Music City (4 page)

Alex sighed. “If you want him for the job, I won’t argue, we need somebody. I really don't care who it is as long as they can do the job.” Alex glanced over his shoulder as he stood, “I’d say he is more than qualified to do the job.”

Derek opened the door and walked down the hall to the reception area where Tracy was pacing, just like Derek was earlier. Derek stretched his right hand out to Tracy, beaming, “When can you start?”

Tracy's smile was broad as he pumped Derek’s hand, “I can start now if y’all want me to.”

Alex reached out and shook his hand. “Tomorrow's soon enough. We are usually here by seven, but you don't have come in that early. Any time before eight would be great. We will discuss your regular hours and get your keys made tomorrow.”

Alex smiled at Derek and Tracy and then left the room, heading to his office. His back was hurting and he sat down in his plush office chair with a
heavy sigh. Leaning back, he pulled a worn and slightly frayed folded piece of paper from his pocket. Smoothing out the letter, he leaned forward and reread it with a bowed head, his hand unconsciously massaging the back of his neck.

The following morning, Tracy was waiting in the parking lot when Derek pulled in behind Alex at six thirty. Not normally one to gloat, he just smiled, knowing they had made the right decision in hiring Tracy.

After a week, Derek and Alex were unanimous in their approval of Tracy, but Alex still had one mild concern. Being a straightforward guy, Alex went directly to Tracy that Thursday morning. “Kid, we’ve got to talk.”

Tracy looked worried and asked, “Is there a problem?”

Alex nodded a solemn expression on his face. “Yes, there is.”

Tracy gulped, “What did I do wrong?”

Alex smirked. “You can’t come to work dressed better than we are—lose the suits.”

A smile bloomed at the corner of Tracy’s mouth, “I can do that.”

Tracy began dressing in nice khakis and jeans, but kept wearing his seemingly endless supply of Italian loafers. Every once in a while, he still wore a tie, even with jeans—a look Tracy pulled off well. Because Alex liked Tracy so much, and he was such an asset to their small team, Alex overlooked Tracy’s wardrobe and model good looks. Derek's instinct was right. Tracy fit with them seamlessly, like he’d worked with them for years.

Due in part to Tracy’s unrelenting efforts, they enjoyed a very comfortable and profitable caseload. Their clients included people looking for old school chums, lost loves, former teachers, old playmates and friends. Sometimes Derek wondered if Tracy had called everyone he knew just to convince them that they needed to find someone.

Tracy handled the billing like an accountant and he acted as their public relations and marketing director. He took out tasteful advertisements in trade magazines and business began to flourish. Just mere weeks after Tracy was hired, neither Derek nor Alex knew what they would do without him. He had not only become their invaluable assistant—he had fast become their friend.

When Shelly was sixteen, she met music mogul, Trent Shepard, at Murphy’s Diner. The diner was near Trent’s office and he liked the atmosphere and the food of the diner so he ate there quite often, sometimes twice a day. He had no family, only the clients he represented.

At first, Shelly had no idea what Trent did for a living; she didn’t know what most of the people who passed through the diner did for work and she never pried. She didn’t feel like it was any of her business unless a customer wanted to talk about work with her. Trent was no different than any of the hundreds of customers that passed through the diner on a daily basis, other than he was one of her favorites. He had an ease about him and a very good nature. He was easy to talk to and she was always pleasantly surprised by how generously he tipped her.

Shelly’s personality was infectious, and she and Trent had become fast friends.

Shelly did not tell a lot of people about her past. A year had passed since she had left her old life behind and found her niche in Nashville. Very few of the customers, even the regulars, asked how she
came to be there. With her friendly smile and accent, most probably assumed she was born and raised in Nashville and never gave it a second thought. Shelly pushed her life in North Carolina to the back of her mind and focused on the present—her wonderful life today, not how dark and bleak it was a year ago and every day before.

Trent told her about his own life, about the parents he had looked up to and how very much he missed them. As time went on, he began to ask Shelly about her past. Hesitantly at first, Shelly told him about her mother, about her existence in North Carolina. She
was on her break, getting some fresh air outside on a cool spring evening when she finally told him about the siblings she had left behind. It was hard to confess to Trent how she felt guilty that she really didn’t miss anyone. She was curious about who took care of the babies now that she was gone, but she didn’t think about them like she thought she should and that occasionally burned on her conscious.

Trent began to look forward to his talks w
ith Shelly more and more each day. She was a great kid who had been through more in her short life than anyone he knew. He tried to assure her that she had absolutely no reason to feel any guilt. She was lucky she had escaped North Carolina in one piece. He often toyed with the idea of introducing Shelly to someone closer to her age, but he never did. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. Shelly was unlike anyone her age he had ever met—unlike anyone, of any age, that he had met.

She was wise far beyond the brief years the world
was graced with her presence and none of the young men Shelly’s age were good enough for her in his opinion. His friends' teenagers were spoiled, given everything in their lives and worked for nothing... and appreciated nothing as well.

As their friendship continued to blossom and grow, Shelly looked forward to Trent coming into the diner. When he was out of town on business, he missed her. Her spirit calmed him, relaxed him. He liked to think if he had ever had a sister, she would have been exactly like Shelly. He also liked that he could talk to her about anything, and she was never judgmental, never opinionated, she would just listen.

Shelly’s smile brightened even the darkest day, her personality bubbled over. She was a warm person. The smallest gesture, like giving her a novel he had read and enjoyed, or a ticket to go see the latest movie playing gave her immense pleasure, and she was quick to express her gratitude.

Shelly was a genuinely happy person, and very few people in this world, Trent had discovered, were truly happy. Shelly didn’t have two nickels to rub together, but she acted as confident and was much more content than his friends who he knew had well over a million dollars in the bank.

Everyone who came into contact with her in the eatery immediately felt as though she were one of their close friends. She remembered to ask about wives, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and always, always, was interested in what the customer wanted to tell her. She had a rare open heart—and people responded in kind.

Trent discovered Shelly's talent quite by accident. One day a mother was in the diner with three small children. It was obvious that the mother was overwhelmed, the children were cranky, and when the youngest started crying, the mother simply broke down and started crying herself. Shelly, who had experience with small children because of her younger siblings picked up the young child and started singing in his ear, bouncing him on her hip while she walked back and forth with him near his mother’s booth.

The child quieted as Shelly continued to sing softly, the mother was able to compose herself and Shelly returned the child to its seat in the booth. The diner had gone completely silent—everyone was in awe.

Trent recognized the level of her talent immediately, the beauty was obvious and her personality shined to everyone who met her. Her voice was pure and rich, unlike any he had ever heard before. She was the total package and Trent knew he could easily make her a star.

Trent wasn’t expecting to realize what nearly everyone else in the diner already knew—he was in love with Shelly. While he felt like it had sprung forth like a child’s jack in the box, most had seen it coming for over a year.

Shelly, though she told no one, harbored feelings for him as well. It had less to do with his classic good looks and more to do with his unfailing courteous demeanor. Ever the gentleman, Trent waited until Shelly was eighteen to so much as speak a word of his feelings to her. When her birthday finally arrived, Trent couldn’t wait. In the middle of the breakfast rush he declared his love. When she simply smiled at him and told him with tears coursing down her cheeks that she had always loved him, he surprised her, not with a long courtship, but with a proposal of marriage.

Shelly said yes, and shortly thereafter, they were married. Trent guided her into the Nashville music world and very little time passed before Shelly Shepard was a household name.

Before Trent had met Shelly, he
was a confirmed bachelor and never really believed that he would ever meet ‘the one’. Trent's friends in the industry were suspicious at first, until they met Shelly. After spending five minutes with her, they understood why Trent loved her so much and any misgivings they had had about their ages or the marriage were gone—it was obvious that Trent and Shelly were very much in love.

Everyone celebrated with them a
few years later as Shelly gave birth to their daughter, Savannah. A son, Tracy, was born two years after that, and by then Shelly’s career was skyrocketing. Shelly and Trent tried their best to give Savannah and Tracy as normal of a life as was possible. It was very important to Shelly that her children were with her. She and Trent were attentive parents and showered Vani and Tracy with love and affection unceasingly. It was nothing for Shelly or Trent to walk up to their children and grab them in a bear hug or plant a loud kiss firmly on their lips for no apparent reason other than to demonstrate how much they loved them.

Shelly toured for six to eight months of the year when Vani and Tracy were young, but Shelly refused to let her job in any way change what she considered her most important job, that of being a mother. Trent, as well
, did not want to see his children raised completely by a nanny or babysitters, and took his role as a father very seriously. They came to the best compromise that they could; when Shelly was on tour, they toured together as a family.

Each stop on the tour, Shelly always made a grand adventure; she would wake Vani and Tracy up bright and early, always with breakfast that she had prepared herself in
their bus’ small kitchenette. Blueberry pancakes, flapjacks and golden honey. Spicy south-western scrambled eggs and buttered toast. Bacon. The smell of sizzling bacon on a hotplate always accompanied the breakfast that Shelly whipped up for the four of them. They would eat together as a family, and then they would find a local attraction to visit until it was time for Shelly to return to the bus to get ready for work.

Shelly never seemed to realize how big of a star she actually was; to her, singing was just her job, it didn't define who she was any more than being a waitress had defined who she was. When fans recognized her, she made an extra effort to always be gracious, and talked to them warmly, introduced them to her children and husband, gave them autographs or stood for pictures with them. Afterward, the four of them would walk away hand-in-hand.

When Savannah, whose name was shortened to Vani by her baby brother, and Tracy were old enough to start school, Trent and Shelly hired a tutor to travel with them, as well as work at home with the children when they were not touring. Mrs. Donna Blake was a fixture in their lives, and though now semi-retired, she still remained close friends with the family, long after Tracy and Vani had finished their schooling. Donna and her husband lived on Shelly’s farm and kept everything running smoothly there.

A superstar touring across the nation was like traveling with a small city. The tour buses that the musicians and crews slept and lived in, the big rigs that held all of the equipment that was needed to set up for each concert, the caterers that traveled with them in order to feed all the people it took to keep the tour running, the tour managers and the army it took to make the fans happy at the shows that continued to sell out across the nation. Vani and Tracy were always surrounded by people, and over the years, those people had become a part of their very large extended family, though none of them as close or important to them as their parents.

While Shelly was Trent’s biggest star, she was not his only client. Even after Shelly’s career had skyrocketed, Trent continued to manage or oversee many other well-known entertainers as well as lesser known breakthrough acts. While he did not manage the day to day operations for all of them, he hired people for that through his company, Shepard Entertainment, he continued as a personal agent to several of his clients. Trent was the one they called on to keep everything in their lives and shows running as smoothly as possible.

Shelly begged him over the years to slow down and hire more people, give some of his responsibilities to trusted colleagues. She reasoned that they had more money than they would be able to spend in a hundred, possibly a thousand lifetimes, and she wanted him around to enjoy it with her.