Fade Into You (Shaken Dirty #3)(71)
As she put on Something New, she noticed the jewel case from Smoke and Mirrors’ latest CD laying next to the CD player. As she stared at it, an idea came to her. It was insane, ludicrous even, and yet…and yet, she couldn’t get it out of her head.
It would be perfect. Absolutely perfect. If her father didn’t have an actual stroke. And have her committed to an insane asylum. And that was only if Caleb was willing to step up and ask him…
Knowing there was no way she’d be able to relax until she at least tried, Poppy pulled out her cell phone and dialed her brother. The second he came on the line, she blurted out, “I need you to do me a favor.”
Caleb’s long-suffering sigh came through the phone loud and clear. “Aren’t I already doing you a favor keeping Dad off your ass while you’re in Austin? After what happened during the conference call yesterday—and the way Shaken Dirty have sicced their lawyers on us—that has to count for something.”
“And here I thought I was doing you a favor, since you’re the one who sent me down here to babysit a rock star when you didn’t want the job.”
“I already told you. It’s not that I didn’t want the job. It’s that I knew you’d be better at it than I would be.”
She made sure her tone conveyed just how hard she was rolling her eyes. “Kissing up will get you nowhere.”
“I’m not kissing up!” he answered with mock indignation. “Besides, if anyone should be kissing up, it’s you. You’re the one who called me for a favor, after all.”
“Yes, well, it’s a favor that will benefit all of us, so you just need to do it and not think too hard about it.”
“What exactly do I need to do?” Suddenly he sounded a lot more wary. Then again, no one had ever accused her brother of being an idiot.
With that thought in mind, she decided to just rip the Band-Aid off and tell him what had to be done. “You need to get Drew Fitzpatrick on a plane to Austin no later than tomorrow morning.”
When he didn’t immediately explode, she told herself maybe this was going to go better than she’d originally thought it would. But then several long seconds passed with no response from her brother, and she knew that was wishful thinking.
“Caleb?” she finally prompted when they were coming up on a minute of full radio silence. “You still there?”
His only response was a fairly alarming gasping sound.
“Are you actually dying or are you just being dramatic?”
“I’m imitating the sound Dad is going to make choking on his scotch if I even suggest putting Drew on a plane to Austin. Have you lost your freaking mind?”
“He’s perfect. You know he is.”
“He is perfect, absolutely. He is the perfect bass player for Smoke and Mirrors. You know how I know? They’ve got four Grammy nods and three CMA awards. That’s CMA as in Country Music Awards. Not rock. Country. And again, because it can’t be overstated, Drew already has a job. Playing bass for Smoke and Mirrors.”
“Okay, first of all, they walk the line between rock and country. And secondly, you know he’s not happy there. I’ll be shocked if the band manages to hang together another six months. Not with all the shit that’s gone down with them in the last year.”
“Oh, you mean like all the shit that’s gone down in Shaken Dirty?” Caleb asked snidely. “Because even if Drew randomly decided to leave Smoke and Mirrors, do you really think he’d choose to jump from the frying pan into the fire?”
“You let me worry about that. You just get Drew on a plane.”
“That’s not going to happen, Poppy.”
“Come on, Caleb. Trust me on this.”
“It’s not about trusting you. It’s about the fact that Dad’s planning another tour for Smoke and Mirrors in six months. If I take their bass player—who we both know is the most talented member of that band—he’s going to lose his shit completely.”
“Big deal—let him lose it.”
“Are you kidding? Who are you and where’s my sister? You’ve spent your whole adult life trying to make sure Dad doesn’t lose it.”
“Yeah, well, maybe that was a mistake.” The words poured out of her as if they’d been there all along only she’d been too stubborn—too dead-set on winning her father’s approval—to realize it. “Besides, if Drew leaves Smoke and Mirrors, there are other options. They can pick up Li—”
“Li’s not good enough and you know it.”
“Seriously? Now you agree with me about him not being talented, but yesterday you were all ready to follow Dad’s lead and push him on Shaken Dirty? That’s awesome.”
Caleb huffed in annoyance. “I didn’t say he wasn’t talented. Don’t put words in my mouth.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re putting them there yourself. I’m just repeating them.”
“You know as well as I do that Shaken Dirty has an embarrassment of talent. Most bands are lucky to have one really talented musician. They’ve got four. If the fifth one isn’t quite as good as the others, who’s going to notice?”
“Everybody is going to notice because it will be glaringly obvious. Plus, one okay musician in a band of greats is the difference between being The Quarrymen and being The Beatles.”