Baby's On The Way - Luke Bryan

Chapter 2 - R.I.P. Papa

We went through the songs. I only had 5 songs that I sent in. All of them were picked Lee Brice took I drive your truck. That was one I was hoping would get picked. It has more meaning than what any of them would think. I made it about my Pa. He was the only thing I looked up to, he was my hero, he was my savior, and he was my father. He raised me to be the woman I am today and without him I would not be here right now. It made me smile when he said he loved the song. He said he felt the emotions it took to write this song. I was asked a few questions. I just said yes to the he was in the military and if I drive his truck.
The next song that went was to Blake Shelton. He took the lyrics to a song I called Over. He was very enthusiastic about the song and said he could make it sound like a number one hit. I was told that it was very well written. His wife Miranda decided to take the song White Liar. She wanted it because she said it had the perfect twang for her voice. Plus it would be a great song to send some sort of message.
Jason Aldean took a little while looking at the last two compositions. They were take a little ride and My kind of party. He smirked and said he wanted them both but Luke was looking at My Kind of Party. Everyone turned to Luke. He looked around the room and spoke.
"Jason, take them both. I would like to talk to Miss. Daniels about maybe other lyrics or helping me with some of my own. I absolutely love your writing style and what you write about. You can become serious, heart filled, spontaneous, and emotionally overwhelming and I like it. So take those songs." Luke said smiling right at me. His white teeth just shined in the light. His eyes had this look in them that made me melt.
"You sure?" James asked.
"As sure as mama is when she makes that sweet tea of hers." Luke said.
"Your mama does make great tea Luke." Blake said.
"Well Miss Daniels. What do you say to that?" James looked at me asking me if I would confirm Luke's offer.
"I might have a few more songs, and I'd be more than happy to work on lyrics with you. I'm just glad that my songs are liked so much by y'all." I said overly joyful.
"Hunny we all loved your lyrics. That is why we wanted to meet personally. We like to see who we are getting our lyrics from. You seem like a good southern girl." Miranda said smiling at me.
"Thank you so much."
We talked a bunch more business with James and then everyone was done we all talked a little. James said that we could all continue talking but he had another meeting to go to. We all told him bye and then continued to talk. They asked about me like where I was from.

"So tell us where you are from Miss Daniels." Blake said starting the questioning.
"Please call me Nikki. I'm actually originally from Dallas Texas but moved to a few places in Texas till my pa decided to settle down near my uncles and their rodeo. My pa was a preacher for the church close to home and then after service he would go out with my uncles and me and work on the rodeo." I said. They all looked surprised.
"Did you ever get to ride bulls?" asked Lee Brice.
"My pa always it was too dangerous for his only child. He said he saw way to way too many people get hurt."
"That would have been awesome. I could go around saying, the girl who wrote my one song, yeah she rode bulls. No big deal." Jason said. We all laughed.
"So why did you come here?" Luke asked. This is the first time he has spoken since he told me he wanted to see more of my lyrics and work on lyrics together.
"My pa is a man who said chase your dreams even if your ladder aint high enough cause there is ladders with extensions for a reason. I saw my opportunity when I saved up enough money and drove out here." I said smiling thinking of my dad quoting those months before he passed away.
"You drove here from Texas by yourself?" Miranda asked in shock.
"Yes Ma'am. If I put my mind to something I keep going till I get there."
"This girl got determination. I like you kid." Jason said.
"Thank you." I said blushing because everyone nodded their head in agreements.
"Well I think we are all pleased with your work. I have to get going. My woman is probably going to be calling me asking if I'm caught up at the bar again." Lee said.
"Yeah we should get going too baby." Blake looked at Miranda.
"Man I was gonna try to get y'all out to drink with in celebration. This kid deserves it." Jason said. They all looked at each other.
"Fine. We'll stay." Blake and Miranda said in unison.
They all said they were in beside Lee. They said they were going to this one bar that they liked going to and I had no clue where it was at. Jason said Luke and him drove together in Jason's so he asked Luke if it would be alright if he helped guide me so I wouldn’t get myself lost. I felt kind of shy but smiled when Luke agreed. We all went down on the elevator and left. I lead Luke to my truck while we did small talk about did I like living here. When got to it I could see his eyes widen. I just laughed and unlocked the door.  He got in and buckled up. I turned the truck on and he gave me the directions out of the parking lot and said to follow the road we were turning right onto for 4 miles. Then we had to make a left.  I could tell he was examining my truck.
"So how'd you get a nice truck like this? I mean uh I'm not trying to be arrogant or anything but you…" He said realizing he sounded like he was saying I wasn't rich enough to afford this.
"I know what you're trying to say. It's okay." I said laughing a little. "My father, before he passed, said this was going to be mine when he did was tired of it and wanted a new one. He got it a few months before he passed away. They just came out with this model. It's a 2007. MY uncles helped pay it off as much as they could and I finished it before I moved"
"Oh. If you don't mind how did your father die?" He asked looked at me with concerned as we were pulling into the bar. I turned off the engine.
"He died in a car crash. He was coming back from a bbq the church was having. He got picked up and was going to get dropped off because my car kicked the bucket. I had to use the truck that day to help move things for my uncles. I was pulling into the driveway with a load of food for the bulls and my uncles were in the driveway stopping me from entering the farm. They told me they are going to unhitch the food on the trailer and we are going to the hospital. I was unknowing what was going on. My uncle Mike drove and said it had to do with my father. I actually thought he had a heart attack because he had high blood pressure. When we got there. I ran in before they could even put the truck in park….."A tear slipped from my eye."I asked the emergency room lady where my father was. She said the room and before my uncles came into the emergency room I was hurrying back to where they said my father was. When I got to the curtain he was supposed to be behind a doctor who was covered with blood closed the curtain behind him and had such a sad face. I looked at him with tears in his eyes and he shook his head no…." I said unable to hold back no more tears. "He told m...me I I I  am sorry sweetheart…. You're father didn't make it…… He lost too much blood…" I said and before I could say anymore after stuttering threw tears. Luke moved closer to me and held me. I held onto him and cried out like I did the day he died because I never was able to really cry besides the day I saw my father dead on the hospital bed. Luke rubbed my back.
"It's alright Darling. You know better than anyone that you're father is looking down at you. He is probably smiling down at you knowing you're fulfilling one of your dreams. "He said rubbing my back still as I calmed down more.
"That's what uncle mike would say. He said that pa was looking down at me with mama. He said they would be smiling together again down at their precious little girl. Pa always said since I was little mama would be with me protecting me. I just wish that day she could have helped me but my pa would say that it must have been his time to see the lord." I said sniffling looking up at Luke. He smiled down at me whipping away my tears.
"They should be proud. I may have just met you but I can already tell your parents created a beautiful, smart, talented young woman. "I smiled at those words.
"Thank you Luke." I said whipping my own face noticing my eye liner ran from my crying. "I'm sorry for crying on you."
"It's alright sweetheart. I asked a question and I'm sorry it brought up hurtful memories. Now I know why you wrote that song. It was beautiful by the way. Just like you." He said cupping my face and rubbing his thumb over my cheek.
He let me go of his embrace and I got napkins out of the glove box and cleaned off the eye liner that ran down my cheeks. He got out of the car and opened the door for me covering me his hand. When I closed the door and locked them he pulled me into a big embrace and I held him back as tight as he was holding me. He knew I needed that. I haven't felt that much care since my father. It may have only been almost a year ago but my uncles were never good with affection. Pa always said that’s why they never got wives. Luke let go of me and looked at me. He moved a piece of my bangs out of my eyes and smiled. Then we went arm in arm into the bar.