“The show is tomorrow night,” I told Rebecca over the phone Thursday morning. She was a record executive at midsize label I thought could be a good fit for Rosie. I’d been trying to get ahold of her for a week, so I was thrilled she’d finally called.

“I don’t think I can make it,” she replied. She was the third and final executive I’d called that morning. The others had been lukewarm.

Rosie didn’t know it, but the big-name client that I’d mentioned to her was none other than Rosie Ross herself. I was now more determined than ever to get her the launch to her career that she deserved.

Ethically, I had a serious conflict of interest when it came to Rosie. I needed to find her another agent as soon as possible. I couldn’t and wouldn’t be willing to ever take ten percent of her earnings in return for my services. I also couldn’t and wouldn’t, ever be able to be objective when it came to Rosie, herself. Both of those qualities were absolutely required in an agent.

As far as I could tell, Rosie was the most talented individual I’d ever met. It was not an easy crown to take. I’d met a lot of famous and talented people over the years, not the least of which was Jen.

But Jen had a personality that lent itself to partying hard and letting the business end of her career work itself out. Rosie wasn’t like that at all. Rosie had a natural business acumen that was almost as valuable as her musical talent. She was focused, driven, and incredibly talented. It was a one-in-a-million combination.

“I will go take a look at Rosie’s YouTube channel,” Rebecca was saying. “If she’s really that good, I’ll either fly down myself or have someone attend the show and report back.”

I resisted the urge to cheer. “Thanks Rebecca,” I said instead. “I don’t think you’ll regret it.”

She laughed. “You’ve never steered me wrong before,” she replied after a moment. “But you know how it is. There’s a lot more talent out there than we need.”

Rebecca had a very hard job. She had to choose from between literally thousands of hungry, talented young artists, and because of that, she had to be selective. It was like trying to find the one flawless diamond amongst a pile of nearly flawless ones. I didn’t envy her.

“That might be true,” I told her, “but you won’t find anyone else like Rosie.”

Rebecca made a non-committal noise. “I promise to take a look this afternoon after my meetings.”

“That’s all I can ask.”

“In return,” Rebecca ventured, “I want you to give some thought about my pitch from a few months ago.”

I blinked. “I have thought about it, Rebecca. I would be a terrible record company employee. I’m a lawyer.”

“That’s simply not true,” she told me. I could almost see her shaking her mop of grey curls and squinting at me from behind the ridiculous lavender tinted glasses she liked to wear. “Well I mean you being a lawyer is true, but not the rest. If what I’m planning is going to take off, I need someone that can handle the brands and the trademarks, coordinate the production, and oversight the copywrites. That’s all traditional legal work. You just don’t want to stop being an agent. You like the struggle—the fight for your clients.”

I smirked at the phone. She was right. I did enjoy it. “None of that even matters though, Rebecca. I’m never moving to California.”

Austin was my home. I might have been born in Dallas, but I saw the light. There was no way I’d leave. My entire life was here now. Plus, with my parents getting older, moving across the country just wasn’t an option. It’s not like I could rely on flighty Ian to be there when they needed him.

“Well, if I come out to Austin on Friday,” Rebecca told me, “let’s talk about it. Ok?”

I seized on the opportunity. “if you come out on Austin on Friday,” I replied, “I’ll give it very serious consideration.”

In truth, since I was about to be fired, I needed to figure something out. Although I doubted joining the label that Rebecca thought she wanted to form would be a good fit, it wouldn’t hurt to spend some time networking for myself, either. I was going to need a source of reliable income once Ross figured out what I’d been spending my time on. He was going to be beyond furious. Fired didn’t even begin to describe the situation I’d be in. It might be closer to ‘danger for my life’.

“Hmm,” she said again, although the noncommittal noise sounded quite a bit more positive. She was oblivious to my inner machinations. “Well, like I said, I’ll get back to you.”

I’d known Rebecca for eight years. I’d heard many varieties of her non-committal noises. This one was as good as confirmation that she’d be at Rosie’s show.

“Thanks again,” I told her, praying that I’d seemed interested enough in jumping ship and joining her new venture to lure her to Rosie’s show. “Call me when you hit the ground.”

“Hey—I didn’t promise that!” Rebecca insisted.

“Ok, bye!” I hung up smiling.