Seeing the good in people is natural to Rayna (Connie Britton) on “Nashville.” The songstress wants to trust her new artist, Vita (Jeananne Goossen), but in Season 4, episode 13, she realized that maybe trust should be earned. Meanwhile, Rayna’s husband Deacon (Charles Esten) should probably start trusting his business partner a little more before it’s too late.

Luke (Will Chase) is bringing Riff (Steve Kazee) out on tour, so Deacon wants to let him play a solo show at the Beverly before he leaves. Frankie (Mark Collie) isn’t thrilled because he was supposed to play that slot. Deacon says they can’t pass up such a big name, but Frankie seems angry that Deacon is calling all the shots. The guitarist also tells Frankie not to call the police about the missing money. Deacon is letting Rayna handle it.

Vita comes into Highway 65, and she swears that she didn’t take the money. Rayna drops the subject in favor of listening to her play music.

When Vita shows up to the bar, Frankie angrily confronts her and yells at her to get out. Vita admits that she took the money, but she was planning to give it back. Deacon apologizes for not listening to his partner.

Rayna confronts Vita later, and the struggling musician says that her sister was in trouble. Her life was being threatened and she needed to pay $500 or die. Rayna isn’t sure she can believe Vita, and she says that Highway 65 can’t take the risk with her.

However, it’s difficult for Rayna to forget about Vita. She goes back to Vita’s car the next day to see if she can at least help her get into a shelter. However, Vita isn’t there. Her car seems to have been broken into and the police are investigating.

She might not be the only artist that is fired. Riff is not tour-ready. He gets angry with the band at rehearsal and storms off, and the band says that it sounds like he hasn’t played since he retired 15 years ago. Luke tries to get him to go back on stage, and Riff tells him that he is going to his daughter’s soccer game because his kids actually like him.

Luke tracks Riff down a little later and tells him that he can leave. Riff apologizes for thinking he could pick up where he left off, but he still wants to do this. He goes on at the Beverly, and Luke seems to be holding his breath. Luckily, the show goes off without a hitch. He even invites Deacon on stage, much to Frankie’s dismay.

Deacon’s business partner isn’t happy with all of the changes, even if it has increased business. Frankie hears a couple concertgoers say that the Beverly used to be a dump before Deacon came along. Frankie goes in the back and decides to take a drink, something the alcoholic hasn’t done in years.

In healthier news, Avery (Jonathan Jackson) is finally trying to move on from Juliette (Hayden Panettiere). He is approached by another single parent on the playground, Sienna (Meg Steedle). They commiserate about having no time to do anything, and Sienna says they should get together some time. Avery offers to go out to dinner that night, but Sienna doesn’t have a babysitter. She offers to cook for the producer instead. After dinner, they share a kiss.

Layla (Aubrey Peeples) looks a little disappointed that Avery has a date. She tries to go to Riff’s concert at the Beverly with him, but he already has plans with Sienna. That causes Layla to become an egomaniac at a photo shoot. Glenn (Ed Amatrudo) tells her that he can’t work with a troubled starlet again. Layla reveals that she isn’t sure of her relationship with Avery, and Glenn tells her that they’re both in tough places right now. She should probably stay just friends to Avery.

It doesn’t seem like she needs to worry about her producer’s new relationship anyway. Avery realizes he has been talking about Juliette all night during his date. Sienna tells him that he needs more time to get over Juliette, and they’re going to be just friends for now.

That isn’t the only romance that ended in “Nashville” Season 4, episode 13. Colt (Keean Johnson) surprises Maddie (Lennon Stella) at school with flowers. He hangs out with Maddie and Cash (Jessy Schram), and he says he isn’t very involved with the music scene anymore. He doesn’t think it’s worthwhile. He says his grandfather is a Vietnam vet while his dad just “prances around on stage.” Maddie seems a little offended.

He hears the song Maddie wrote with Cash, and he seems to realize that it’s a song about him. He confronts Maddie later and thinks she is pretending to be someone that she’s not. He claims that music isn’t something that matters in the world, and Maddie realizes that they aren’t on the same page about anything. “I can’t do this,” Maddie says. “I love you, but I don’t really like you anymore.”

Elsewhere in “Nashville” Season 4, episode 13:

  • Daphne (Maisy Stella) is still feeling left out of Maddie’s life.
  • Colt looks at U.S. Army posters.
  • After a bad meeting with a gay record label, Will (Chris Carmack) considers recording his album independently.
  • Scarlett (Clare Bowen) and Gunnar (Sam Palladio) decide to share all the writing credits on their album, even if the song was only written by one of them.

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

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