“Would I be wrong to do it for both reasons?”

“I guess not.”

She reached out to him. “I’m really hoping you meant it when you said you’d be here waiting for me if I go. I’m counting on it.”

He took her hand. “I meant it.” But his eyes were filled with sadness that hadn’t been there a few days ago.

Kate drove into Nashville the following afternoon, on her way to the old warehouse where the Rafters practiced. Her heart was heavy when she thought of the conversation she needed to have with her band.

Reid had stayed by her side all weekend, and judging from the phone calls he’d been fielding, Kate suspected he had a lot of cleanup work to do after missing the important meeting on Saturday.

She was full of mixed feelings. Instead of celebrating her big break, she was gripped with pain whenever she thought of her father. It was also hard to watch Reid struggling to figure out how to mend the rift with Ashton. Everything was suddenly a huge mess, which made celebrating a low priority.

She’d left a message at Buddy and Taylor’s house that morning. They were in New York but were due back tomorrow. Once I say yes to their offer, there’s no going back, Kate thought as she parked at the warehouse. All that was left to do now was tell the band she was leaving them. Since she would be rehearsing and recording for the next few months before the tour, she was also going to have to drop the classes she’d barely begun at Belmont University.

Kate walked into the big building through a side door. The guys were already there and greeted her warmly as they tuned guitars, adjusted drums, and plugged in keyboards.

They got down to business a short time later, but the practice was a disaster from the get-go. Kate kept missing her cues, and after the third time, she held up a hand to stop the music.

“What’s with you today, Kate?” Billy asked, clearly aggravated.

“Can we take a break? I need to talk to y’all.” The word was out before she realized she was beginning to sound like a native Tennessean.

They put down their instruments and sat on the stairs that led to the platform where they practiced.

“What’s going on?” asked Mike, the drummer.

Kate got teary eyed when she tried to find the words to tell them she was leaving them for bigger and better things.

The others exchanged worried glances.

“Remember the other night when Buddy and Taylor asked to see me after the show?”

They nodded.

“Well, they made me an amazing offer. They asked me to open for them on their tour next summer and to record ‘I Thought I Knew’ on their label.”

Kenny, the keyboard player, whistled.

“Holy smokes,” Mike said.

“Yeah,” Kate said.