The Guitar Player Ch. 04

The cab driver on the ride over to New Jersey was as nice as could be. Go figure, a nice New Yorker; I tipped him well. It took a little searching, but I found their apartment, which was a little on the old side. Still, the grounds were well maintained even though the neighborhood was a little seedy; I'd seen worse. The apartment itself was a simple two-bedroom with one bathroom. It was sparsely furnished with a couch and few pieces of furniture in the living room. One bedroom was larger and had a bed and a dresser. The second bedroom only had a queen-sized mattress and some boxes that held Dawn and Allison's clothes.

"Robbie, this is my aunt, Claire Samuels," Dawn introduced me to her aunt. "She is my mother's sister."

Claire was a handsome woman in her early fifties. Her brown hair had streaks of gray, and her face had more than a wrinkle or two. Still, her eyes were bright, and she had a lovely smile.

I learned a little more about Dawn and her life. Dawn's parents were both dead. Her father had in a car accident when Dawn was fifteen. Her mother had died two years later from cancer. Then Dawn was married for a short time. She didn't want to talk about her ex-husband other than to say he was possessive and mean. It was clear to me that Dawn's last several years have been exceedingly hard.

It took about an hour of explaining, but eventually, both women understood everything and agreed. Actually, it was Claire who finally convinced Dawn that there was nothing for her and Allison in New Jersey or New York. In fact, Claire said there was nothing for her either. She wondered if she could come with us. I was delighted with the idea and having her aunt coming seemed to ease some of Dawn's fears.

It took two more days for Claire and Dawn to wrap up their affairs in New Jersey, and by three-forty that afternoon, all four of us were on a plane to Atlanta.

Even though the flight was a little less than two hours, I was chafing at the bit. I had ideas flooding my brain. There were hundreds of details that needed to be taken care of, from getting Dawn, Allison, and Claire settled to booking studio time somewhere. I also had to get Dawn a new guitar, decide on a new name, and most importantly, begin Dawn's training as a professional singer. Fortunately, Alex would be there to help accomplish much of what needed to be done.

My plan was simple. Since Tanya had frozen me out of our singing act, I would create a completely new act with Dawn as my new partner. I was going to start slow and then build up our act, hopefully, to reach the very top of the entertainment world. Or, at least, I wanted Dawn and me to be bigger names than Tanya. That alone would frost my former wife's ass. At the same time, Alex and I would be looking for ways to hurt Tanya's career. In my mind, this would go a long way to paying Tanya back. In truth, I didn't believe we could reach superstardom. Still, I was convinced we would be bigger and better than Tanya because I knew my soon-to-be ex-wife's limitations.

I was throwing away my grandfather's advice without even a thought. And I intended to work everyone into the ground to get us where I wanted to be. I didn't care who I had to step on to accomplish my goal, but I had no idea what the cost would be and who would ultimately have to pay.