Bryan grinned. “I’ll be right back.”
Ten minutes later, Bryan returned, smiling from ear-to-ear. “Good news, A-Dub. She’s available and is leaving right now to head here. She’s driving in from Malibu.”
He nodded, looking relieved. “Thank you. I trust your judgment, man. You’ve got an ear and if you say she can do it, I believe you.”
Bryan snickered. “I haven’t heard her sing in a while, so I had her audition on the phone with me. She’s still got it.”
A-Dub laughed. “I love it. Who is this awesome backup vocalist?”
Bryan grinned. “Kendalle Scott.”
Kit entered the room, hearing Bryan’s response. A-Dub shrugged his shoulders. “Never heard of her, but if you say she’s got it, I trust you.” He stood up. “Ok. Let’s hold, take a break, get some grub and when Kendalle arrives we’ll go again. Now, let me go fire a backup singer. Excuse me.”
Kit frowned and looked at Bryan, alarmed. “What the fuck is going on? Why is he firing one of the backup singers? And why are you talking about Kendalle to him?”
Bryan chuckled. “C’mon, pretty Kitty, let’s go grab some lunch.”
Bryan smiled at Kit as he reached for his iced tea to take a sip. She shook her head. “Of all people, why did you have to suggest Kendalle? And wipe that fucking grin off your face. She’s been calling me, y’know? I haven’t returned any of her calls. Candice, my new assistant, keeps giving me the messages.”
Bryan finished his sip and met Kit’s eyes. “Maybe this is the Universe’s way of bringing you two together. Seriously, what do you have against her? Not only is she one of Sull’s closest friends, she’s one of mine. If it makes you feel any better Giselle loves her too. Loves her! And you know Giselle doesn’t make friends easily. She’s a tough cookie that way. Before you can even think it, hell no—she won’t hit on you, although I know she thinks you’re gorgeous. She’s told Sull that on more than one occasion.” He chuckled and took another sip.
With Bryan’s last comment, Kit giggled. She shook her head again, unable to wipe the grin off of her face. She let out a long sigh. “Ok, ok. I’ll be nice. I’ll meet her.”
He nodded, satisfied. “Good.”
Kit met his eyes. “Are you serious about her being a backup singer on my album?”
He held her gaze. “Uh yeah. Duh. My God, Kit. That’s A-Dub up there! One of the most legendary pop producers right now. I would not fuck around with my reputation in front of that guy. He means business and I saw how pissed he was with that mediocre backup singer, Barbara. She was a replacement that Diamond’s A&R team sent over at the last minute. And, well, we know how that ended.”
He nodded. “But, I get where you’re coming from and there’s no need for you to be concerned. Kendalle was a backup singer in New York. Girl got skills!”
Kit frowned. “I thought she was a ballerina in New York.”
Bryan grinned. “She was. She’s a multi-talented girl, just like you, Kitty. Yes, her day job was a principal dancer for American Ballet Theatre, however on her way to getting that coveted spot, she spent many years as a corps dancer and a soloist. It didn’t pay as well. So, on days or evenings when she wasn’t performing, rehearsing or training, she took gigs as a backup singer and a choreographer for tours and Broadway to pay the bills. She did mostly studio work. There were a few spots where she had to take off months at a time to heal from an injury. She couldn’t dance, but she could act and sing, so she got picked up and did Broadway or some tours with top artists like Stevie Wonder, Belinda Carlisle and Don Henley . When she had that really bad injury two years ago, she continued to do backup gigs, did a show on Broadway and took on more choreographer gigs.”
Kit sighed. She had no idea that Kendalle was so accomplished and sounded like quite the triple threat artist. She then frowned. “But I thought Sully said she has stage four lymphoma.”
Bryan’s jovial expression faded to one of concern. “She does. And that’s why I called her and talked with her before telling A-Dub she was a go. I wanted to make sure she was up for it, not only for today’s session but for others coming up ‘cuz chances are he’ll want to continue to use her. I had her sing something for me. She sounded great, like usual, and she said she was feeling better. She had her last chemo treatment two weeks ago. She said not only was she up to singing backup on your album, but she relished the opportunity. I think she’s going stir crazy in Malibu. Kendalle is like us, she needs to be creating and contributing or she loses her mind.”
Learning more and more about Kendalle from a source other than Sully was proving to be healing and soothing for Kit. She felt like a weight had been lifted off of her and wondered if maybe she and Sully could work on building trust again. It was like Sully said, Kendalle was not a threat at all, if anything it was starting to sound like she’d be an asset.
Kit looked at Bryan, suddenly become concerned. “Bry, is she going to be ok? Isn’t stage four serious?”
He sighed. “Yes, however, she’s lucky. She has the form of lymphoma that’s highly curable. Her oncologist is optimistic. We’ll know more in the next few weeks, seeing how her body responded to the second round of chemo. We’re all hoping for the best. Too scary to think of the alternative. Sull and I have been doing our best to be
