Old habits are hard to break. Juliette found herself relying on lies and deception in “Nashville” Season 4, episode 17. The star is desperate to do anything she can to win back Avery. However, lying isn’t going to convince the guitarist that she has changed. Avery made a big decision about his romantic life on the ABC drama.

At the beginning of the hour, Juliette (Hayden Panettiere) asks Glenn (Ed Amatrudo) what’s happening between Avery (Jonathan Jackson) and Layla (Aubrey Peeples). He assures her that they’re just making an album together, but he doesn’t know what’s happening on the tour bus.

Layla kisses Avery while they work on a song. The next day, Avery tells Layla that it’s probably best to stay friends. Everything is already complicated for him, and it doesn’t need to be worse.

Later, Juliette asks Avery to play “Don’t Put Dirt On My Grave Just Yet” with her during the tour, and she claims it was Glenn’s idea (it wasn’t). Avery isn’t sure he wants to work with her. He calls Glenn to turn her down, and Glenn is angry that Juliette lied to Avery. “You really want Avery to see how far you’ve come?” Glenn asks. “Try being honest with him instead of lying to him.”

She goes to Avery and tells him the truth. Avery says he still doesn’t want to play with her. Juliette doesn’t just want to work together though. She says she loves him, and she knows Avery loves her too. Avery has no trouble admitting that he loves Juliette — that’s the problem. He is angry because he can’t move on while she is on tour with him, and he believes that she is going to break his heart again.

Juliette is determined to change their relationship. “If we work together we can rebuild what we had and it will be better than it was before,” Juliette says. She tells him that he can take his time making his decision.

The country star hears a knock on the door of her hotel room later, and she looks excited. Much to her disappointment, it isn’t Avery. It’s Emily (Kourtney Hansen) who tells Juliette that she can have the baby for the night. Meanwhile, Avery goes to Layla’s hotel room instead and passionately kisses her.

While that fight didn’t end the way fans hoped, one couple made some serious progress in “Nashville” Season 4, episode 17. Scarlett (Clare Bowen) and Gunnar (Sam Palladio) are fighting at the beginning of this episode. Scarlett isn’t talking to Gunnar, and she won’t tell him why. When they get stuck in an elevator together, they have to chat. Scarlett thinks Autumn (Alicia Witt) and Gunnar slept together, but Gunnar clarifies that he turned the older singer down. He didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize his friendship with Scarlett.

While they’re stuck, Scarlett reminds him that they didn’t meet at the Bluebird. They met during a street fair. Gunnar can’t believe he didn’t remember. Since they’re reflecting on the old days, they play one of their songs from the very first episode of “Nashville,” called “If I Didn’t Know Better.” It’s a pretty sexy tune, and the duo stand inches away from each other while they sing. The elevator doors open just as they’re about to kiss.

They go back to her hotel, and Scarlett says goodnight and closes they door. When she turns around to open the door, Gunnar is already standing there waiting for her. He kisses Scarlett and leads her to the bed.

Thankfully, Rayna (Connie Britton) and Deacon (Charles Esten) don’t have any romantic drama right now. Their daughter Maddie (Lennon Stella) is causing enough trouble for them. The teenager wants to emancipate herself from her parents, and Rayna doesn’t want to make any drastic moves. She wants her daughter to come to her senses on her own.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that’s happening any time soon. Maddie serves them with papers ordering her parents to appear in court. “Does that mean she’s divorcing us?” Daphne (Maisy Stella) asks.

A lawyer talks to them, and they discover that Rayna is the one being asked to appear in court. Deacon is not Maddie’s legal guardian, so Rayna and Teddy (Eric Close) are the ones being summoned. Rayna visits Teddy in jail and explains the situation. Teddy wants to talk to Maddie before he signs anything saying he agrees with Rayna.

Maddie’s friend Cash (Jessy Schram) is trying to get Maddie a new record deal as soon as possible. Scott Borchetta, the CEO of Big Machine Records, turned down a meeting with Cash since Maddie is signed to Highway 65. Rayna tells him to schedule the meeting, but Rayna shows up to chat with Cash instead. Rayna says that no one in Nashville will work with Cash again if she goes through with this.

Meanwhile, Maddie has her own meeting with Teddy. When Maddie explains, he supports Deacon’s actions. He also reveals that she wasn’t signed to Edgehill because he supported her career. Teddy was blackmailed. “So all my parents are liars then?” Maddie asks.

Rayna manages to catch Maddie before she goes back to Cash’s house. Maddie is upset that her parents have kept so much from her. Rayna promises that she only has her best interests in mind. She asks Maddie to listen to her heart.

Maddie asks Cash if this is going too far. She feels guilty for not talking to Daphne, and the heart-to-heart with her mother seems to be giving her second thoughts. When Maddie says she talked to her mother, Cash reveals her threatening conversation with Rayna.

Nothing can break Maddie and Daphne’s bond, though. Maddie shows up at the last second to play a charity benefit with her little sister. Her mother assumes it means Maddie has dropped her emancipation suit, but Maddie says she isn’t there for the whole family. “Daphne, I’m not emancipating from you,” Maddie says before running off. “We’re still sisters.” Rayna has to play her song for the crowd while Deacon holds a crying Daphne.

Elsewhere in episode 17, Luke (Will Chase) wants to get Will (Chris Carmack) on country radio, but only five of the radio programmers come to Will’s performance. Getting country stations to support a gay artist won’t be easy. Will understands that his support is going to be limited, but Luke refuses to accept that. Luke decides they’ll go for an even bigger launch.

He goes to “Good Morning America” and has Will perform. Luke goes as far as to shame the radio programmers during his “GMA” appearance, and he urges viewers to call their radio stations to get Will some airtime. Luke’s people are worried that while launching Will’s career, Luke may have sunk his own.

“Nashville” Season 4 airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EDT on ABC.

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