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number. “Well, that’s just great.” He flipped the phone shut and shoved it back into his pocket.
    Now what?
    Figure it out . . . It’s not that hard.
    Right. He’d done his homework, getting in touch with her sister, Grace, right before he left Wilmot last night, to make sure he knew where to find Destiny.
    “You’re going to visit her?” Grace asked in surprise.
    “Well, I’m going to be in Nashville anyway, so I thought . . .”
    “Are you going to call her and let her know you’re coming?”
    “No, because I might not have the chance to get there after all, so . . .”
    And besides, I might chicken out , he’d thought at the time.
    But he hadn’t. He’d even used the team’s eleventh-inning win as an excuse to treat them to dinner at Back in the Saddle Bar and Grille in hopes of hearing her sing.
    So far, so good.
    He knew her apartment was only two blocks away. Might as well leave his car in the public lot. It was a nice night for a stroll.
    As the sun dipped lower in the sky, neon lights flickered and popped on to create a festive, charged atmosphere.
    Seth took it all in, noting that the neighborhood seemed to be a safe one, just as Cooper had assured him back when she’d first moved in.
    Actually, what his old pal had said was, “If you’re that worried about her, why don’t you go down to Nashville and see for yourself?”
    “I can’t do that.”
    “Why not?”
    “She doesn’t want to see me.”
    “How do you know?”
    “ You told me,” he’d reminded Cooper.
    “Well, I’m sure she’s over it by now—whatever ‘it’ is. Seeing as neither of you wanted to tell me and Annie what happened, all I can do is guess that you must’ve done something to piss her off.”
    “Yeah, or maybe it was the other way around.”
    Cooper just shook his head. He’d been the one—along with Annie—who helped Destiny load up all her possessions, drive down to Nashville, and move into a one-room apartment.
    “I give her two weeks,” he proclaimed to Seth. “Three, tops. Then she’ll be running back home where she belongs.”
    But unlike Cooper—and everyone else, it seemed—Seth had known this wasn’t just a whim for Destiny.
    Seth absently tossed a five-dollar bill into the open guitar case of a street singer and looked around to get his bearings.
    Ah—there it was.
    Nessie’s Nashville Novelties.
    Destiny’s apartment was on the second floor of the old brick building, above the souvenir shop. Annie had mentioned that visitors had to walk down a narrow alley to her entrance around back. Seth was about to round the corner when Destiny’s voice drifted to him from somewhere overhead, probably through an open window.
    “Yeah, right, Mike. I know I was gone for a long time, but your kisses won’t make up for the mess you made.”
    Seth definitely should have called first. No, he shouldn’t be here at all. Jealous and embarrassed, he started to turn around.
    “Cut it out,” Destiny said, her voice more urgent than teasing now. “I don’t want your kisses. Just go on and go . Hurry!”
    Seth frowned, wondering if everything was okay.
    “Mike! Come on! You’re going to get me in trouble!”
    Adrenaline rushing through his veins, Seth rounded the side of the building with his fists cocked, ready to teach this Mike character a thing or two.

    S ara Hart drifted through the empty house, wishing her daughter Grace would come back from her latest round of job hunting so that she wouldn’t feel so alone.
    She couldn’t help but remember the old days, when they were a bustling family of four—Grace and Destiny, Sara and John. The picture-perfect family she’d always wanted.
    You still have them , she reminded herself, settling on the couch and idly picking up one of Grace’s magazines. Everyone is just busy doing their own thing, that’s all. That’s how it’s supposed to be.
    She opened the magazine, trying not to be startled by photos of cleavage and headlines about sex.
    This was no