Dog Days of Summer by Kathleen Y'Barbo

Author:Kathleen Y'Barbo [Y’Barbo, Kathleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781636093956
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

The flight back to Nashville was uneventful, but the meeting the next morning was anything but. I prepared to defend myself against a schedule that would require me to spend all my time on the road or in Nashville performing or recording.

I wasn’t expecting Sticks to tell me that I had to choose between making records and taking time off. He didn’t say it like that, but the ultimatum was implied. I walked out of the meeting not knowing what to do.

My heart told me to toss it all and go home to Brenham. My head, however, said I should at least meet with my accountant to see if I could afford this.

I placed a call to the accounting firm I employed and left a voice mail, then tucked the phone into my purse and drove home. I kicked off my shoes just inside the door and left my suitcases where I’d rolled them. Locking the door, I padded to the kitchen and put some water on to boil. I rarely kept a pitcher of sweet tea in the house, but I was craving one now.

Actually, I was craving some time in one of those rockers on Dallas’s front porch. My front porch, I amended. But sweet tea here in Nashville would have to do.

With Patsy and Cline boarded at the pet spa until tomorrow, the house was eerily quiet. I sorted through the mail that my housekeeper had stacked on the counter near the back door, then walked over to the window overlooking the pool and the Cumberland River off in the distance.

Compared to this place—a modern glass and steel with furniture to match—the Wright home was shabby. What I wouldn’t give for shabby right now.

My phone buzzed and I groaned. Ever since I returned, the calls and texts had been coming in at regular intervals. Everything I had put off to hurry to Mama’s side needed to be done, and everyone wanted it done immediately.

I shut off the ringer and sat the phone on the counter just as it rang again.

“Enough.” I walked through the house to the bedroom and tucked the phone into the drawer on the nightstand.

It was ludicrous to be without contact, but I needed this for just a minute. Or an hour. Or who was I kidding? I could use a very large dose of absolutely nothing to do.

The teapot’s steamy shrill sound cut through my mental whining. I poured hot water over the teabags in my ancient Revere Ware saucepan, and then I set the timer for five minutes.

Only then did it occur to me that while I was successfully shutting out the professional world I was not ready to reenter yet, I was also unable to receive calls from Mama or Mari. Given the nature and tone of the conversation with Bitsy this morning, I certainly didn’t need to be unavailable to them.

Reluctantly, I hurried back to the bedroom, retrieved the phone, and went back into the kitchen to finish making the tea.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.