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‘Very funny.’
Jake didn’t put out his hand for Caitlin to shake. Right then he had the strangest feeling that if he did he wouldn’t want to let it go. If this venture was going to work at all then he needed to maintain the requisite professionalism at all times. The last thing he needed was to get personally involved with Little Miss Hole in her Stocking. The band had been through enough upheaval and disappointment with Marcie walking out. No… If they were going to work together then he was going to play strictly by the rules. He had to, no matter how irresistible the temptation. And if he should at any time forget that vow then all he had to do was remember the scandal that had near crushed him and killed his career.
Taking a sidelong glance at Rick, and seeing that his friend’s avidly appreciative gaze was all but glued to Caitlin, as if only a madman would want to look anywhere else, Jake firmed his resolve. ‘Strictly by the rules’ went for Rick and the guys, too. And, by God, he’d make sure that they knew it.
As the band welcomed Caitlin he saw that their pleasure was absolutely sincere. He also saw how her lovely face lit up at their enthusiastic welcome, how a faint flush of pink stained her cheeks as she strove to handle it, and something told Jake she was definitely an innocent compared to the rest of them. That too could be a sticking point, he reflected…especially in the dog-eat-dog world that was the music business. But, that said, it made a refreshing change to meet someone with hope and enthusiasm in their eyes—someone who wasn’t old and jaded before their time as he probably was…
‘Come into my office, Miss Ryan,’ he invited her. ‘We need to talk in private.’
Vaulting off the stage, Jake strode to the end of the hall, the sound of his boot heels echoing loudly in his wake.
After eagerly helping Caitlin down from the stage, Rick hurried to catch up to his enigmatic boss. ‘Hey, don’t you want me there too?’ he called.
Turning, Jake shook his head, a muscle flexing in the side of his hollowed cheek. ‘Not at the moment, my friend. There’ll be time enough to go over the timetable for rehearsals when we talk later. We’ll have a group meeting tomorrow afternoon so that we can discuss everything. Right now I just want to have a private chat with Miss Ryan’
‘Miss Ryan?’ Rick frowned. ‘What’s wrong with Caitlin?’
Ignoring the comment, Jake turned and opened his office door.
Her trepidation mingling with excitement, Caitlin followed him. The whole experience felt strangely surreal to her. The office that Blue Sky’s charismatic manager was using was a room not much bigger than a generously-sized broom cupboard, she saw. All it contained were two grey plastic chairs and an upturned orange box masquerading as a table. One small window allowed just a paltry glimpse of sky.
Moistening her lips, Caitlin sucked in a breath. Somehow being in such close proximity to Jake Sorenson was ten times more testing than any audition she could imagine. He had the kind of highly charged aura round him that would stir the senses of a blind woman, she mused nervously.
‘Take a seat,’ he instructed.
Feeling undeniably overwhelmed, she complied. When she sat, her knees unavoidably pressed up against the rough wood of the orange box as she strove to make herself more comfortable. Adjusting her coat as she waited for Jake to carry on speaking, she felt her anxiety definitely intensify.
‘You’ve already told me that you have a job. I presume that’s full-time?’ Flipping open the black notebook on top of the box, he started writing inside it.
‘That’s right.’
‘You said you work in a shop? What kind of shop?’ Lifting his head, Jake pinned her to the seat with his pale blue eyes.
‘It’s a shop called Morgana,’ she told him. ‘It specialises in esoteric and personal development books, but we also sell things like incense, Native American jewellery, ambient music and crystals.’
And I love working there, she silently reflected. She shifted in the hard plastic chair. It would be a real wrench to leave that job, but what was the point in having a passion in life if you weren’t planning on doing anything about it? Her friend Lia knew just how much Caitlin loved music, how she loved to sing. And then Caitlin had told her that she’d seen an ad in the post office:
