Authors: Jan Carol
DONAHO PICKED her up on Wednesday morning at ten, true to his word this time. They were to go to the recording studio and meet with Hargrove and the selections he thought would do well with her voice. With butterflies in her stomach, she went along quietly, nervous about the second meeting with the man.
To her surprise, the studio’s owner met them at the curb. Opening her door, he helped her out with one hand, then presented her with a nice bouquet of springtime flowers from the other that had been behind him. "I’d like to apologize for our first meeting, Miss Wisdom." He spoke sincerely. "I look forward to working with you. I hope we can do something for each other."
Jenà looked at the two men with narrowed eyes. "And that is supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, Jenà." Donaho quickly stated. "He knows the recording is just for your Mr. Ayers. Right, Calvin?" It was a strong warning.
"Absolutely. I still had hopes she would change her... Never mind. Shall we go inside and get started?" He put her arm through his as he led the way through double glass doors. "I’ve recorded some different sounds, and I’d like you to listen to them first. I think I’ve come close to wearing out the instruments over the last thirty-six hours. I’m starting to hear complains from the musicians, too."
"We’ll enjoy listening, won’t we, sweetheart?" Donaho walked into the recording room ahead of them.
Hargrove spoke to the woman still beside him, ignoring her agent. "You don’t mind if I call you by your first name, do you?"
"As long as it’s kept impersonal, it would be fine." Her tone wasn’t very pleasant, as she found her stomach tying itself in knots. "I doubt Ethan would mind."
"I heard the other night at the Casino Georgia that you and this Ayers fellow are getting married." Inside the next room, he let Philip close the door behind them. "I understand from Donaho you’re leaving the business."
"Speaking of which, Donaho," she turned on her agent then, "Ethan told me you’d have a new contract for me to sign on Monday." Jenà had let the arm of the other man go. "How long is that going to take?"
"My secretary is still working on it. They take time." The older of the two men took a seat beside his client, changing the subject as quickly as he could. "I’m anxious to hear what you have, Calvin."
Pushing some buttons, turning some of the small yellow and orange lights on, Hargrove sat back, waiting for the speakers to bring the sound to their ears. As it began, Jenà closed her eyes, listening to the instruments filling the air in the room, thinking of nothing but the melody and words. She could pick out some of the individual sounds of the symphony-like music, but it didn’t sound right. About half way through, the music was fast forwarded.
"That’s not the one we’re looking for," Hargrove commented, as he pushed the buttons on the large console again. "This one doesn’t seem to have it either, but I’ll let you give it your thoughts."
After several different versions, they found themselves listening to what Calvin thought was just right, or as close as he’d come. It had the sound Jenà thought she was looking for, and when she looked at Donaho, she knew he felt it also.
After a few tries, Jenà stopped, raising her hands to let them know she’d had enough for the day. It was nearing three o’clock.
"There’s always tomorrow." Donaho met her at the door between the two rooms. "Let’s go have lunch and maybe you’ll feel better."
"We can have the studio cleared tomorrow by noon." Hargrove joined them. "How about a sub sandwich down the street? My treat."
"How about it, Jenà?" The agent patted the woman’s shoulder.
She nodded. "All right." Her voice let the two know she wasn’t keen on the idea.
Going back to her apartment, feeling quite down, Jenà decided to phone Ethan’s office. She just needed to hear his voice. His secretary told her he had just left his office, and wasn’t expected back before Friday morning and asked if she wanted to leave a message. She hung up after giving a negative answer.
Feeling even more depressed, she filled the tub with hot bubbly water. A long soak might help. That and some good herbal tea. While the water heated for the tea, she stripped, starting a load of clothes in the washer. It wasn’t long before she was relaxing in the tub, sipping the strong scented drink.
The next day, as promised, she was back in the studio, listening to the background music once more. Her thoughts remained on Ethan, wherever he was. The recording went smooth as she sang her heart out to the man in her thoughts. When she received a thumbs up sign, she knew it was done.
Sitting in the room with the two men, she listened as the speakers brought out the clear sounds. "I think that’s good." She smiled at her agent, then at Calvin.
"The best." The latter remarked. "Care to celebrate with me? Just the two of us?" His smile was supposed to be inviting, as were the eyes that lit up.
"If Donaho and his wife wouldn’t mind joining
just the two of us
, that would be fine." Her voice was such that she knew Donaho wouldn’t back down from the offer, or he wouldn’t hear the end of it. But Hargrove’s expression told the two of them that he didn’t want the extra people invited by her.
"Angel and I would love to, Jenà, but I’m afraid we have another commitment for the evening. But you go ahead." He stood, stretching his back. "I’m sure Calvin will take good care of you." This was said in a warning to the man he looked at. "I have a lot of things to do this afternoon. If you’re ready to go, I’ll drop you off."
Calvin’s smile grew. "I’ll see her home." He was up, shaking the man’s hand as they walked to the door. "Don’t you worry about Miss Wisdom, Philip. I’ll have her in early."
"If you don’t mind, I’ll just take a cab." Jenà was behind them, unable to get a head start. "Just because I’m off tonight, doesn’t mean I haven’t things I need to do. Maybe some other time, Mr. Hargrove."
"Don’t you want to know what goes on with your song after this?" Calvin had closed the door after Donaho’s departure, before she could get around him. "I’d be more than happy to show you around."
"I suppose it would be interesting." She wasn’t sure she wanted to stay around him, but finding out what was going to happen to her recording was a temptation. Since he knew of her engagement, maybe he would keep his distance. "All right. I’d like to see how you do things here."
After a nice dinner, Calvin saw her back to her apartment. She had kept Ethan in their conversation, one way or another, as a reminder to the man. She missed him terribly, and explained that was the reason she’d had such difficulty singing the day before. Her answer to his questioning of how she could do so well that afternoon was that she had pictured Ethan with her in the room, unable to do so before.
He had been the perfect gentleman, leaving as soon as he had unlocked her door and returned the keys to her. Once inside, Jenà tried to call it an early night, but found sleep impossible. Hot chocolate, a boring movie, a book, and tossing and turning all were helpless. Nothing kept Ethan off her mind so she could sleep.
Though it was midnight, her phone rang, and she gladly got out of bed again. She thought about her mother, as it was her practice to wait that late an hour for cheaper phone rates, but when she answered, it was Ethan’s voice greeting her through the speaker, picking up her mood.
"I hope I didn’t wake you." His deep voice held concern for doing so. "I knew you were off work, but I couldn’t get you earlier, and then things got too busy. This is the first break I’ve had in three hours."
She giggled at his long-windedness. "No, I wasn’t asleep. I wanted to speak to you, but you aren’t home, are you?"
"No. I had to fly out to Los Angeles on business. It looks like I’ll be stuck here through Monday, at least. The problems are much worse than I thought." His disappointment came through the wire to her ears.
"I’ll more than just miss you, Ethan. I was looking forward to our weekend." Her frustration was an echo of his. "But we’ll get through." Putting a little enthusiasm in her tone, she paced in front of her phone.
"You sound rather chipper about it." He teased. "If the weather holds out good, I’ll go down to the beach on Saturday. Maybe I’ll feel better about it, too."
"We recorded your song today." She changed the teasing to serious. "Hargrove thinks we should add a few more songs to it, just for you." Standing still now, she wound the cord around her fingers. "What do you think?"
"Sounds all right to me. Why Hargrove?" A little suspicion surrounded his words. She had wanted to stay completely away from that man, and it was a bit surprising to hear his name.
"He owns the recording studio Donaho wanted to use. He was a perfect gentleman, Ethan. After the recording, he took me out to dinner. I wish you could have been here." The last statement was made with a pout.
"I’ll be there next Thursday night." His promise gave her something to look forward to. "Until then, sweetheart, just remember how much I love you."
With a smile, she returned the words with the emotion sounding in her tone. After they hung up, it wasn’t long before she found the sleep that had eluded her before his call.
THE NEXT Wednesday, Jenà found herself even more upset than the last time she showed her anger to Donaho. On the radio, which she rarely turned on, she heard the man announce a song "
just fresh from the recording studio by a new artist that’s definitely going places.
" The disc jockey had been sure of this, as the single, over the last few days, had been requested more than any he could remember. "
She’s Jenà Wisdom, from our own Atlanta. And word’s out that she’s got more recorded and on the way,
" the man’s radio voice announced to everyone listening.
Picking up the phone, she dialed the number and asked for Philip Donaho. He was on another line, she was told, but he would be with her momentarily. Being put on hold only infuriated her more.
Hanging the hand set in its cradle, she grabbed her purse and keys, headed toward her car. She wouldn’t be put on hold for long. With her anger raising as every minute ticked by, she paid no attention to her driving. The car seemed to get her to his office on its own.
Eyes blazing, she walked into his little room. The secretary didn’t even try to stop her. "All right, Donaho." Her voice boomed out. "What the hell is the big idea?" She didn’t care that he was on the phone. "I want an answer now." Her finger went down on the button, cutting off whomever he was speaking to.
Standing, he set the receiver down. "Honest, Jenà I had nothing to do with it. I, just this morning, heard about your song being played on the air since Monday afternoon. In fact, that was Calvin Hargrove you just hung up on. He doesn’t know how it happened. I believe him." His words were coming too quickly, as though he were trying to hide something, were her thoughts.
"If not you, then Hargrove. Who else could get a copy of that recording?" Jenà’s voice was growing hoarse from yelling. "And who else would know I had recorded more?"
"Maybe your Mr. Ayers..."
"Don’t you even think that! Ethan wouldn’t dare. Besides, he’s been in LA for a week." She was almost screaming at him. "I suggest you get on that phone and find out how the stations got hold of it. Find out who gave them permission to play it."
"Sit, and calm down. Calvin and I are on that right now." Donaho answered the buzzer on his intercom with a smart, "Yeah."
The secretary’s voice was calm as she ignored his outburst. "The radio station manager, Mr. Glenn, is on the line, sir."
"Thanks." He murmured as he picked up the phone, pushing the blinking white light. "Philip Donaho here."
Jenà stood at the window, her mind not comprehending much of the one-sided conversation going on behind her. The only thing that kept her from blowing up was the fact that Ethan would be with her the next day.
Tomorrow
, the word kept going through her mind. Why couldn’t this have happened when he was here.
"Well, well. How about that." Donaho had hung up the receiver, grinning like the cat with the canary in his belly. "That blows the mister nice guy." When she turned to listen to him, her shaking was very visible. "It seems the station received a CD hand delivered Monday morning from one Ethan Ayers. Now, where did you say your fiancè was Monday morning?"
"He wasn’t here, that’s for sure. He couldn’t have been here. He wouldn’t have done that." Jenà denied it with much vehemence. "There is no way you can convince me of it."
"From what the station manager says, he signed a paper so they could play it. Says he said he was your acting manager." Philip’s anger was apparent, but had a long way to go to match hers. "We’ve got some talking to do with your Mr. Ayers, Jenà. As soon as the man shows here again."
"I tell you it wasn’t him. It could have been Hargrove. Ethan doesn’t have the copy. It’s still at the studio. I was going to get it from Hargrove tomorrow and give it to Ethan when he comes in." She felt she had to defend him to the end. She knew in her heart he wouldn’t do that to her.
"Let’s take a ride over to Hargrove’s then. We’ll find out if Ethan picked it up this weekend." He didn’t want to see his client upset any further, but it was very possible that her fiancè was trying to pull something over them all.
"He wasn’t even here this weekend, Mr. Donaho. He’s been in Los Angeles since last Wednesday night and was delayed in getting back to Savannah until this morning." They were at the curb next to the man’s car, each getting in on their sides.
"That’s what he told you over the phone, right?" The words were bitten off. "A flight from LA to Atlanta is easy to catch. Doesn’t take more than a few hours to get from there to here and back again. And he could stand to make a pile of money with you, my dear." He knew he was only making matters worse, so he remained silent the reminder of the drive, as his companion had become.
She was still very quiet when they went inside Calvin Hargrove’s office. The man was sitting behind his desk, holding the phone to his ear. As soon as it was hung up, Donaho started in on him before the irate woman could have a chance.
"We’ve got to find some answers before Jenà gets to her lawyer." His threat was a sincere knowledge of what would be started very soon, and not just against the recording studio. "Have you got anything yet?"
"Other than this Ayers guy taking the CD in on Monday morning, I’ve nothing. Can’t find out how he got it in the first place." He stood, pacing the floor, knowing that the woman was getting to the boiling point. "Honest, Miss Wisdom," he didn’t let a second go by without some words filling it, "the recording you’re to pick up tomorrow is right here." Bending before his desk, he pulled out a drawer, holding up a plastic case when he straightened. "Unless he came in here, which is next to impossible as far as security is concerned, got this, made a copy and returned it... I just don’t have a clue."
"You’re going to have to come up with a better one than that, Mr. Hargrove." She spoke too quietly. "Ethan has been out of the state all week. If he was staying right here in this office, I couldn’t be convinced he’d do it." She stood taking the thin box from the man on the other side of the desk. "I’ll just keep this, if you don’t mind." Putting the container in her purse, she looked from one man to the other. "You have twenty-four hours to find another story, a convincing one at that. If not, I will pursue legal advice."
"Jenà?" Philip stood, following her out the door. "Where are you going?" His footsteps were quick, but hers were faster. "I’ll take you back home."
"I need to walk, Donaho. I need to think. Get on the phone, or get out there and get me some answers." She had continued walking toward the exit, turning at the door to face him before she walked out, gripping her purse tightly in her hands. "I’m as serious as I’ve ever been. Twenty-four hours. Ethan will be here tomorrow. I’m sure he can do something about someone using his name to boot." Waiting for no more from him, she left the door to close on its own, headed down the street at the same speed she had found in leaving the office.
It couldn’t have been Ethan, she kept trying to get the doubts out of her mind. He understood how she felt, and wouldn’t do it to her. He wouldn’t take a chance in losing her over it, and that was what would happen. He would lose her and the chance at any money he was hoping to bring in with her voice.
The words in her mind began sinking in. Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, being bumped by one person, others having to walk around her, she scolded herself inwardly. How could she even let the words come into her head? Again she let the same words run through her head, with a little more conviction,
he wouldn’t
.