Leaving Amarillo(90)

Dallas. It’s Dallas practically shouting at someone in the next room.

Groaning as I try to untangle myself from my quilt, I sit up and rub my eyes. The pearls I fell asleep in are cutting into the skin on my neck and my dress is twisted around my waist.

Glancing over at the alarm clock on my nightstand I see that it’s a little past nine.

I expected to wake up in a hotel but it’s my own bedroom that greets me. I can’t believe I slept all night. The past twenty-four hours comes back all at once and my head throbs at the flood of memories of nodding and hugging and assuring everyone that I was okay.

Dallas is still arguing with the other voice that I’ve discerned as Gavin’s while I strip off my pearls and my dress and find a pair of jeans and a clean shirt to put on. Once I’m dressed, I join them in the living room to see what all the fuss is about.

“I don’t want us to miss out on this, either, but you can’t afford to get—”

“Morning.” Gavin cuts my brother off by greeting me with excess enthusiasm. It’s an overly obvious attempt to ensure that my brother will pause his monologue long enough to turn around and see that I’ve entered the room.

“Morning, Dixie Leigh,” my brother says gently. “Sleep okay?”

“I did until you woke me up hollering at each other. What’s going on?”

They exchange wary glances and I get the distinct impression no one in this room plans to fill me in.

“Ugh. I’m going back to bed,” I say, preparing to turn around and return to my quilt cocoon.

“Wait,” Dallas begins in a resigned tone. “Dix, we need to talk.”

Sighing, I perch on the edge of Papa’s chair and nod at my brother. “Okay. Talk.”

Gavin shoots me a concerned look, but I ignore it. I take in his jeans and human evolution shirt that shows man evolving from an ape to an upright and then sitting behind a drum kit. I wonder if he stayed here last night or went home and saw his mom. I don’t get a chance to ask because Dallas rushes on.

“Barry Borscetti heard us at the showcase in Nashville. He was late but he caught the encore and he was really impressed. Mandy said he rarely reaches out to anyone and he wants to schedule a private audition with us to see if we’d be a good fit for an upcoming unsigned artists tour.”

“Barry who?”

I look at Gavin to see if this is a new name to him as well but it looks as though he and my brother have already covered this part without me.

“He’s a major label executive,” Dallas informs me. “One of the founders of Clear the Air Records and now a higher-up for Universal.”

Universal is a huge label—the largest in the business and it’s a major deal that anyone there would be interested in us, but I nod for him to continue instead of fainting in surprise at the enormity of this. I can barely hear the rest of what he says, though, because one particular statement is playing on repeat and drowning him out.

He was late but he caught the encore and he was really impressed.

I struggle to hear much else. This guy liked the encore in Nashville, the one song that I wasn’t a part of.

“Dixie? You still with me?” My brother is giving me the strangest look and I feel as if part of my mind might still be in bed asleep.

“Sorry, Dallas. Just tired. Go on. You were saying that Barry’s a major player and was impressed.”

My brother nods but his eyes are much less excited about continuing this conversation. “There’s more. Mandy said if he gets us on this tour the next step is likely a major deal from Universal.”

Rubbing my temples, I lean forward and prop my elbows on my knees. The thought of going back out on the road when there is so much to do here is unnerving to say the least.

“The thing is, we’d have to leave tonight. The audition is in Nashville . . . and it’s tomorrow.”

My head snaps up and Dallas nods like he was expecting my oncoming panic attack.

“Mandy couldn’t buy us any more time than that? She couldn’t explain that we just had a death in the family?”

“It’s not like it’s up to her, Dixie Leigh. This is just an opportunity. Gavin and I were discussing it and letting you rest. Now that we’re all three here, we can decide whether we want to pursue it or not.”

“There’s just so much to do here, Dallas. There’s so much . . .”

He nods his understanding. “I know there are a million things to deal with here—settling Papa’s estate and handling the headstone order and all of that, but that will still be here when we get back.”

“Which, if we get added to this tour, might be a while,” Gavin points out.

I feel sick, dizzy, and overwhelmed. Like the train driving my life is barreling past me, driven by someone else, and I can either grab on or let go and watch it pass.

I just don’t have the strength to chase after it right this second.

“Tell her all of it, D. She needs to know the truth.”

Turning to Gavin for further explanation, and wondering if I’m finally going to hear what they’ve been behaving so strangely about, I’m annoyed when he puts his hands up and redirects the floor to my brother.

Dallas sighs and sinks onto the armchair Papa loved so much. “He doesn’t . . . Barry didn’t . . . Mandy wasn’t able to convince Barry that he needed to see all three of us to make his decision about adding us to the tour.”