Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

The days seemed to blend together until, the next thing Justin knew, he and his friends were in a van traveling from Tuncia, Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee. Justin basically floated from the bus and into the van, he was so happy to be getting home. He had talked to Rachel earlier and she said that everyone was excited to have him back.

“You should see our mothers! They’re going out of their way to get this…huge feast for you guys,” Rachel laughed over the sound of moving dishes.

“Rachel! Get off your ass and help us clean these things!” Justin heard Mack yell in the bathroom.

“I’m sorry, I can’t lift this hand. It’s weighed down too much. It takes too much energy,” Rachel teased.

Justin grinned and stretched in his seat. Johnny had rented them a large ten passenger van he could stretch out as much as he wanted. Next to him JC was sleeping soundly, thick headphones covered his ears. He could faintly hear a Sting song playing. Chris, and Lance were playing cards on a seat a few rows ahead of him and Joey was humming to himself while driving. “I still can’t believe you’re engaged,” Justin mused. “Time flies, huh?”

“You’re telling me,” Rachel laughed. “Momma and Auntie Lynn have been crying non-stop since they’ve found out.”

“Oh no!” Justin groaned while laughing. “Now that means Momma will be all over my ass trying to get me together with someone.” He felt a tiny pang of ache in his chest. He thought for the longest time that it was going to be Britney that he’d marry. What now? He hadn’t thought of her for days but now that he had time to, he was missing her something fierce.

He missed her smile. Her laugh. Her voice. Everything about her. What he missed the most was that he was with someone who was like him in many ways and understood what he was going through and how he lived his life. Without her he felt…empty. Like half of himself was gone and he didn’t know where to start looking to find it.

“As soon as you set foot in town every single woman here will vie for your attention, you mark my words,” Rachel laughed. Justin could practically see the smile on her face. “Speaking of being single, Brett’s been all over Mack since she came back here.”

“Oh really?” Justin lifted his eyebrows. Brett wasn’t really a bad guy. Justin liked him enough and he was Trace’s friend so he couldn’t say much about him but he hated how much of a flirt Brett was. Justin’s seen that type of personality first hand, Joey used to be that way and he knew it’d only end in someone getting hurt. “How’s that goin’ for her?”

“She’s holdin’ her own. She ignores him for the most part and Trace usually intervenes just in case she decides to let him know in her own special way that he’s not interested,” Rachel replied.

“Rachel! Stop talking about me! I’m not deaf!” Justin heard Mack yell.

Justin laughed. “Yeah, I’ll bet. So who’s house are we meeting at again?”

“Miss Cassidy’s. Trace is at work so he’ll most likely come in after you guys,” Rachel explained. “I’ll give him a call once you all come in. Stephen and Jonathan can’t wait to see you! It’s so cute how excited they are.”

Justin sighed. “Don’t remind me, I miss ‘em so much.”

“Sorry, sorry. I won’t bring it up. I gotta go.”

“Alrighty. See you in a half hour.”

“See ya, cuzzo.”

“Bye.” Justin hung up the phone and made a face right as JC opened his eyes and yawned.

“What’s wrong?” JC asked, noticing the look on Justin’s face.

“Nothing. It’s just, uh, Rachel sounded funny,” Justin replied, scratching his head. Her voice did sound a bit off.

But maybe he was reading too much into it.

“Do you know how hard it is to keep my mouth shut?” Rachel asked as soon as she hung up the phone.

Mack shook the soap bubbles off of her hands and wiped them in a dish towel. She leaned against the sink and lifted an eyebrow at her friend. “You wouldn’t have to if you didn’t go barging into people’s houses without knocking,” she replied. “It was five days ago, get over it. I already have.”

“I’m sorry that I want to hold onto the idea of you and Trace having bumped uglies,” she said as she leaned back in the chair she was sitting in. “I just can’t believe it. So, what does this mean?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Mack replied, throwing the towel at her. “You’re making a huge deal out of nothing. I slept with Justin too and you weren’t over the moon about that.”

“That’s because I thought you guys slept together already,” Rachel replied. At the roll of her friends’ eyes she threw her arms into the air. “All of us assumed that, it wasn’t just me. And Justin doesn’t like you like Trace does so it had to mean something.”

“Rachel, just drop it,” Mack grumbled. She didn’t want to talk about it. At all. For the past five days she and Trace had been civil towards each other but something was off and she couldn’t put her finger on it. It sucked ‘cause she didn’t feel like she could talk to him about anything anymore, not even about his grandfather still being in the hospital and she knew it was tearing him up inside, even if he didn’t say anything about it.

He had woken up and everything seemed fine but they could tell he wouldn’t be the same again. His speech was slower than usual and it was harder for Mr. Rast to form a complete thought. Once or twice he even forgot Trace’s name. He remembered their relationship just fine but it was the name that kept slipping him and it made Trace upset, even if he weren’t visibly reacting. The girls could tell.

“Okay. Are you going to enter that riding competition after all?” Rachel asked.

Mack nodded. “I figured why not? I haven’t ridden in a while and I’m sure Bluebelle’s up for a competition. I just wish I had more time. Want to ride after dinner?”

“Sure. Mind if I invite Cal?”

She shrugged. “The more the merrier. How’re wedding plans coming along? I know you’ve only been engaged for five days but—“ She stopped in the middle of her sentence when Rachel eagerly reached into the bag she brought and placed a large binder onto the table, grinning widely. “Good night, girl!”

“Mack, I’ve been planning my wedding since I was seven,” she explained. “I’m not missing any detail. And you, my Maid of Honor, are going to help me go through everything.”

“Wheee,” Mack muttered through a stiff smile. Her stomach drops at the idea of having to sit with Rachel, the Queen of Indecisiveness. Mack glances at the clock and wonders if she has enough time to make a break for it and run to her house without giving Rachel a chance to catch up. She has that heavy book with her, it would surely slow her down…

Before Rachel could even utter another word, the sounds of the front door opening and footsteps moving rapidly reached their ears. Both girls leaned over slightly to see who was coming in. Cassidy rushes in, her arms filled with brown paper bags that she manages to dump on the island.

“Phew!” She sighed, brushing her hair out of her face. “Made it! I thought I was going to drop these for sure.” She then turned her attention to the girls and gave them big hugs and a kiss on their foreheads. “What’s that you got there, Rach?” She asked.

“Wedding plans, Miss Cassidy,” Rachel replied. “Mack and I were going to get started on ‘em but we can help with the groceries if you want.”

“That’d be splendid, darlin’,” Cassidy said as she smoothed down her flyaway hair with her hands. “There’s a lot more in the truck. Char and Lynn are already out there helpin’ Trace. I’d be much obliged if you’d give ‘em a hand.”

“Yes ma’am,” Rachel said while getting up. Mack silently thanked every single God out there for saving her from wedding torture as the two girls walked through the house and out the front door where Trace’s truck was parked in the driveway next to Cassidy’s red Acura Sports Wagon. “Justin says they’ll be here in half an hour,” she announced happily while reaching for the bag that Trace as handing her from the back of his truck.

“That doesn’t give us much time!” Charlotte said as she started towards the house. “Aren’t you glad to have him home?”

“You have no idea,” Lynn replied with a large smile on her face.  “I’m always excited whenever he comes back around. He says he has something important he wants to talk to me about…” her voice trailed off as the two women stepped into the house.

“Now why is it that Justin gets a welcome home party and I get diddly?” Mack demanded.

“That’s ‘cause no one knew you were coming home, idiot,” Trace replied, practically throwing a bag at her. She glared at him but he turned to get another one. If that was how he was going to be…

“I don’t think you heard me,” Rachel jumped in. “Your best friend is going to be here in a half hour!”

“Cool,” Trace muttered, pausing to wipe sweat from his brow.

“You’re not even excited that your best friend is going to be back in town after months of being on tour?” Rachel demanded, putting her free hand on her hip.

“Do you want me to click my heels together?” Trace asked, lifting his eyebrow. “I’m used to the routine, that’s all. It’s nothing new to me.” He jumped out of the back of the truck and adjusted the hat that was on his head. “So, are we going to do the usual? Apple picking? Pool?”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Rachel said in a distracted tone. “Hey, you mind checking on the cookies I put in the oven?” She asked, turning to Mack. She shrugged and turned and then walked into the house. “You two are so awkward around each other it’s making me feel weird,” Rachel said to Trace.

Trace scoffed. She wouldn’t feel weird if she hadn’t barged in. Something that he realized they could’ve prevented if they weren’t so close. They gave each other keys to their places so they could get in whenever they wanted or in case of an emergency.

He had woken up to an empty bed the next morning after his night with Mack with every intention of getting his stuff and going straight to work. He didn’t want to give himself enough time to think about what happened. As soon as his brain started processing everything he knew it would end badly. He had snuck down to the kitchen, covering himself up with a towel, had his clothes and was about to make a break for it when Rachel dropped by unannounced.

“You know you’re lucky she got her period the day after or else you’d have a problem,” she pointed out.

“Like I didn’t think of that,” Trace said with a roll of his eyes. “Look, do me a favor and don’t mention this. At all. Especially with Justin coming back.”

“You know he’d want to know about this.”

“And I’ll tell him, just let me do it on my own terms.”

“You sound ashamed of what you did. When it comes down to it two people had sex, that’s it,” Rachel said, trying to make the conversation feel less awkward. Even she had a hard time believing the words that were coming out of her mouth so she doubted that Trace believed her. They turned their heads when they heard a honk and watched a van pull onto the gravel side of the road. “Oh look, drama just rolled into town!”