Page 19 of She's My Kind Of Rain

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SAWYER - JUNE 21, 2004

“Hey,get your head outta the clouds, dipshit. You’re like two inches from fallin’ off this scaffoldin’.” Rhett tugs at my shoulder to gather my attention.

I snap back into reality. Not paying attention while building a house is probably one of the stupidest things I could be doing. That and pissing off Richy with the shitty mudding job I just did on the seams of the drywall in front of me. I still can’t stop thinking about the other night at The Red Fern, and everything that happened. My song. The card from the Telluride rep. The girl. If I close my eyes, I can still see her blue eyes shining back at me.

“Honestly, I’m surprised you’re even here today. ya got that damn card, now call it.”

“Yeah, I planned to call during break time,” I say with a shrug. “Until I’ve got a record deal in writing, I’m not quitting this job. I’m not too worried about that though. I’m excited as shit, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve already gone through that in my head all weekend. The plan is to call and then do exactly as the rep directs me to.” I let out a laugh and glance at Rhett.

“Anythin’ she says, hey? That’s mighty submissive of ya, Sawyer.” He winks while laughing hisgotchalaugh.

I consider feeding into his games, but my heart is being tugged to find someone I know nothing about, and something about that is distracting me from the greater picture. I have a once in a lifetime chance, and yet I can’t seem to find it in me to think about anything besides the girl.

“Nah, not everything. I don’t know what she even looks like. I mean it’s Telluride. I can’t imagine they would offer a lowball contract, given who they are. Plus, I don’t know what she wanted. I don’t want to assume it’s to sign me. And if it’s for personal reasons, I’m not interested.”

“Ya don’t even know what she looks like, dude. I wouldn’t say no if I was in your shoes.” He wriggles his brows.

“Yeah, I bet you wouldn’t.” We both laugh. Rhett is happy to makeacquaintanceswith any pretty girl he sees, assuming that she’s pretty. “Sorry, I’m just tired. I’ll get some coffee in me and be brand new in about ten minutes.” I consider throwing in a joke about Rhett’s interest in the A&R Rep, but decide against it.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would think ya were in love.”

The accusation surprises me. “I don’t even know what she looks like and like I said, not interested in the rep. Just tired.”

He gives me a suspicious look. He and I both know I’m not tired, yet like a good friend, he’s not going to call me on it twice. I climb down the scaffolding and head toward the cluttered makeshift break room of this build, fully intending to get a cup of coffee, even though one a day tends to be my max.

Rhett’s right though, I can’t get her out of my head. She was almost like a ghost, there and gone before I had a chance to say hello. She hadn’t been cheering like the rest of the room. It was almost as if she had sadness in her eyes. I truly wanted everyone to feel the song to their core like I did, but not in a way that hurt them, and for some odd reason it felt like I had.

I only saw her for a split second, but she was burned into my memory and through the sadness in her smokey blue eyes, I sawthat she had the soul of a dreamer. I could tell she felt the lyrics to that song more than anyone else in the room, and everything in me wanted to ask why. Ineedto know why.

Who was she?

I walk back to the scaffolding, when I hear a burst of laughter from above.

“What the fuck you laughing at, champ?” I say, in a light hearted tone.

“For a man hell bent on gettin’ coffee into your system, ya sure came back empty-handed now, didn’t ya?”

I look down. Sure as shit, Rhett’s right. Laughter bubbles out of my lips, followed quickly by my best friend’s own bark of laughter.

I really am out of it. Why does this girl have such a hold on me?

“Alright, you caught me.” I shrug.

“No, shit, I knew something was up the moment you said you wanted a second cup. You never drink a second cup.” He gives me another knowing look.

I blow out a breath before admitting, “Alright, it’s a girl. I don’t even know her name and I’ll probably never see her again.”

Might as well tell him. He’ll likely just nag me until I finally cave or he finds out on his own. Hell, he managed to land me that gig at The Red Fern, maybe he can somehow find me the girl too. The luck I’ve had since knowing him has been rather impressive.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen ya this outta sorts. She must really be somethin’ if she’s distractin’ ya out of a job. Don’t let Richy see ya fuckin’ off like this or he really will cut ya from the crew before your big break.” He pretends to be stern with me, all while having a shit-eating grin plastered across his face. “That bein’ said, get that sappy ass back up here and tell me about her.”

“You just want me to come back up there so you can take your fifteenth coffee break of the day.” I roll my eyes, smiling because of the stupid grin on his face. Of course, he’d want to know everything about her. He’s the biggest damn gossip on the site, but since she’s my dream girl, and because he’s my friend, I oblige.

The ladder creaks at my weight on each rung until I make it to the top of the scaffolding. I tell Rhett about the girl, and how she seemed to respond to me—or even more so the song I sang. He looks as if he knows something I don’t nearly the entire time, but never leads on to why. After our conversation comes to an end, he urges me to call the rep.

After all, what kind of self-appointed manager would he be if he didn’t?

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