Nashville by Heart: A Novel (6 page)

“You
want me that badly?” she asked. He could tell she was being sincere, nothing
but music on her mind.

“Yes,
I definitely want you.” It was all he could do to keep a straight face, his
mind on just the music. It wasn’t an easy task when she embodied all the things
he
would
love in a woman, if he were to ever fall in love with one
again.

“Well
then, yes,” she said. “I’d be honored.”

“You
would?” He wondered if she realized she was good enough to get any agent in
Nashville if she worked on her presentation and told people she was Heart’s
daughter. Most agents didn’t have time for shy, mousy girls, but surely those
other agents had been impressed with her at The Blue Fiddle. Lord have mercy.
He should have some competition.

“You’ll
let me rep you then?”

“Sure
I will. I need to cancel a few appointments first. A few agents approached me
last night, and I scheduled appointments with them, just in case.”

“Of
course they did.” Will felt a wave of jealousy. “Just tell Josie who they were,
and she’ll cancel them for you.”

She
nodded.

“OK,”
he said, leaping up like a spring and reaching across the desk for her hand.
They shook on it, and his mind was running a million directions at once.

“We
have a lot of planning to do,” he said. “I don’t know about you, but I’m
starving. You still available for lunch?”

“Sure,”
she said, grinning. “But no sushi.”

Gillian
hated the messy scrawl that was supposed to be her signature as she scratched
the pen across the bottom of her contract with Adams Music Management, but it
would do. It’d only been a few days since her meeting with Will, and just like
that, after three years in Nashville, she had a music agent.

Gillian
couldn’t wait to call her momma. She’d be over the moon with happiness. Gillian
had hoped and prayed she’d accomplish her dreams of being a singer, not only
for herself, but for her momma—and this was the biggest step so far. For a
sentimental instant, she thought of her dad too. Last she’d heard of him, he
was spending the majority of his time on some island in the Caribbean with one
of his girlfriends, limiting his time in Nashville to a few months a year. The
chances she’d ever run into him again were slim to none. And it was a good
thing, she reminded herself. She never wanted to see him again.

“Congratulations.”
Will drew her back to the present. He held the contract up for Josie who was
holding a camera, a friendly smile on her face.

“Welcome
to the Adams Family,” Josie said, a wry look on her face. As corny as it was,
it made Gillian laugh. There was a click and a flash, forever capturing Will’s
confident grin and Gillian’s dazed is-this-really-happening smile.

~~~~

 “I
guess that necklace you gave me finally brought some luck,” she told Momma over
the phone.

“Honey,
that necklace isn’t lucky. You signed that contract because you worked hard and
you deserve it. Will Adams is a smart man to get you to sign with him.”

“He
didn’t have to try that hard.”

“Don’t
you ever tell him that, honey.”

Gillian
smiled, imagining the tough look her momma would have on her face right at that
moment if she could see her.

“OK.
I won’t.”

“I
miss you, baby.”

The
homesickness hit Gillian like a train. She choked back a sob. “I miss you too,
Momma.”

“Baby,
be strong. It’s all coming together.”

“I
know,” Gillian said. “So tell me, what’s new in Gold Creek Gap?”

Her mom
laughed. “Honey, nothing is ever new here.”

“Good,”
Gillian said. “Tell me about it.”

“Honey,
are you really that homesick?”

“Yes.”

“Oh,
baby.” She cleared her throat, and Gillian knew that, like her, Momma was
holding back her own tears.

“All
right,” Momma said. “Melanie had another baby.”

“She
did? Oh my goodness. A boy or a girl?” Melanie was her cousin and had been her
best friend growing up. But they hadn’t been in touch much since Gillian moved
to Nashville.

“Girl.
She named her Sheyenne.”

“Really?
I love it. We can call her Shey.”

“That’s
what I told her.” As Gillian curled up on her bed, she pulled close the quilt
her momma had made and listened as she rattled on about all the news and
gossip. When she started yawning, her momma heard and said she had to go.

“I’ll
visit soon,” Gillian said.

“Don’t
you dare do that. I’ll come see you instead, as soon as I can take some time
off work, OK?”

“But
it’s not the same here. It’s busy and noisy.”

“Pretty
soon, you’re going to be too busy to be homesick.”

Gillian
doubted anything could take her mind off all of the things she missed about
home, but she’d throw herself into her music anyway. If her career took off,
she’d have enough money to go back and forth between Nashville and Gold Creek
Gap as much as she wanted, and unlike her no-good dad, she’d never stop going
back to see Momma.

~~~~

 “I
hope you’re ready for your first big gig,” Will said. They were ordering at a
little coffee shop within walking distance of her and Tasha’s apartment. One
thing she’d learned about Will is he wasn’t one to sit in his office all day.
It wasn’t unusual for him to be meeting with clients and record executives in
coffee shops, restaurants and even on the golf course. She drew the line at the
golf course.

“You
should go with me some time,” he told her.

“No
thanks. Nobody in Gold Creek Gap golfs, so I never learned.”

“I
grew up in a small town too,” he said. “And now I can play mediocre par.”

“Is
that good?”

“It’s
mediocre,” he said with a chuckle. “One stroke over par on every hole.”

“Hmm.
Maybe someday,” Gillian said. “If you’ll stop trying to get me to eat sushi.”

He
laughed. “I’m never going to stop trying to get you to like sushi.”

Still
dressed in a white collared polo style shirt and a pair of khaki shorts, he
looked adorable, even if she preferred his boots.

“What?
You don’t golf in boots?” she asked.

“Only
because they won’t let me.” He carried their drinks to a corner table near the
window.

“So
where’s my first big gig?”

“The
Steel Spur.”

She
set her coffee down abruptly, causing the lid to pop off. It was only the
biggest place for an up-and-coming music artist to perform in Nashville,
besides The Wild Horse Saloon and the Ryman, of course.

“Holy
cow, Will. I don’t know if I’m ready for that. I mean, I just signed. Don’t I
need some kind of grooming or training or something?”

“I
have a girl who’ll help you with your hair, maybe some of those highlights and
stuff, some new jeans that you can pay the agency back for later. That kind of
thing, but mostly, I want you to be the small town girl I saw at The Blue
Fiddle.”

She’d
been hoping he’d get her a giant makeover with someone who knew what they were
doing, something to get rid of the small town in her. And pay the agency back?
The mere thought of it made her sick to her stomach. It’d be a long time before
she’d have enough money for that, but she’d pay every penny when she could.

“Why
do you want me to be a small town girl? Maybe I came here to get away from all
that.”

~~~~

Will
smiled, knowing she’d never get away from all that. Heaven knows, he’d tried
himself, and his own small town upbringing remained deeply embedded no matter
how long he’d lived in Nashville. One thing he loved about Gillian’s
personality was that she was so unaware of how endearing the whole small town
thing was, not only to him, but to an audience.

“I
like small town girls,” he said. “I came from a small town, remember?”

“When’s
the last time you went back?”

Her
question hit him square in the heart. His mom had asked him the same question
the night before on the phone. He called her once a week, no fail, and she
always asked the same question. He needed to visit soon. He was always
intending to, but he was just so busy. Of course, his parents didn’t understand
that, especially his mom.

“It’s
been about a year.” He waited for her to express shock, but instead, a sadness
passed over her face.

“Same
for me,” she said. “I used to go home a few times a year, but money’s been
tight.” He didn’t say anything but noted the way her shoulders slumped.

“Homesick
much?”

“Every
day.”

“The
best way to handle being homesick is to remember why you’re here,” he said.
“Why are you here?”

She
wrinkled her forehead. “To get a record deal.”

“And
who are you doing it for?”

“My
momma.”

He
nodded. He believed her. And that was another one of the things he enjoyed
about her. She was all about family, even though hers lived far away, and it
gave her a softness that other women in Nashville didn’t always have, at least
not the kind he hung out with.

“Your
momma did a good job with you. I bet she’s proud. Are you her only kid?”

“That’s
me,” she said. “A lonely only child.”

She’d
told him she didn’t want kids until she’d made it big, but that once she did,
she wanted a bunch of them. Her comment had sent little swirls through his stomach
that made him feel completely ridiculous. He could see her as a mother, but she
was right about her career. He hoped she wouldn’t meet some guy who swept her
off her feet and convinced her to have a family before he could get her career
going. In fact, he hoped she didn’t meet a man at all.

“I
hope you’re doing this whole music thing for yourself too.”

“Of
course.”

“And
your dad?” He figured it was worth a try to get her to talk about him.

“Listen,”
she said. “I don’t mean to be rude. I know you’ve heard of my dad, and he’s
probably some kind of inspiration to you with all the hit songs he’s written,
but I don’t have a relationship with him. I don’t want a relationship with
him.”

He
leaned on his elbows, trying to gauge how serious she was.

“Darlin’,”
he said, hating to push, but he had to. “I really want to use that angle. You
don’t have to have a relationship with him in order to say you’re his daughter.
I guarantee it’s going to help.”

Her
cheeks reddened, deepening in color down her neck and across the fine skin
along her collar. He felt horrible, but this was business. Connections wouldn’t
make her career, but they could open doors.

“I’m
not his daughter,” she said, her tone as vicious as he figured she could ever
sound. “Dads visit their daughters. They don’t forget about them.”

He
reached across the table and lay a hand softly on her wrist, the feel of it
rousing a desire to pull her into his arms and smooth her pain away.

“I’m
sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She
shook her head. “It’s not you. It’s him.” Her voice softened. “It’s just that
if he can’t claim me, I’m not claiming him.”

He
sighed, not seeing any way he could convince her of how publicly naming her
father would open doors for her in Nashville. Clients didn’t always know the
best way to promote themselves. That’s why they had him.

“Just
think about this,” he said. “People will find out anyway. It’s not like you’ve
changed your last name, right?”

She
shrugged. Will glanced across the table at her. She definitely resembled her
father, especially when she was being stubborn. Then he thought back to
Gillian’s words about Cooper Heart. She was right: Cooper Heart had been an
inspiration to Will in those early days. Will had thought Cooper was a great
guy, but he must have been wrong. He now thought that when he saw Cooper again,
which could be any time in Nashville, he’d be the first to tell him he was
crazy to have abandoned Gillian.

“As
your agent, I suggest you say you are his daughter early in your career. That
way, you have control. Send out a tweet. Facebook it, if you want.”

She
shook her head brusquely. “I’m not changing my mind.”

Maybe,
he thought, she’d change her mind in the long run, but when he glanced at the
determined angle of her slender jaw, he wasn’t so sure. He’d keep the Cooper
Heart card in his back pocket and only use it if he needed to push hard to get
her a record deal.

“About
The Steel Spur,” he said. Her face brightened, and he was glad to see her happy
again. “Audrey volunteered to listen to you rehearse, to give you some
pointers.”

“Sure.
I’d appreciate that.”

“I
trust her opinion,” he said. “You should too. The Steel Spur’s a huge
opportunity, and you want to be ready.”

“I
know.” She sat up straighter. “I’ll do my best.”

“You’ll
do great,” he said.

“Do
you think they’ll like my songs?”

“Darlin’,
trust me. It don’t matter what you sing. They won’t be able to get your voice,
or your pretty face, off their minds.”

Just
like me, he thought.