Nashville

“Now, there’s soup on the stove if you get hungry and here’s some medicine, water and gossip magazines. I threw in a Country Weekly too!” I told Cherie.
“Thanks girl. God I feel like a bad roomie. Our first day in Nashville and I’m stuck here. What are you doing today?” she asked.
“Oh, I’m just going to take Caroline and drive around for a bit. My job doesn’t start until next Monday, so I figure I better get to know where I’m going. I’ll see you tonight, ok?”
“See you tonight.”

    As I put Caroline in her car seat, she smiles, and that makes me happy. We’ve only been in Nashville 24 hours and already Cherie was sick. Must have been something she got in Kentucky. For today, though, it would just be me and my little princess and the most beautiful city in the world.
         We drive around for a few hours, stop at a park in West Nashville for lunch, and start to venture out of Nashville to Brentwood and Franklin. I decide on Franklin first because Caroline is asleep and it’s a little further out of town than Brentwood. The houses are magnificent. Everything I’ve ever dreamed of, except I know it will never happen. As Carrie, I call her Carrie or Caroline, whichever I feel at the point in time, wakes up I start to head back towards Brentwood. It’s almost four in the afternoon but at least if I’m in Brentwood I can get back to the apartment without getting into too much traffic. Brentwood is even more expensive than Franklin, probably because the governor lives in a subdivision nearby.
         All of a sudden, I hear Crash! And this doesn’t look good. At all.
         I get out of my car to assess the damage this guy, very cute and handsome guy, has done to my car. My bumper is gone. As he calls the police, I get Carrie out of the car and we all wait. Not saying a word.
         When the cop shows up, the guy, Matt is what I think his name is, takes full responsibility. Wow. I thought all guys were obnoxious jerks, but this one is hard to tell. After all of the paperwork is taken care of and the cop leaves, he asks, “So what’s her name?”, I take it he means Carrie’s.
“Caroline Marie,” I tell him.
“She looks a lot like her mother.”
“She looks like her father,” I retorted.
“Hey, look, I’m really sorry about this mess. Is there anywhere I can take you? Are you hurt? Is Caroline hurt?”
The way he says her name gives me chill bumps. Weird.
“I guess you could take us home after the tow truck comes, but I live in the city, is that ok?”
“Not a problem. I just have to run by one place first and we can go.”
         The place he has to go is in that subdivision where the governor lives. He says he lives here with his roommate. She’s his best friend. I figure she has to be just as beautiful as he is. Wait! Did I just think that? Ok, maybe I did, but still, he’s just another guy. Obnoxious and only wants sex from me. He asks if I’d like to go in and I decline. When he comes back out, we leave and we don’t say anything that doesn’t have to do with directions. I feel different with him. It’s like we have some sort of connection that neither one of us can figure out. Maybe it’s just me. I’m going to stick with that one. It’s just me.
         Being courteous, I ask if he wants to come inside for some chicken noodle soup but warn that my roommate is sick. “Chicken noodle soup, eh? I’m in!” he answers.
“Cherie, we’re home!” I say as we come through the door.
“Hey girlies, where’ve you been?” she asks.
“Out and about, you? Oh, this is Matt. He drove us home.”
“Hi” Matt says.
“Wait, drove you home? What happened to you driving? Oh dear lord what happened?”
“Calm down” I told her, “Matt ran into me while I was at a stop sign in Brentwood and a tow truck had to come get my car, and he offered to drive us home. We’re all ok. I’m going to put Carrie down, she’s exhausted. Make yourself at home Matt.”
         When I came back out, Cherie and Matt were deep in conversation. About what I have yet to find out because they stopped whispering when I came in the room. Awkward moment was probably not the exact wording I’d use, but Cherie has a smile on her face, so I play along.
I ask, “So are you feeling better?”
“Much,” she answers, “Hey, you guys wanna order a pizza?”
Matt agrees, so I do too.
“What place is good? What toppings do you want?” I ask as I search for the phone book I knew I had in this apartment somewhere.
“Looking for something?” Matt asks, making me jump ten feet in the air.
“Phone book,” I answer.
“No need for one. I’ve got the number memorized for the best place in town.”
“Oh you do, right, you’ve lived here a while I’m guessing.”
“Yea. You want to ride with me to go get it? They charge a butt load for delivery.”
“Ok, let me ask Cherie if she can watch Carrie, how long should it take?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
Cherie agrees to watch Carrie, and Matt and I head off for pizza. In the car he doesn’t say much, but he does keep the small talk going. “Where’d you move from? Is she your best friend too? Where are you going to work at? How old is Carrie?” All of which I have perfect answers for. “Georgia. Yes, since 2006. I got a receptionist job at Arista Nashville. Carrie, she’s four months old.” He takes me to this little bistro type place in downtown and we order the pizza not daring to say a word until we are back in the safety of his car.
Finally, Matt started asking serious questions that I didn’t have perfect answers for, if I had answers at all.
“What is that behind your eyes?”
“I don’t follow you.”
“When I look into your eyes, there’s something dark and mysterious there. Plus, you aren’t wearing a wedding band and you have Carrie.”
“Not yet,” and my answer lets him know that this is not the time or place for this conversation. Cherie calls wondering where we are and I tell her that we’re pulling in. After we get back to the apartment, Cherie has to keep talk going. Matt and I answer and so does she. There’s a tension between us now. We all feel it. Only Matt and I know what it’s about, but my answer earlier that night let both of us believe there would be another time.
         After the pizza was finished off and Carrie woke up for yet another feeding and Matt knew it was time for him to get home. His roommate had called twice. I just assumed it was her worrying about him being in a stranger’s house. Cherie and I both headed to bed early that night, but agreed we’d go exploring together the next day. Crazy or not, I dreamed about Matt that night.