by Mimi Milan
The silence between them grew long and heavy. Finally rejoining the conversation, Ol’ Jimmy cleared his throat, reminding them that he was still there.
“I think I’m going to go get that drink now,” he said and left the room.
Eddie let out a low whistle. “Wow. That’s some really heavy stuff. I’m sorry about your brother. Your father, too. I know what it’s like to lose both.”
“Really?” Rachel asked, surprised. “I guess I kind of assumed that you must have always had such a glamorous life.”
Eddie chuckled. “My life isn’t all that glamorous… yet. And, no, I didn’t have such a wonderful childhood.”
“What was it like?” she insisted.
“Difficult,” he said. He remained hesitant to talk about himself, telling her just enough to raise even more questions. “My parents were the absentee sorts. That doesn’t go over so well with social services.”
He fell silent and the seconds stretched out before them. Was he trying to figure out how to share his story, or still stalling so he could avoid it?
“And then what happened?” she prodded.
Eddie inhaled deeply. He turned to her, their eyes locking. The turmoil held in his made the black-rimmed orbs appear even darker… made her feel like she would drown in a stormy sea of churned up dark chocolate sand. They were close – much closer than she had originally intended – and she could hear his slow, steady breath in the quiet space between them. She leaned forward to lay a hand of encouragement on his arm. However, the dressing room door swung open and she quickly dropped it.
“Okay,” Jimmy said. He held out two beverages, handing the first to Eddie and then her. “I figured I’d get you a Shirley Temple since you can’t drink the hard stuff like Eddie here.”
Rachel gratefully accepted the grenadine sweetened soda, plucked the cherry out of it and popped it into her mouth. “Thank you,” she said. “I never said I couldn’t drink, though. I said I didn’t.”
“Why is that?” Eddie asked. “Some kind of army thing?”
“No,” she laughed and took a sip from her glass. “I had plenty of comrades who liked to party. However, I’ve also known less fortunate ones who drank, too. My younger brother was friends with a girl who died from alcohol poisoning not too long ago. Some kids got together down by the lake I guess you could say it served as a real wake up call for the entire town.”
“You must have a really close-knit community then. We have a kind of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ kind of policy where I’m from.”
“And why is th—”
“Speaking of where people come from,” Jimmy interrupted, “isn’t it about time we let this gal get home?”
A look passed between the two men and Rachel had the sudden feeling that Jimmy was trying to get rid of her. But then he turned to her and flashed a brilliant smile. “Don’t worry. The interview might be over, but this is just the beginning for you, my dear.”
A spark of anticipation flashed inside her. “It is?”
“Sure enough, kid. Ol’ Jimmy here knows what the goods are – and you’ve definitely got ‘em. What say we catch up tomorrow to we’ll discuss how we’re going to jumpstart your new career as a singer.”
Jimmy stretched out a slender hand. Rachel sprung up and grabbed it, pumping hard as they sealed the deal. “Yes, sir. I can be back first thing in the morning. You know how they say, ‘bright eyed and bushy tailed.’ No time’s too early to get started.”
The manager forced a laugh. “Oh, we’re more like afternoon people around here. How about we do lunch? We can talk specifics over food.”
“Sounds good to me. Where should we meet?”
“Well, these are your stomping grounds. Where do you suggest?”
Rachel hardly had to think about it. “There’s a small diner – well, I guess some might call it a dive. Anyway. It’s owned by a couple of Greeks who make the… best… food… ever. Trust me, you would love it.”
Jimmy gave Eddie the deciding vote. “What do you say, boss? She guarantees we’ll love it.”
Eddie eased back and shrugged. “Sounds like a done deal.”
“Thank you so much!” Rachel beamed brightly. “I promise I won’t let you down, Eddie.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he mumbled.
She wanted to ask him exactly what he meant by that, but Jimmy was already escorting her out the door, asking her for directions to the diner, and waving goodbye as she drove off before a simple fact dawned on her. She had told Eddie all kinds of particulars about herself, but still knew hardly anything about him.
5
Eddie could get down with someplace like Mr. G’s, the Greek American restaurant Rachel had chosen for lunch. The atmosphere was low-key, the food was fast, and the music was everything he could remember about the eighties. There was only one thing missing.
Jimmy.
“I don’t know what to tell you.” Eddie took another bite of his burger, swallowed, and then swigged back some of the cherry vanilla soda. “Jimmy’s almost never late.”
The door chimed, signaling another customer. Following Eddie’s sudden shift of attention. Rachel swung around only to see one of the regulars who frequented the joint. She turned back to Eddie. “You don’t think something’s happened to him. Do you?”
“Nah. Knowing Jimmy, he’s probably off somewhere closing a deal. Maybe setting up things with the recording studio.”
“Closing some deal?”
“Yeah, you know, making some arrangements.”
“What kind of arrangements?”
Eddie shrugged. “Setting up the next venue, making travel plans, booking hotel rooms.”
She skipped right over the idea of producing an album. Did he say hotel rooms? She mulled over the idea. Surely he didn’t mean they all shared one. Right?
“Uh, so how does that work out? I mean, do you guys share a room?”
“Well, yeah. We usually share or just sleep on the bus, but it might be a little strange with you on board. You would be the only female, so maybe Jimmy’s thought of that and made different provisions.”
“I never even thought about that.” Rachel took a bite of food, swallowed, and smiled. “I’ve traveled before, but never cross country on a tour bus. I think it would be exciting, though.”
How had she gone from back up on a few tracks to suddenly touring with him? Eddie mulled over the possibility. She was animated in such a way that he couldn’t help but grin. Touring with her would probably be a lot of fun. “Yeah, it is pretty cool. With my tunes and your voice on backup, I’m sure we’ll be a hit.”
Rachel screwed up her face. “Well, your tunes are fabulous. However, a lot of them are in Spanish – which is not exactly my strong suit. So maybe we could do something else. In fact, I was kind of hoping that I could maybe sing a song or two of my own.”
Eddie stared at her with wonderment.
“You write songs, too?” The look on her face told him that she was disappointed he wouldn’t have realized that sooner. He snorted. “Yeah, silly me. I guess it would make sense that you write music since you did take music lessons. Plus, you’ve got this innocent, almost angelic look to you – matches the voice.”
A light blush crept up Rachel’s cheeks, bringing a soft glow to her face. “You think I sing like an angel?”
“Well, you know. I mean, how can anyone really tell what an angel sings like? That is, if they’re even real.” Eddie cleared his throat, only half-trying to steer the conversation away from anything that betrayed his thoughts – which were about how beautiful she was, staring up at him as though he had just paid her the greatest compliment she had ever heard. The last thing he wanted was for her to think there was some kind of attraction.
Right?
“Yeah, well. You know…” The door chimed again, cutting Rachel’s response short. Eddie perked up, thankful to have been saved by the bell. He raised both hands, motioning to where Jimmy stood. “There he is – the man of the
hour.”
His manager sped across the diner towards them, grabbing a chair from an opposite table and placing it at the edge of the booth they occupied. He motioned for the waitress before addressing them. “Sorry, boss. I had some business to attend to.”
Eddie smiled confidently at Rachel. “See? What’d I tell you? Business.”
Rachel cautiously asked, “Anything good?”
“Of course,” he said as the waitress finally approached them.
“Are you ready to order?”
“Yeah. I’ll take a burger and Bud.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t serve any alcohol here.”
Jimmy gave the other two a sour look. Eddie stifled a laugh when Rachel sheepishly shrugged. “Guess I forgot to mention that.”
“How convenient,” Jimmy said flatly. He turned back to the waitress. “Okay, babe. I’ll have a burger and unsweetened ice tea.”
He turned to continue the conversation when the waitress spoke again. “With or without a lemon?”
“Without.” He pivoted in his seat. “So here’s wha—”
“And how do you want the burger?”
Jimmy slowly twisted around. He gave the waitress a once over. From the black curls piled on top of her head down to the red flats she wore (and all the curves between) the woman spelled trouble. He looked at her name tag which read, “Amorina.”
“However you want, Amor.”
The waitress smirked. Without glancing down at her pad, she wrote as she spoke. “Bloody raw, extra onions.”
Jimmy visibly swallowed. “On second thought… I think I’ll take it well done with lettuce, tomato, and mayo only. Please.”
“Naturally,” the waitress said and gave him a wink. She sashayed back to the kitchen, her rolling hips causing Jimmy to let out a quiet whistle.
“Now there’s a wo—” Rachel’s surprised look stopped his train of thought. He turned to Eddie and whispered. “Remind me to get that one’s number before we leave.”
Eddie rolled his eyes. “What have you got for me, Jimmy?”
“Actually, I’ve got something for the girl.” He whispered again and thumbed at Rachel. Then he turned around to address her. “Remember what we said about recording vocals for some of Eddie’s songs? Well, you’re good to go.”
“That’s great! When do we start?”
“First thing tomorrow.”
“I thought you weren’t morning people,” she challenged. Eddie chuckled and crossed his arms, sitting back to watch how his manager would respond. He was positive it had something to do with money.
Jimmy waved her comment away. “Sweetheart, I’m an anytime kind of person when there’s a buck to be made. So what do you say? You in? I went through a lot of trouble to make sure we’d have the tech to pull this off.”
Rachel hesitated. “Like I said, it sounds great. Are these the same songs that I would be singing when we tour, though? I mean, I know technology can do a lot to make a song sound good on track, but I would need to practice them as much as possible so I sound good in public, too.”
Jimmy grimaced. “Weeell…”
Eddie shrugged, confused. “What’s that face for? What’s going on?”
“I thought we agreed that… you know,” Jimmy mumbled. He cocked his head, expectantly waiting for Eddie to play along. When he didn’t, Jimmy continued, “I thought you weren’t interested in touring with anyone.”
Eddie shrugged. “I don’t remember saying that. Even if I did, maybe I changed my mind. Sounds like it could be fun.”
He gave Rachel a wink and a crimson blush graced her cheeks. Jimmy’s expression turned sour.
“What?” Eddie asked, confused.
“Eh,” the manager grounded out a questionable explanation, slowly turning to Rachel, his hands in together as though in a prayer position. “I’m so sorry. However, the powers that be – meaning our investors – wouldn’t think it would be such a great idea for her to go on the road.”
Eddie glanced over at a crestfallen Rachel. He turned back towards his manager, glaring. “Why not? What’s wrong with her going on the road with us?”
Jimmy’s eyes grew wide. He cocked his head to the side and mouthed the words, “You know, because of the thing…”
“What thing?” Eddie insisted.
“I’m deaf – not blind,” Rachel chimed in. She gasped. “That’s why, isn’t it? They don’t want someone who’s deaf as part of the act. You know what they call that, right? Discrimination... which happens to be illegal.”
“Whoa, now. That’s not it at all,” Jimmy insisted. “Tell her, Eddie. We don’t discriminate against anyone around here.”
Eddie’s head dropped. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Rachel. Her face displayed a range of emotions, crushing him. He remembered his brother looking the same way when social services first came to take them away – a mixture of depression and devastation both at the same time. He crossed his arms and glowered at the manager. “Right. We don’t discriminate against anyone. So, what’s the problem again?”
The lanky man’s eyes grew wide. He stammered with shock. “I… Well, if…”
Feeling like things would work out for Rachel to go on tour with them after all, Eddie gave Jimmy a satisfied grin. For the first time in the two years he’d known the man, his manager actually gave him an ‘evil eye.’ At least, that’s what he thought he had seen. For as quickly as it had appeared, that’s how fast it was gone again. Jimmy gave Rachel a sad smile. “I’m sorry, dear, but you can’t go on the road right now. See, Eddie works under an independent label that I manage. The way I manage it is with project funding from investors – most of whom we find online through social media and various outlets for artists. That’s basically how Eddie was discovered – through the wonderful World Wide Web. You, on the other hand, are nobody.”
Rachel’s huffed.
“Now, now. I don’t say that with any malice whatsoever. I’m just trying to explain to you why we have to be so careful with how we proceed. See, we don’t want to jeopardize Eddie’s career and all the hard work he’s done to get here, which isn’t even near the top yet– especially since he had something of a presence on social media. And that’s exactly what would happen if his listeners thought Eddie was taking advantage of you.”
“Whoa now,” Eddie said. “I would never—”
“C’mon, now, boss. Even you have to admit Ms. Linden here is quite the catch. After all, isn’t that why you pulled her up onstage last night?”
Eddie sputtered an unintelligible reply. Sure, he had been attracted to her from the moment she took the stage. He wouldn’t have used her, though. Okay, maybe he would have. However, he could definitely see the error of his ways.
Rachel Linden was obviously not a one-night-stand. Of course, he couldn’t say all that. Silence seemed the wiser choice in this particular situation.
Rachel eyed him suspiciously. “Why did you choose me out of the crowd?”
“Why not?” Eddie said nervously. The last thing he wanted was for her to figure out she was originally meant for nothing more than a one night stand. He shrugged, nonchalant. “You can sing.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t know that. Did you?” She studied both men for a moment. Her eyes grew wide and then narrowed with disgust. “Oh, my… you were trying to—”
“No.” Eddie shook his head, denying the unspoken accusation despite the fact it was the truth. “It wasn’t like that.”
“What do you think I am? Some desperate little groupie?”
Her cheeks were red again, but this time with anger. Her eyes glossed over.
“See?” Jimmy said. “You’re a good girl. You don’t want to travel with a couple of bad boys like us. We’re users – every single last one of us in this business. Really, the best thing you could do is make a little money for yourself. Do the vocals for a couple of the tracks, earn a few bucks, and then get as far away as you can from all this. Right, Eddie? Take the money and run. Right?”
Eddie nearly growled. “No, that’s not right.”
It was too late, though.
Rachel stood, dug into her purse, and pulled out a wallet. She tossed a twenty on the table.
“I don’t need money from the likes of you.” She took one last look at Eddie before spinning on her heel. She called over her shoulder, “I don’t need anything from you.”
Rachel sped out of the store. Eddie shot up out of his seat and followed her.
“Rachel!” he called. “It’s not like that at all.”
She continued on, racing towards her car and getting in before he realized that she couldn’t even hear his explanation. He sighed in defeat, watching as she drove off. He suddenly felt bereft of her company. There was something about her that made him wish for more than what he had – something better than money or even his music.
Her car disappeared from view and he decided he needed to have a serious talk with Jimmy. He started back towards the diner when it’s front door swung open.
“There you are.” His manager held a white Styrofoam takeout box in one hand and a drink in the other. “I wasn’t sure what was going on, so I figured I’d get the food to-go instead. Gotta say... that waitress in there is a real ball buster.”