Outmatched in October (Spring River Valley Book 10) (4 page)

“I’m not afraid to say yes. Someone just has to ask me the right question.”

* * * *

“I know why
I
look like hell,” Taylor said when he arrived at Love Notes Tuesday evening balancing a pizza box in one hand and a six-pack of cola in the other. “I spent my afternoon pulling dental floss out of a cat’s butt. What’s your excuse?”

Owen made room on the store’s side counter for the pizza box then walked over to lock the door and turn the Open sign to Closed. He hadn’t bothered cancelling tonight’s rehearsal even though Claudia wasn’t going to be here. Maybe he should have, since he didn’t feel much like singing, but he also wasn’t in the mood to be alone either. “Long day
. Thanks for the pizza.”

“It was my turn. Did you hear from Claudia yet? How did her audition go?”

“Dunno. I guess okay. She’s probably going to be leaving the band.”

Taylor froze with his hand inside the half-open pizza box. “What?”

Owen slid his phone across the counter. “Well, this job is singing weeknights at a club. She can’t be here if she’s there, so she texted me that if she has to miss any more rehearsals she’ll understand if we don’t want her in the band anymore.”

Taylor looked at the phone message and shook his head. “That’s girl speak for ‘please ask me not to leave.’ You know that, right?”

“No. She’s not—she…it’s obvious she wants out. She’s got this Armani guy sniffing around. He probably offered her tons of money and who knows what else. Why would she want to sit in the back room of a music store and sing with an amateur cover band when she could be in New York City?”

Taylor pulled up a stool and set back to work liberating a piece of pizza from the box. “I don’t know
. I thought it was because she actually
liked
us.”

“Maybe she likes
you
. Have you noticed that all I do is seem to make her mad? I can’t even tell her how great a singer she is. If I try to compliment her, she looks at me like I have six heads.”

“It’s not your delivery or anything,” Taylor said between bites of pizza.

“What do you mean my delivery?”

“You have a way of making a compliment seem like a complaint. And she notices that. And the thing she doesn’t notice is that you’re hot for her. You do hide it pretty well.”

Owen crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall behind the counter. “Come on, you think I really have a chance with someone like her? She’s…”

“What? Right in front of you half the time?”

“She’s up here.” Owen placed his hand about eye level, then moved it down a couple of feet. “And I’m down here. She sings like an angel, she looks like…a model, and I’m just the guy who runs the music store. I’m no match for that Armani guy—”

“Is his name actually Armani? Because in that case,
no, you
can’t
compete.”

“No, it’s Clarkson or Lawson or Larsen or something. And he owns this
richy-rich club in the city, and he drives a Mercedes and—”

“You know what kind of car he drives?”

“I happened to notice the other night when he left Colette’s.”

“Stalker much?”

“I was concerned. He comes in there gawking at Claudia, buys her a drink, offers her a job, then he wants her to ‘audition.’” He paused to make air quotes with his figures. “That sounds a little fishy to me.”

“Auditioning for a singing job is fishy how?”

“Well, he’d just heard her sing. Duh. He knew how she sounded. Now he wants to lure her to New York so some mysterious partners of his can hear her sing too? I don’t buy it.”

“Do you hear yourself?”

“What? I’m concerned. She’s my friend, and normally big club owners from the city don’t go slumming it in small towns looking for talent. There’s plenty of it right under their noses. It’s New York. Every waitress in the city is a singer, and every waiter is an actor. What does this guy need
our
singer for?”

“I wouldn’t call this exactly slumming. It’s pretty nice here.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I heard what you said. I don’t even think
you
know what you mean. What you mean is, you can’t stand the thought of losing her.”

“I never had her.”

“And that was your first mistake. I don’t get why you never just told her how you felt and asked her out. You’ve known her forever. It never came up between the two of you?”

“What did I just explain to you? She’s diamonds. I’m charcoal.”

“And she’s gone, and you’re still here by yourself if you don’t get over it and tell her how you feel.”

“And what, beg her not to take a job she deserves so she can sing at Colette’s for a free steak dinner once a week?”

“No, just don’t let her make a big decision like this without knowing all the facts.”

“The fact is, this life can’t compete with what Armani can do for her. I want her to have everything, even if
I
can’t give it to her.”

Spec
ks of silver on the stage floor glittered in the spotlight that shone on Claudia from some distant point across the room. Next to her, the sleek black grand piano seemed like a living thing, softly murmuring the first strains of her chosen song under the expert fingers of the club’s entertainment director.

At a cluster of tables a few feet away, Jacob Larsen sat with his partners, a group of three men and two women whom he’d introduced to Claudia in rapid succession right after she’d arrived for the audition. If anyone had asked her to recall their names now, she would have failed that quiz miserably. All she knew was they were each impeccably dressed, polite but serious, and scrutinizing her as though the fate of the world hinged on their decision whether or not to hire her to sing at Eclipse.

She clutched the microphone, mostly to keep her hands from shaking. She’d never been this nervous performing before anyone. Even when she was ten and had entered the school talent show and sung
a cappella
for the first time, her palms hadn’t been this sweaty.

Relying on all the tricks of the performance trade, she psyched herself up by imagining her audience naked. That worked until she
got to Jacob, whom she decided would look entirely too good in nothing but tighty whities. Banishing the sexy image of the man who could end up being her boss, she swallowed hard and started to sing.

The wide smile of the piano player gave her confidence a boost, and she managed to nail the song despite the butterflies that gave her voice an uncharacteristic treble. Enthusiastic applause from the audience belayed their earlier stoic expressions, and she sighed in relief that she hadn’t fainted from the stress. Could she do this four nights a week to a much larger crowd? Could she do it without
Love Notes? Could she do it without Owen?

Jacob climbed onto the stage, his hand outstretched to take hers. “That was amazing, even better than when you sang with your band.”

“Thanks…” She eyed the partners cautiously. One of the men gave her a thumbs-up. Another was already talking on his cell phone, and one of the women had left. The remaining man and woman were whispering to each other, but at least they were smiling. “How do you think
they
feel about it?”

Jacob smirked, the sparkle in his eyes making the slightly predatory expression seem charming. “The decision was made halfway through the song, but we didn’t want to interrupt you. The job is yours if you want it.”

“Just like that?” She hadn’t planned for the question to sound accusatory. If it was going to be this easy, she could have phoned it in.

“It’s not like we have a dozen applicants. I heard about you
. I saw you. I liked you. This part is just a formality.”

“Oh…”

The spotlight went out, and the piano player rose from his bench. “Welcome to Eclipse,” he said before leaving the stage, as though it was a done deal. Did everyone expect she would say yes without giving the matter any thought?

Jacob led her to the narrow steps and down from the stage. All but one of the partners had left. Claudia vaguely remembered one of their names might have been Anthony, but she wasn’t sure. The man took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Bellisima!”

“Thank you.”

“She hasn’t said yes yet, Dino
. Give her some room to breathe.”

Dino? Claudia didn’t remember being introduced to a Dino. Then again, she could barely remember breakfast. The day had been such a whirlwind.

Dino said something else in Italian that ended in
Ciao!
, kissed his fingers, and left the table. Claudia eyed Jacob suspiciously. “What did he say?”

“He said he’s not worried you’ll say no because you belong on that stage. I have to agree. I hope you do too.” Jacob pulled out a chair and gestured for her to sit. Once they’d settled at the table, he took her hands in his, an intimate move that her heart racing. “I don’t expect you to make any hasty decisions. You have a job and a life in Spring Valley.”

“Spring River Valley.”

“Big name for a small town. It’s a heck of a commute to the city, don’t you think?”

The drive had taken several hours on the highway. It certainly wouldn’t make sense to try to keep her apartment with Lily and work in New York. A decision to take the job would mean a huge upheaval, leaving everything she was familiar with. “I’m not sure I can afford an apartment in Manhattan.”

“I can help with that. You don’t even have to live in the city. There are plenty of nice places across the river
in Jersey, and the commute would be less than an hour. You can still be a small-town girl if that’s where you’re comfortable.” He was still holding her hands, making the question of comfort more pointed.

She wanted to extricate herself, but in a way
, the contact felt like an anchor. If she held on to Jacob, at least she wasn’t completely alone. “Can I have a few days to decide? I’d have to make a lot of plans, give notice at my job. Maybe we could arrange a trial run?”

Jacob’s expression sobered. “If that’s what you want. I know this is a big step, but if you want a singing career, I assure you, Eclipse is a perfect stepping stone. There are record producers in here every week, judges from those television singing competitions, Broadway casting directors. I almost hate to tell you about it, because I predict that even if you take the job, it won’t be long before someone else tries to steal you from me.”

The idea of being discovered should have excited her, but she shivered instead. Did she really want a singing career? All her life she’d dreamed of it, sort of like people dreamed of winning the lottery. It had never been something she’d planned for, just something she would welcome if it happened by accident…and here was that accident waiting for her to take advantage of it. “I’ll come back next in two weeks, and we’ll see how things work out.”

“What if I add twenty-five percent to the salary we discussed, right now, if you give me a definitive answer?”

“It’s not the money, Jacob. It’s…”
Owen. It’s Owen.

Jacob let his fingers trail away from hers. He sighed. “I don’t want to push you. I’d rather it took you a while to be really sure than force the issue and have you regret it. I can guarantee you won’t regret it, though. It’s a good life. You’ll have all day to do whatever you want and two sets a night when you work. Three full days off and all the benefits the corporation gives all of our employees.”

“I know. It all sounds great. I’ll give it serious thought. I promise.” Checking the time, Claudia rose. “I’ve got a long ride back home to think about it, so I’d better get going.”

“You don’t have to go. You could stay for a day or two, see the place when it’s full, meet the rest of the employees, get a feel for the night life here. I have a suite you can stay in upstairs in this building.”

That was the first easy choice he’d given her. “No, thanks. I need to consider all this at home. I’ll be back on the eighteenth to sing, and I’ll have a final answer for you soon.”

He rose too, his expression clearly masking disappointment. Could he already see this choice was too hard for her? Anyone else would have jumped at the opportunity and been dancing in the street. Claudia felt like someone had dropped a lead weight on her back.

“I feel like if you leave, I won’t see you again.”

“You will. I promise I’ll be back. I just have a lot to do to prepare for this.”

“If there’s anything I can help with…”

“I’ll let you know.”

Quick, determined strides carried Claudia out of the club. If she left the city right now, she could make it back home at a reasonable time and call Owen. It bothered her that his reaction would be the deciding factor in her decision, but if she finally found the courage to tell him how she felt, maybe she’d have a better handle on what she really wanted or needed to do. If he didn’t want her, the best thing for her would be to move on and make a new life for herself. Jacob was right. She didn’t have to live in the city to work there. She could find another small town and have the quiet life she loved, paid for by the glamorous job she’d spent her childhood daydreaming about. All she needed was the right incentive, and only Owen could give her that.