XO

mentioned I’d be coming tonight, didn’t he?”

“Afraid he didn’t.”

He laughed. “Isn’t that just like Bishop-a genius, you know. Sometimes details elude him.”

A card appeared.

Dance didn’t have to be a kinesics expert to note the shock that went through Kayleigh’s body. The agent glanced at the singer’s hand. The card was JBT Global Entertainment.

“What do you mean, doing business?”

Francesco licked the corner of his mouth. “Well, I’m sorry. But-”

“What is this?” Kayleigh snapped.

“Well, I thought your father… He didn’t say he hadn’t told you. I just talked-”

“Tell me what?”

“Jesus Christ. Look, I’m sorry. He said he was going to tell you this morning, after we signed up everything. But with that crazy man, maybe he forgot or was distracted.”

“Signed up what?”

“Well, you. Signed up you. He’s… I’m sorry, Kayleigh. Oh, shit. I really thought you knew.” Francesco looked miserable. “Look, why don’t you talk to your father?”

The singer stepped forward. She’d just survived a homicidal stalker. She wasn’t going to be put off by a suit from L.A. “You tell me. Now.”

“He just signed you with Global. He’s not renewing with Barry Zeigler and your label.”

“What?”

“Can he do that?” Dance asked.

Jaw set in anger, Kayleigh muttered, “Yeah, he can. It was set up that way when I was a minor. I never changed it. But he never did anything that I didn’t agree with. Until now.”

Francesco said, “Oh, but it’s a great deal, Kayleigh. And the money!… You won’t believe the money. You’ve got hundred-percent creative control. Bishop and his lawyers drove a really tough bargain. It’s a three-sixty deal. We’ll handle all your concert tours, your recordings, production, CDs, download platforms, marketing, advertising… everything. You’ll go international, big-time. We’ve already got commitments from CMT and MTV, and HBO is interested in a special. That all happened just today after he signed up. And Starbucks and Target both want exclusive albums. This is taking you to a whole new level. We’ll get you into amphitheaters, Vegas, London. You’ll never have to play little… places like this again.”

“This little place happens to be my hometown.”

He held up his hand. “I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just, this’ll expand your career exponentially. I’m sorry it happened this way, Kayleigh. Let’s start over.” He extended his hand.

She ignored it.

Bishop Towne had seen the exchange and, with a disgusted look on his face, ambled over. He said, “Artie.”

“I’m sorry, Bishop, I didn’t know. I thought you’d told her.”

“Yeah,” he growled. “Stuff happened today. Didn’t get around to it.” As Dance expected, Bishop’s eyes dipped to the stage and remained focused there. “Give us a minute, Artie.”

“Sure. I’m sorry.”

Kayleigh turned on her father. “How could you? I told Barry we weren’t talking to Global. I told him that!”

“KT,” he said in a soft rasp, “Barry’s part of the past. That world is gone now, record companies. It’s the past.”

“He was loyal. He was always there. He made me platinum.”

“And in a few years, there won’t be any platinum, not like there used to be. It’s going to be downloads and TV and concerts and deals with retailers and airlines and ad agencies. The Industry’s always been changing. That’s the way it works. We’re in a new era.”

“That’s a nice speech. Sounds like you’ve rehearsed it plenty.” Her eyes narrowed and Dance saw within them an anger and defiance that had never been present when speaking with her father. She laughed coldly. “You think I don’t see what’s going on here? This isn’t about me. It’s all about you, isn’t it?”

“Me?”

“You fucked up your career. You let your voice go to hell and now you can’t sing or write your way out of a paper bag. So what do you do? You become the great impresario. What’s Global’s tagline going to be? ‘Now Appearing… Bishop Towne’s Daughter’?”

“KT, of course not. That’s-”

“What’s Barry going to do?”

“Barry?” As if Bishop hadn’t thought about it. “He’ll change with the times or he’ll get into a new line of work. Or we’ll have Art find a place for him at Global. We still need producers.”

“So that’s how you treat your friends. It’s sure how you treated me, isn’t it? You made me give up my…” She tailed off. Dance knew what was in her mind but the young woman wasn’t going there now. “You made me give up so much, just so you could stay in the Industry. It was the only way you could hang on.”

She wheeled around and walked away.

He shouted, “KT!”

She paused.

“You wait just a minute there.”

Kayleigh turned back defiantly and Bishop approached. He regarded her not as a child but as a peer. Oblivious to onlookers he muttered, “You’re acting like a spoiled little girl. All right, you want the truth? Yeah, I asked your sister and Congressman Davis here to discourage you from canceling. And, yeah, I cut the deal with Global. But, why I did that, it’s not about me. And it’s not about you either. You want to know what it’s about? Do you?”

“Yeah, tell me,” she snapped.

Bishop pointed to the filling seats. “It’s about them, KT. The audience. They are the only thing in the universe that matters.”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re saying.”

“What you’ve got comes along once or twice in a generation. Your voice, your music, your stage presence, your writing… Do you know how rare that is? You know how important?”

His voice softened. “Music’s the truth nowadays, KT. We don’t get answers from religion or politicians; we sure as hell don’t get ’em from TV news. We get answers from music. The whole world walks around with those little earplugs feeding songs into their brains. Why? So they can learn the truth! They need people who can put into words and music the answers they need. People who take away their sadness, make ’em understand everybody goes through lousy times too, show ’em there’s hope, make ’em laugh.

“And for you, doing that’s easy as fallin’ off a log. It wasn’t for me. But it is for you. Tell me, KT, how many songs you think up in the last coupla days? Without even trying? How many? A dozen, I’ll bet.”

Kayleigh blinked and Dance saw that he was right.

“That’s a gift, honey.” A mournful smile. “Pushing you was never about me. It was ’cause I knew you had that gift… I knew you’d be everybody’s shadow, KT. I’m sorry you don’t like it but that’s the hand you got dealt. You gotta play it.” He pointed out to the audience. “They need you.”

“Then they’re gonna be pretty disappointed tonight. Because this concert’s going on without me.”

With that, she was gone.

The two dozen people backstage were now all staring silently at the old man. He’d screwed up, probably intentionally not telling her about the Global deal so she’d go ahead with the concert. But Dance’s heart went out to him. He looked shattered.

But Dance’s meditations on the Towne family vanished at that moment.

She heard a familiar voice behind her. “Hey there.”

She turned.

Well…

Jon Boling’s common greeting, just like his personality, was easy, friendly. And more than a little sexy, Dance had always felt.

Until now.