Nashville by Heart: A Novel Read Online Free PDF

ponytail and wearing a
blue fifties-style waitress dress.
    When
another waitress greeted the pair, Gillian breathed a sigh of relief. The
morning had been crazy enough with the high heels and lipstick. The last thing
she wanted for the next time he saw her was to be dressed like the 1950s. Next
time she wanted to look like herself, but as she made a move to pour coffee for
someone, she realized it was too late. She overfilled the coffee cup, causing a
commotion of clattering dishes, spoons and apologies. She pulled a cloth from
her apron and mopped up the mess, and when she glanced up, Will’s eyes were
resting on hers. He smiled.
    Without
thinking, she smiled back and ridiculously held the coffee pot up in a kind of
salute. His smile widened, and for a second he looked like he might be about to
head her way, but Audrey popped back through the curtain, laced her arm through
his, and they were gone, the curtain swinging closed behind them.
    “I’m
so sorry,” Gillian told the man whose coffee she spilled. “I’ll give you more
coffee.”
    Trying
to forget that Will was seated in the very next room, Gillian paid special
attention to her customers, even scrubbing a few of the tabletops for the
overwhelmed busboys.
    “Don’t
take the Formica off,” Tasha said a few minutes later. “I need you to trade me
places.”
    “Why?”
But Gillian knew why.
    “You
need to be waiting on Will Adams,” she hissed. “I heard him talking about you.”
    “Me?”
    “Yes,
you, Sherlock.” Tasha rattled off Will’s order. “Now go and tell him about
tonight at The Blue Fiddle.”
    “Oh
my gosh!” Gillian slapped the side of her head with the rag.
    “Gross,”
Tasha said, snatching the rag away. “You know what that rag has wiped up?”
    Gillian
laughed, grabbing a clean towel and wiping at the side of her face.
    “This
day is so wild. I don’t even know what I’m doing. My mind is racing.”
    “Well,
I don’t think Marv would like you forgetting about The Blue Fiddle,” Tasha
said. “You’d better readjust your brain. And go in the VIP room and get your
man.”
    “My
agent,” Gillian corrected.
    “Whatever.
Just go get him.”
    Gillian
smiled, still nervous, but empowered. She’d almost forgotten about her
performance that night at The Blue Fiddle, where she waitressed nights with
Tasha. She felt so blessed to be a regular opening act for her boss, Marv. Why
hadn’t she told Will Adams about it?
    “What
should I say?”
    Tasha
smiled. “I took his order, so go back to the kitchen, get it and say with a
smile, here’s your chicken fried steak.”
    “Like
it’ll be that easy. I’ll probably spill his coffee like I did to that poor man
earlier.”
    “It
will be easy. Trust me.”
    Gillian
headed toward the kitchen, rehearsing what she’d say under her breath.
    “Hi.
Here’s your chicken fried steak. And would you like to watch me sing tonight?”
    “I’d
love to,” a pimple-faced young man sitting at a table of men called out.
    She
paused and laughed at herself. She obviously hadn’t been as quiet as she
thought. The boy, who was a regular customer, grinned.
    “Where
are you singing, sweetheart?” He tried to look taller.
    She
adopted a motherly voice. “You have to be twenty-one to go, sweetheart.”
    His
shoulders sagged, but he still smiled as his older friends guffawed and slapped
his back.
    “Well,
good luck!” he called, blushing. “You’ll be great.”
    “Why,
thank you, honey.” She walked back and filled his coffee cup a little bit more,
hoping that he was right.

Chapter Four
    Seeing
Gillian Heart at The Sweetest Tea Café froze Will in his tracks. She looked a
lot different than when he’d met her that morning in the lobby of his office.
    “Well,
I’ll be damned.”
    The
waitress outfit was cute, but heck, he would’ve felt the same jolt of
attraction no matter what she had on. And that voice he’d heard on the CD. It
was a lot bigger than one would expect from someone like her,