Free Restless Heart by Wynonna Judd

came to a crashing halt.
    “I’ve got to answer that. Sorry,” she told Seth, who looked as rattled—and relieved—as she was to have been saved by the bell.
    “No problem.” He sat on the couch again, petting Mike.
    Please don’t let it be Kenny looking for the rent , she prayed as she hurried over to grab the phone.
    Then again, she couldn’t exactly blame him. She had no idea how she was going to come up with it, short of finding a last-minute roommate—and this place was much too small to share with a stranger, so that was out of the question.
    “Destiny?”
    “Hey, Max.” Relieved it wasn’t her landlord, she noticed that Seth’s hand abruptly stilled on Mike’s furry head.
    Jealous, was he?
    “You’re not gonna believe this,” Max said in a rush, “but Ralph and Mandy got into it after you left.”
    “What? No way!”
    “Yeah. Some dude who was apparently Mandy’s boyfriend came into the bar while Mandy was on break. She took off with him and never came back to do her final set.”
    “Wow . . .” Her mind only partly on what Max was saying, Destiny watched Seth. “So what did Ralph do?”
    “Oh man, he was livid! He called Mandy up and told her not to bother coming back. Ever.”
    Suddenly Max had her full attention. “Ever?” she echoed incredulously.
    “ Ever . But that’s not the best part. He told me that you were going to take over for Mandy. For good.”
    “Shut up!” Destiny shouted, and saw Seth wince. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bust your eardrums,” she said to him, and then back into the phone, “Do you think he’s serious, Max?”
    “Oh yeah, definitely. You’re already on the schedule for tomorrow night. He’ll be calling you, but I wanted to give you a heads-up. Congratulations, Destiny. This could be the break you been waiting for. You deserve it. You’re gonna rock the house and Ralph is gonna wonder what the heck he was thinkin’ all this time.”
    “I hope you’re right. Thanks so much for calling, Max. I’ll see you tomorrow night.” She flipped the phone shut and then looked at Seth. “You’re not going to believe what just happened.”
    “Your boss finally came to his senses?”
    “Did you overhear?”
    “I wasn’t trying to, but, yeah, most of it. Especially the shut up part.”
    “Sorry about that,” Destiny said again, and put a hand to her pounding heart. “I can’t believe it. I know it’s not Honky-Tonk Row or Second Street or the Grand Ole Opry, but still! I’m suddenly a nervous wreck.”
    “Don’t sell yourself short. You just scored yourself a gig in Nashville. Next thing you know, you’ll be discovered by some record executive who comes in for a Back in the Saddle burger.”
    “You make it sound easy.”
    Billy Jackson popped into her head, and a wave of nausea swept through her. But she couldn’t tell Seth about the charismatic con man who’d taken her last cent with a promise to create and deliver demos to the industry powers-that-be, then disappeared off the face of the earth.
    She’d promised herself she’d never tell a soul about that, and anyway, she didn’t want to ruin this moment with thoughts of that jerk.
    Or, for that matter, with thoughts of that soul-shaking kiss a few minutes ago. She had no idea what it had meant to Seth—or what it meant to her, either. And now wasn’t the time for clear-headed thinking.
    “I don’t think for a minute it will be easy,” Seth was saying. “But what was it that Nessie told you?”
    “Just because you put your boots in the oven don’t make ’em biscuits?”
    He laughed. “Not that—but it does sound like her. She said, ‘The sun don’t shine on the same dog’s butt every day,’ or something like that. You have your shot. Now take it.”
    Destiny nodded, but something didn’t feel exactly right. While she knew Seth was sincere, there was an edge of sadness about his demeanor. She could hear it in the tone of his voice; see it in his eyes. “What aren’t you