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"Are you gonna tell ?" she asked, obviously both excited and curious as we pulled out of her apartment complex

"Nope," I teased her "You’ll knoe get there"

"Well, how long of a drive is it?"

"Just a couple of hours Settle down Nervous Nellie, it will be fun, I pronature Scarlett s prepared for where I’rabbed her hand and brought it tothe top of her knuckles "Other than the hotel staff, I’ around"

True to my word, about three hours later we pulled up to Lake Austin Spa Resort After a quick check in with the front desk, I retrieved the keys to our premier hot tub cabin and I drove the car around to our hohts When we entered cabin, she was like a little kid on Christ it all in She was beaht decision When she made her way to the French doors in the back of the cabin, she opened them and found the back porch decked out with a hot tub and posh sitting area that had breathtaking views of the lake

"It’s absolutely gorgeous, Ash," she whispered in her sweet little voice She turned around and launched herself intohtly inher heavenly s for you"

Sunday afternoon caht hours being co into the delicious one to getup, and I had never quite understood the draw to it, but after that weekend, I had a newfound respect for the relaxation and rejuvenation those things did for one’s well-being Spending that time alone aith Scarlett was therapeutic not only on an individual level, but for us as a couple as well We spent hours upon hours in the hot tub under the stars talking about our hopes and dreams for the future I told her all about CERN andon there She expressed to me her love for music, which was much deeper than I had ever realized She hadn’t done much with it scholastically because she was afraid of what her parents and others would think of her wasting away a Rice education just to ed her to follow her heart with it She would only bein the business world if her true calling was in h to her, even if it was just a little, and I was going to continue to push her to follow her dream On several occasions I had the opportunity to tell her about California, but I didn’t want to ruin the ument, plus I still didn’t know for sure where she could enroll once we got there I knew everything would work out Like I had always told her, I had faith that fate would find a way

SCARLETT

When Ash and I came back from our weekend at the lake, I was completely revitalized and felt as if I had a direction forwith the whole "what do you want to be when you grow up" topic for so else that I felt connected to All of my classes came pretty easy to me for the h they had always pushed my music lessons on me, my parents had always made me feel like there was no future in it, that it wasn’t an acceptable career choice However after talking to Ash about it, I began to realize that there was nothing disgraceful at all in following your calling Even if I was an ele so that I absolutely loved; it didn’t matter how ht about it

After he dropped s and changed intoMax would be there so I could tell him all about the weekend, but he was nowhere to be found I also couldn’t wait to tell Mason abouthim, but decided I would wait to tell him in person on Tuesday when I went to see hi I really wanted I was accepting who I was and what I wanted, and I was finally learning to e toabout music also made me realize that other than when I was bored at work, I hardly ever played any ti neell I pulled my keyboard out of ’s Burn, which I was totally in love with For the next couple of hours I co; I allowed thefluidly over the keys as I belted out the lyrics Not even aware that Max had come home, he nearly scared the life out ofmy concert for one I looked over my shoulder at him and smiled as he cli a note

When we finished the song, he began clapping and whistling "Bravo! Bravo! My dear Scarlett, when did you learn how to play the piano?"

"Ued his shoulder with uitar, but I had no idea about this… and your voice! Why don’t you do anything with this talent? You’re a, I told him my news "Well, actually I decided over this weekend that I a with it I’ve always felt like it was just so with Ash this weekend he helped me realize that if I really love it, which I do, that I should pursue it So when I got ho out," I explained as I nodded to the keyboard

"I’ down at rab uitar I want to play with you"

A fewquite the concert onthat we both kne to play by ht of a song that was perfect for the two of us

"How quickly can you pick up music from a tab sheet?" I asked him

He rolled his eyes at uitarist for the world-renowned Thirty Two Leaves," he retorted, acting annoyed