“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.

He walked across the room in our direction, extending a hand out towards Baylor, “Take good care of our girl,” he smiled as the two of them shook hands and then he turned to me, opening his arms for a hug, and I didn’t hesitate entering his embrace. We had worked together for ten glorious years, he was like a brother to me and I would miss him dearly. He whispered into my ear while I was still in his clutch, “I would’ve taken you up on that marriage proposal if I had known he was going to be stealing you away. You’re an amazing woman, Eden, enjoy your bit of happiness.”

He released me and I took two steps back, wiping a tear from my face. I couldn’t leave things sad and melancholy between us, so I retorted, “I really am sorry for quitting so suddenly like this, I hope they don’t stick you with Ryan as a cohost now.” That realization hadn’t dawned on him until then and his eyes widened and his nostrils flared; you could just tell that he was picturing the new version of the show without me.

Raising his extended index finger in my direction, “You had better turn around and march out of here real fast before I bring you back and duct tape you to your chair so you can’t leave!”

I knew he was joking of course, but I wasn’t about to take any chances, so I grabbed Baylor’s hand and we darted from the studio room and directly into my boss. Just as I had suspected, he was outside of the doors with his arms crossed in front of his chest and a deathly glare on his face. “Mr. Richmond,” I stammered, feeling Baylor’s stance stiffen behind me. “I suppose you heard what happened, huh?” I wasn’t one to go actively seeking confrontation, in fact, despite what happened at the reunion with Kristina, I actually loathed it. Especially when it was coming from my boss, whom I had known for several years but who still managed to scare the living shit out of me.

“Eden, what kind of game do you think you’re playing? You are under a contract with the radio station for another two years. Don’t you think you should’ve thought about this instead of making a rash decision?” I could feel my anger and annoyance level rising by the minute and the moment I opened my mouth to speak, Baylor beat me to the chase.