"Wallen!" Duke shouts as he drops a twelve pack of Bud Light cans on the kitchen counter. Maggie talked Morgan's dad into letting them have this get together, he surprisingly agreed. "Look at you, man!"

"Duke, what's up." He gives him a fake smile. "Long time no see."

Maggie watches the old pitcher and third baseman catch up from her spot at the counter. "Maggie!? Oh my god!" A girl with obvious fake blonde hair shrieks from the front door.

"Blake." Mags smiles back, wrapping her arms around the girl. "You look great."

"I know, right?" She giggles back. "No drinking for me tonight!" She puts her hand on her unnoticeable baby bump. "Not with baby Lawson."

"Congrats." Maggie says half heartedly, raising her can.

"Thank you." She beams, flipping her dry hair over her shoulder. "What have you been up to?"

"Been livin' it up in Nashville." She says, her eyes locked on her boyfriend. "That's it."

"Nice! Seein' anybody?"

"Yeah." Maggie nods, returning the smile Morgan shoots her. "You still with Duke?"

"No." Blake waves to another person before she walks away, leaving the curly blonde by herself.

"Y'know, I had the biggest crush on you in high school." Duke mumbles to Maggie, one hand in a pocket with the other around a beer. His vividly green eyes look at her over the can and she blushes. "I thought you were the prettiest girl ever- I still do."

"Thanks." She says, crinkling the can in her hand. "What've you been up to since high school?"

"Oh y'know, just workin with my old man at the shop in town."

"You finally a mechanic?"

"Yes ma'am." He smiles. "I'm surprised you remembered that."

"It's all you talked about in school." Duke blushes, looking down at his can. "But good for you."

"What about you? You doin' anythin' with music?"

Maggie shrugs. "Kinda."

"What is this girl tellin you?" Another voice asks, Maggie turns and sees her best friend from high school with his arm around her protectively.

"Just- uh- just talkin' 'bout high school." Duke says, leaning against the counter. "Y'know."

"Nice. Y'all talkin' 'bout how she's the number one songwriter in Nashville?" Tom comments, squeezing her shoulders. "Or about how she's one of the most popular female country artists on the charts?"

"C'mon now, Tommy." She sighs, looking away. "It's not that big a deal."

"Not that big a deal!?" He walks away to play her debut album over the speakers. "This girl right here put this album out!"

"Tommy-"

"You're amazing! I had no idea you'd do shit like this."

"C'mon-"

"Seriously!" Maggie huffs, getting to her feet to change the music. Tom chuckles, wrapping his arms around his best friend. "I am so proud of you, baby." He plants a smooch on her cheek. Morgan feels a pang of jealousy as he watches them interact; he's always had a bad feeling about that guy.

A couple hours later, everyone has left- well, almost everyone.

Morgan is watching Tom and Maggie sit on the couch, a little too closely. He clenches his jaw at the sight of Tom's hand on his girlfriends knee. "Okay!" He shouts. "Thanks for comin' by, Tom." Morgan stands, grabbing the guy by the front of his t-shirt to shove him to the door.

"Morgan!" Maggie scolds, following them to the porch. "What the hell!?"

"C'mon man-!" Tom shoves his hands off him. "What's your problem!?"

"You're a little too comfortable with my girlfriend!" He snaps, pushing him away. "Back the fuck off!" Tom laughs, shoving him back. Morgan scoffs then suddenly swings his fist, making contact with his mouth.

"Morgan!" Maggie gasps, her hand over her mouth as she watches her best friend drop to the grass with a bleeding face. "Oh my god-"

"He's fine, Mags." He spits, pushing her away from him. "Go back inside."

She smacks his arm away as she crouches next to Tommy, helping him sit up. "What the fuck's gotten into you, Morgan?" She hisses, getting her best friend to his feet to help him back into the house and to the bathroom to clean him up.

"Maggie!" He shouts after her, grabbing her by the arm. She yanks herself out of his grasp then silently heads to the downstairs bathroom with Tom.

"I am so sorry, Tommy." She whispers, wiping the trails of blood from busted lips. "I don't know what the hell's gotten into him."

"He had every right to hit me." He says, his big brown eyes running over her freckled face. "Has every right to be paranoid."

"Huh?" Tom leans up and kisses her, his hands sliding to the sides of her face to keep her in place. She pulls away and gives him a look with wide eyes. "What the hell?"

"What? There's gotta be a reason you're back in town, Maggie." Tom says, twisting a curl around his grease-stained finger.

"Just to be home. We needed a break from the city." She says, sitting on the edge of the tub. "Nothin' else."

"Bullshit." He bites his lip. "You needed to come back. Deep down, you knew you missed me."

"Funny you say that." She clears her throat. "I kinda forgot you existed until I saw you." She means to sound rude. She's never once- not once- thought of Tommy in any romantic way. It's always been Morgan, even when she was with Matt and Riley. When she was engaged, she had a constant feeling in her gut that whoever she was set to marry was the wrong guy.

Morgan is the only one she wants to marry.

Someday.

"Are you stayin' with him?"

"With Morgan? Yeah. I am."

"But he hit your best friend-"

"So? That don't mean I'm breakin' up with him. I'm mad at him but I'm not endin' things." Tommy scoffs and rolls his eyes. "Did you want him to hit you? Are you seriously that big of an asshole that you set this whole fuckin thing up!?" He looks away. Maggie grabs him by the shirt and walks him outside. "See you 'round, Tommy." She spits as she shoves him toward his shitbox.

Morgan watches him drive off from his spot on the porch, his hand through his hair. "I'm so sorry, Mags-"

"Come with me." She orders, grabbing him by the wrist, leading him up to his tiny bedroom. Maggie locks the door behind them after she pushes him to sit on his bed. "Listen to me." He nods. "I don't like that you did what you did, at all." She says, crossing her arms as she leans against his desk. "But, Tommy wanted you to hit him so that I'd end things with you."

"Are you?"

"No." He breathes a sigh of relief. "But I do want you to tell me somethin'." He nods again. "Why did you hit him?"

Morgan shrugs, looking down at his red hand. "I didn't want to lose you again." He mumbles. Maggie sinks down on the bed next to him, her hand on his knee. "I lost you twice and I didn't want to lose you a third time." She sighs, wrapping her arm around her boyfriend before pressing a kiss to his temple.

"You know I love you, right?" She whispers, her forehead against the side of his head. "I was made to love you." She chuckles at herself. "I was made for you."

"I love you too." She cups his cheeks and kisses him softly; sweetly. "Y'know, it's just us home." Just as the words leave his mouth, his father is in the kitchen yelling for him, ruining their moment. "Cock blocker." He huffs as he stands, shooting Maggie a wink before heading down to the kitchen to meet his father

=

Maggie and Morgan collapse on their bed after their long trek back to Nashville from Sneedville. They went to church with Morgan's father then headed back home, stopping in Knoxville for some grub. "Nice to be home." He sighs, reaching over to rest his hand on her thigh. "Nice to not be in Sneedville."

"Nice to be home." She agrees, turning on her side to face him to give him a quick kiss before getting up.

"Where're you goin'?" He calls, leaning up on his elbows. She waves him off as she pulls on a sweater, heading to the living room to get the melody and lyrics that are floating around in her head out on paper.

"Water towers are made for hearts and names. Friday nights are made for football games. Fallin leaves are made for fallin in. Front porch steps are made for goodnight kissin and I was made for you, yeah I was made for you."

Morgan leans against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest as he listens to her create a ballad. "That's beautiful, Gracie."

Her phone starts ringing. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me." Michael says. "I have a proposal for you."

"I'm kinda scared." She giggles. "What's up?"

"A duet."

"Me and you duet?"

"Why not? Your voice would sound killer on my record! Oh, we could do a three part harmony too!"

"I'm down for whatever, Michael." She smiles. "Just let me know what's goin' through your beautiful mind."

"Will do, baby. Come to the studio tomorrow and bring Morgan!" He pushes her off the phone, hanging up on her.

Maggie laughs, tossing her cell onto the coffee table. "What was that about?"

"Michael's on sumthin'." She shakes her head.

"What's he want?" Morgan asks, sitting next to her, one arm behind her on the couch with his other hand on her knee.

"Us at the studio tomorrow." She sighs as she leans into him, cuddling up close. Morgan smiles to himself, holding her close, pulling her legs over his lap. "This isn't gettin' my songs written."

"No but it's nice." He whispers, playing with her fingers with his lips against her neck. "Right?" Maggie giggles and pulls away. "What're you doin'?"

"Writin' music!" She shouts back while she walks out to the porch with her guitar in her hand.

=

"So what's this idea you have?" Maggie asks from her spot on the couch in her lounge while Michael is standing in front of her with his phone in his hand. "A duet?"

"I've got two ideas, okay? One is a three voice part harmony shit and the other is a duet and I want you on both with me."

"Me? Really? Why?"

"Because you got killer pipes, baby." She rolls her eyes. "And you're like the only one I trust to sing these with me."

"What're they?"

"I got One Beer and So Close." He says, handing her his phone. "These are the words I got written up."

She sits and reads them quietly. "I'm assumin' that this beer song is the three part." He nods. "I'll sing these with you if you do somethin' for me."

"Uh sure."

"You gotta help me with my new album. I'm hittin' a wall."

"Sure yeah, I can do that." He says.

"Then you got yourself a deal, baby." She winks.

"Fuck yeah! Okay, here." She's handed a pair of headphones and the lyrics. "Listen to this then meet me in the booth after lunch."

"You got it." Maggie keeps herself cooped up in her lounge, reading over the lyrics while listening to the backing track until lunch.

She grabs her brown paper bag and sits with Michael at a table in the break room. "So what do you need help with on your record?"

"I have so many pieces of songs but it's just so freakin hard to make somethin outta it." She huffs, taking a chip from the bag she got from the vending machine. "Morgan's been distractin' me like it's nobody's business."

"I'd suggest go on a solo trip to get your mind at ease but you just got back from a trip."

"Maybe you can have Morgan stay a while with you so I can focus on my music. He's been a handful." They're talking about him like he's a goddamn toddler. "I just- I just really need to focus."

"I'll figure somethin' out."

"I think this is a sign that I shouldn't put out a second record." She mumbles. "It shouldn't be this hard!"

"That's what the music biz is; difficult. It weeds out the weak. You, of all people, are at the top of the pyramid of people who can handle this, okay?"

"What?"

"Just don't drop this, okay? Don't give up on this. This has been your dream for how long? You worked so hard on getting yourself up here and now you're ready to just quit because you're finally having trouble with writing?"

"Michael-"

"No. The day you give up is the day the world stops fuckin turning."

"Whatever." She sighs. "Whatever. I just need to get like ten or so more songs written for this stupid record."

Michael nods and starts to help Maggie brainstorm some melodies and words for the rest of their lunch break before the two head to the booth to lay down a few for his duet.