Country Heat by CJ Channing

Author:CJ Channing [Channing, CJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cobblestone Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Shy paced around the kitchen table, shaking his head.

“Quit pacing, Shy,” Erica warned from the computer screen. “I can’t see you.”

“Do you even need to?” he huffed, pacing undeterred. “Sounds like you and Colin have my whole life figured out already!”

“Hey,” Colin mumbled.

“We’re just trying to get the most out of this opportunity, Shy,” Erica said. “Now, come on baby. Sit back down and talk to Mama about this.”

Shy groaned, flitting embarrassed eyes at Colin as he slumped into the straight-backed chair in front of the giant laptop monitor. The country cabin might have been rustic, but Gone Country was one slick operation and, amidst the calico quilts and burlap throw pillows, the breezy gingham curtains and the tin coffee cups, there was enough high-tech gadgetry to run the Pentagon from an underground bunker.

“Don’t sweet talk me,” he fumed. He wanted a nice, cold beer—or a stiff, warm shot—more than just about anything in the world at that moment. “I know your tricks.”

“It’s not a trick,” Colin interjected, sliding another one of his damn flyers in front of Shy’s face. “You’ve been working on some great material, and I think it’s time to show it off. You know, in front of a live crowd?”

“I’m in agreement here, Shy,” Erica said, looking fit and frosty in her office back in Nashville. “And why the hell is Colin the only one being apprised of your ‘great new material’?”

Colin shot Shy a sheepish look and, just off screen, mouthed the words “I’m sorry” with those moist, full lips of his.

Shy ignored him and said, “Colin’s just being generous, Erica, which is what you’d expect from a dang intern. I’ve got a new song or two, sure, but…neither is ready for a durn concert with actual, live people listening.”

“Well, get ’em ready, Shy. And two songs is plenty, if they’re original. Are they?”

“It’s all original stuff so far.”

Shy watched as Erica and Colin shared a conspiratorial look during the Skype call.

“Okay, fine, great. Just keep going on the original stuff and, maybe, just for the concert we throw in some old standards to stretch things out, you know?”

“What, like ‘White Christmas’ and ‘Silver Bells’?”

“Those are good,” Erica said, but Shy could hear the reservation in her voice. “We were thinking something upbeat, too.”

Shy snorted. “Well, I ain’t singing damn ‘Jingle Bell Rock,’ if that’s what you’re thinking.”

Colin snorted and Shy kicked him, hard, under the table.

Erica smiled and said, “Okay, well, can we compromise and maybe do ‘Feliz Navidad’? It might sound good, just you and an acoustic guitar?”

Shy shrugged. “I ain’t even agreed to the durn concert yet!”

Peering back at him through the computer, Erica’s lips looked tight and pursed. “Colin, dear, could Shy and I please have a minute?”

“Fine,” he spat, shoving himself away from the table. “I need a break anyway,” he mumbled as he stormed out to the back porch.

Shy watched him disappear down the steps before turning back to Erica. “What?” he snapped.

She softened and leaned closer to the camera.

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