A Winter Wedding

Lourdes curled the fingers of her free hand into her palm. Did she care to talk to “the other woman”? What on earth could Crystal have to say to her?

In the end, curiosity overcame her reluctance. Hoping she wouldn’t live to regret it, she slid the answer button to the right. “Hello?”

“Lourdes? Thanks for taking my call. I...I wasn’t sure if it would only make matters worse, but I felt like I needed to say something.”

Lourdes sank onto the edge of her bed. “I can’t imagine what we’d have to discuss.”

“Well, I bet we can both agree that I owe you an apology. I’m really, really sorry. And I just have to say it’s been awful watching Derrick go through this, when I know I’m partially to blame. I can’t explain exactly what happened that night, but—”

“You’re saying it was just one night?” Had Derrick been telling her the truth about that?

“Yes, it was. I swear. We’d had a bit too much to drink. We were excited about the sales of my latest album. We were making plans, and then it got late and...and before we knew it...things went too far. I wanted Derrick to tell you right away, but he was so afraid of losing you that he made me swear I’d keep my mouth shut.”

“I saw the picture that was posted on the internet where you two were making out over lunch, Crystal.”

“We weren’t making out! We were talking—about you and what we were going to do to right our wrong and how terrible we both felt.”

“So you’re not seeing him now.”

“No. Absolutely not. Our relationship is strictly professional. I asked him not to drop me. I’m just getting started in my career, and I really need his guidance. But I’m not after him in any other way, and...I felt...if there’s anything I can do to make things right between you two, I needed to do it.”

Lourdes rubbed her right temple. She told herself she shouldn’t buy into this, that it was another of Derrick’s attempts to convince her to overlook his latest indiscretion, and he’d only cheat on her again. But Crystal sounded so sincere. “I’ve hardly heard from him since he confessed the truth.”

“Because he’s been searching, night and day, to find you the perfect song. He told me it might be the one thing that’ll bring you back to Nashville long enough to give him a chance to prove himself.”

“He could’ve come here.”

“He said that wouldn’t help your career.”

But it might’ve helped her. Didn’t he care about that? How could he miss the fact that love and security were more important than anything to her?

Actually, somehow that didn’t surprise Lourdes. He’d done that kind of thing a lot, which was why so much of their relationship revolved around her career.

“Anyway, in case you still won’t answer his calls, I think he’s found that special song. It’s called ‘Crossroads,’ and he had me listen to it this morning. I loved it so much, I’m green with envy that he’s reserving it for you. But I understand why.” She paused, then added, “You need to call him. Trust me. It’ll be your next big hit.”

Lourdes thought of the night Kyle had phoned Derrick, pretending to be someone from Country Weekly magazine, and Crystal had obviously been with him. “I don’t know if I can believe you,” she said.

“Why not?” she asked. “I have no reason to lie. How would it help me if you came back? Or if you reunited with Derrick? The gossip rags will make me look like someone who couldn’t hang on to the man she tried to steal. That won’t be flattering, but even though I wasn’t actually trying to steal him, I deserve that for what I did, so I’m willing to take the bad press. The only reason I’m doing this is to try to make things right.”

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