The Gift (28 page)

“Thank you so much Justin, I’ve always wanted a cat. I
just hope it gets along with Chère. Chère is pretty tolerant though.”

Chère came in from the bedroom at the mention of her
name and sniffed at the kitten. Sensing it wasn’t a threat, she took her usual
spot next to Zak’s chair.

“What are you going to name the kitten, Maggie?” Justin
asked.

“Is it a boy or a girl?”

“It’s a boy, Maggie.”

Maggie thought for a minute and said that she was going
to name him Monroe in honor of Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass.

“Good choice, Maggie,” Justin said and smiled at her.      

“I have a gift for you too, Justin,” Maggie said. “It’s
the red box under the tree.”

Justin picked up the box and sat down next to Maggie
while he opened it.

“Great shirt,” he said. “This will be perfect for gigs.
I’m starting to miss playing out. Maybe we could start playing again in a month
or two.”  He looked at Zak and then at Maggie.

“I’m starting to miss playing out too,” Zak said. “That
sounds like a good idea to me.”

“How about you, Maggie?” Justin said. “Are you ready to
start performing again?”

“Maybe, if we start playing at some small clubs.”

Justin put his arm around Maggie and kissed her on the
cheek and wished her a Merry Christmas. Maggie kissed him back and thanked him
for the kitten and everything he had done for her over the last year. She felt
like she was starting to feel hopeful about her life again.

.

Chapter 29

Two days after Christmas, Maggie and Justin
flew to Nashville. They rented a car at the airport and drove to Tucker’s
estate. He had quite a spread, fifty acres with a large main house, and a guest
house and recording studio. Tucker met them at the front door of the main house
and then drove with them down to the guest house. He helped them carry in their
luggage and instruments and then they all walked over to the recording studio.
Tucker had invested a lot of money in the latest equipment and his studio was
even better equipped than the studio where they had recorded in Boston. Tucker got drinks for everyone and then asked them if they wanted to hear what he
had recorded so far for his new album. Maggie and Justin were surprised to hear
that Tucker’s recordings were acoustic and had a spare, raw sound. He told them
that he had decided to return to his musical roots, and the sound of the album
was a lot closer to the bluegrass that he had grown up with in Kentucky. Tucker asked Maggie if she thought she could contribute some mandolin tracks and
maybe sing backup vocals on a couple songs. He also thought they should
co-write a song together. He had some ideas that he wanted to run by her. He
had recently broken up with his third wife and wanted to write a song that
expressed his sorrow.

Justin was starting to feel like a third wheel, so he
told them that he was going to take a walk. Maggie smiled at him briefly as he
left and then turned her attention back to Tucker who had picked up his guitar
and was playing some riffs for her. When Justin got back an hour later, Maggie
and Tucker were sitting in two chairs facing each other, their knees touching.
Maggie was playing Tucker’s guitar, stopping every so often to come up with
another line of lyrics. Tucker was writing the words down on a piece of paper
with a pencil. Every so often when he especially liked a line, he would squeeze
Maggie’s knee.

Justin walked into the studio and sat down in an
armchair near the two of them. He looked hard at Tucker who slowly removed his
hand from Maggie’s knee. Justin asked them how it was going and Maggie looked
up and said it was going fine. They had come up with the chorus and written two
verses of the song. She played what they had so far for Justin, who was
impressed in spite of feeling angry with Tucker. Justin sat quietly and
listened to them for the next hour as they finished writing the lyrics. He had
to admit that Maggie and Tucker worked well together and he was sure that the
song would be a hit on Tucker’s album. Finally, Justin suggested to Maggie that
she was looking tired and maybe needed to get some rest.

“I don’t want to wear you out, little girl,” said
Tucker. “We don’t need to do everything in the first day. Why don’t you and Justin
go back to the guest house for a rest and then we’ll have dinner around seven
and then maybe work on some vocals for a bit.”

Maggie realized that Justin had been right, she was
tired, so she told Tucker that they would see him later. When they got back to
the guest house, Justin told Maggie that he didn’t like the way that Tucker had
been touching her.

“Oh Justin, I don’t think he means anything by it. He’s
just being friendly.”

“Nevertheless, I don’t think it’s a good idea if you are
alone with him. Besides, if anyone is going to get into your pants, I think it
should be me,” Justin said and laughed.

Maggie threw a pillow at him and said, “No one will be
getting into anyone’s pants. I promised Zak that I would behave myself and I
intend to keep my promise.”

Later that night after dinner, Tucker joined Maggie and
Justin in the living room at the guest house with his acoustic guitar. He
wanted to work out some harmonies with Maggie on the song they had written and
on some of the other songs on the album. Maggie sat on the couch with Justin
and Tucker sat in a chair across from her so he could see her face while they
sang. Maggie was used to communicating with the musicians that she played with
by reading their facial expressions, but she had trouble doing that now. She
found that she had to listen even more closely than usual so that she could
sense changes in dynamics and tempo.

Tucker suggested that Maggie play along on her mandolin,
so Justin went and got it out for her.  She tuned it up and accompanied Tucker
on his songs, much to his delight.

“I was thinking about asking Ricky to play mandolin on
the album, but you sound great Maggie. Maybe you should just record the
mandolin tracks while you are here.”

Maggie looked pleased and said she would be honored.
Aside from playing on a couple cuts on the Bayou Blasters album, she had never
been asked to play mandolin on someone else’s record before. They played for a
while longer and then Maggie said that she was getting tired. Tucker brought
out a bottle of brandy and invited Maggie and Justin to have a nightcap with
him. They both joined him in a glass, finding the brandy helped them to relax
after the long day of travel and recording. Then Tucker pulled out a small vial
and laid out a few lines on a small mirror. He asked Maggie and Justin if they
wanted some coke too. Maggie and Justin looked at each other and then Justin
said that he and Maggie didn’t do coke any more. Tucker shrugged and snorted a
couple lines.

“What happens in Nashville, stays in Nashville,” he said
and laughed.

“No thanks, Tucker,” Maggie said. “I’ve found that I
can’t always control my behavior when I do coke.”

“I think I might like to see that,” Tucker said.

“Well, you’re not going to,” Maggie laughed. “I’m tired,
so I guess I’m going to go to bed now.”

Maggie left the two men alone with their brandy and went
into the bedroom and closed the door.

“I’m guessing there was a story behind Maggie’s remark
that you aren’t going to share with me,” said Tucker.

Justin smiled but didn’t say anything.

“So, are you and Maggie having an affair?” Tucker asked
Justin.

“Why do you say that, Tucker?”

“Oh, I can tell by the way that you look at each other.”

“Well, we aren’t having an affair. We are close friends
though and I do care about Maggie.”

“Well, it’s none of my business I guess, but I think
Maggie’s in love with you. If I were Zak, I would keep a close eye on you two.

“Tucker, Maggie loves Zak. She would never leave him.”

“Yeah, well I didn’t think my third wife would leave me
either, but she did,” Tucker replied.

Tucker took a last swallow of his brandy and said good
night. Justin finished his brandy slowly and then joined Maggie in the bedroom
where she had already fallen asleep.

They woke up late the next morning. Tucker had said to
meet him in the studio around noon, so they lay around in bed for a while
talking about the previous day. Maggie then mentioned that she wanted to go
into Nashville at some point to check out a vintage dress shop that Carole had
told her about. She wanted to get a special dress that she could wear to the
Grammy awards. She suggested that maybe Justin should look for something to
wear too. After all, he had been nominated for two records so it was going to
be a very special night for him. Justin said he would be happy to take her into
town later.

Maggie and Tucker worked on the vocals to their new song
for an hour and then she mentioned to him that she would like to go shopping at
a vintage shop in Nashville to find something for the Grammy awards. Tucker
looked at Justin and laughed.

“Women, all they want to do is shop. O.k., why don’t we
take a break for a while. We can record some more this evening.”

Justin drove Maggie into the city, and they found the
shop without too much trouble. Maggie looked around and then decided to ask for
help. She told the shop girl that she needed a fancy dress for a special event.
Justin whispered to the girl that Maggie had been nominated for a Grammy award
which suddenly put Maggie into a different league in terms of dresses. The girl
asked Maggie her size and went into a back room and came back several minutes
later with five dresses. Maggie had never seen such beautiful dresses, they
were all extremely glamorous, some of them with beading and lace. Maggie
explained to the girl that she couldn’t see well and asked her if she had an
opinion about which dress would be best. The girl picked out two dresses, a
dark blue low cut velvet dress with crystal beading and a black lace gown.
Maggie asked if she could try them on and the girl led her to the dressing room
in the back. Maggie put them on and modeled them for Justin. He told her that
he especially liked the black lace dress. It was tight and showed off Maggie’s
figure, it was cut high in the front but left her back entirely bare. Maggie
asked the girl the price of the dress, and was a little taken aback.

“I don’t know Justin, it’s pretty expensive.”

“Maggie, this is a special occasion. This may be the
only time you go to the Grammy awards. I think you should get it. Anyway, it’s probably
tax-deductible,” he said and laughed.

Maggie finally decided that he was right and asked the
girl to ring it up. As they were about to leave, they noticed that the store
had a formal wear department for men. Maggie asked Justin if maybe he wanted to
look for a tux. Justin tried on a couple tuxes and they decided on a black one
that had a western cut. Maggie told Justin that it would look great with his
cowboy boots.

When they got back to Tucker’s, he insisted on seeing
Maggie in her dress. After she modeled it for him, he told her she looked
beautiful and got a faraway look in his eyes.

“You look so much like my first wife Clarissa,” he said.
“She wore a dress that looked something like that when I went to the Grammy
awards in 1972.”

Suddenly, he had an idea.

“Maggie, what size is Zak?”

“I think he’s a 40 regular.”

“Hold on a minute,” he said and went upstairs to his
bedroom. He came downstairs with a suit on a hanger.

“This is what I wore to the Grammys in ’72. As you
probably can tell, this suit was made by Nudie.”

Maggie had heard about these suits, a lot of country
stars wore them for special occasions. She remembered seeing the iconic photo
of Gram Parsons in his white Nudie suit that was embroidered with marijuana
leaves. Tucker’s suit was embroidered with guitars and irises, the state flower
of Tennessee.

“I was a lot thinner back then, yes, it’s a 40.  I’d
offer it to you Justin, but I think it might be a little small for you.”

Maggie laughed.

“I’m not sure it’s Justin’s style,” she said. “But I can
actually imagine Zak wearing a suit like this. And the good thing is if Zak
wears this suit, no one will even notice me.”

Tucker and Justin exchanged looks and then Tucker said “I
don’t think so, Maggie. No one will be able to take their eyes off of you in
that black dress.”

Maggie blushed.

“Maggie, take the suit back to Louisiana. If Zak doesn’t
like it, you can send it back to me. It’s not doing anyone any good sitting in
my closet. Someone should wear it.”

Maggie thanked Tucker for his generosity. She knew the
suit must have been incredibly expensive. She thought that Zak might have fun
dressing like a music star for one night.

The next day, Maggie finished recording the vocal tracks
to Tucker’s album. He wanted her to sing on three of the songs. Ever since the
time when she sang backup in his band, he always felt that her voice
complemented his well. The following day, Tucker recorded Maggie playing
mandolin on a couple songs. Tucker invited Maggie and Justin to stay on for a
few days, but Maggie wanted to get home to Zak and her children.

As she left with Justin the next morning to return to Louisiana, Maggie kissed Tucker good bye. She thanked him for the opportunity to work on
his album, and she thanked him for lending her the suit for Zak to wear at the
Grammys.

“Hopefully the suit will bring him good luck,” Tucker
said. “I won the Grammy that year. I hope Zak wins a Grammy for his album too.
Have a safe flight home and thanks for helping me with the album. I’ll see you
next month in LA.”

Tucker turned to Justin and said “Take care of Maggie.
She’s a real treasure.”