Page 8 of Beneath a Tennessee Sky

“No. Didn’t really get that far. She was shitting on the idea.”

“Sounds like you guys need to have a conversation,” Caleb says. “Sleep on it and talk to her tomorrow.”

“Yeah, I will,” I say.

“We told Dad you were doing good,” Caleb offers.

That got my attention. “Yeah?”

“I told him to call you, but he’s too damn stubborn,” Michael says with a sigh. “He’s not going to call.”

Something hot and sharp twists in my chest. “Fuck him.”

“Yeah,” Caleb says. “But he’s still our father.”

I press my palm to my forehead, the pressure building behind my eyes. “I’m doing this. With or without his approval.”

“Just be smart, Jack. About the contract. About Jinnie.”

“I know. I will. I’ll check things out. I’m not a complete idiot.”

“Welllll...” Caleb jokes.

“Yeah, yeah. Goodnight. Enjoy shoveling shit.”

I sit there in silence for a few minutes thinking about everything they said. I knew what they were getting at. I am young. And I do have stars in my eyes. It would be easy to be taken advantage of.

I never thought about trying to find an agent. I knew that was one of the steps to getting into the industry, but it’s not like they were readily available back home. And I wasn’t going to find one around here. I didn’t want to miss out on this opportunity. I could represent myself. I’d be smart. I would read every word of any contract they put in front of me.

But before I did that, I need to see if this lady is real.

I pull up Google and type in Liz’s name. Her LinkedIn loads first—A&R Representative, Rockline Records, five years’ experience. There’s a company headshot: sleek blonde hair, sharp smile, the kind of confidence that comes with signing checks. It’s her. That’s the woman I saw in the bar. Same bright red lipstick.

Legit.

My breath comes faster. I click through articles—industry reports, signing announcements, and a blurry photo of her at some awards afterparty.

It’s real. She’s the real deal. And that means, it’s happening. I’m really getting the chance to live out the dream. I wanted this, but I honestly never really thought it would happen for me.

Now that I know it’s real, I’m humming with electricity, like I swallowed a live wire.

I hop out of bed and grab my duffel bag. I have a lot more than what I arrived with. I start packing my things. I need to talk to Aggie. She’s going to be happy for me but I do feel kind of bad leaving her hanging. But she’ll understand.

I can already imagine myself on stage. Jinnie and Aggie will be right up front. Or maybe they’ll be off to the right of stage. My brothers will be there. And when I’m really big, all those assholes back home are going to scrape together their pennies to buy nosebleed tickets.

And Jinnie will come around. I know she will. It took me a full day to process all of it. Tomorrow, she’ll be over her shock.