Made in Nashville: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance Read Online Free PDF Page A

new album right here. We must have a signing, get a BBQ in here. Could we tie it in with the 4 th of July do you think?’
    ‘Hold up. I haven’t even done anything yet. It’s up to the record company when or if it’s released. There’s no guarantee.’ That was the trouble. Nothing was guaranteed in this business. She might have decided to give things one more shot but that didn’t mean the industry was going to show any interest. It was more than likely most people would have forgotten who she was.
She’d
almost forgotten who she was.
    ‘Oh sucks, they’ll be falling over themselves to sign you up to everything. You wait, before you know it, there’ll be making Koozies with your name on them and selling them in Target,’ Mia told her.
    ‘Is that meant to sound like a good thing?’ Honor said, sighing.
    ‘Sure it’s a good thing, doll. And so is
this
. Want to tell me about it?’
    Mia fluttered a leaflet about the rock festival in the air. Honor could see clearly, written in Sharpie marker, the phone number Jared Marshall had written down. Her stomach rotated. He hadn’t been off her mind all week. She’d used the bridge he’d written to finish off her song. She was thinking of recording
Goodbye Joe
when she visited the studios next week.
    ‘It’s a phone number. A customer left it,’ Honor said. She twirled a strand of hair around her finger.
    ‘Uh huh. So, what did they want? Did you order something for them to pick up? There’s nothing on the system I don’t know about,’ Mia prodded.
    ‘No.’ She was going to have to say something. But what?
    Mia shrugged her shoulders, then opened her arms, palms raised to the ceiling, waiting for an explanation. It was useless thinking of something more sensible to say.
    ‘It’s Jed Marshall’s number. He came in the other day when you went to see the bluegrass band.’
    Mia’s eyes very nearly came out of her head. ‘Say what? Did you say Jed Marshall?
The
Jed Marshall…came here…to my store! Did he freaking touch anything?’
    ‘A couple of guitars,’ she replied.
My hand.
The memory of the handshake that had sent a heavy current down her spine caused a moth-like sensation in her belly.
    ‘Jeez, Honor and this is the first I hear of it? What was he doing here? You know he doesn’t exactly need to buy guitars. Fender practically throw them at people like him,’ Mia exclaimed.
    Honor’s eyes went to the wall where the walnut Gretsch was hanging. She’d almost wept when a pensioner who was into Waylon Jennings had played it so badly earlier in the week. It was like the passionate rock-fusion sound Jared had made with it was being wiped away with every finger-picking note.
    ‘He asked me to support him on his tour.’ She hadn’t meant to say the words out loud but out they’d flowed. Mia fell into the chair, scattering copies of the latest edition of
Rolling Stone
all over the floor.
    ‘Holy crap! Are you playing with me?’
    ‘I said no. I actually had no idea who he was until he said his name,’ Honor admitted. A woman waved at her from over by the sheet music.
    ‘You had the hottest piece of country ass in the store and you didn’t know who he was? He offered you a supporting artist role and you said no! Had you been drinking then too?’
    ‘I need to serve this lady,’ Honor said, heading out from behind the counter.
    ‘You need to visit your shrink! And we need to talk!’ Mia called after her.
    By the time the band arrived Buzz had told him about seven companies that wanted to sponsor him and get him wearing/eating/drinking/playing with their brands. Of course he wanted to be successful but the money and the free stuff didn’t mean anything to him. He was in it for the music. Spreading his sound to as many people as he could. The world was actually on the cards and he’d never really believed that was possible.
    ‘Pure Nectar is sending over a crate of their juice today. That should keep you in fruit smoothies for some