Finding You

Festival

"Natalie Robinson." I answer my phone.

"Hey baby. Whatcha up to?" I smile at my  Momma's voice. She usually only calls on Sundays.

"I'm just getting some work done. Is something wrong?" I ask softly, glancing over at Jordan.

"Oh no. We just got home from seeing your Nana and she has requested you come home for the festival this year." She tells me and I take a deep breath in. It's been years since I went to the festival. It brings back some good memories for sure but a lot of firsts happened there.

"Um, yeah. Do you know what week it is?" I ask and pull open my calendar.

"2 weeks from today." I look ahead and see that the only thing I have is a meeting with the band for future dates on music, videos, concerts, and tours.

"I have a meeting that Wednesday but I could leave on Thursday and be there for the weekend." I tell her softly.

"That sounds good then. Will you be bringing Brad?"

"Um, I don't know, Momma. I'll have to talk to him this afternoon and get back to you."

"We'd really love to meet him. I even had wifi put in the guest house for him."

"That's sweet but he has to prefilm and get everything imported and scheduled to go out."

"Why do I have this feeling you just don't want us to meet him?"

"Mom, it's only been 3 months. I don't want you guys to get too attached to him yet." I sigh. Jordan looks up at me and frowns. I put my phone on speaker.

"You're already attached to him. If anything happens, it's already going to break our hearts." She tells me and I close my eyes. 

"Okay, Momma. We can buckle down and get it all out of the way."

"I knew I could persuade you." She says happily and I roll my eyes. More like tie my hands behind my back.

"And I'm not sleeping in my old room. Don't let Daddy try to pull that on me." I tell her and she laughs.

"I'll have it fixed up for you both. Your father will always pretend he has a say." She jokes and Jordan raises an eyebrow at me.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll call you back when I talk to Bradley."

"Okay, honey. I love you."

"I love you too. Bye." I pick the phone and set it back down to hang up.

"What was that about?" Jordan asks with wide eyes.

"I guess we're going home for the annual festival and they want Brad to come with me." I tell her and pull my desk drawer open. I check the time and sigh. I could go grab lunch and call Brad.

"Wow." She says and sits back in her chair.

"I mean I knew they'd have to meet one day but I thought I had time to prepare him."

"It's kinda serious too. I know you wouldn't even consider bringing someone home that you weren't sure about." I sigh and grab my purse.

"I'm gonna go grab lunch. Do you want anything?" I ask softly, ignoring her statement. I know it's serious. I know I'm sure about Brad. It's just a sensitive thing for me.

"The biggest cup of coffee that you can get me. I see why you're such a caffeine-aholic," She jokes and I smile.

"It's a lot of work, that's for sure. It's a shame there's not a lot of appreciation."

"Right? A thank you from the boss man would be nice."

"If it's any consolation, I think you're doing great." I tell her softly and she half smiles.

"It means a lot coming from a perfectionist." I roll my eyes.

"I'll grab you a coffee and a sandwich?"

"Sounds good. I'll get lunch tomorrow." She tells me and I shrug before walking out of the office and exiting the building.

I pull my phone out of my bag and click on Brad's name. He may be out for a run. He tries to meet me for lunch at least once a week but now that Jordan is in my office, Collin likes for one of us to be in so it has made lunch difficult.

"Hey, this is Bradley Porter. Sorry I missed your call. Leave me a message and I'll call you back when I get the chance." His voicemail picks up.

"Hi, it's me. I'm out grabbing lunch and just needed to talk to you about something. Just give me a call back when you get the chance. Bye." I put my phone back in my bag and pull the door open to the coffee shop.

"Hey Wren, can I get my usual order?" I ask the familiar cashier.

"Brad came in and order it earlier. I'll make it now." He tells me with a smile. I must've just missed him.

"Can I get sandwich and a salad too, then? And is it the 2 coffees?" I ask.

"You know he always gets you and Jordan one. The food will be $7." I hand him my card.

"When did Brad come in? I tried calling him before I walked in." I ask as he swipes my card.

"Maybe 20 minutes before you got here. He ran here." He hands me my card.

"Oh, okay. Thank you." I stand to the side as he makes our coffees and puts our food into a bag. My phone starts ringing and I pull it out, thankful to see that Brad is calling me back.

"Hey you." I answer with a smile.

"Hey, I got your message. Everything okay?" He asks and I nod.

"Oh, yeah. Everything's fine. Thank you for our coffees." I tell him.

"Anytime. I'm just sorry I couldn't meet you for lunch. I had a meeting I had to be here for."

"I feel like you told me that. I must've forgotten. I'm sorry." I apologize as Wren sits our stuff down for me. I mouth a thank you to him as I grab it.

"You've got a lot on your plate. When you come here, we can try to sync up our calendars so we can try to plan lunches better."

"You're too organized. I love it." I walk out of the shop and towards the office.

"Oh, yeah? Well, I love you." He tells me and I blush.

"I don't know how you'll feel about me once I ask a really big favor of you."

"I would do anything for you." He tells me and I smile.

"My Mom called today and wants us to come home in 2 weeks to see my Nana and go to the annual festival they have."

"Us? They want to meet me?" He asks and I can hear the shock in his voice.

"Of course they want to meet you."

"Okay. Um, I can go ahead and start trying to stockpile some videos."

"If you send me some, I'll edit them for you when I don't have any work."

"I can't ask you to do even more work, baby."

"You're not asking and neither am I. Just send me one at a time and I'll get them back to you when I finish. It's not much but I want to help." I open the door to the building, waving to the new receptionist.

"If you insist. Should I send it to your business email?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

"I'm going to go film my life away. I love you."

"Don't work too hard, okay? I'll be home in a few hours and I'll help you relax."

"I can't wait. Have a good day."

"You too." We hang up by the time I get to my office.