Chapter 12

I drove around town, looking for an apartment, biding my time until it was time to go to the studio. Then, I thought of Logan's apartment building. He had said that there were apartments available there. I sighed, wondering if it would be too weird to get an apartment so near Logan.

The hell with it, I thought as I quickly turned the car around and headed back to his apartment complex. My heart raced at the possibility of seeing Logan again, but I quickly pushed the thought aside. After all, I was going on tour for God knew how long and I had no idea when I'd be back. He would probably have a girlfriend by then, and would have forgotten all about me. But it was a chance I would have to take.

After parking my car in front of the office, I walked inside. Luckily, it was out of sight from Logan's apartment. I didn't want him to think I was stalking him or something. As I walked in, I was a bit leery, not sure if I wanted to start something with Logan when I was leaving in three months.

"Good morning!" said a middle-aged man with gray hair at his temples. "Welcome to Somerset Apartment Community! What can I do for you?"

"Well, I'm looking for an apartment"

"Then you've come to the right place!" he said, a bit too chipper. He must have been a car salesman in another life. "The name's Richard Porter." He shook my hand with a firm grip. "How many bedrooms do you need?"

"Probably just one or two," I replied as he ushered me to a seat in front of a huge, mahogany desk. I sat down and waited.

"Well, we have both available," Richard said, then proceeded to tell me the prices.

"One bedroom will be fine." After hearing the prices, I knew that I couldn't afford anything more unless I got a roommate or something. "Also, Logan said that the apartments come furnished?"

"Logan?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Logan Ambrose," I said, wondering if mentioning his name had been a mistake, but from the look of Richard, I doubted that anything could deter his friendly nature. "He moved in with three other guys yesterday."

"Ah, yes!" Richard replied. "Nice bunch of guys!" He rose from his seat and took a set of keys out of the desk drawer. "Come on. I'll show you an apartment."

Richard led the way, and I followed him up the stairs to an apartment on the other side of the apartment complex away from Logan's. He opened the door to a cute little one-bedroom apartment. The sun shone through the windows, casting a glow onto the furniture in the living room. It was sparsely furnished with a pretty couch, chair, and a coffee table set.

I walked into the brightly lit kitchenette, and there was a breakfast bar separating the kitchenette from the dining area, just as it was in Logan's apartment. I opened the cabinet doors, and dishes were stacked neatly inside. When I looked around, I imagined that yellow sunflowers would look great in here, but I didn't want to get too attached.

Richard waited in the living room as I walked to the back of the apartment toward the bedroom. It was cute with a double bed taking center stage in the room and the same mirrored closet doors that were in Logan's bedroom. There was a wooden chest of drawers on the other side of the room.

The bathroom had a sunny, clear plastic shower curtain in front of the bathtub. I opened the small closet door, and towels were neatly stacked inside. Overall, the apartment was clean, quaint, and very me.

"I'll take it," I said to Richard without a second thought as I walked back into the living room. "It seems to have everything. Are the utilities included?"

"Yes; electric, water, and trash collection are included," Richard assured me. "The only thing that you will need to get is food and whatever else you may like, but the basics are all included."

"Sounds great!" I beamed, and then I thought of the tour. "Would you mind if I rented it month-to-month? I'm going on tour soon and I'm not sure for how long I'll need the apartment."

"Oh. Tour, huh?" Richard asked.

Again, I wondered if I had said too much. But since the apartment was furnished, I could always give up this one and put everything into storage, and then rent another one when I came back in town.

I nodded, unwilling to say more.

"Yes. Our leases are month-to-month, anyway," Richard said as a gleam lit his eyes. "We have a lot of musicians here in Nashville."

I laughed. "I'd bet you do."

He shrugged. "They come out of the woodwork."

I chuckled, nodding in agreement.

"Come on," Richard said, already heading toward the door. "Let's go sign the lease

I nodded, suddenly afraid that I was signing my life away, for some reason. It was the first contract that I had ever signed, and it felt a bit scary. But when I looked it over, it was very basic. It stated that I couldn't remove anything, and that it needed to be left clean and ready to rent again when I left. Very basic.

I left the office as I tucked a copy of the lease into my purse, feeling very mature with having rented my first apartment. Within minutes, I parked around the corner in front of my new apartment, lugged my suitcase upstairs, and plopped it onto the bed. I looked at the clock on the nightstand, amazed at how quickly the morning had flown by. It was already time to go.

I grabbed my purse and my keys, and then ran down to the car as quickly as I could. I checked the trunk to make sure that my guitar was still there, then jumped into the car and sped toward the legendary SDC Studios.

As I pulled down the street, I was amazed at the historic sites. Nashville had a lot of music history. I felt a sense of awe as I pulled into a parking spot across the street from the SDC Studios building. It was June, but a nice cool breeze blew across the lot. I pulled my guitar out of the trunk, slung my purse over my shoulder, and hurried down the sidewalk, but stopped right in front of the building when I saw two guitars placed carefully into the ground in tribute. One was of Elvis, showcasing his swiveling hips, and the other was a tribute to Roy Orbison. But I didn't have time to take it all in.