How freaking ironic.
As I listened to the song, completely ignoring Blaine, I couldn’t help but compare it to my life, wondering if Baylor would’ve actually asked me to stay if I hadn’t gone on about my contract at the studio, and what my answer would’ve been. It all didn’t matter, but there was always that inkling of debate in the back of your mind after you made a major life decision. It would take root and continue to force you to dwell on it until it took over your life entirely.
He was supposed to be my Romeo and me his Juliet…Where the hell was my fairytale ending? Perhaps Julia was right; with her two failed marriages she did have a bit more insight into love than I did. Her motto was that fairytales were for losers and happy ever after’s didn’t belong outside of a story or Hallmark card. It still didn’t help with the way my heart was hurting.
Blaine was off of the phone with Meagan and pecking away on his cell phone as the Taylor Swift song ended and another song began. It wasn’t much better for my mood: “Let’s Get Married” by Jagged Edge. I slid off one side of my headphones and looked across the room to Blaine, “Seriously, did you queue up these songs just because you knew how much they went along with my pathetic life?”
He jerked both of his hands up in a mock surrender, “Hey, I just had a request for this song. Just looking out for our listeners, nothing pertaining to you and your life. Please stow away the dirty looks; I can only be killed so many times today by your stares. Definitely not a cat with nine lives, and besides,” he shot me a knowing glare of his own, “you know you love this song…”
Ugh, he was completely right. I remembered when I first heard it on the radio back in February of 2000. It wasn’t the slow-paced version that many radio stations played; no, this was the Remarqable Remix. I was still very much bitter towards the ordeal that transpired between Baylor and me, or rather the vicious lies that Kristina spewed. I wanted to hate the song about love and meeting at the altar on that one special day, but I couldn’t. They beckoned me with their lyrics and catchy beat that just made me want to bust out dancing. Even now I couldn’t resist getting a little groove going while seated in my chair, add a little lip sync to the mix and I was sure I was one hell of a sight.
Blaine replaced his headphones in their proper position so he could talk on-air; normally we had a specifically timed script that we abided by, but that morning had been so out of whack that we’d long since ditched it. “That was ‘Let’s Get Married’ by Jagged Edge which was requested by a recently newfound loyal listener. Now, why don’t we open the phone lines for another call this morning…Hello, good morning, you’ve got Blaine and Eden on 98.9 Nashville’s Powerhouse.”
“Uh yes, hello,” a small female voice spoke up. “I wanted to thank you for playing my requested song, it wasn’t really for me but for my dad. You see he has this longtime love, who he’s let slip through his fingers one too many times.” My ears had since perked up and I was hanging onto her every word. Her voice sounded extremely familiar to me, but sometimes on air they could appear a bit distorted. I was quite certain that this wasn’t the first time hearing her; I just couldn’t quite place where I had heard her before. She could very well have called into the station before for all I knew. But something about what she was saying compelled me to listen a bit closer. Letting a longtime love slip through your fingers one too many times was something that I could relate to on an extremely personal level. “And this time he finally learned his lesson and he wasn’t going to back down. Eden, hear him out, please. He’s in a fragile state and will soon be there on bended knee if he needs to be, pleading for you to choose him, and choose Oregon.” My heart rate began speeding up and my bottom lip trembled in response, “For you to choose us…”
“Norah?” My voice finally broke, as well as the dam that was keeping my tears at bay, letting just a single solitary tear roll down my cheek. “Baylor…he’s here?”
About that time a knock sounded on the door to the studio and Blaine stood up, waving the guest in. I sat completely still in my chair, with my hand closing in around the wrist that held my bracelet, just willing it to be him. I didn’t want to turn around until I was entirely certain, because if by some chance it wasn’t Baylor I didn’t know how I was going to keep my composure and finish out the rest of the morning set.
I felt his presence even before his hand touched my shoulder. Swiveling my chair around to face him, I looked up into those pale green eyes that I’d dreamt of so much of the past few weeks and took in his disheveled state. He looked about as bad as I felt: a little more scruff was apparent on his chin and the square of his jaw, and those magical eyes of his looked as if they hadn’t slept a wink since I’d been gone.
He crouched down so he was almost down on both knees, just so he could be on eye level to me, and brought both of his hands forward to cup my face, being cautious of my clunky headphones that were perched in place on my ears. I quickly moved to pull one of my earpieces off my ear so I could hear him clearly.
It took him a minute before he began to talk because he was taking his time roving his eyes over my face, never once breaking contact. “Edie,” he broke the silence in a pained whisper and slid his hands from cupping my face, bringing them down to tightly grasp my hands. “I couldn’t let you slip through my fingers again. I wouldn’t allow my future to be left to chance again and let another fifteen years go by without seeing you, so with the help of Norah and Blaine, I took matters into my own hands, which I should’ve done the first time. You gave me no greater joy than getting just a glimpse of waking up next to you in the mornings. And when you took that away, when you left this last time without saying goodbye, I found myself dreading falling asleep because I knew you wouldn’t be beside me. I know we have had our problems with communication, but that stops here and now.” I pulled my bottom lip in between my teeth and saw the brief flash of desire shine in his eyes as he continued saying the most heartfelt words I had ever heard in my life. “You, Eden, are meant to be more than a memory and I want you as my reality for the rest of my life. I love you, Eden, and I’m here to bring you back to where you belong, back to Oregon with Norah and me. That is, if you’ll have us.”
I had to force myself to take a breath before I could even give him an answer. It was still so surreal that he was kneeling there before me, pleading for me to come back with him. My heart already knew the answer and was shouting it faster than my brain could register what was going on. I slowly released another breath and nodded my head, “I love you too, Baylor. These past three weeks have been miserable and I’ve kicked myself on a daily basis for leaving you asleep in your bed like a coward. In my mind I knew that my heart wouldn’t be able to take it if you let me leave without asking me to stay behind with you, so I took out the option for the both of us.” Tears were beginning to gather in the creases of his eyes and he nodded his head, silently encouraging me to go on. Contracts be damned, but I was gone. Nashville wasn’t my home; I supposed it never really was, it was just a place I resided until someone deemed it was time to go back. That time had come; better late than never, I guess. “I will go back with you, Baylor; there isn’t a reason in my mind that would cause me to stay.” I flipped off the other side of my headphone, causing it to crash with a thud onto the floor, and launched myself into Baylor’s arms, sealing my mouth with his.
“Well, you heard it here, folks, I think our beloved Eden has just quit and is now officially off the market,” Blaine explained amusedly into the microphone.
I pulled away from Baylor after hearing Blaine speak and our eyes danced with merriment. “Was all that on the air?” He nodded. “Shit, so I basically just quit on the air?” He nodded again, while a little smirk appeared on his face. I rolled my eyes and guessed I would wait to take the wrath of my boss whenever he dished it out; I wasn’t going to actively seek him out. Knowing him he was probably right behind me with his hands folded in front of his chest with his icy cold glare intact as if Blaine or myself had said a curse word or something controversial on-air. I stood up, smoothing out my clothes, and helped Baylor get to his feet as well. Looking to Blaine, I gave him a small smile and shrugged one of my shoulders, silently apologizing for placing him in this predicament.