Of Kirk she said little. She dare not chance revealing how much she was coming to rely on him to be there for her.
“Sounds like you are having the time of your life,” her father said some time later.
“I guess I am,” she said slowly, realization dawning.
She was having a wonderful summer. Glancing out the window she smiled at the trees that shaded the back yard.
“You’ll make the right decision. Let us know.”
She felt like a prisoner released from jail. What had prompted the call? She didn’t want to question her good fortune at not having to convince them she needed to stay, but she didn’t understand this abrupt about face at all.
“It was good to talk to you, Dad,” she said.
“I enjoyed hearing everything. Do well at your music festival.”
She hung up. What had happened? Did her mother know her father had called her? She sat down at the kitchen table and considered the odd conversation. Her mother had been the driving force behind her rise to prominence in the music world, she realized. Her father had always supported her, but never pushed as hard as her mother. Had her father learned something in her determination, in the change in her, from her talk with her mother? It was as if he was giving Angelica permission to be free.
When the phone rang again, she was sure it was her mother, about to give her a different directive. Or her agent, demanding an answer.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Angelica, it’s Gina. There’s a practice called for this afternoon in the school multi-use room at two. Can you join us? It’ll give you a chance to see the various groups who’ll be in the festival and meet everyone. Sorry for the late notice, but the gal arranging it all didn’t have you on her list.”
“Yes, at two. Where is the school?”
Gina rattled off directions and then said how pleased she was that Angelica would be there.
Angelica wondered if Sam knew about the rehearsal. It would be too heartbreaking for him to be practicing so long and not be included. But he was going to the fair today. Still, she wanted him to know about the rehearsal. She knew his last name was Tanner, but looking in the thin phone book that served for Bryceville, Smoky Hollow and three other communities, she saw a dozen Tanners.
She’d have to ask Kirk.
Walking over to his house, Angelica went to the back door and knocked. After a few minutes, she wondered if he could hear someone knocking. She opened the door and peeped in. The kitchen was immaculate. She heard no sounds in the house.
She turned and walked to the studio. The door was closed. When she opened it, the studio was in darkness. No Kirk.
So much for finding out who Sam’s father was.
As she started walking back to her house, she heard his motorcycle. She changed directions and went to the back door. A moment later Kirk pulled up. He took off his helmet and looked at her.
“Need something?”
“Sam Tanner’s phone number. There’s a rehearsal today and I don’t want him to miss it.”
“Sure, Sam’s a third, I think. Anyway, his dad is Sam, too. I’ve got his number, come on in.”
He got off the motorcycle and hung the helmet from the handlebars.
“You were out early,” she commented.
“I had breakfast with Granddad,” he said as he held the back door open for her.
“How is he?”
“Doing well. And talking about that song you two are doing. He said to ask you to come out tomorrow or the next day if you can.”
He pulled open a drawer and rummaged around the papers, pulling out a list of names and numbers.
“Here, Sam senior’s the fourth one down.”
