Forbidden Forever (27 page)

"I am so proud of
you for everything that you have done and everything that you will
do. No matter what," I murmur.

"Thanks, Mom,"
she replies as I wrap my arms around her.

The young man that we
saw at Mouth walks in and tells us it's time to go in. We look at
each other and then to him as we follow him to Nic's office.

Nic's office is a huge
corner one with large windows on three sides of the walls. His door
closes behind us and he holds his hand out to Callie and introduces
himself. He shakes Chance and then my hand and ushers us to a seat on
the long white couch. He takes the seat in the metal chair draped in
a bright green fabric.

"Okay!" He
claps his hands together. "Callie, our agent, Trix, has shown me
some footage of your performance at Mouth and as I'm sure you have
guessed already, we like what we heard. We would like to send you to
work with a voice coach for two weeks in Nashville if you are
interested. If things go great there, we would be interested in
signing you to our label," he explains.

"Nashville?"
she asks.

"Just two weeks and
we can do it during your holiday vacation if you would like so you
don't miss school. This isn't what we normally do but since you are
so young, I think it might benefit you and make your voice a #1 hit,"
he admits.

"Can I talk with my
parents first?" she questions.

"Sure, I will leave
you all alone and come back in about fifteen minutes." He stands
and walks out of the room with Trix.

Chance and I don't want
her to do anything she doesn't want to do, but the thought of my
child leaving with people I don't know for two weeks is a little
nerve racking. She is just only turning sixteen. I don't know if she
is ready for such a big adventure on her own. But I know that this is
a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and if she doesn't go, she will
regret it. She looks worried and, as her mother, it is my job to make
her feel safe.

"Callie, is this
what you want to do with your life? Do you want to sing?" I ask,
knowing the answer.

"I didn't know I
did this much until recently and, well, yes, I do," she
confesses.

"Okay. That is your
answer. It is only for two weeks, and your mother and I will come
anytime you need us there. All you have to do is call," Chance
murmurs.

She agrees and it is
set. Nic knocks before entering and we acknowledge him. Callie gives
him her answer. He explains the rooming situation and that there will
be a couple of other teenagers there going through the same routines
as her. He goes on to talk about curfews and how he encourages the
artists to contact their family back home. Apparently he is a family
oriented guy who likes to keep his artists down to earth and their
head out of the clouds. He makes us all feel less concerned about
being so far away from each other with her being so young. We take a
copy of the contact so our lawyer can go over everything before we
sign. We have to come back in one week with a signed contract or tell
him we changed our mind. It all seems legit and we shake his hand
goodbye and head home.

Later that evening back
at the condo, it is time for Callie to make her big appearance to her
sweet sixteen bash. Chance and I have been waiting patiently—or
not so patiently in this case—with cameras in hand. Brooke
comes out of Callie's bedroom, bouncing up and down. Holding her arms
out, Brooke says, "Ta da!" Callie walks out in a bright
pink flowing gown that barely touches her knees, with gold jewels
covering the top. Her hair is in ringlets down her back with a small
braid swept across the front, pinned at the side. She looks
absolutely breathtaking. I snap picture after picture and look over
to see Chance is, too. We will have an entire scrapbook the size of
an encyclopedia by the time this evening is over.

"You look
beautiful," he manages to stutter out.

"Stunning, my sweet
girl," I add.

She smiles and blushes.
"Thanks."

The limo meets us
outside. Callie has five other people who are riding with her. I am
so glad that she is growing up with such amazing friends. I think she
will be one of few who still has the same friends after high school.
Chance and I take the Lexus Lfa to the party and leave before they
start on their way so we can be ready to take pictures of their
arrival. Sierra has been taking care of everything in the hall and
meets us out front when we text her that we are pulling in. She is
just another blessing in my life that I wouldn't live without. Chance
nods at John who is walking behind Sierra. We discuss how awesome the
hall looks while we wait on the kids to show up. There is no set
theme for the party, but Callie wanted everyone to dress in
semi-formal attire so she could wear a dress. She is such a girl.

The limo arrives and the
kids start getting out. They all look so wonderful in their dress
clothes. I have watched these three girls grow up; my eyes get teary
just thinking about it. There are not that many events for teenagers
like this in this town, so the place is full to capacity. Callie is
so surprised and it makes it all worth it seeing that face light up.
After we snap more pictures of the whole group, the kids go off to do
their thing. We are chaperoning, but in the distance, because this is
a teenager thing and, well, we remember what that is like. For us
adults, we have a place where we can keep an eye on things and still
have adult conversation. Chance outdid himself once again, and the
car hasn't even arrived yet.

The cake was a big hit
and it melted in my mouth, it was so moist and tasted amazing. We got
it from Caskay's Heavenly Sweets in Palatka after going to a dozen
different bakeries. The sweetest girls own it and I am so glad that
we found them online. Callie and I both love cake, so we didn't
complain a lot about eating cake for two days straight. The cake had
Happy Sixteenth Birthday Callie
as the song and had actual
neon glowing lights around it. Hard to believe that someday her song
might be playing on the radio. As a mom, I want all her dreams to
come true, but I also don't want her to get caught up in all the
Hollywood clichés.

With the big turnout,
the gifts are stacked on the table. It would take an hour for her to
open them, so we decide it best that she sends them all thank you
cards and open them later. The party goes on for another two hours
and the band; "Burnt Coast" has been fucking awesome.
Callie sure picked a good band from Mouth to play here tonight. The
band announces that Callie should proceed to the parking lot. She
looks confused, but Elizabeth grabs her arm and pulls her outside.
Sitting right outside the door is a jet black Lexus IS convertible.
Holy shit, my daughter has a nicer car than I do. Sure, the kids come
first, but now I'm wondering where the hell is mine. I laugh at my
inner green-eyed devil thoughts.

She looks at Chance and
I, stunned. She runs over to us, beaming from ear to ear with
excitement.

"Is this really
mine?" she asks.

"Yes, honey, it's
all yours," I assure her.

"I…I don't
know what to say. I'm… I love it. Thank you," she
stutters and then runs over to her friends who have already opened
the door to reveal the red seats like Chance's Lexus Lfa.

I look over at Chance
and purse my lips. "Most definitely not a cheap one!" I
claim and put my hand on my hip.

"Well, she needs to
ride in style since she is about to hit it big." He tries to
make a point, but doesn't succeed. I roll my eyes at him, then grab
his hand and lead him to the car.

"Well, show us all
the ends and outs of this thing," I insist.

He walks over to where
Callie is standing and talks about the electronics, horsepower and
mpg. I love the excitement in their eyes. Kaleb walks out from behind
the crowd to check out his sister's new ride.

"Pimpin!"
Kaleb boast as he walks around to the passenger side and climbs in
the red leather seats.

"I think you should
ride home with her tonight and I should drive your Lfa," I
mention to Chance with a playful batting of my eyes.

"Do you now?"
he questions.

"I think it's time
a woman drove it," I joke.

He glides his hand into
his pants pocket, pulls out the keys and places them in my hand.
"Sapphire, the car is yours anytime you want to drive it,"
he insists.

Damn, this man must
think I am really trustworthy to drive his car. He doesn't know I
have a lead foot. I have three speeding tickets under my belt. I bite
my lip. Yeah, I better hold that information back until I get to the
condo. I'll just have to extremely careful with my heavy foot. The
young girl from earlier walks over to Kaleb, I wonder if they came
here together. I gesture at him and he gives a thumb up beside his
leg so I know they did. I'm so happy for him. He looks so handsome in
his suit and tie. I hold my camera up so he knows I want pictures. He
leans into Marissa's neck and whispers in her ear. They both walk
over to me and I introduce myself to her. She is a polite young lady
and that makes me smile. They both patiently let me take pictures of
them. She has an awesome personality. She poses like a pro.

The evening ends and
once all the teenagers have gone home, we leave as well. Chance and
Callie are in front of Kaleb and me since she is so eager to drive
her new car. I tell Kaleb to buckle up tight because I am ready to
see how fast this thing can go. We take the scenic route on the way
home and luckily, this late in the evening the beach road is
basically dead. Callie is way ahead of me so I give Kaleb a wink and
floor it. We roll up the window and turn up the radio blaring "Walk
this way" by Aerosmith. I slow down after five miles since it is
unsafe and not setting a good example for my son who will be driving
in less than two years. We can still let the wind blow in our hair,
just at a safer speed. I gush about how handsome he is in his suit
and how much I like Marissa. He shakes his head in that
yes, Mom,
I get it
kind of way.

We are about three miles
from the condo when I notice in the rear view mirror a car coming up
on us at a fast speed. They are flashing the lights and blowing the
horn. I am getting a little nervous as to what I am supposed to do
with this freak. I damn sure am not pulling over for someone I don't
know this time of night or ever. It is not a cop and my tires seem to
be fine. The car is swerving all over the road and they are scaring
the shit out of us. I try going at a slower speed, hoping they will
pass but they just get closer and closer to my bumper. I decide to
speed up and try to get away from them. No sooner than I hit the gas
does the car speed up to the driver side of the car and swerve,
pushing me off the road. I reach my arm out, hoping to protect Kaleb
from whatever is about to happen. I hit the brake and we stop just
before running into a power pole.

I am too panicked to
even notice the color or the make and model of the car, but Kaleb
does. Even though it won't help the police in tracking it down, at
least we know what to look out for in the future. We sit on the side
of the road for what seems like an eternity. I am too shaken up to
drive and too scared they are waiting for us down the road. I ask
Kaleb to text Chance so he doesn't worry and tell him we will be home
in about five minutes. I need a few minutes to get myself together
before I start driving again. I put my head on the steering wheel and
close my eyes, trying not to cry; after a few breaths I am ready to
start the drive home.

We are almost to the
condo when that same car comes out of nowhere and tries running us
off the road again. I speed up, turn down our road and pull into our
parking garage. The car doesn't follow us in but instead, it speeds
down the drive and onto the main road. I park and even though my
heart is going ninety to nothing in two seconds flat, I am getting my
ass inside. Kaleb and I sprint to the elevator and close the doors
behind us as fast as we can get them to close. When the elevator
opens on our floor, I nearly jump out and run to find Chance. Kaleb
follows me at a much slower pace. We find Chance in our bedroom,
lying on the bed reading a medical magazine. He looks up at us as we
bolt inside the room and I mean
I
bolt inside the room since
Kaleb is a lot less dramatic than I am.

"What's going on?"
Chance asks, standing up quickly.

"Someone ran us off
the road and then tried to do it again when we pulled in here,"
I exclaim.

"What the hell! Did
you see who it was?" he questions.

"No, but I know the
color and model of the car," Kaleb informs him.

"We need to get
this information to the police. Have you heard if Michael is out?"
Chance asks and looks back at Kaleb, apologetic that he had to bring
his dad into this.