The Second Song #1: Homecoming

What do you do when everything in your life just feels wrong?

Elise Leroux seems to have it all; a glittering pop career and a
cabinet full of awards, not to mention her hot pop-star boyfriend,
Silas. But it's not all that it seems – the songs chosen by her
management are cheesy and as for Silas, well, that is nothing more than a
"showmance", encouraged by their shared management.

Despite her frustration at the lack of input she is allowed into her
career, Elise is not looking forward to an enforced break between
touring and starting her new album and is even less thrilled when her
manager suggests that she return to Louisiana to get in touch with her
Cajun roots. The last time she was home, she wasn't exactly made to feel
welcome in town. And then there is Avery. A past love, not yet
forgotten, how will she respond when she finally sees him again?

SNEAK PEEK!

"Elise Leroux? Is that really you?"

"Avery?" I gasped. Boy has he grown up! I tried not to stare.

"You deign us with your presence?" He laughed, reaching for his jeans
after he’d toweled off most of the mud. I’d seen him do this a thousand
times, but he’d been a boy back then.

"Don’t be mean; you know I love this place!" I said playfully, encouraged by his lighthearted tone.

"Come on over, I’ve got a load of grass ready for Léoma. I should have been back a month ago, I’m sure she’s out by now."

"Not quite." I poled over to the dock where his pirogue was loaded with
the kind of grass you could only find deep in the bayou. He’d been
working hard all day.

"I feel bad you’ve been doin’ this for gran all these years," I said as
I joined him on solid ground, trying not to stare at the hard muscled
chest of a man I hardly recognized, but he seemed so familiar at the
same time. "I just assumed she got her swamp grass from ole Mr.
Thibodaux."

"She does from time to time, but I don’t mind helpin’ her out."

"So what brings you home?" He asked, clearly avoiding my gaze as he
tied the last bundle of grass and hefted it into the boat. His jaw was
clenched almost like he was intimidated and didn’t know how to act
around me. I’d seen that look often enough with the people who worked
for me and I did not want to see it on Avery’s face.

"Oh taking a much needed break from my life as a performing seal," I
said with a huge sigh, hoping to ease the tension I felt between us.

He burst out laughing, and I saw a bit of the old Avery return. "I’ve
often wondered if you saw it, or if you were so blinded by the glitz and
the glam that you didn’t realize it."

"What that I’m a pop-princess-puppet, dancing to the strings my
managers wield? Yeah, I see it, I’ve always seen it Avery - I’ve just
always hoped it would lead to something more me."

"And has it?" He asked, easing his pirogue back into the water, linking it with mine, and securing both to the dock. 

"I don’t know who I am anymore, so no, I suppose not." It was odd how
quickly we slipped back into our old ways of brutal honesty. I had
always been able to count on Avery to tell me the truth. It was part of
what hurt us the most when we parted ways; we’d been too honest, and
hurtful, with one another...

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