Sly Eckert jerked his head up at the sound of his name.  He saw a beautiful girl who seemed to know him.  She was medium height with long brown hair and big, expressive eyes.  Then he realized who she was.

“Emily?” Sly asked.  “Is it really you?”

Emily smiled.  “I would hope so.”

Sly put down the battered guitar cases in his hands and gave Emily a big hug, lifting her off the ground, which she happily returned.  “It’s so good to see you,” she said.

They finished their embrace and Sly said, “You too.  Do you work here?”

Juan cleared his throat, pulling Emily out of her reverie.  “No.  I think you’ve already met my boyfriend, Juan.  I’m just here for moral support.”

Sly met Juan’s jealous gaze.  He smiled in return.  “Hi, Juan.  Emily and I are old friends.”

Juan tried to smile.  “Emily sure has a lot of them.”  Emily rolled her eyes.  “Why didn’t you tell your band about this demo?”

Sly looked to his bandmates.  “They’re here, aren’t they?”

Juan laughed sarcastically.  “I meant why didn’t you tell them this isn’t a country demo?”

“Who says this isn’t a country demo?”  Sly enjoyed seeing the look of shock on Juan’s face.  Before he had a chance to react to the remark, Sly continued.  “It’s pointless to think we’re going to do a pop record along the lines of that one awful song you sing.”  Juan really looked upset, but Sly wouldn’t let him get a word in.  He paced around the waiting room.  “What we are going to do is give you a different kind of demo.  It won’t be that bubble gum garbage you’re trying to emulate.  I propose a different kind of style: very stripped down, mostly acoustic.  I think something similar to the Eagles will work.”

“The who?”

“No, no, the Eagles, not the Who.”  Sly had an amused smile on his face while Juan looked hopelessly confused.

“Look, let us play you a song and we’ll demonstrate.” 

Juan sighed.  “Look, I don’t think this is going to work.  Why don’t you guys just go home?” 

“Fine, just give us half of our salary and we’ll be on our way.”

“What?  That’s 500 dollars for nothing!”  Juan seemed like he was ready to explode.  Emily rubbed his shoulders in an attempt to calm him down.

“Did you not read the contract you signed?”  Sly said.

“Umm…” Juan looked embarrassed. 

Emily sighed, exasperated.  “You signed something without even reading it?” 

“I really wanted to get started on this and I thought he looked honest.  Now I’m not so sure.”

Emily was upset now.  Honestly, Juan could be so dumb sometimes.  She knew that Sly would not cheat Juan, however.  At least she hoped so. 

“You’ll find the contract is more than fair.  My uncle is a lawyer, and he’ll tell you the same thing.  I had him draw it up.” 

“Like I’m supposed to trust someone I don’t even know,” Juan shouted.

“You did it before,” Sly remarked. 

Just as the argument started to get more heated, Ned and Alexis walked in.  “What is going on here?” Ned shouted.

“Oh Ned, I’m so glad you’re here.  This guy is trying to cheat me,” Juan said.

Ned turned to look at whom Juan was gesturing to.  The young man with the long blonde hair greeted him with a scowl. 

“Hello, Ned.  Do you remember me?”

He hadn’t recognized him at first, but when the young man spoke, Ned immediately knew who it was.  Only one family could produce that kind of attitude.  “Hello, Sly.  How are you?”

“I’d be a hell of a lot happier if Juan would live up to his contract.”

Alexis’ ears perked up.  “What contract?  What is the problem?”

Emily spoke up.  “Juan hired Sly’s band to play on his demo tape, but now he’s not so sure.”

“We have different musical visions,” Juan said.

“Juan knew what he was getting into when he hired Wildfire.”

Alexis looked puzzled.  “Are you named after that Michael Martin Murphey song?  You know, ‘She ran calling Wiiiiillldddfire…’”

“Yup, that’s us.  We’re country.”

Ned gave her a strange look.  “I never expected you to know that.” 

Alexis gave him a small smile.  “I’m not allowed to listen to country music?  This proves that there are still things you don’t know about me.” 

Ned kissed her on the cheek.  “I’m glad we still have the mystery.  It’s one of the things I love most about you.”

Juan cleared his throat.  “Umm, sorry to interrupt, but back to my problem…”

Alexis focused again.  “Can I see this contract?  I’m a lawyer.”  Jon, the steel guitar player, handed it to her.  She read it carefully.  “If the services of Wildfire, made up of etc, etc, are ever terminated, half of the promised salary must be paid immediately.  This seems to be in order.”

Juan groaned.  “What do I do now?” 

Ned frowned.  “How much money did you promise them?”

“Three songs, one thousand dollars.”

“That is a pretty big chunk of your budget.  You know how much it costs to manufacture the CDs and to market them.  I’m not going to bail you out.  I think you have no choice but to work with them.”

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