Chapter 3: A Second Chance

Chloë led my friends away, leaving me alone with a woman I never imagined I’d ever see again.

“Kayla Valentine?”

She tilted her head and smiled. Damn, she had a dynamite smile. “My manager and the head of my label thought that ‘Carly Williams’ sounded too ... Well, normal, I guess. We went through a whole bunch of ideas—Callie Williams, Carrie Williams, and a whole bunch more. We even tried my full name—Caroline—before we decided it was ‘Williams’ that was the problem. Well, they decided Williams was the problem.”

“So why ‘Valentine’?”

“Because ... Well ... The A&R guy from the label first contacted me after a set I did on February fourteenth. Just about a year ago, now. And once we decided on that, I figured I may as well go the whole way and use something different from ‘Carly’ or variations of ‘Caroline.’ I settled on ‘Kayla’ because I liked it and it sounded better with ‘Valentine’ than anything else I could think of that I liked. It’s almost like I’m two different people now—Carly to my old friends and my family, and Kayla to the people in the industry and my fans.”

I shook my head. “I knew you’d get a record deal. I really did. You were ... Well, are ... Awesome.”

She did that smile and head tilt thing again. “Thanks.”

There was an awkward silence then. One I couldn’t let last. A silence I felt the need to fill.

“So ... How have you—”

“You ran away, Paul! You ran away and left me. You ran away and left a note!”

I winced. “I know. Carly, I—”

“Why, Paul? Why did you do that?”

I didn’t know what to say. What to tell her? I couldn’t tell her the truth. Could I? I couldn’t tell her that I got scared. Scared that I might be falling for her. Scared of that voice in my head and what she was saying to me whenever we were alone.

Or could I? Would she understand? Did it matter? She probably already hated me.

I shook my head slowly. “Carly, I ... Look, I’d already spent too much time in Nashville. I had a schedule to keep. I—”

“Bullshit! Don’t lie to me, Paul! Don’t you fucking lie to me!” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, composing herself. I’d only been with her for three weeks, but even in that short time, I felt like I’d come to know her so well. Carly was a contradiction—so sweet and sensitive, so loving and caring, and yet a passionate firebrand in the right, or should that be the wrong, circumstances.

And right then, I didn’t know which Carly was standing in front of me: the sweetheart or the firecracker.

She opened her eyes and stared into mine. “Just tell me the truth, Paul. Please. Whatever the truth is. Even if you think it will hurt me, just tell me the truth.”

I nodded. “Okay. But ... Let’s see if we can find somewhere a little more private.”

“There’s a little balcony over the other side with a table for two. We should be away from everyone there.”

She led the way. It wasn’t really a balcony as such, just a small table in the northeast corner, overlooking the HMS Belfast on the Thames far below.

“Well?” she said when we were seated, her voice soft.

I took a deep breath. “The truth, right?”

She nodded. “Stop stalling.” She smiled, softening her words.

“You know what I was doing in America, right? I told you that. I told you about Clarissa and the accident. I think ... no, wait, I know I told you more about me than any other person I met over there. Hell, for a long time after I got back here, you were still the one I’d shared the most with. I felt so comfortable with you. So... at ease. Those three weeks were ... I don’t know how to explain them. It was like I was living a different life. Someone else’s life.

“And the truth is, it scared me. It terrified me, actually.”

“Scared you?”

I nodded. “Carly ... I think I was falling in love with you. Or I might have been. I don’t know. Maybe that’s not what I was feeling, but the point is, I was feeling. And that’s what scared me. I hadn’t felt anything for so long, ever since the accident, really. I sort of ... shut down after Clarissa died.” I paused. Looked down at the table. Then I looked up at her. She was so beautiful. And so sweet. I couldn’t lie to her. Not after the way I’d treated her. “And then there was you and ... And I was falling in love with you, and it scared me to death.”

“So, you ran away?”

I nodded. “I ... I felt like I was betraying Clarissa’s memory. I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with someone else. I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t thinking straight.” I looked down at the table again and took a deep breath before looking up at her again. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done it. And I certainly shouldn’t have done it the way I did. But I ... I wasn’t in my right mind, and I...” I shrugged. “I ran away from my problems at home when I went to America in the first place. It took me a long time to admit even to myself, let alone anyone else, that that’s what I was doing. So, it’s not really surprising that I ran away from you, too. I was a mess. For a long time. Still am to some extent. I’m getting better but...” I shrugged again.

She looked at me with sad eyes and shook her head.

“I gave you my heart, Paul. I gave you my everything. You might have been falling in love with me, but I had already fallen in love with you.”

I frowned and nodded. “I know. And I think that scared me, too. That might have even scared me more.”

“You broke my heart.”

“I know. And I’m sorry.”

“I gave you my virginity and you broke my heart.”

“I know. And I’m—”

“I suppose I should be grateful you at least stuck around for another couple of weeks after you had me and didn’t just disappear the very next morning.”

I shrugged. There was no point in apologising again.

“And ... I suppose it’s a good job—for you—that you have a chance to make it up to me.”

“What do you mean, ‘make it up to you?’”

“I’ll explain later. I think, for now, you’ve got some explaining to do.” She looked beyond me and nodded her head to indicate I should turn around. Imogen, Emily and Lisa were standing a discreet distance away, but very clearly waiting for us to finish.

“What?” I said, not hiding my annoyance at the interruption.

“Chloë said to tell you not to monopolise Kayla’s time,” Lisa said. “She’s still got several very important people to meet, apparently.”

I nodded.

“And, Kayla, Chloë also said to tell you it’s nearly midnight.”

“Is it?” Carly looked at her watch—a delicate gold band which suited her slender wrist perfectly. “Oh, shit!” She stood up. “Paul, we’ll have to finish this later. Just ... Don’t run away. Again. Okay?”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m doing a midnight set. Just the theme song from the movie and another one from the movie’s soundtrack album. It’s for the YouTube channel and socials more than anything, but it doesn’t hurt that there’s a whole bunch of money men looking to sponsor a tour here tonight.”

A small stage had been erected in the northwest corner of the observation deck, with the tourist part of London as its backdrop. The illuminated London Eye was the most prominent landmark, but the Palace of Westminster was also in view.

Carly performed an acoustic version of the film’s theme song—just her and her guitar, which lacked the dynamic, dramatic punch of the recorded version with its full orchestration and distinctive electric guitars, but instead served to really highlight both the wonderfully clever and deeply heartbreaking lyrics and Carly’s amazing voice.

My friends and I stood towards the back of the crowd that had gathered around the stage. Chloë was down at the front with John Latham, Sam and the other big stars in attendance. I noticed three people with cameras at fixed points around the stage, two more free to move around to get the best angles, and one more whose job appeared to be capturing footage of the audience, specifically, the stars in the audience, reacting to Carly’s performance.

“It’s being streamed live,” Mark said to me in a whisper. He held up his phone, which was tuned to the stream of the very performance we were watching in person. I gave him a questioning look, and he shrugged. “I searched her. She’s got a great channel and is really active on all the socials.”

The second song was an upbeat, catchy number about being happy. It was one of those songs that you just knew you’d find yourself humming at random moments during the day. On stage, guitar in hand, swaying in time and smiling as she sang, I was reminded just why I’d ended up staying in Nashville far, far longer than I ever expected.

Mark leaned towards me and whispered, “So ... She’s one of your many Yankee conquests, huh?”

“The ‘Yankees’ were from the north. She’s more ‘Dixie.’”

“Whatever, you know what I mean. Like Chloë said. Her name is in the diary, yeah?”

I glanced at him, grinned, then looked back at Carly up on the stage. “Mate, she’s the one person whose name I didn’t need to put in the diary to remember.”

“That special, huh?”

I nodded. “That special.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, well ... Try telling me now that you don’t absolutely have a ‘type.’”

I grinned and glanced at him again. “Fuck you.”

“Thank you. Thank you. Y’all are real kind.” God, I loved that ‘Southern Belle’ accent of hers. Carly paused and glanced over to the side of the stage. “So, I was just gonna do those two songs, both of them are in this amazing movie, but I asked if I could do one more, and they all said that was fine. So, this next song I wrote a couple of years ago after I had my heart broken, and, in a way, it’s the reason I’m standing right here tonight. It’s called ‘You Made Me’ and I hope y’all enjoy it.”