“Guys, do you realize what this could mean?” Chris asked. “We could be famous.”
“Let me see it,” Daniel said, yanking the card out of Chris’s hand.
Daniel’s eyes followed over the words on the card.
“We’ve got to call him,” Chris said, “and tell him we’re interested.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Daniel said. “We’ve got to think about this first. I’ve got a kid and a family. I can’t just run off with the band.”
“Yeah, Chris, I agree,” Matt said. “A lot of people have agents, but that doesn’t mean they get anywhere. This isn’t a ticket to fame and fortune, and we can’t act like it is.”
“But we can just see what he says,” Chris said.
“I don’t know,” Daniel said. “I mean, playing on the weekends is fun, but…”
He shook his head.
“I need a real job,” he continued. “One that pays the bills.”
“Who said anything about quitting our jobs?” Chris asked. “We can just see where it leads.”
“I don’t know,” Daniel said, still shaking his head.
“What about you, Will?” Chris asked. “He talked to you. What do you think?”
Suddenly, all eyes in the garage were on me.
I shook my head and laughed.
“I’m a firefighter,” I said. “I don’t know anything about the music business, and I’m not sure, beyond what we do Friday and Saturday nights, that I want to.”
Chris tossed his head back and groaned.
“Look, guys, we don’t have to give him an answer right now,’’ Matt said, taking the card from Daniel’s hand. “Here, Will, he gave you the card; you hold onto it. In the meantime, we can all think about it. Give it some time. Who’s to say it’ll even amount to anything. Let’s think about if we even want to bother with it. Okay?”
Our eyes were on Matt. Then, they slowly strayed to Chris.
“Okay, okay,” Chris said. “I’ll think about it. You know what my answer is, but I’ll think about it.”
I chuckled and took the business card from Matt.
“Chris, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you had some secret dream of becoming a rock star,” I said to him.
He held a sarcastic glare for a good, few seconds before he finally threw his head back again, and this time, laughed.
“Yeah, I might have thrown some leather pants on and a suede jacket and slung a guitar across my skinny, little chest for career day in the sixth grade,” Chris said, slowly bobbing his head. “That might have been me. But let me tell ya, the girls loved it. The teachers — not so much. But the girls, they loved it. I knew before that day that I was destined to be famous, but that day in sixth grade, that day, I knew I wanted to be.”
“For the girls?” I asked.
“Well, that day, it was just for Hailey Young,” he said, his voice growing serious again. “But she moved away after junior high, and I never saw her again. Now, I guess…”
He paused for a second and stared off into space. Matt, Daniel and I just looked at each other, waiting for him to finish.
“Now, I guess,” Chris started again, “I guess, it’s still Hailey Young.”
Chris’s eyes were glazed over now as he continued to stare off, seemingly, into a different world or a different time. I glanced over at Daniel in the back corner of the garage. He was rubbing his eyes now, out of what looked as if it were boredom.
“Are we done?” Daniel chimed in. “MY Hailey Young has dinner for me at home, and I’m starving.”
“Yeah, we’re done,” Matt said.
Daniel got up first and shuffled to the door, as a loud ring suddenly came from inside the house, and Matt scurried up to retrieve his phone.
I looked back at Chris. We were the only two left in the garage. His head was down now, and he looked as though he was thinking. I walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder.
“We’re all chasin’ after our own Hailey Youngs,” I said to him. “Hang in there, buddy.”
I watched him nod his head, and then I slowly made my way to the door.
“You got one, Will?” I heard him ask.
I turned back around and caught his sad eyes. Then, I slowly nodded my head.
“Yes,” I said, softly.
I watched him try to smile. It was a perceptive smile, as if he had already known my answer. I forced the corners of my lips up slightly. Then, I turned again and made my way out of the small garage.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Angel
“Hey,” I heard a soft voice call out from behind me.
I turned to see a brunette staring back at me.
“Jessica,” I said.
I knew I had to have sounded a little thrown off.
“My uncle was the speaker,” she said, smiling softly and pointing toward the stage.
“Oh, that was your uncle?” I asked.
She nodded her head.
“Wow,” I said, running my hand through my hair. “That was one, close call he had there.”
I watched her eyes turn toward the floor at our shoes.
“Yeah, he’s had a couple of close calls,” she said, returning her eyes to mine.
I caught her gaze, then lowered my eyes and slowly bobbed my head, as the conversation grew silent.
“You look great,” she said.
I chuckled and looked down at my black slacks and white, button-up shirt. I felt overdressed.
“Thanks,” I replied.
My eyes then caught her silhouette in her snug, blue dress.
“Uh, so do you,” I said.
Jessica’s wide smile beamed back at me. I smiled but then suddenly spotted in the back of the room a thin blonde, in a short, yellow dress. My heart nearly stopped, then restarted, only to almost beat out of my chest, but I kept my eyes on the girl in the yellow dress, until she noticed me.
“Uh, Jessica, there’s someone I see that I’ve got to talk to,” I stuttered.
I wasn’t even sure if half of the words had come out as words, but Jessica smiled and nodded all the same. Then, I glanced back up at the blonde. I hadn’t been imagining things. She was still standing there, watching me. But this time, her eyes cast down to the floor when I met them, and she started fidgeting with something in her hands. I felt Jessica’s stare follow my gaze. I probably should have felt bad for Jessica — for cutting her off — but at the moment, I couldn’t feel anything but happy.
“It was, uh, good to see you,” I said, as I flashed Jessica another smile and then stepped to her side.
“Yeah,” she said. “It was good to see you too.”
I barely heard Jessica’s last words. My mind had been set onto one track, and suddenly, I was useless for all other purposes.
I rushed over to the blonde and stopped just a foot away from her slender frame and met her eyes.
“Hi, Will,” she said, softly smiling.
“Julia,” I finally managed to get out.
A smile came with her name. It felt good. It had been a long time since that had happened.
“I was home for the weekend, and there was a note on my calendar, and I thought…,” she said and then paused.
“I thought I’d stop by,” she finished.
I kept my eyes in hers.
“I got you a gift,” she said, handing me a small box.
I took the wrapped package into my hand and sent a wild smile her way. I couldn’t help it. This girl was so unpredictable, it made me crazy. But somehow, I loved it.
I turned the small package over in my hands.
“I just happened to run across it one day, and I don’t know, it was force of habit or something because the next thing I knew, I was at the counter, handing the woman my debit card,” she said, softly laughing. “It’s just something small, and because I think it was made for you.”