DECIESIONS, DECIESIONS

Monday, September 1, 2005

"Hey David, you got a minute?"

After adverting my attention away from the newspaper in front of me, I was surprised to see a rather chipper looking Rick standing at the entrance to my office door, asking to come in.

He's never this energetic in the morning; he must want something from me.

With that thought in mind, I jokingly replied: "Well, I was going to spend my morning going over a few critic reviews, you know to see if there were any potential clients out there for us to go look at. But, as you said earlier, there aren't any, so, I guess I do have a minute. Why? What's up?"

After shutting the door behind him, Rick offered a slight chuckle while taking a seat in the chair across from me. "You're funny, David…I'm always telling Terri that you have a great sense of humor. You should really use it more often."

Okay, now I know he wants something from me.

"Spill it."

As if he didn't know what I was talking about, Rick furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, before saying: "I'm sorry. I don't think I understand what you're talking about. I just came in here to shoot the breeze with you, you know, ask you how Kirsten was, how your weekend went…those types of things."

Kirsten…? My weekend…? What the-

Before I could get my full thought out, a light bulb went off in my head.

He wants to know how my day with Valerie went.

"My weekend was fine, and Kirsten is fine as well...but you already know that since you were there this morning when I dropped her off at your house for Terri to watch."

I guess that had been the opening he was looking for, because Rick sat up a little higher in the chair he was seated in and, as if he just remembered it himself, replied: "That's right, I was…and I couldn't help but hear you mention to my wife that you had hung out with an old friend of yours from Beverly Hills yesterday. Am I correct in presuming it was one Miss Valerie Malone?"

Now I see where this is going…

"You would be correct." I replied, now feigning innocence, wanting Rick to come out with everything he needed to say, without me helping him out along the way.

"I thought so…did you guys have a good time, did you explore the sights? Take in a few shows?"

Without even bothering to hold back the slight chuckle that threatened to come out of my mouth, I sarcastically replied: "Shows? Now Rick, you and I both know me and Valerie didn't go see any shows this weekend...what are you really trying to ask? The truth this time."

Knowing that the gig was up, Rick laid it all out on the table for me. "Okay, I know Miss Malone is a friend of yours and, you and I both know that when it comes to my employees personal lives, including family and friends, I try to leave it alone. But I was sort of hoping that as a friend of mine you could do me a favor and possibly pull a couple of strings to persuade Miss. Malone to sign with J records."

You've got to be kidding me.

I wasn't an idiot. I knew that when Rick had brought me down to the club that night that he hadn't just wanted me to see Valerie, but that he also wanted me to hear her, as well, to see if she had the right talent for the record company. But I hadn't really thought that he wanted me to be the one to ask her to sign on the dotted line.

"Now, I know this is not normally how we run things around here. You usually hear the singer and then bring them to us, so we can persuade them into signing with us, but I really think we'd have a better chance of getting her to sign if the offer came from someone a little bit closer to her…and to her son."

How'd he know she had a son?

Interestingly enough, before I could ask that question out loud, I was stopped by Rick continuing on with:

"Look, I won't take up much more of your time, and you don't have to come up with an answer by today, but just hear me out, okay…? I know she has a son that's why I don't want her to do any world tours or anything like that. I just think that with the lack of talent that's being put out lately and the lack of female role models that have been coming out of the music industry these days, Miss. Malone would be a breath of fresh air to anyone out there listening."

"She has a unique talent that people should hear and with us backing her up, I think that not only would she be having the opportunity to make a better life for her and her son, but possibly influencing those out there listening who want to listen to something other than bubble gum pop or gangster hip-hop….just think about it, okay?"

Even though I thought it was a bad idea—I never liked mixing business with pleasure—I still agreed to at least thinking about what Rick said; a statement which caused Rick to cheerfully reply: "That's all I'm asking for...now I'll let you get back to work. But please, David…think about it really hard. I know you'll make the right decision."

Knowing that that was as good of a guilt trip as any, I silently nodded at the man in front of me, before turning my attention towards the window behind my desk; contemplating what my next move would be.

Now how am I going to get Valerie to agree to this?

Later that day

"So, how was your day today, munchkin? Did you have fun at Miss. Terri's?"

While listening to my daughter reveal how her day went, I quickly flipped the burgers I was cooking and then turned the stove down a little so they could brown evenly without undercooking in the middle.

"Yeah…I learned how to finger paint."

"You did? What did you paint?" I replied, with mock interest, before watching on as Kirsten ran out of the kitchen—towards her bedroom, I was guessing—to get the painting she made for me. "It's a dog…see!"

Taking my eyes off the food on the stove for a second, I had to fight back my chuckle as I saw the dog in question. It looked more like a red blob of paint…but I wasn't going to tell her that. "Wow, it's beautiful, babe. You know what I'm going to do…? This weekend, what do you say we go out and get some magnets so we can hang this on the fridge for everyone to see when they stop by, how's that sound?"

At the mention of people stopping by to see her work, Kirsten's eyes immediately lighted up and they did even more so as she asked if Ben could see it as well.

Having almost forgotten about Ben, or his mother for that matter, caused me to reply "Yes, even Ben," before telling Kirsten to go back to her seat at the table, which was far away from the frying pan in front of me, and making a move to grab my cell-phone off the kitchen counter so I could call and ask Valerie the question Rick had thrown out to me earlier in the day.

But interestingly enough, before I could even open the device, it began to ring in my hand.

"Brandon…" I mumbled to myself, while reading the caller id, "long time, no talk."

With that thought in mind, I quickly answered the ringing device, just before it hit its second ring. "Hello?"

"Silver! Long time, no hear buddy…how you been?"

While instantly smiling at the contagious cheerful tone in his voice, I replied: "No complaints, just been hanging in there...how you been-Mr. Mayor, is it now?"

After taking a second to laugh at those words, Brandon replied, in amusement: "I wish...more like secretary to the mayor, but without the benefits…which is the reason why I'm calling you."

Seeing that the burgers I was cooking were almost done, I quickly turned off the dial to the stove, but left the pan on the dial so it could cook a couple more minutes. "What's up, man?"

"I got a little vacation time saved up and I was thinking about maybe hopping on a plane and coming to visit you for a couple days—that is, if you're not too busy doing the entertainment thing to slum with a nobody like me."

Ha, Brandon Walsh a nobody? Hell, I can't even turn on CNN without hearing something about him these days.

With that thought in mind, I jokingly replied: "You know I always have time for the little people in my life, but the question is do you have time for us…I don't think Washington could make it on its own if you weren't there to pick up its pieces."

Hearing the laughter on the other line caused me to smile, knowing that the—still humble as ever—Brandon would never believe that he was that big of a deal.

"I don't think they'll mind me leaving them for a weekend or two…and besides I already booked my ticket so they have no choice but to deal with it. I'll be in Boston on Saturday morning, around eleven am, don't forget, okay?"

Knowing that even if I had any complaints, there would really be no point of arguing since as Brandon said, he had already made the arrangements caused me to first chuckle before telling Brandon I got it. "11 am, airport…but hey, I'm going to have to go now, I just finished cooking dinner and I want to get Kirsten fed and into bed at a decent time tonight. I'll talk to you later this week though, all right?"

"All right man, I'll see you this weekend."

Two hours later

"And they both lived happily ever after…the end."

Noticing that Kirsten wasn't asking me to read her another bed time story caused me to look down at the little girl beside me and smile slightly as I saw that she was finally sleeping. "And it only took you a good two hours to wear yourself out, kid…I'm getting better at this."

With that being my last word, I gently kissed my daughter on her forehead and then made my way out and into the hallway—shutting the door to her room partially behind me. "Now off to bed for me."

While making my way down the hallway towards my room, I made sure to turn the night light I had set up for Kirsten in the hallway on before I slowly closed the door to my room behind me. Afterwards, I made a move to get ready for bed myself, but as the sound of vibration started to come from the bedroom night-stand, I put that thought on hold.

"Valerie…" I mumbled to myself, while reading the caller-ID.

Noticing that it was going on nine o'clock, I figured she had probably just put Ben down for bed and was calling to check up on me.

I was wrong.

"Hello."

"Hey David, it's me Val…I didn't call at a bad time, did I?"

While taking a seat on the bed, I replied, in honesty: "No, not really. I just put Kirsten down for bed and was about to hop in the shower. Why? What's up?"

After a second of silence was heard on the phone, I opened my mouth to ask Valerie if she was still there, but before I could do so, she quickly replied: "I'm not really that good at apologizes, but I think we ended last night on a bad note, and I just wanted to call and say that if I said anything last night that offended you, I'm really sorry. I'm good at putting my own foot in my mouth from time to time."

Knowing that she indeed was, but that the awkward ending to our hang-out session last night was due to me and my insecurities over not being as successful as the people around me were, caused me to reply: "You don't have to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong. I was just really tired and it must've came out wrong when we were saying our goodbyes."

Even though I knew Valerie used to always have the ability to know whenever I was lying, I prayed to God that she couldn't see pass the fib I had just told.

And my prayers were answered.

"Okay good, because I was really worried that I had said something that I shouldn't have said and I just didn't want for anything I said to be misinterpreted, so I apologize again…"

After slightly chuckling and telling Valerie again that she had nothing to be sorry for, I questioned her on how her day went.

"You know, same ole, same ole. I dropped Ben off at daycare this morning and then spent the majority of the afternoon, while he wasn't here, looking at a bunch of ads for part-time singers. Not a vast majority in today's paper. How about you?"

Now I remember who I was supposed to call...

Figuring that now was as good of a time as any to pitch to Valerie the idea that Rick had brought to me earlier, I reluctantly asked Valerie how she would feel about singing on a regular basis, "both inside and outside of a night club."

"You mean like professionally?"

Taking my silence as a yes, Valerie continued with: "I don't know… I mean I can't say that I didn't think about it when I was younger and my mom was signing me up for all these crazy talent shows, but I haven't thought about it in awhile—at least not since I had Ben. Why?"

Knowing that this was it, and that she'd either say yes or no, I quickly replied: "One of the guys down at my job got a copy of a tape of you performing down at Tony's and after showing it to his boss and a few other people down there, Rick wants to know if you'd be interested in signing with J Records. No big tours or anything like that, just some time in the studio and a chance at working with some big named producers. They want to get a couple of singles out of you and onto the radio stations here before they decide if they're going to make a full length cd with you or not….what do you think?"

Knowing that that was a lot to digest right now, I wasn't that surprised when the next words out of Valerie's mouth were: "Wow, I don't know what to say…"

That was my reaction as well. I thought to myself, before repeating the same thing that Rick had said to me earlier, "You don't have to give me an answer by tonight...actually, I encourage you to think about it for a couple of nights. But I'm not going to lie; this would be a good opportunity –both for you and Ben. You'll get to do something, I take it, you enjoy doing and he will get to hear his mommy on the radio, or even possibly see her on TV. Just take some time to think about it, okay?"

Damn! I almost talked myself into doing it! I thought to myself, surprised at how easy it was for me to pitch this idea to Valerie. I'm going to have to talk to Rick tomorrow about maybe looking into adding this onto my resume, as well.

"I don't know David, I still am going to need some time to think about it…'cause like you said before, this won't just be effecting me, but Ben as well and I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do or not—do you think I could call you back later on in the week, when I've had enough time to think about it, then I'll be able to give you my answer."

Figuring that this was a big decision and Valerie should be given all the time that she needed to decide what was good for her and her son caused me to reply "Take all the time you need," and then afterwards add that I was going to have to let her go so I could go take that shower.

"Okay, good night, David."

"Night, Val!"

Next part soon.