It's been a few months since she's been signed and Jenna's been crushing it. Single after single, hit after hit, chart maker after chart maker, Jenna James is making a name for herself in the country music industry.

And Michael has been by her side this whole time.

What she doesn't know is that after she drops her debut album, she's going on tour with Morgan and FGL. Michael wants to go with but his schedule doesn't line up like theirs does but he trusts Morgan and he trusts Jenna.

Her album is set to be released by the end of the month so she's been busy doing a promo shoot.

Her album, Wyatt, has some songs that she's been keeping at the back of the closet since she started writing seriously.

She dedicated the album to her granddaddy, the man who has always, always believed in her. The man who had listened to every song she's wanted to share, The man who went to every choir concert she was in, the man who gave her her first guitar, she still plays that thing and will until it runs out of songs.

It was his guitar that he stopped playing when him and Darlene, Mamaw, had her dad. He put it away in a case and didn't touch it until Jenna came around.

They were up in the attic for some reason and came across a dusty black case.

They had brought it down into the house and sat on the porch together. He was sitting in his chair while she sat in front of him, her whole attention on him.

She was nine.

It was that moment.

It was that moment she realized she wanted to do something with music and ever since he passed, everything she's done, she's had him on her mind.

Because of his death, it was easy not to go back to Kentucky. He was the only thing keeping her tied to Lawrenceburg and since he's gone, she doesn't have a reason to go back.

She hasn't talked to her family in five years.

She doesn't need to talk to her family.

The only one who she would talk to is dead.

Michael doesn't really know the whole situation about her family but he gets that it's a sensitive subject.

After wrapping up her fun little photoshoot, she's heading to the studio to pick Michael up for lunch.

"Wow." Jenna hears behind her when she steps into the lobby of the building. The intern behind the front desk grins at her. "You look stunning." She says.

"Oh, thanks." She says, running her hand over the skirt of her dress.

Jenna heads down the hallway to the studio Michael and Morgan usually frequent but when she opens the door, she's met with a different voice trickling through the speakers.

It's Michael.

She quietly shuts the door behind her just in total awe of his voice. He's got a sweet voice. He's singing a song she hasn't heard before but she's into it.

"Wow, look at you."

She peels her eyes away from her boyfriend in the booth to look at Morgan. "Hey, thanks." She smiles back, her stomach fluttering at the way he looks her over.

She shakes her head slightly, turning back to the booth in time to see Michael grin at her. She waves at him then he's exiting the booth, wrapping her in a tight hug.

"You look stunnin'." He says, holding her hands out as he steps back to get a good look at her. "Wow." She doesn't usually wear dresses so it's refreshing to see her in one, especially one that's short and curve hugging.

It probably just seems short because of how long her legs are.

"Wow." He repeats, still looking her over. He can't believe that this girl is all his.

"I've come to whisk you away to a world of sandwiches and burgers." She says, squeezing his cheeks with one hand.

He laughs and pushes her hand away. "We'll be back." He tells Morgan and Joey then takes her hand, pulling her outside to his truck.

+++

"You should move in with me."

Jenna stops mid fork raise as she looks at her boyfriend with a slacked jaw. "What?"

They two are sitting at a cute little restaurant a couple miles from Music Row and Michael just dropped basically a fucking bombshell on Jenna.

"What?" He asks, resting his forearm on the table edge.

"Move in with you?"

"Why not? We've been together for over a year now." He sees the look on her face. "What's wrong?"

She bites her lip. They have been dating for well over a year and their relationship is pretty serious so why the hell not?

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay, I'll move in with you." He smiles a relieved grin. "It'll be nice, y'know, livin' with someone." He leans over and kisses her. "I'll start packin' when I get home."

+++

The album release day has come.

Everyone, Big Loud, Michael, Morgan, Ernest, has been plugging her album for the past month and today's the day is dropped.

Michael has a huge surprise party planned for her; it's also her twenty fifth birthday today too.

It's a perfect storm.

Jenna was told that he has a reservation at some place in town and to be ready by five so she is. She's sitting at the counter, watching some YouTube video as she waits for her boyfriend to pick her up.

"Babe, you ready?" Michael asks when he opens the door.

"Lemme grab my boots." She says, hopping off the chair.

Jenna steps into a pair of tall black suede boots that go up over her knee. "Okay." She smiles, slinging her purse over her shoulder. "Wow, look at my man all dressed up and dapper." She giggles, running her hand over the button down tucked into a pair of black pants with a matching jacket, tan boots on his feet. "You're so handsome."

She licks her lips with that look in her eye.

Michael knows that look.

"We- We can't be late." He says in a weak voice when her fingers trace the words on his exposed chest.

"We can be a little late, right? Reservations have a little wiggle room. Just call 'em and say traffic's bad." She whispers, her hot, minty breath fanning across the chain around his neck and he swallows hard.

"I- I- I-" He trails off into a blushy giggle. "Babe, we can't-"

"You know we can." She takes his hand and tugs him to the couch, an ornery smile on her lips. "We can be a couple minutes late."

+++

Almost an hour later, Michael is parking his truck in the side lot of a building.

Jenna fixes her hair, making sure it's still in waves then slides out of his truck.

"Can't believe you made us late." Jenna says playfully, tugging her boots back into place.

"Me!?"

She cackles and links her arm around his as they walk to the door. "What is this place? Is this a restaurant?" Michael says nothing as he pulls the door open for her, following her in.

"Surprise!"

Jenna jumps at the shouts that come her way then she laughs at herself. She turns to Michael who's laughing as well and kisses him.

"Happy birthday." He says into her ear.

Jenna grins at the small group of people in front of her. Her eyes go from her friends to the name on the wall- her album name.

It's Wyatt in a rope font, yellow on blue.

She turns to Michael with a tearful look.

Those colors mean way more than everyone thinks, that font and that name.

One, it's her granddaddy's name and her middle name.

Two, her granddaddy's daddy did calf roping when he was younger and taught Wyatt about it but he wasn't that into it. When his dad passed, he had a little keychain made out of rope to represent him. He has passed it down to Jenna.

Three, Wyatt had this gorgeous light blue 1970 Ford F100 that he loved but as he got older, the less mobile he became and he ended up giving it to Jenna's father who gave it to her brother.

Four, that yellow was the color of Wyatt and Darlene's house. In that damn house, that porch, is where she fell in love with music. She can still see her nine-year-old self sitting with her granddaddy on the white wicker furniture with that beat up Martin D-42, singing songs by Hank, Johnny Cash, and her favorite, Jim Reeves with lightning bugs littering the open field across from that house.

She can still smell the way that house smelled, she can still hear how the floors creaked and groan with age as weight traveled across the linoleum.

She can still feel her granddaddy's hand on her shoulder. She misses the real weight of it but she can still see his calloused paw of a hand on her thin shoulder, and she can still hear how his rough hand would snag against the fabric of whatever sweater or shirt she was wearing.

Jenna throws her arms around Michael and buries her tear tracked face in his shoulder and suppresses a sob.

He cups her cheeks, brushing her tears away. "You okay?"

"How'd- did you do this?" He nods. "How'd you do it?"

"Your photo album."

She looks down as she cries again. "I love you." She bumps her nose against his then kisses him again.

He runs his fingers through her hair then kisses her forehead sweetly. "Go visit." He says, playfully smacking her ass.

She hits him back with a smile then makes her way to the bar at the back of the venue.

"Big night, huh?" Morgan says, handing her an Alabama Slammer. "You doin' okay?"

"Yeah, I am." She smiles back.

Bryson comes up to them and wraps in arm around her. "Hey! Happy Birthday! Happy Album Release!"

"Thanks." She laughs back.

"Oh! Did Morgan tell you that you guys are going on tour in a couple months?"

Her face drops slightly. "Seriously?"

He nods. "Yeah! Oh, hey, Garrett, wait!" He excuses himself.

"Tour?" She asks, looking over at Morgan who has a huge grin. "Seriously?"

"You cool with that?"

"So cool!" She giggles and throws her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. She ignores how one hand is dangerously close to resting on her ass.

She has her cheek pressed against his sturdy chest.

She clears her throat and pulls away. "I'm- I'm gonna go find Michael." She says with a blush. "Excuse me." He nods and watches her walk off, his eyes trained on her curvy ass in that sexy fucking dress she's in.