Page 66 of Whiskey and Regret

Holy shit.

“Oh my god, Navy…he responded!”

“Read it!” We huddled together on my bed and it felt like when we were kids and we actually got along. She got on my nerves sometimes but there was nothing like having my big sister by my side.

Damon’s message read:

I’m all in. Let’s do this. Here’s my fiancé, Nicole’s information. Call her ASAP. 234-432-1155.

My hands shook as I dialed the number and pressed the phone to my ear. How was this happening so fast? Did things in the celebrity world normally happen that way? Was everything fast like lightning?

“Hello? Xari?” She already knew I’d call.

“Hi! Nicole?” My voice squeaked.

“Yeah, how are you? I’m so glad to speak to you. I saw your video last night and I told Dame to find you. Girl, you’re amazing.”

My tongue was dry and swollen but I tried to speak anyway. “Oh my god, thank you,” I said, trying not to let on to the fact that my teeth were chattering.

“So, I see here that you charge three hundred per hour? Do you have an agent or manager?”

“No,” I frowned. I hadn’t even thought about having an agent until I got a seat as a principal harpist. Until then I was playing to get better. I was playing until I was invited to perform with an orchestra or something else. Never in a million years did I think about booking events. “It’s just me right now.”

“Can you travel?”

“If my ticket is being taken care of, then I have no objection to traveling,” I smiled.

“Oh, okay. I’ll take care of your ticket and hotel plus the hourly fee. The wedding will be two hours long and the reception will be until the bar shuts down. You’ll be paid for every hour you stick around. Can you send me your contract?”

I didn’t have a contract.

“Sure,” I said with enthusiasm.

“Great! I saw on your page that you play a lot of modern music in additional to classical, can you do a mixture like that?”

“I can. I specialize in nineties R&B for modern music so I can play pretty much anything from that era. Anything else, I’d need time to practice.” Nicole squeaked when I mentioned R&B. I knew then I’d found a kindred spirit.

We worked out the rest of the details of the wedding, which was coming up in a matter of weeks, then we ended the call. I looked at Navy and said, “I need to figure out a contract. Know any lawyers?”

“Do you know anything about your boss?” She laughed.

“Evander? Is he a lawyer?” My face scrunched into a frown.

“Um, yeah. He went to Howard University Law School, Xari. He passed the bar in 2014.”

“Shit. Okay, Evander. I see you.”

“See? He’s not just good for sex,” she said rolling her eyes.

“Fuck you, Navy. I’m not sleeping with him.”

“You’re lying. Now, call Mom and Dad, please.”

“Okay, okay…”

…

FIFTEEN