A Nashville Collection (55 page)

Yet, here I am getting ready to go to school. Buck lives here in Claremore. I really
want and need to finish college. Meet people, have fun. Not worry about the guy back
home. But what if he's the one?

Mom said God would take care of me. He's faithful that way. I wish I had her
confidence. Besides, it was only one date. Right?

Got my class schedule yesterday. Holding it in my hand made the reality sink in.
In a few weeks, I'll be on OU's campus, going to football games, walking to class,
meeting new people. But missing Buck?

Gag, I'm such a girl.

How are you? You know, I was thinking I'd better get an invite to your wedding.
LOL. Please let me know as soon as you set a date. I'll put it on my not-to-be missed
schedule.

Better go. Work in the morning, then a bunch of us are meeting at the movies
tomorrow night.

Love and hugs,
Jen

Scott

“What happened to you?” Aubrey hops off the kitchen stool as I walk into the great room with Rafe Tuesday morning. “I let you out of my sight for a few days, and you managed to get your face punched?”

“Can't leave me alone for a minute.” I smile. She looks bright and happy, worth taking a punch from her brother.

Without pausing for permission to touch, she smoothes her finger around the edge of my cheek. “Does it hurt? It looks painful. Worse than Owen's black eye.”

“No, it doesn't hurt.” Her touch is hot on my skin and makes me think things I don't want to think. I snatch her hand away, hoping she can't hear the drum concert going on inside my chest.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” she asks again.

“Tried to help a friend.”

“Some friend.” She's still dangerously close, her soft fragrance floating between us.

“Sh—He doesn't know.”

“Sh-he?” Aubrey winks at me. “Scott, did little green men take you away in their spaceship and try to assimilate you?”

A laugh bursts out of me. “No, they were blue men, and I fought them every step of the way.” I point to my face. “Exhibit A.”

She smiles. “Go down fighting, I always say.”

“He went down all right,” Rafe puts in.

I shoot him a look.
Quiet.

Aubrey faces Rafe. “You were there? You didn't help him?”

“Sure, I videoed the whole thing.”

Aubrey glances around at me. “I'm confused.”

“Me too.” I concentrate on booting up my laptop. We need to move away from this conversation. Now. “So, how have you been?”

“Fine. Car finished moving in . . .”

I wait for more, but she seems to have lost her way in the conversation. “Car's all moved in,” I echo. “What else?”

Her focus returns. “I-I wrote a few songs with this great new songwriter, Robin Rivers.”

“For your next album?”

She walks around the couch and takes a seat. “Yes.”

“Why don't we do a segment teaching Scott how to write a song?” Rafe suggests, the comment almost sounding like an afterthought.

Aubrey's eyes widen. “What a great idea.” She sends a visual check for agreement my way.

But I object. “Bad idea.”

“Why?” Aubrey asks.

“Yeah, why?” Rafe echoes. “We're scheduled to be in the studio with Aubrey for our next session, anyway. We'll get some footage of Aubrey working and recording, then teaching you how to write a song.”

Aubrey claps her hands together. “I love it.”

I repeat, “Bad idea.”

“And why is it a bad idea, Scott?” Aubrey asks. “I did a cooking segment with you.”

“Because I can't carry a tune in a bucket.”

She laughs. “Then teaching you to write a song will be hilarious— for Rafe and me.”

Rafe chuckles. “And all the CMT viewers.”

Aubrey's bright expression fades. “CMT? You mean
Inside Nash-
Vegas
.”

By the look on Aubrey's face, I know another fact has slipped through the communication cracks.
Get the hint, Rafe. Move on.
But he doesn't.

“Yeah,
Inside NashVegas
is going national. We're joining CMT. Move over
Access Hollywood
.
Inside NashVegas
is here.”

Aubrey cocks her head to one side. “Is this new . . . news?”

“No. So, is Connie on her way?” I ask. “She's on the schedule to sit with us this morning.”

“She's on her way.” Aubrey leans toward me. “So, CMT?”

I confess, “We've known for a while.”

“And I'm going to be on CMT?”

“Yep,” Rafe answers. “In fact, it's your interview that sealed the deal for us.”

Rafe . . . Look up from the camera and see what's going on.

“Aubrey,” I sit next to her and explain. “We debut during the November sweeps with our exclusive on you.”

She motions to the flat-screen TV on her wall. “So I'm not going to be on
Inside NashVegas
every Monday morning in September and October?”

“You are, but then we'll run about five thirty-minute spots for CMT in November.”

“Good grief.” She slips off the couch. “Am I always the last to know?”

“Sam's been in negotiations with CMT for a long time, but when you gave us an exclusive, like Rafe said, it sealed the deal.”

She opens the door out to the porch. “Hello, Nashville. Anyone else want to get rich on my name?”

“Aubrey, it's a compliment.”

She whirls around. “Scott, between Melanie, Car, and now this, I'm a little weary of people using my name to get ahead or broker a deal. And who knows about this person hunting down my brother? Could be somebody trying to make money. It's happened before.”

Absently, I touch the bruise on my cheek, quite sure she's heard the last from her brother.

“I'll be back.” Aubrey picks up the portable phone from Piper's desk and heads out to the porch. Pacing around the furniture, her arm flails as she speaks. I imagine she's called her manager. After a few minutes, she stops, nods a few times, then lowers the phone.

“Think this gig is up?” Rafe asks, watching her over my shoulder.

“If I know Aubrey, no. She'll work it through.”

Sitting on the wicker sofa, Aubrey stares out over the yard where her gardener is motioning to a yellow bloom. She waves, giving him a thumbs-up.

I open the door and step out. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” She doesn't look around.

Should I stand here or take a seat next to her?
“Your gardener seems to loves his job.”

“He does.”

Trying to ascertain her mood, I can't tell if she's tired, subdued, mad, or just plain ole resigned to the situation. “I'm sorry about the show, Aubrey. Sam didn't mean to use you.”

“Sure he did.”

“Okay.” I chuckle softly. “He did, but not in a mean way. He's ambitious and aggressive, insensitive, but not a user.”

“You should've told me.”

“Me? I'm still recovering from you finding out I was doing the interview instead of Beth.”

“For communications professionals, y'all are lousy communicators.”

“Touché.”

We fall silent. The air between us is comfortable, but I wonder if I should call off the interview. “Aubrey, do you want—”

The phone rings and she nabs it from the glass table. “Zach? Right . . . Well, it would've been nice to know . . . Yes, I understand. Please, all the details next time. Thank you.”

She presses End and tosses the phone to the other side of the couch. “Ahhhh,” she yells, hands over her face. “What is it about this summer? Everything crashing and colliding.” She starts to laugh.

“We don't have to do this today.”

“Yes. We do.” Aubrey stands, straightening her blue top and propping her hands on her hips. “Connie's on her way. And I'm just going with the flow, see?” She does a hula move. “Shoot, if you all want to put me on national TV, who am I to complain? Maybe I'll sell fifty million albums.”

“Fifty million? Did you just pull that figure out of the air?” I laugh. “Sounds like a nice
round
number.”

Rafe pokes his head out. “Connie's here.”

Aubrey retrieves the phone and walks toward me. “Been one heck of a summer, Scott, and something tells me the rollercoaster hasn't arrived at the station yet.”

“Then hold onto the bar.”

22

”I've known Aubrey since she was a kid. When she recorded my song ‘Always,' I knew we'd hit platinum.”

—Songwriter Danny Hayes

Scott: Your parents were famous gospel singers. Why country music for you?

AJ: Country happened by accident. In fact, getting into the music business was all a big fluke. During my senior year of high school, Connie signed me up to do a couple of demos for some songwriters she knew, one being Danny Hayes, who was a good friend of Daddy's.

This was back before I was a diva and
people
[nudging Connie] bossed me around. [laughing]

Connie: From the time her parents died, I watched Aubrey's love for music fade. She was still gung-ho for basketball, but I didn't believe it was her true calling. I'd lost Peter to anger and hurt, and I didn't want to lose Aubrey too.

So I staged a musical intervention. Danny had written a great new song and mentioned off the cuff to me he thought it'd be a great song for a voice like Aubrey's.

AJ: He hadn't heard me sing in years.

Connie: His one casual comment gave me the idea to have her sing the demo.

AJ: On the way over to the recording studio, I grumbled and complained. “Why am I doing this? Danny can sing his own dern demo. He doesn't need me.” On and on. Connie reminded me I was still saving money for college, plus I needed money for the senior class trip and a basketball camp I wanted to attend. Singing demos paid good money and was way more fun than bagging groceries at Kroger or Harris Teeter.

Scott: Why the aversion to singing, especially a demo?

AJ: Singing brought back too many memories. When a parent dies, so does a part of your past. I could never revisit the memories without realizing, “Daddy and Momma are gone.”

Then, once Peter ran off, music completely soured for me. I wanted to play basketball and get on with my “other” life.

Connie: Danny's song fit Aubrey. You should've seen her when she walked in the studio, all stiff with attitude. [laughing] Danny started playing the song, and within a minute, Aubrey completely grasped the melody and understood the lyrics. When the musicians joined in, she stepped up to the mike and belted it out in one take.

AJ: [laughing] I just wanted to get it over with.

Connie: Whatever, but you owned that song, and it became your first number one hit.

Scott: So, that's how we got the song “Always.” How'd you go from singing a
demo for Danny Hayes to a number one hit?

AJ: Connie, again. [jerking her thumb toward the older woman] She took the demo over to Les Carter, who was then running Mountain Music, and said something like, “Here's your next star.”

Connie: Actually, I said, “Call me when you're ready to talk a serious deal.” He asked why, who was on the demo, and I said, “Your next star.”

Scott: You were a woman on a mission. How did you know Aubrey would sign a
deal with Mountain Music?

Connie: I didn't. I spent three weeks convincing her.

Scott: Really? So you held out on her, Aubrey?

AJ: Of course. Never go down without a fight. [winking] About the time of the demo, I found out I'd earned a scholarship to play basketball at Vandy. When Connie came to me with a record deal, I laughed. I knew enough about the business to understand the numbers game. With what little bit of money I had from Daddy and Momma and their continued record sales and songwriting royalties, which we had yet to organize into a business, the money I made singing demos, plus my Vandy scholarship, added up to more than I would make recording an album. And I'd be playing basketball.

Connie: She knew by the time Mountain Music recouped all their expenses for recording, promoting, selling, and marketing a new artist, she'd have to sell gold to see any money other than a tidy advance. Plus, give all of her time and attention to promoting herself and the album.

AJ: Yeah, I think they offered me $100,000, but I had to live on that while recording, and while touring. Pay Connie as my acting manager, pay a lawyer, maybe have to hire an assistant. All these people get paid out of the advance. They get paid whether the album does well or not. And I knew I'd have to sell enough units to pay back the advance to the studio, plus any and all expenses—which add up, trust me. Chances are I wouldn't see any royalties. Not on a first album.

Connie: I still had her lined up to sing demos.

Scott: But your first album went platinum in eight months and sold four million
units.

AJ: I'm very blessed, but even that was a fluke. Les at Mountain Music had a friend, Vance Piedmont, who was making an indie romantic comedy. He called Les looking for a theme song. Vance pitched the movie theme, and Les decided to give him “Always.” The movie was a hit at the Sundance festival, and next thing you know, “Always” turned my first album,
Willing
to Make a Change
, into multiple platinum.

Scott: Got to admit, that is pretty spectacular. But how did you choose Mountain
Music over Vandy basketball?

AJ: I got hurt my senior year during the regional playoffs. Pulled my hamstring. The injury sidelined me. Connie took advantage of my weakness and carted me around town for meetings with producers and A&R reps. Between the lot of them, I didn't stand a chance of saying no.