The Decks and the Road
Renegotiating
Kaylin
Chapter 25- A Spark in Cuba
Kaylin- The bouquet throwing… I’d seen it in
movies and I would have thought I would die for the opportunity, but it was the
last thing I wanted so I stood aside while all the women gathered. When it landed in Johnaya’s hands her eyes
sprinted to find me. I raised a cheer
and wondered what it would mean. By
eleven most of the guest had begun to fade and I’d already gotten a message
from Chad-Ezra to join him. We made our
way off the ship and he continued to lead the way. He stopped to introduce me to several of his
family members until our coast appeared to be clear and we were off to the
botanicals. There were lots of groups of
people and a few sets of two scattered in between. He moved like he’d been there before, but he
swore he hadn’t. When we’d come to a
quiet spot he jumped out and asked me, “What did you think of me back in
school?”
“You just
didn’t appeal to me. You were kind of
corny and I thought your name was too long.”
“What’s
corny about sharing your feelings?”
“Nothing
now of course… but then. I don’t know.”
“And what
do you think of my name now?”
“I like
Che better. Do you mind if I call you
Che?”
“You can
for now.”
“Then
what?”
“Then I’ll
make you like Chad-Ezra. The more you
know the more you’ll like it.” At his
response I looked away and headed toward a short bridge we’d pass. Looking back it was that answer that had kept
my attention through the rest of the trip.
I’d slipped out of Kayla’s Latin Fiesta and met him again that night,
and we’d caught two productions onboard the next day. We’d become almost inseparable, and on the
last day I even found myself in one of his reunion t-shirts. I’d met his mother and father and he simply
referred to me as a classmate. It was
just enough to keep all the questions away, and I wasn’t offended by it. Besides there wasn’t anyone apparently who
could get him to tear his eyes away from me and it flattered me. Finally when we eventually ran into Kayla and
Wood, she nudged me while he was speaking with Wood and I nudged her back.
He was
everything I needed to keep my mind off of the things that were pressing
me. Strangely, he also felt like a bit
of a reward for finally getting things right with Aaron. In the weeks that followed we continued what had
started in Cuba, and we tried not to think about him returning to school. We would eventually have dinner at his parent’s home, at
Tayeton and Kat’s, with Kayla and Wood, and I’d taken him to meet Rose. By the time the summer ended we were “Che and
Kaylin” except with his parents. With
them we were Chad-Ezra and Kaylin. I
hadn’t said anything to him about the songs or what was going on behind the
scenes in our moments together, but I had shared with him two of my newest
songs and ironically he had thought of the song ‘Coming Together’. I had presumed he would have thought of us,
but I was glad about what came to mind.
By the end of the summer I had also landed at a hundred and fifty
pounds, and I’d loss the last ten pounds with nearly both of my eyes
closed. I’d kept my copy of
Renegotiating Kayla sitting in my top drawer since finishing it, and it somehow felt as though it was guiding me.
My father
died in mid-July. It was enough to set
me back, but it just rolled off my back.
Still I didn’t know if it would catch up with me, and if so, when and
how.
Chapter 26- The Gamble
Kayla- I’d been quietly researching the details of Kaylin’s
claims. I hadn’t shared any of it with
anyone. Throughout it all I remembered
her look of desperation and her appeal for justice. I kept telling myself that there were more
qualified people for the job until I caught a picture of my next future. Next future was the best term to sum up the turns
and leaps my life had taken and was still prepared to take. That picture was tucked away in my heart, and
all its details I kept in the bottom draw of my desk at work. Although, I called out to it when I boldly
walked into Content Marketing. It was
another business I had not heard of that was sitting right under the nose of
the city. I’d learned enough to know
better than approaching the label. Label
in my job usually meant “the name upfront” and most times was intentionally
there to create a dead end. Ample
Publishing owned Ample Records and Ample Records was a series of small
partnerships. Content Marketing was
responsible for the music publishing, and was ironically a recording
studio. I didn’t bother to set an
appointment. I’d be giving away too much
information up front. When I walked in
it was a clear operation and no fronts, but if it weren’t for the press release
I found online, I may have never gotten to the right entity. Well not quick enough to prevent an
interception. Of course I didn’t present
my reason for being there right up front.
Instead I led with my recognition from the big score, and it wasn’t long
before I was sitting across from the head guy.
It was easy to register his surprise when I introduced myself as a
Negotiator and unpacked Kaylin’s claims as the author of ‘Coming Together’. It was a delicate negotiation. I’d designed my map of all the possible
directions the negotiations may go in, and I had my detours, objections, and
acceptances already accounted for. Along
with my next future, I had surely captured a future for Kaylin, and I knew she
could benefit from more than just a check.
My plan was to make Content Marketing nervous, and end my negotiations
with Ample Publishing, but if it didn’t go as planned, I was prepared to
negotiate with Content Marketing. I
barely bothered Kaylin with all these logistics. I had enough of the backdrop which she
quickly fed me over breakfast weeks before.
I only assured her that I hadn’t forgotten and that I was making
progress in my research. I left Content
Marketing with nothing but a promise of a phone call later that afternoon. It was a gamble. I tried to grasp whether I’d done a good job
of playing the middle of the road; a friend and a possible enemy. When I’d received Jim’s call shortly after
noon, I knew he’d caught all the small threats I’d laid before him while still
building a working relationship. His
call was to bring me up to speed on who had presented the song to his team, and
to sublimely convey that he would rather I go after Ample. It wasn’t a double cross. It wasn’t a cross at all. The producers had easily pointed to Eaton,
and one of them had gone so far as to reveal that he was the brother of the Ample
Records Exec. I had what I needed to
make my approach, and Eaton’s fatal error had been showing up to Kaylin’s
party.
Renegotiating Kaylin, a novel
Copyright
2019 by Natisha Renee Williams and Grace Call Communications, LLC
All Rights
Reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in
part in any form.
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