Good Love (Sequel to Chance Meeting)

One

Nashville, Tennessee

        December, 2021

A month after the surprise proposal of her boyfriend–two after his sudden major surgery for something that very well coulda killed him–Aerin Crosswhite couldn't have been happier. It'd been two long Years since she'd run away from everything she'd ever known, loved, and had a problem with in her home State of North Carolina–two long Years since she'd last seen or heard from her mother.

        That was exactly what she'd wanted at the Time she'd left, though, never once expecting to meet not one, but two of her idols. What was even more unexpected, but certainly not cause for complaint, was one of those idols becoming the aforementioned boyfriend–and subsequent fiancé. If she hadn't run away and made a benign stop near Nashville for a nap and some coffee, she wouldn't have wound up stumbling across some of the best things that'd ever happened to her. The Universe sure had a funny way of doing things, but then again, everything was truly give-and-take, now wasn't it?

        Such a give-and-take manner of doing things was exactly why she and fiancé Bobby Dall were planning more than just a wedding–or rather, handfasting. At the moment, he currently lived down in Miami, Florida with his grown kids–Zak and Zoe–which meant a lotta money spent to fly up to the Capitol of country Music. If he didn't fly up North, that still meant a lotta money spent for the young woman to fly South to visit him and said kids instead.

        During the Time he'd essentially been trapped in Tennessee last month, the bassist'd actually grown to like the area a lot more than he'd thought he would. Sure, it was a lot colder than he was used to and there wasn't a Beach around for hours, but there was something about it that he couldn't put his finger on. Then again, he supposed his home was now and forever where his beautiful fiancé was–and she refused to move down to Miami. All she could really take were short trips down there, 'cuz the heat and humidity were too much for her–they'd make her sick as a Dog like she'd been for the last week, if she was exposed for too long.

        "Oh, Goddess," Aerin whimpered, bolting upright as her mutinous stomach started up again. She was glad she hadn't pulled her covers over herself, despite being cold, as she jumped up and scrambled into her bathroom.

        "Hey, Aerin." Her friend and roommate knocked on her bedroom door just a few seconds too late.

        Unable to hear him from her bathroom, the young woman didn't respond–not that she coulda as she dry-heaved once again.

        "Aerin, can I come in?" Ash called, not realizing she still couldn't hear him. Frustrated and worried after a few more seconds with no response, he took out the key and unlocked her door.

        "Does she ever do this?" The question was posed by none other than the young woman's fiancé, who'd just arrived with good news.

        "Not unless she really wantsta be alone, but she doesn't tend to get like that as oft as she used to," he answered, shaking his head as he opened her bedroom door.

        Bobby's eyes widened as they instantly heard a muffled version of her gagging and heaving, his heart rate spiking as he took off for the bathroom. He paid no attention to the younger bassist following close behind him, his heart breaking at the sight he was met with no doubt as much as hers had when she'd found him the Morn after her birthday.

        Pale and clammy, she sat in the floor in front of her toilet, apparently too sick to care that it was grossta have her had laying on the seat. One look at her told him that her entire torso was shaking like a leaf, not just her hands where they weakly gripped the bowl. He'd no doubt that even her legs–especially her knees–would be shaking just as bad, were she capable of getting up. As it stood, Aerin didn't look like she coulda gotten up of her own accord, no matter how hard she tried, and seeing her in this condition worried him to no End.