “What do you think?”
Warner walked over to the box. It was a ring box. He opened it slowly revealing the biggest solitaire he’d ever seen, and he knew Patricia Little’s taste in fine jewelry.
“Please don’t let my wife see this. I can’t afford one of these.”
Christian laughed a nervous laugh. “It’s nice, huh?”
“Gorgeous.”
“Yeah, I’m hoping it’ll do the trick. I’m going to ask Tori to marry me.”
Warner smiled. “Trust me. If she loves you the ring will be only the icing on the cake, not the reason.”
“I know. I know. It’s just,” he let out a breath, “I’m nervous.”
Warner knew what he meant. He’d been nervous too, but it worked out to his benefit. He was married to Clara and even though they were still learning about each other, he couldn’t imagine that years of waiting would have made it any better.
“When are you going to ask her?”
Christian bit down on his lip. “I don’t know exactly. I keep thinking I want to plan it all out, every moment of the night. But then I keep thinking spontaneous is better, right?”
“It worked for me.”
“Yeah.” Christian picked up the ring and looked it over. “Maybe that’ll be best. Spontaneous.”
“You’ll know when it’s right.”
Christian looked up at him. “What made you do it? I mean why marry someone when you’ve only met them? Aren’t you worried the Kellers are crazy and now you’re caught up in it?”
That made Warner laugh hard. “Are you kidding me? My mother left when I was ten because she was tired of being a mom. My dad committed suicide after his wife ran off on him and she went on to ruin the career of the OX and has spent the rest of the time trying to ruin me, although I don’t know why. My grandmother disliked me as much as my mother did and she shipped me off to Vegas to live with some aunt for a while. I’m thinking any crazy in this family is welcomed.”
“Damn. I thought getting injured and losing my career was bad.”
“Don’t think I’m looking for sympathy. Not everyone has a family like yours. Even though your parents had a hard time you were still taken care of.”
Christian nodded. “Yeah, even when Mom was married to Matt things were good.”