Marking Time by Marie Force Page B

hooked up with this guy?” Butch had the same middle Tennessee drawl as Ashton.
    “Our dads are friends. I applied for a job here. Who do I need to talk to?”
    “Charlie Sledge is the manager. He’ll be here tomorrow morning. What’s your last name? I’ll put in a word for you.”
    “Harrington.”
    “Kate Harrington,” Butch said. “I’ll remember that. Maybe someday I’ll be able to say I met you the day you landed in Nashville.”
    “Maybe so,” Kate said, taking in the chaos that was Mabel’s, filled with the satisfaction of being exactly where she wanted to be.
     
    On Monday, Kate arrived at the five-thirty sign-up time to sing at open-mic night at the Bluebird but didn’t make it on stage that night. They gave her a “play next time” ticket. She planned to go back the following Monday, and Reid and Ashton promised to come cheer her on. Jack surprised Kate with tickets to the Tuesday evening show at the Grand Ole Opry and invited the Matthews to go with them. Kate loved the show, which was made up of a talented group of unknowns and a surprise appearance by Vince Gill. Reid said he hadn’t been to the Opry in more than fifteen years and thanked Jack and Kate for giving him an excuse to play tourist in his hometown.
    With Butch’s help, Kate landed a job busing tables at Mabel’s and was due to start in a few days.
    By the time Friday rolled around, her father had helped to get her settled into the apartment at the Westchester. They turned in the U-Haul and spent the next two days playing tourist. They’d been through the Country Music Hall of Fame, listened to jazz at F. Scott’s, visited Belmont Plantation, and made the rounds of the music industry’s hot spots, including the Bluebird, the In & Out, and Tootsie’s.
    Before they left Kate’s apartment for the Nashville International Airport, Jack handed her a gift bag.
    “What’s this?”
    “Just a few things to make it possible for me to sleep at night while you’re here.”
    Kate laughed when she pulled a can of mace and a panic button out of the bag. “A safety goody bag. Thank you.” He’d already given her a credit card to use for anything she needed.
    “I want you to keep that stuff with you all the time, do you hear me?”
    She patted his cheek. “I will. I hope you won’t be worried every second of every day. You can’t do that.”
    “I’ll try to behave and leave you alone, but you have to call. Often. If you don’t, I’ll worry.”
    “I have a feeling I’m going to be pretty homesick for a while. You’ll get tired of hearing from me.”
    He pulled her into a tight hug. “Never,” he whispered.
    Before she could give in to the urge to cry her eyes out, Kate drew back from him. “We’d better go.”
    They drove the short distance to the airport in silence. Kate took a ticket at the short-term parking lot so she could walk him in.
    When she couldn’t go any farther with him, he turned to her. “You know where I am if you need anything, right?”
    With her hands on his chest, she looked up at him. “I always know where you are. I want you to try very hard not to worry.”
    “Be careful who you trust here, Kate. This is a tough town. They chew up little girls like you and spit them out. Don’t get sucked into all that crap. Reid and Ashton both have my card. They know to call me if they see you heading for any kind of trouble.”
    “Spies, huh?” Kate asked with a grin. She expected nothing less from him.
    “No, friends. Keep in touch with them. They’re good people.”
    “I will.” She clung to him much longer than she’d planned to, and when she was finally able to let him go, she wasn’t surprised to see tears in his eyes, too. “Do you remember my favorite movie when I was little?”
    “Of course I do. I must’ve watched The Wizard of Oz a hundred times with you.”
    “Then you’ll remember what Dorothy said to the Scarecrow when she was leaving Oz. I think I’ll miss you most of all.”
    He