His Melody (7 page)

Saeed hadn’t been crazy about the idea of her going to Miami, and he didn’t think there was anything special about the group she was going there to see. However, she really believed in the guys and had decided that she would pay out of pocket—both with gas money and vacation time—to go see them. Despite his initial lack of support, maybe there was some chance Saeed would fly her to Miami. If he would just listen to the demo CD she’d given him, he would understand.

If they didn’t snatch the group up soon, someone else would. And whenever
they got picked up by a record company—probably
by a major label—they would be big. Huge. She wanted it to be a New Face contract they signed when they signed one. And if Saeed had any common
sense, that
was what he’d want, too.

Saeed had told her the company wouldn’t pay for a ticket earlier, and it was bad enough they would lose much of her productivity for nearly a week, but maybe he would have a heart just this once. She had to believe that because the only hope she had left was getting on Saeed’s good side. Otherwise, she could probably kiss her job goodbye.

She needed to talk to her mom and Jen. She tried her mom first and got her voice mail. After leaving a voice mail and sending her mom a text to let her know she was okay, she called Jen.

“Melody James!” Jen cried. “I read your email. What kind of mess have you gotten yourself into this time?”

Melody laughed, tears of relief trickling from the corners of her eyes at the sound of Jen’s voice. “Jen. I can’t even begin to tell you how insane this has all been.”

“I told you about that clunker of yours,” Jen said.

Melody sighed. It was true. She had. “I know.”

“So what are you gonna do now? You want me to come get you?”

“Thanks, Jen, but I think I got it figured out,” Melody said before sharing her plan with her best friend.

“Yeah, sounds like you got it all figured out all right. Have you called Saeed yet?”

“Left him a message.”

“Good luck. ‘Cause you’re gonna need it.”

“I know.” She smiled, thinking of her little friend.
Small but tough.
And loyal.
Jen would have crawled across hot coals to Sweet Neck to get Melody if she had needed her to.

“Sweet Neck, huh? Wow. What’s it like there? You run into Andy or Gomer Pyle yet? Maybe Goober?”

Melody laughed. “Not quite Gomer,” she said, thinking of Austin. “I haven’t had a chance to check out the town yet really. There’s a local celebrity, though.”

“What, really?”

“Yeah. You remember Grayson Meadows? From the Diet Max commercials a few years back?”

“Uhm…he was on that reality show about the male models, too, right? And then he just kind of disappeared—wait. Don’t tell me. Grayson is in Sweet Neck?” Jen’s voice became a shriek by the time she finished speaking.

“He is. He’s from here.” They talked about Grayson and one tangent led to another. Melody had been on the phone for almost an hour when she heard the call waiting beep. Noticing her mom’s number, she told Jen that she had to
go,
her mom was on the phone.

“Melody James!” her mom cried as soon as she said hello into the phone.

“Mom, I—”

“I’ve been
worried
sick. I must have left a hundred voice mails on that phone of yours.”

“The phone—”

“Don’t you know that anything could have happened to you? And where in the world is Sweet Neck?”

The conversation went much like that, but eventually Melody was able to get enough words in to let her mom know that she was safe and that she’d contacted her as soon as she was able to. After reassuring her mother that everything was okay, they talked business. Her mom agreed to pick her up at the bus station and take her to the Hartsfield-Jackson airport in Atlanta when she managed to find her way to a bus depot and make her way back up there. Melody stayed on the phone with her mom until a number beeped in that made her heart sink.

“Mom. I have to go.
It’s
Saeed calling.”

“Hmph. That little weasel.”

“Yes, but he’s still my boss and I need to talk to him about work,” Melody said.

“Okay, but you have your charger now. Don’t you dare let that phone die
again.
Call me before you leave for the bus station. If you don’t, I’ll call you.”

“Sure thing, Mom.”

“I don’t like the idea of you being stranded there.”

“I’m fine,”
Melody
said, anxious. Saeed had hung up and called back. She could almost see him getting more and more agitated as he waited for her to answer the phone. Saeed didn’t like being told no, even if that no was as seemingly innocuous as an unanswered phone call. “I have to go now.”

“Bye, baby.”

“Bye, Mom.” Melody clicked over and tried to swallow against a dry throat. “This is Melody.”

“Melody. Where are you? What is this message you left me?” Saeed’s voice was flat. He always sounded like that right before an explosion.

“My car broke down. I can catch a bus back to Atlanta, but I’ll need to book a flight to Miami right away.”

“Why?” The way he said it made her heart sink.

Already knowing what his answer would be, she still went through the motions, hoping she was wrong. “The R&B group I told you about is performing in Miami on Monday night.”

Saeed ignored her. “You mentioned losing your wallet. Were your company cards in there?”

“Yes,” Melody almost whispered.

He blew a harsh breath into the phone. “And they haven’t been canceled yet?” His voice was tight. Strained.

“Not until today.” She didn’t carry the phone numbers for the credit card companies around with her. She’d needed to get to a computer before she could cancel the cards.
 
“There was a storm last night, and I just—”

“You lost two company cards twenty-four hours ago. I’m just finding out.” Each word was staccato and sounded as if a period was behind it.

“I’m sorry, Saeed, I—”

“You’re done is what you are. Done making excuses for
yourself
. Because I’m done listening to them.”

“But if you’d just listen to these guys, Saeed. They’re unbelievable. I have to get to Miami. If you could just front me the money for the ticket, I’ll pay it back. You’ll see. If we don’t sign them, somebody else will—a major label will find out about them soon.
Probably at the club Monday night.
Listen to the demo. Please.”

“I’ve already told you the company’s not going to pay for you to go chasing dreams all over the country. I’m up to my neck in troubles, ASCAP and BMI are breathing down my neck, we’re looking at potential legal problems here—huge copyright issues—because of an artist your subordinate brought to me, and you do what? You do nothing but go out and find more troubles to bring to my doorstep.”

Melody knew the artist he was talking about, and she’d tried to warn him about the potential copyright issues, but he hadn’t listened to her when it would have made a difference. Just like he wouldn’t listen to her now. He preferred to bulldoze on ahead and blame someone else whenever he got into trouble. “But it’s not—”

 
“No, Melody. I don’t
wanna
hear it. I am done with your hair-brained Lucy and Ethel schemes. I’m not wasting another single resource on this long shot group of wannabes. You’ve already wasted all kinds of time on them that you could have spent on groups that are actually making money.”

She had to bite her tongue to keep from reminding him about all the flop acts he’d insisted they sign to the label. Instead, she said, “Send June. She knows—”

“Nobody’s getting sent to Miami on this company’s dime, including you. And take your time getting back to Atlanta. You are putting us right into bankruptcy court.”

“Well, how is that my fault?” Hold on. He wasn’t about to blame all the company’s financial problems on her. Especially when he’d been responsible for most if not all of them.

“Excuse me?” Saeed’s voice gave away the fact that he was not used to being talked to this way.
Too bad.
He’d crossed a line. After the last twenty-four hours, and after the way she worked her fingers to the bone for his ungrateful little tail every day, he was not going to talk to her this way and get away with it.

“Nobody likes you,” she said. “Not your employees, not the artists, not their managers. Nobody. You’re alienating the acts we already have faster than I can bring new ones in. None of the acts you’ve insisted we bring in have made us any money. The board brought you in to save us? Well, it seems to me that all you’re doing is running us into the ground quicker.”

The line went dead silent for so long, she thought at first that he’d hung up. Finally, he said, “Enjoy your vacation in the middle of nowhere wherever you are.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Consider yourself fired.”

“Fired?” In that moment, she could barely comprehend what the word meant. “Wait, no, no. I’m sorr—”

“Yes, fired. Done. That’s it. I’ll have someone pack your things. You can pick up the boxes when you get back or have someone pick them up for you.”

Melody crushed the phone to her ear, wanting to say so many things to him, but not able to get the words out. The word “fired” had paralyzed her tongue.

“We can discuss wrapping up loose ends, paperwork, and all the minor details when you get back to Atlanta.”

Still no words would come.

“Have a good vacation, Melody. I wish you well.” It didn’t sound like he wished her well. And then there was silence on the other end. She was holding the phone in her hand, staring at it, when Austin walked into the room.

Chapter Eight

Austin was filthy, but he’d seen Melody in the office and he wanted to say hi to her before going upstairs to wash up. As soon as he entered the doorway, he could tell something was off.

“Melody, what’s wrong?” he asked, walking into the center of the room. He’d left his work boots near the back door so he now wore only socks on his feet.

Melody jumped a little at the sound of his voice. Setting her phone on the desk next to her, she looked up at him with large brown eyes. She looked stunned. That was the best way to describe it. Like somebody had clubbed her over the head with something and she was trying to pull
herself
together after the blow.

“Huh? Oh. Hi, Austin,” she said.

“Hi,” he said. He moved closer and rephrased his earlier question. “Is everything okay?”

She shook her head and burst into tears. He wasn’t entirely sure what he should do. Probably hug her, but he was covered in gunk and grease. He walked over to the desk chair and squatted down next to her. “Melody?”

“I won’t need you to take me to the bus station.” It took her a while to get the words out. She spoke a few words at a time around her sobs. “The group. I have to call…manager…gone!”

He didn’t understand what she was talking about, but her certainly understood that she was upset.

“I would hug you, but I don’t want to get you all dirty,” he admitted. She slid off the chair and into his arms. Taken off guard, he almost fell backward. He caught himself just in time, got back on balance and held her to him. She then sobbed out enough of her story into his shoulder for him to know she’d gotten fired and she hated her boss—well, former boss.

“And now I have no job, no car—nothing.” She said, pulling back a little and swiping at her tears. Her hair was a little mussed and fell over one of her cheeks. Even tear streaked and with a black smudge of dirt from his coveralls on it, her face was beautiful.
The face of an angel.
He reached up to wipe the smudge from her cheek. He always scrubbed his hands clean before leaving the shop.

She sniffled and put her hand over his as he started to pull it away from her cheek. She gave him a watery smile. “Thanks for letting me cry on you.”

“Any time,” he said, his voice husky with desire. He was very much aware of how close her body was to his. He shouldn’t have been tempting himself so much, but he didn’t want her to move from where she knelt between his legs either. Her leg brushed against his inner thigh as she shifted positions. It took all his strength for him to not start tearing at her clothes right that moment.

She moved her hand from his, and he let it fall away from her cheek. “I guess it’s time to figure out the next move,” she said.

“That reminds me. I found an engine if you want it for under two thousand. I’ll have to let the guy know something soon. He said he
can
only hold it a few days. No labor charge of course. I insist.” The engine was closer to four thousand, but she didn’t need to know he was cutting the cost in half for her. He had a feeling she wouldn’t have it if she knew.

“You don’t have to do that,” she said. “I can pay for the labor.”

“Do you want my mom to kill me? Besides, I want to.” And he really did. He had a strong urge to do anything he could to take away any of her sadness or frustrations that he could. He knew she’d had a lot of them in the twenty-four hours since they’d met. And after staying up all night talking to her, he knew she was something special. He’d been pretty tired at work all morning, but it’d been worth it.