All I Need Is You (2 page)

KAYLEE ADJUSTED THE microphone and nodded to Jackson, who was behind the glass in the control room.
 

“Whenever you’re ready.” Jackson’s voice came through the headphones, a crisp whisper directly into her ear. His production assistant, Michael MacCrane, gave her the thumbs-up.
 

It was still a little weird to sing by herself. She’d grown up singing in the church choir and had performed with her friends for years. But it was only recently that she’d started singing solo. It was exhilarating and wonderful. It was also incredibly scary.

There weren’t many things she was good at. Kay considered herself a good cook and great mother. But there was only one area of her life where she never entertained insecurity. One thing she knew she could do better than just about anyone else, without question.
 

Sing.
 

Kay knew she had the voice. It was all the rest she was worried about. She wasn’t fashionable and she wasn’t thin. These were things that shouldn’t have mattered but did. People expected their pop stars to be glamorous. Kaylee wasn’t glamorous.
 

But she knew what it was like to hope for something more. That was what her songs were about. It had taken months and her best friend Sasha threatening to do it herself before Kay had worked up the nerve to show Jackson any of her music. The songs she’d written were personal and it wasn’t easy to open them up to criticism. But Sasha was right. Kay didn’t want to record other people’s songs. If she didn’t put herself out there, she’d never know if she had what it took. More importantly, she wouldn’t have an album that felt like it was truly hers.
 

The glass door to the recording booth opened and Jackson entered. He crossed the room and stood next to her for a few moments before speaking.

“Kay, we don’t have to do this song if you’re not ready. We’re actually a little ahead of schedule, so if you need to just take a day, it’s cool.”

“No, I really want to record this today. It’s just the first time I’ve sung it in front of anyone.”

“It’s a great song. The title, “Don’t Stay So Far From Me”—I’m assuming it’s personal?”

She couldn’t look at him as she nodded. Sharing her voice was like breathing. It was as natural as talking and walking. She’d been doing it her whole life. But her songs had never been public before. She’d always written in the seclusion of her room, keeping her songs as a private record of her innermost thoughts and feelings. Sharing them now, even with people she liked and respected, was difficult.

“It gets easier, you know. Putting your heart on paper. I originally told Ridley I loved her through a song I’d written. I’m not even sure I knew what I was saying myself when I wrote it.”

“She loves you just as much.” Kay smiled thinking of Jackson’s wife, a sweet girl who’d become a close friend over the past year.
 

Jackson inclined his head. “He cares about you, too. I can tell.”

Kay pasted a smile on her face but didn’t comment. She couldn’t talk about Eli with him. It was his brother. Of course he would assume the best.
 

On New Year’s Eve, after having a few too many glasses of champagne, she’d made a list of things she wanted to change in her life. Her relationships with her parents were at the top of the list. Next was being brave enough to show Jackson some of the songs she’d written. She’d already accomplished that one. Jackson had done so much for her by giving her a chance and helping her at every stage of recording this album. She wouldn’t badmouth his brother to him.
 

The last one was to open herself up to the possibility of love. Eli had kissed her on Christmas Day, and just like every other time she remembered it, her body flooded with heat. She shivered thinking about his strong arms around her. For one shining moment, she’d thought he wanted her.
 

But then he’d left and gone back to his house in Northern Virginia the next day. There were very few things he could have done that would have pushed his point home more clearly than that. Throwing herself at him had only embarrassed them both. She had been caught up in a fairy tale for the past year. Elliott Alexander wasn’t interested in her. He never would be.

It was time to move on.
 

She looked out to the control room. Mac watched with sympathetic eyes. Did she really look that bad? Like a scared little girl afraid of what everyone would think? But she
was
scared. Scared that people would make fun of her, and worse, that no one would even care enough to do that and she’d just fade back into obscurity.

But fear hadn’t gotten her anything so far. Maybe it was time to try bravery on for size.

“No, I’m good. Let’s do this.”

Jackson started to protest, but something he saw in her eyes must have convinced him she was ready. He left the room and took a seat behind the recording console again. He put his own headphones back on and then gave Kay the thumbs-up.

When the music playback started, Kay closed her eyes and pushed all the negative thoughts away. As she sang the familiar lyrics, all the rest of it ceased to matter. It had been really difficult to sing such personal music at first, but now it was easier than she could have ever expected. This song reflected her experiences and her pain. Singing about it was second nature at this point.

She sang throughout the first verse and then added a few new riffs to the chorus they’d already recorded. Every time she sang, it got easier to be in front of an audience. To be the one that everyone was looking at.
 

“That was amazing.” Jackson’s voice came through her headphones again and Kaylee smiled gratefully. He motioned for her to come in the control room, so she took off her headphones and walked through the glass doors separating them.

“Come here, I want you to hear this.” Jackson moved over so she could sit next to him. He hit a few keys and playback started. Kay nodded her head to the beat as the familiar music came over the sound system.
 

“What you just did in there…” Jackson ran his hands through his hair. “We’re about ninety percent of the way there with this track. I don’t know how you do that. It’s almost too easy.”

Kay’s smile felt like it would stretch around her head it was so big. “So we can finish the song tonight?”

Mac nudged her affectionately. “We can probably finish two songs tonight if you keep singing the way you have been.”

Kay hopped up and headed back to the recording studio. “I’m ready if you are.”

It was time she learned to focus on the things in her life that were real. She might not be in love, but she had something almost as good.

Music.

THE NEXT AFTERNOON, Eli waited until the last client left the boardroom before he yanked his tie loose. He’d spent the morning in back-to-back meetings. Welcoming new clients was important work but tedious, and he was more than happy to get it over with.
 

“Please tell me I don’t have anything else scheduled?”

His assistant, Carly, glanced over at him with a sympathetic smile. “No, that was the last one. I don’t know why you don’t let George handle the new clients. He’s the vice president of the company. Why do you bother hiring executives if you won’t let them do anything?”

Eli scowled. “What’s wrong with having a personal touch? I like the clients to know that every contract will have my personal attention.”

Carly harrumphed. “There’s a fine line between a personal touch and being a control freak. Anyway, I’m sorry I had to schedule all the new clients on the same day. It’s just so hard to get you in the office.”

Which was his fault. If he hadn’t been avoiding her, he would have been in the office more lately. “Yeah, I know. That’s my fault.” He rubbed his temples.
 

“Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”

“Just a headache.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “Is this your way of saying you won’t be in the office this afternoon?”

“Yeah. But why don’t you just bring me anything I need to sign? I’ll be staying in Springfield tonight,” he added before she could pout.

Just as he’d expected, her expression brightened. “Really? Okay, I’ll get everything together and bring it over. You go ahead home and take some medicine. Maybe a cold compress will help.” She brushed a hand against his cheek before gathering the folders containing the new clients’ contracts.

Once she was gone, Eli walked back through the maze of cubicles to his office on the west side of the building. Even though he was here at least once a week, most of the employees didn’t see him often. He was greeted with a chorus of “Hello, Mr. Alexander” and “Good morning, sir.”
 

He nodded hello to everyone he passed but sped up so no one would try to talk to him. It was still a bit surreal to think that he was leading this diverse group of people. He’d started the company in the midst of personal crisis. It had been a lifeline when he was drowning. Carly probably thought it was an excuse, but he did like to look over every case personally. It was his way of saying thank you. His way of giving back to the company that had saved him.

He grabbed a client file he’d left on his desk and then walked to the elevators. Another pang shot him right between the eyes and he grimaced. It was going to take more than a few aspirin to get rid of this headache, especially since he was sure Carly was going to bring him more paperwork to look over later.
 

He stabbed the Down button several times impatiently. The woman waiting there gave him a sideways glance and moved over slightly. He sighed.
 

Now he was scaring his employees.

After a long day, Eli was always happy to go home, but never more so than the days he spent at headquarters handling administrative work. Although home was a relative term for him as he rarely spent the night in the same location more than two days in a row.
 

His company maintained several houses and condos in the Washington D.C. area, which they used to keep clients safe. He usually crashed at one of them or in his office. However, he had to admit to harboring a particular affection for the little house he kept in the suburbs. It was the only one he didn’t allow clients to use.
 

He guessed that made it as close to a home as he’d had in the past decade.
 

He rode the elevator down to the first parking level and managed to avoid seeing anyone on the way. He threw the client file on the passenger seat of his truck and then pulled out of the garage and onto the bustling streets of Fairfax.

Today what he needed was a beer and some peace and quiet. Carly kept the different houses stocked with the basics, so he figured he could take a load off and maybe order in. When his cell phone rang as soon as he pulled up to his Springfield house, he figured the second part of the equation would have to wait.

“Hi, Mom. How are things going back home?” Eli locked his truck with the remote on his keychain as he walked up to the house and opened the door.

“Oh, I’m just fine, honey. I saw the news. It looks like you have your hands full.”

“I do, but you don’t need to worry. People are riled up right now. But once congress has voted on the bill, things will slow down some. Tensions are always high this time of year.” He kicked the door shut behind him and flipped the deadbolt.

She sighed, the sound coming over the phone and directly into his ear. “I know you’ve always had things well in hand; I just get worried about you, that’s all. You work too much.”

“I like working—you know that. Besides, I’ll be home in a few weeks anyway.”

“Good. I can’t wait to spoil you a little bit. It’ll be nice to have you back home. Things haven’t been the same since you left.” She fell silent on the other end of the phone.

“Is everything all right? Is Dad still having those chest pains?” Eli tensed, waiting for her answer. His mother had mentioned his father having chest pains on his last call and the thought of it had never been far from his mind.
 

His father had always been larger-than-life. This was the man who’d taught him how to ride his bike and given him the facts about the birds and the bees. The thought of anything happening to his dad made him feel ice-cold all over. Mark Alexander represented everything that held his family together. If there was something wrong, he wanted to know about it.

“No, it’s nothing like that. We just miss you. I’m getting sentimental in my old age, that’s all.”

“You don’t look any older than you did when we were kids, and you know it,” he said, relieved when she laughed. He hated to hear her sound so depressed. His mom had always been the cheerful sort. It went against the natural order of things for her to sound so down.

“I just wish you were here already,” Julia continued. “I’ve been worried about you. Working so hard, sleeping so little. I know you want to succeed and I’m so proud of you. But I also want more for you than just work. You’re letting life pass you by, and I think it’s time you face things head-on.”