Jude’s Song

by Mary Crawford

  “Tasha, are you calling a code red?” Logan asks urgently.

  “No, not yet. I don’t know if this is related to the text messages — but Aidan needs to know she’s here. I don’t think you need to evacuate us quite yet unless Aidan decides she poses that much danger.”

  “She who?” Jude asks with a scowl.

  “Clover Branch,” I mutter with a sinking feeling in my stomach. “The last time I saw her, I was about fourteen and she almost completely destroyed both Aidan’s career and mine.”

  A look of comprehension crosses Logan’s face as he says, “You’re kidding. The boss will want to know about this one for sure. I wonder what she wants. The last I heard, there was talk of restraining orders between the two of them.”

  “It was about that ugly. I have no idea why she’s here — but I know it can’t be a good thing.”

  Before I can say anything more, Aidan comes over with his new bodyguard, Nick. “What’s up?”

  I tilt my head over to the cluster of people and Aidan’s face immediately grows tense. He turns to Nick and says, “Go get Tara for me. She’s grabbing Izzy a bite to eat at the snack table.”

  Nick looks to Logan for permission to leave Aidan’s side. “Against protocol.”

  “It’s all right Nick. There are two of us here already.”

  Looking pained, Nick responds, “Affirmative. I’ll be right back.”

  Jude looks puzzled. “I don’t understand. What does Tara have to do with this Clover Branch woman?”

  Aidan rubs his hand down his face with a wry grin. “Everything and nothing. You’ll see.” He fishes a scrunchie from the pocket of his jeans and places it on his wrist as we wait.

  “Does this kind of stuff happen often?” Jude looks around the crowd with renewed scrutiny. “I’m usually putting away equipment when you all are doing this, so all of this is new.”

  Aidan chuckles as he concedes, “It can get a little crazy … but this is crazier than average.”

  Tara rushes up behind Aidan with Nick following close behind her. “What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into now, husband of mine?”

  Aidan quickly signs something to Tara.

  Her expression darkens like a thundercloud as she says, “I wish those people would get a clue. They’re worse than hot pink glitter — no matter how hard you try to get them to go away, they never truly disappear.”

  Jude watches with wide-eyes as Tara sheds her brightly colored jacket and bangle bracelet. Aidan presents his wrist to his wife where she retrieves the scrunchie he put there earlier. She quickly tames her wild black hair into a smooth ponytail and anchors it with the scrunchie. Right before our very eyes, she transforms into a quiet, subdued interpreter.

  “Let’s go face this. The monsters we don’t know are always worse than the ones we do.” Tara signs as she speaks.

  As Aidan and Tara leave the room ahead of us, Jude turns to me and whispers, “Did you know she could become a totally different person?”

  “Yeah, I watched her do it every day when we first met,” I recollect with a small smile. “I was one of the privileged few to have a front row seat as those two fell in love.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  JUDE

  THE ABRUPT CHANGE FROM A party-like, celebratory mood to whatever’s going on here is crazy. There’s a sense of danger and foreboding. Everyone seems to be steeling themselves against the unknown. I appear to be the only person who doesn’t fully understand what’s going on.

  Aidan, Tara, Tasha and I, complete with our three bodyguards, move over to the crowd of people in the corner of the room as if we’re a swarm of ants. The serious expressions on Logan and Nick’s face is probably enough to scare most fans away with one glance, although this particular group of fans is curiously overdressed for this laid-back venue in a college-town.

  A tall woman with her hair in a severe ponytail is texting on her cell phone as Aidan and Tara come up behind her. One of the people in her entourage catches her attention, and she spins around to face Aidan. As the woman begins speaking, Tara does something I’ve never seen her do much in the whole time I’ve known them — she begins to quietly interpret everything the woman says. Everyone knows Aidan O’Brien is deaf, but he functions so well with his cochlear implants, it’s easy to forget he has any form of hearing deficit. Although Aidan and Tara often use sign language around the office, seeing him formally use Tara as an interpreter is an odd sight.

  The woman with the ponytail moves in to give Aidan an air kiss as he instinctively backs away. “Clover Branch. I have to admit, this is probably the last place I ever thought I would see you. Last I checked, you are not my biggest fan,” Aidan says pointedly. “The middle of Nebraska hardly seems like your kind of scene.”

  “That’s true — although, I must admit you still put on a helluva show. However, in this case, you left me no other recourse. My office has tried repeatedly to contact you and Ms. Keeley to no avail. More direct methods were necessary.”

  “There is no need for you to contact me at all. You have my lawyer’s phone number. Since Tasha is employed by Silent Beats Studios, she’s covered as well. If you have business to do with us, you can do it through them.”

  “There seems to be some miscommunication because your lawyer’s office isn’t returning my phone calls.” She almost stamps her foot in frustration.

  Aidan waits for Tara to interpret the woman’s statement before he answers. “Well, I don’t know if my lawyer is handling any matters with Five-Star. I guess the reason they're not responding is because any business Tasha or I had with Five-Star has been concluded for nearly a decade.”

  A severe frown forms on the woman’s face. “I wish for once, you would listen to what I have to say before you decide everything about me is bad.”

  “Clover, I have a whole room of people waiting to meet me. They paid good money for their tickets, I can’t let them down. For the sake of all of us, just state your business,” he says, his signs underscoring his displeasure.

  “If you insist,” Clover says with a self-satisfied smirk. “Recent events in the news have caused us to go back through our old agreements. In particular, our agreement with Tasha is in question.”

  Tasha’s eyes widen as she looks at Aidan with shock. “What is she talking about?”

  Clover pins her gaze on Tasha as she asks, “You co-wrote your latest hit with Aidan, correct?

  “Well… Yeah. Why?” she answers cautiously, seemingly taken off guard by the question.

  “Remember, we had you write a song as part of the competition on America’s Next Star? Well, our music analysts have determined the song you wrote for our competition is substantially similar to the one currently on the Billboard Top 200 list. This violates your contract with us. We believe we have damages against you.”

  My hand is on Tasha’s waist and I can feel her start to tremble as she asks Aidan, “We came up with that song from scratch. Can they do this?”

  “I don’t know if I would turn to him for your legal advice. He may be sitting in the same kettle of hot water as you,” the woman snaps at Tasha. “There are some parts of the melody which are remarkably similar to the songs he submitted to our producers.”

  Aidan steps between them. “Tasha, I’m not sure what’s going on. This is not the place to deal with this. We have places to go and people to see — if you’ll pardon the cliché. Just remember, this is not the first time Ms. Branch and Five-Star Entertainment have bluffed over a hand they simply overplayed,” he adds with a lethal warning in his voice.

  Clover steps closer to Tasha and says, “You’re an adult now. Since you are presumably handling your own career, I would urge you to reconsider an offer from Five-Star Entertainment. We can give you better exposure and more radio airplay than a new, untested startup record label. I know you feel some loyalty to Aidan because you’re friends, but friendship shouldn’t get in the way of a smart business decision. If you were to sign on again with Five-Star Entertainm
ent, I could make all of this legal mess go away and we can start over again with a clean slate.”

  I don’t know who this woman is or anything about the agency she represents. I vaguely remember the drama involving Aidan leaving a television show at the top of his game, but I don’t know the details of it all. Being on Aidan’s team has been a spectacular move for both Tasha and me. For her to suggest otherwise is a flat-out lie. You don’t get much more social media reach than with Aidan O’Brien and Tara Imasu. They have a broad spectrum of fans who are insanely loyal.

  Tasha stiffens her spine as she answers in a frosty tone, “You can provide your number to my bodyguard. I’ll forward it on to my attorney. If there’s something to all the mumbo-jumbo you’re spewing, someone will return your call. Otherwise, we’re done.”

  “How can you dismiss an opportunity like this so easily without even talking to me? You don’t even know how much our company has grown since America’s Next Star. We could launch your career into the stratosphere. You’re good, and you are even better with Justin over here. You could be like Kelly Clarkson and Justin what’s-his-face. You know, like the next hot couple of the pop/country music hybrid.”

  “My name is Jude,” I answer. “I believe Ms. Keeley was clear —”

  “I do have one more thing to say,” Tasha interjects. “When I was a lonely teenage girl with nothing but hopes and dreams and a little talent, you did nothing to ‘help’ me. Why are you so interested in me now? If it’s because I’m suddenly hot, I’ve got some news you might find interesting. This tour, right now where the fans are waiting on us all, may be my very last one.”

  “What do you mean?” Clover asks with shock in her voice. “You sound amazing.”

  “Sometimes, you have to pursue the dream that’s right for you and not the one that’s right for everyone else — even when there’s a price to pay.”

  “Excuse me? A lot of people have worked really hard to get you where you are right now. Why would you throw it all away? There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of girls who would love to be in your shoes. Are you sure you are ready to give that up for …whatever?” The woman gives me a pointed look as if I have something to do with Tasha’s decision. “You know … boys — even as cute as he is — are a dime a dozen. Don’t give up what you have to chase a relationship.”

  Tasha raises herself up to her full height — which in her stage boots is quite tall — and goes nose-to-nose with Clover Branch. “I used to look up to you. I thought you had it all together as a professional woman — but now I see I was wrong. You missed a train or two along the way on your journey to become a decent human being.”

  Clover chokes on a cough and dramatically covers her mouth with her hand, but Tasha pays her theatrics no mind as she continues. “Yes, I like Jude. I like him a lot and the reason I like him is because he is the kind of man who, although he disagrees with my decision to give up my career, supports my right to do it. He understands singing has never been my dream. I know you never bothered to ask me what my dream was, but if you had taken the time to listen to my answers way back when I was on your television show, you’d know I’ve always wanted to be a pediatric nurse. That hasn’t changed.”

  It’s all I can do not to puff up my chest and give my woman a standing ovation for her strength as Clover just stands there and silently blinks as she listens to Tasha speak.

  Tasha’s not about to give up any ground as she goes on. “I want to go to college like a regular person. I’m sorry if that disappoints you, Aidan, my mother or anyone else. I have the right to make the decision for myself. In answer to your question, if everything goes right in my world, I won’t even need your representation. As for the rest of it, I’ll let the lawyers sort it all out. All I know is that Aidan and I had a good idea for a song. One day, his family and I went out rock climbing with a bunch of kids and during some downtime we wrote a song. That’s about as complicated as the story gets. If you want to make more of it, I can’t stop you. This is a big night for us. Let us celebrate it, please.”

  Suddenly Tasha seems to lose her fire as she turns toward me and wilts into my chest. I give her a brief hug and glare at Clover Branch as I practically growl, “If you’ll excuse me, we have other fans to meet. You know, those people who appreciate what we do?”

  Tara stops signing and lets her hair down as she tucks the scrunchie back into Aidan’s pocket. “Clover, you and I have had a complicated relationship for a long time, but let me spell this out for you. I’m not speaking as Aidan’s interpreter right now. I’m speaking as his wife. I watched you suck the joy out of music for my husband. He almost lost everything because of the power games you played. You failed to recognize Aidan has faced bigger, scarier obstacles than you and came out on top. If he could do that back then, when he was waiting tables, imagine what he can do now. So help me God, if you try to destroy the career of another musician I love and admire, you can kiss any respectability you have in this field goodbye. Do you have any questions?”

  Clover looks taken aback by the anger in Tara’s voice as she croaks, “No, thank you. I will be in touch with your lawyers.”

  Stella, who’s been observing our conversation from a distance, walks over and taps Clover on the shoulder. “I know you don’t know me and probably don’t care who I am in this business. For argument’s sake, let’s say my contact list reads like an invitation to an after party at the Grammys. I want to give you a few words of friendly advice. You may think you know what’s up in the music business. Trust me when I tell you that you don’t. You’re just a guppy swimming around in a mud puddle. Before you choose to fight a battle you read about in the tabloids while you were buying your rotisserie chicken and tater-tots at the supermarket, you should know it won't give you the notoriety and the credibility with the boss-man and the big-wigs you hope it will. It’s gonna buy you a lot of bad karma in this business — karma you can’t afford. Before you go to bed tonight, you might want to consider whether you actually want to pick a fight with one of the most popular musicians to ever climb the charts and his new protégé. If you take on Aidan O’Brien and Silent Beats, you will have a bigger fight on your hands than you could imagine.”

  Clover studies the older redhead as if she’s trying to decide if her opinion is worth considering. “My research tells me I’m on solid ground here, but thanks for sharing.”

  Stella rolls her eyes and shrugs. “Well, honey, when this all comes back to bite you in the butt, don’t say nobody never warned you about what would happen when you try to claim rights you don’t have to someone else’s work.”

  Stella walks over to Tasha and puts her arm around her shoulder as she escorts us away from the tense situation. “Come on guys, I want you to meet some of your fans. You should see the collage they made for you, Tasha.”

  After the most adrenaline-filled hour of my life, we all end up back in Aidan’s suite. Ironically, we are doing what most people do on a Friday night — munching down on pepperoni pizza and watching awful horror movies on Netflix. None of us are truly watching television but it gives us something to focus on while we decompress from the intense meet and greet with fans.

  In typical Tasha fashion, she pulls the throw cushions off the couch and tosses them on the floor. I’m propped up behind her and she’s cuddled in my lap. Even though she’s trying to give the appearance that everything is fine, she’s trembling.

  Tara hands her a soda as she asks, “How are you?”

  “I guess I’ll survive.” Tasha shrugs.

  “That’s not exactly what I asked. How are you feeling?” Tara asks more pointedly.

  “Honestly, I’m more than a little freaked out and quite a lot pissed off. I’m wondering what I ever did to these people to make them want to destroy all my hopes and dreams … again. I thought they were gone from my life for good. That’s why I hired an attorney to take care of all that for me. Why are they back and what could they possibly want from me? I’m not even sure I’m going to d
o this whole music thing anymore. I’m trying to get into college. Why do they have to mess with me? I can’t go to school and fight a lawsuit at the same time.”

  Tara collapses onto the floor in the most graceful way I’ve ever seen as she leans over to give Tasha a hug. “Oh Tasha, you have to understand this has never been about you. In reality, it probably wasn’t even about Aidan — even though they want to make it seem as if it’s all about him. You guys were pawns in a game of chess bigger than you. But guess what? You guys rule the board now. You have all the power.”

  Tasha shakes her head. “Aidan has the power. I don’t have any power. I’m just a half-a-hit nobody. If it weren’t for Aidan, I wouldn’t even be on the charts. He’s the one with the star power, I’m just a coffee shop singer who has a really generous friend.”

  Before I can voice my own protest, Tara rolls her eyes and openly scoffs. “Oh come on. I was there, remember? There was only one contestant who gave my husband a run for his money and you were only thirteen years old when you pulled it off. You’re even better now.”

  Tasha blushes as she says, “I was almost fourteen, but my mom thought it was better if the producers packaged me as a thirteen-year-old.”

  “It doesn’t matter — fourteen or forty — you have a solid fan base who loves you. Did you forget who won?”

  “Yeah, I came in first place because Aidan wasn’t in the competition. If I would’ve had fair competition, there would’ve been no way I would’ve won. It didn’t do me any good to win. My career still died, so I obviously wasn’t all that great.”

  “Tasha, I don’t think it’s fair of you to make that kind of judgment. After Aidan left the competition, it all kind of fell apart because it wasn’t legitimate. But it’s not on you. Your talent was one hundred percent real. Their promotion was sketchy. That’s a completely different issue. You had, and continue to have, loyal fans. All you have to do is look at your Twitter account and Facebook feed. It’s amazing. You built your fan base up all by yourself.