As she scratched his belly she plotted out her next move. She’d heard people use the phrase that this was the first day of the rest of their lives but had never really understood what they meant…until now. It was a new year and a new her. Her mom was married, so it wasn’t just the two of them anymore. She’d left her label, fired her manager and was staying with a man that she might not be in love with but was definitely in crush with.
Her New Year’s resolution was to become the best version of herself. The real her, not what anyone else saw her as. In that vein, she wanted to eat healthier by cooking her own meals instead of eating take-out, make new friends—real friends that had nothing to do with the music industry, possibly fall in love, definitely lose her virginity, and hopefully find out more about the second half of her DNA.
She pulled out the photo that she’d had in her possession for a year. The picture featured a man in swim trunks on a beach carrying a boy on his shoulders. The photo was worn and the writing on the back was faded and some of the letters were missing but she was able to make out the words “Whisper Lake” (although the i and e were blank) and beneath that read, “The Colonel” (but there was no l) and “son Donny, age four.”
Ginny had never known her father, he was killed when her mom was pregnant with her. The only information that she had was that his name was Donny. When she was old enough she’d found her birth certificate and listed beside father was the name Donald Gregory. He was a musician and he and her mom had met at a festival where his band was playing.
The one story that her mom did talk about was the night they met. She had pushed her way to the front of the stage where he was playing guitar and the moment their eyes locked she knew that she was in love. He apparently felt the same because he had security pull her from the crowd and bring her backstage. From that night until his untimely death ten weeks later, they were inseparable.
Her mom went on tour with him and his band and she referred to that summer as a magical time. She didn’t really like to talk about the night that he died. Ginny had tried countless times to find information online about the incident and had not been able to find out much more than what her mom had told her. She’d always known that he’d died in a robbery gone bad, but that was it.
The few details she’d managed to piece together from newspaper reports were that his tour bus had pulled into a gas station and her dad had gone into the small convenience store to grab some snacks. In a sad twist of fate, the store was being held up by a man with a gun. When the chime sounded above the glass door as her father entered, it spooked the armed robber and he spun and shot his gun, killing her father on the spot.
Her mom found out she was pregnant two weeks after her father was killed. Mona Valentine was only eighteen at the time she learned she was expecting a baby. Her mom had lived with her grandparents since she was twelve and lost both of her parents tragically. According to her mom her grandparents were conservative and old-fashioned and she knew they wouldn’t approve of her having a baby out of wedlock so she decided to do it on her own. She and her mom moved around a lot, before finally settling in Nashville when Ginny was twelve.
Ginny had so many questions about her dad, including his family. But her mom never wanted to talk about him and the only thing she’d said about his family was that his father was strict and her dad left home when he was sixteen to become a musician.
For a few years now Ginny had wanted to hire a private investigator to find out everything she could, but since her mother managed her finances she knew there was no way she’d be able to do that under the radar and the last thing she’d ever want to do was upset her mom who had sacrificed so much for Ginny to follow her dreams. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have questions that she wanted answered, so she started her own amateur investigation.
She’d scoured all of the old photos that her mom kept in boxes, and that is where she’d found her first clue as to who her grandfather might be. But it wasn’t until about six months later that she’d gotten the first real break in her search. She’d seen a Facebook post that Chase Malone was tagged in. It featured his wife and her siblings and cousins. At first glance all Ginny had noticed was how attractive the group was but then as she read the post itself, keywords jumped out at her. The group was at Whisper Lake and the older man in the photo was tagged Colonel James Hunter but in parenthesis said Grandpa J. Whisper Lake. The Colonel. She’d enlarged the picture and the similarities in the bone structure of the older man’s face and the face in the picture she had were undeniable.
In just a few clicks of her mouse she’d been able to piece together that the older man lived in Harper’s Crossing. He was connected to Chase through marriage. Chase was married to Krista whose cousin Bobby was married to The Colonel’s granddaughter, Sophie. They seemed like one big happy family. A family that she was fairly certain she was a part of.
A week after seeing this post, an opportunity came up to work with Chase Malone. She’d figured it was kismet. Fate. The universe was on her side. She’d visited Harper’s Crossing twice since then. The first time was a short visit; she was performing at the opening of a new restaurant, a personal favor to Chase. She’d arrived, performed, and returned to Nashville the same night at her manager’s insistence. The second visit, she’d played the same restaurant for one of the owner’s girlfriend’s birthday. That was the night she’d come home with Dax. The night they’d stayed up all night talking. That night she’d had to sneak out without saying goodbye to make her five a.m. flight.
“That’s the night I met you, handsome boy.” She rubbed beneath Capone’s chin and behind his ear.
She’d yet to meet the man in the picture who she believed was her grandfather. It seemed like he had a large happy family and the last thing she would ever want to do is disrupt that. Still, she wanted answers.
Everything was set for her to finally put the pieces together to finish the puzzle that was her life. She was back and she was staying for an entire month. She was working on her next album and Chase had agreed to produce it. Her mother was in another country on her honeymoon and she’d fired her manager. And she was staying at Dax’s house.
This really did feel like the first day of the rest of her life and after she brought her things into the guest room and unpacked she knew exactly what she was going to do. She was going to go to the grocery store and make dinner. Cooking was the first thing on her resolution list. It was something she’d always wanted to get better at but had never had the time. It was something that people did every day…how hard could it be?