Meant to Marry Me

"How was your day?" Trent asked, his hand tightly wound around Bree's as they walked along a quiet street in their neighborhood. It was a nice spring day, transitioning to summer, a little warm, but not too hot. After work, he'd gone home to find Bree in shorts and a T-shirt ready to go for a stroll and had changed into a similar outfit to take advantage of the opportunity to get some fresh air with the beautiful woman next to him.

"It was good," Bree said, her voice wavering slightly which made him question whether or not she was telling him everything. He thought she probably would if he gave her a chance to keep talking. She usually did. "Some of the newer songs are really starting to come along. We might be ready to play them at the next show."

"That's great," Trent said with a genuine smile. "Anything else happen?" He still hadn't told her about his office visitor. He would. As soon as she had a chance to tell him everything she wanted to.

A light breeze stirred the trees and blew the loose strands of Bree's strawberry blonde hair that framed her face. "No, not really. We were just talking about some big local country show I'd never heard of before. It's like... just when I start to think we're starting to make a name for ourselves, I find out there's something else we're missing out on, that's all."

Trent was quiet as he contemplated her words. It had to be the same show that Monica had mentioned, didn't it? What were the chances there would be two large country shows of the stature Bree was implicating within such close proximity of each other? "You are making a lot of progress," he said. "This tour is going to be huge."

"Yeah, I know. I think so," she said with a shrug. "These houses are so pretty. Do you think we'll ever live in a house like this?"

His eyes flickered to the large, older homes they were walking by now. All of them had been newly renovated. Most were Arts and Craft bungalows with the occasional Greek Revival or Victorian sprinkled in. They weren't huge mansions like one might find in a different part of town, but they were certainly nice. "I think we might," he said. Visions of himself and Bree sitting on one of these wide porches, children playing in the yard, made him smile. Would that be their future? Not if he didn't tell her the truth about Monica. "Listen, Bree. I need to tell you something."

She turned her head, eyebrows arched. "What is it? Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine. It's just... Monica came by the office today."

She stopped then, spinning to face him, letting go of his hand in her shock. "For what?"

He let out a hot breath, hoping she didn't get upset there in the middle of this quiet neighborhood. They were a couple of miles from their apartment. "Actually, she wanted to talk about a show coming up, a country music show with models, I'm guessing it's the same one you heard about today."

"Nashville Nights?" Bree asked. Somehow, her eyes widened even more. "What did she want to talk about that for?"

He reached for her hand, and she gave it to him. He kept walking toward the end of the block, but he knew it would be time to head back to the apartment as soon as he could turn that way, just in case Monica's appearance set Bree off again. "She said her boyfriend, or photographer friend, whatever he is, George, gets to invite one of the bands, and she would like for it to be your band. She said, if you want to do it, she can make it happen."

Bree was quiet as she walked alongside him. They reached the end of the block. Trent checked for traffic, despite not having seen a moving car for at least ten minutes, and then crossed the street to head back toward home. "Why would she do that?” Her voice was quiet, like she had no idea what she was supposed to think about the situation.

He was in the same position. "I don't know, Bree. But I don't trust her. It sounds like this show is a big deal and that you and your band members would like to be a part of it, but I really don't recommend it. Regardless of Monica's purposes, I guarantee this is not an olive branch. If it is, it's the kind with thorns."

Trent turned to give her a pointed look. Bree nodded. She knew that. She had to understand that, at least, by now. There was absolutely nothing in the world trustworthy about Monica Edge.

Yet, he could see behind her eyes that Bree was still considering it. The fact that she was even contemplating accepting Monica's invitation made him uneasy. Surely, she had to understand this wouldn't come without consequences. He didn't think Monica was crazy enough to actually try to physically harm Bree the way that Cat had, but he didn't know for sure. There had to be something in this for Monica. She wasn't the type to just help other people, especially not people she had reason to think had done her wrong.

An older woman with a dog walked by on the other side of the street, which allowed him to change the subject to pets. Bree obliged, likely as glad to not have to speak about Monica anymore as he was. But he knew this wasn't over with yet. He just prayed Bree wouldn't fall for Monica's trickery because, if she did, she was bound to get hurt, one way or another.