Chapter 6

CHAPTER

SIX

H arry took the folder his father passed him, and he opened it and looked at the information at the top of the sheet inside. “Adam Harmon,” he read. He’d be thirty years old in another couple of months, and Harry liked that he was closer in age to this potential assistant than the other two they’d seen that day.

His head pounded for a moment, and he reached for his bottle of water. Dad had set up the meetings in a conference room at Rebel Studios, something Harry hadn’t even known he could do. Apparently, when a man wasn’t quivering behind drawn drapes and locked doors, plenty could get done with phone calls.

And ideas.

And Harry didn’t have the ideas—at least for something like this. For songs, his notebooks burst with lyrics from the past week. He’d organize them with notes and melodies if they made the cut. Sometimes the words just sat on the page for a while, without getting paired with a note. Some never made it out of the notebook.

“He assisted Cameron Junior?” Harry looked over to his father. “He hasn’t been in a movie in a while.”

“He moved to Portugal,” Dad said like people made a Trans-Atlantic move every other day. “Adam said Cam decided he didn’t need an assistant over there, because apparently, he’s bought a country house in the village, and he can get his own groceries.”

Embarrassment squirreled through Harry. “I can get my own groceries,” Harry muttered, flipping the folder closed. He didn’t want to act like a petulant child, but he folded his arms and lowered his head so it would be harder to see his eyes.

“Baby,” Ev said. “This is not about what you can do. It’s about what you should be doing.”

Harry looked over to her, appreciating her words.

She turned toward him further, though Dad sat between them. “You know I’m not myself all the way right now.” She swallowed, and Harry’s ears seemed to perk up, because neither Dad nor Ev talked much about her mental state.

Dad took her hand and stroked his thumb across the back of it. Harry experienced a sense of longing, because he’d love to have someone who could comfort him—and whom he could comfort. He looked away, back to Ev.

“So I’ve been learning this lesson too. There are only so many hours in a day, and only so much energy I have for those hours. So there are a lot of things I can do, but I have to choose what’s the best thing to do for me.” She offered him a smile and wiped quickly at her right eye. “That’s all you’re doing.”

Harry nodded. “Okay, Ev.”

“Mister Young?”

Both Harry and his dad looked toward the door, where a woman had entered the room. “Mister Harmon is here.”

“Yep,” Dad said, and Harry simply watched the door as a tall, blond man entered the room behind her.

“Thank you, Martie,” he said in a smooth voice to match his movie-star smile. He turned that on the three of them sitting at the table, and his step didn’t hitch as he walked toward them. “You must be the Youngs.”

Dad didn’t rise as he reached out his hand. “Trace.” He indicated Ev, as he’d done a couple of times now. “My wife Ev.” He glanced over to Harry, who’d also shake his hand after he finished greeting Ev. “And the star of the show, Harry.”

“Howdy.” Harry did get to his feet, and as he shook Adam’s hand, he had a really good feeling about the man. “You worked with Cam Junior?

“Sure did.” Adam rocked back on his heels. “I’m sure you hear this a lot, but I really love, like love , Small Town Girl .” He grinned and grinned. “Watching you sing it with just a guitar on that staircase?” He shook his head as in disbelief. “I showed it to the woman I was dating at the time, and we both fell in love with it.”

Harry found himself grinning too. “That’s great, man. That’s from ages ago.” He cut a look over to his father and ducked his head closer to Adam. “Before I was an adult, so we keep that on the down-low.”

“Oh, sure.” Adam had leaned closer, and he too straightened. “Well, I broke up with the girl—or she broke up with me—and I moved into her brother’s personal assistant. Attending that wedding was a little awkward.” He chuckled, and Harry really liked him.

His eyes sparkled, and while he was a little less formal than the other two men who’d come this morning, Harry liked that. He didn’t just want someone to pick up his bags. He wanted a friend. He needed a buffer.

Adam pulled out a chair and sat down. “Well, I’m sure you have questions.”

“I do,” Dad said, and Harry would listen, but he didn’t actually have any questions himself. So much of what he did happened by feel, and he had a very good feeling about Adam.

“Tell us what you did for Cam,” Dad said.

Adam chuckled. “Whatever Cam wanted, and every client is different.” He looked at Harry. “It’s a bit of give and take in the beginning, as we each learn what Harry really wants. What he really needs from having someone like me with him. I can do the organizational things, like making sure he’s where he needs to be and when?—”

“Uncle Morris does that,” Harry said, glancing over to his father.

“To making his appointments for personal things, to accompanying him to those to make sure no one gets too close.” Adam had a briefcase with him, but he hadn’t pulled anything out of it. “For Cam, I definitely acted as part personal assistant and manager, part bodyguard, and part errand boy.”

“You’re not an errand boy.” Dad gave him a smile. “My brothers and I all needed a lot of help with all the moving pieces of our careers. Harry’s just in the place where he’s not traveling and playing with four of his brothers at his side. He needs someone like that.”

Harry flashed a half-smile at his father. “Talk to me about the bodyguard part.”

“Sure.” Adam brushed his hand across his forehead to push his hair back. He hadn’t overdressed for the meeting either, as he wore a pair of black khakis and a polo in pale yellow. Harry couldn’t name the last time he wore a shirt with buttons outside of church, but for Adam it felt right.

“My claim to fame is I can clear an area for whoever I need to. I’m very good at reorganizing people so that someone who needs a bit of space has it.”

“Like at a baggage claim,” Harry said.

“You wouldn’t have even been near that if I was with you,” Adam said, and his smile slipped. “I’m surprised you’re flying commercially, but if you want to keep doing that, okay. I just make other arrangements.”

“What type of arrangements?” Dad asked.

“We always fly commercially,” Harry said. “I’m not that big-time.”

Adam did smile again now. “Harry, I’m not sure you understand who you are.”

“I keep telling him that too,” Ev said .

“You are that big, but if I need to, I’ll call ahead to where we’re landing, and your bags will be pulled by airline personnel. Your driver will have them, and we’ll simply walk through. No stopping. No waiting.” He looked over to Dad. “And I can get a security escort for that easily at all major airports, and in some cases, a completely cordoned off area so people don’t get within twenty feet of you.”

Harry realized his eyebrows had gone up with every word Adam said. “Sounds great,” he said.

“Anything you want can be as public or as private as you want it to be,” Adam said. “Restaurants, travel, a walk in the park.”

“Harry does so much more than walk,” Ev said. “He’s at the gym for hours every day.”

“And I can make sure only the people he wants to talk to him actually get to talk to him.”

Harry thought of Belle, and the way Adam talked, it sounded like he could help Harry get a date with the woman. Since Harry had returned to Nashville, they’d texted a few times, just flirty things where Harry tried to learn a little more about her. Belle wasn’t super forthcoming with details, but she answered him, so he took that as a positive sign.

The interview with Adam ended, and Harry got up to stretch his shoulders. “I like him,” he said to his dad and Ev. “I think he’s going to be the one.”

“We have one more,” Dad said. “And we don’t have to pick one of these four at all. This is just who I was able to get in touch with quickly. ”

The door opened, and Martie said, “This is Michael Taylor,” before Harry had even had a chance to look at the folder.

A woman walked in, and Harry balked. “No,” he whispered to his father. “But I don’t want a female assistant, and I really liked Adam.”

“Her name was Michael,” Dad said out of the side of his mouth. “How was I to know that was a woman’s name?”

“Last one today,” Ev hissed. “Let’s be nice, and get through this.”

“Then we’ll hire Adam,” Harry said just as Michael arrived, her smile far too big and far too false. No, he didn’t have a good feeling about her, but he definitely wanted to get Adam back in here and offer him the job as soon as he could.