July 28th, 1990
Dear Diary,
Second only to meeting Deacon, today has been the best day of my life.
Deacon and I signed on as a duo with Edgehill. We have a 3 year contract, and 2 albums in the works. We're touring with Vince Gill. We even get our very own luxury tour bus for the next 4 weeks with Vince.
Watty is working the final details with Bucky Dawes as our new manager. We met him today. I instantly liked him, and to my surprise so did Deacon.
I still can't believe this is all happening.
This morning…
"Good morning! How's your foot feeling?" Rayna asked waking up in Deacon's arms
"Not too bad, but waking up with you is soo much better than wakin up alone with a hangover." Deacon smiled pulling her close for a kiss
"We should probably get up. Watty has a lot for us to do today. You need help in the shower?"
"Yeah, I probably do. Not sure how I'm supposed to stand on one foot and try to keep the other dry. Wanna be my sexy, naked crutch?" Deacon laughed and planted a few more neck kisses
"Well, since you said sexy…" she laughed and helped him up on his good foot
"Ohhh…wow, that is tender today!" Deacon winced as he put a little pressure on his bad foot
"Here, let me get your crutches. The doctor said no weight on it for a few days. You need to be careful, Deacon."
"I know, baby. It's just a little tough to stand on one foot first thing in the mornin. I'll get this down."
The shower was a little harder than planned as Rayna struggled to hold Deacon up and keep his bad foot hanging out over the tub, and dry.
"OK, that wasn't so bad, huh?" she asked leading him to the bed to sit down
"You're a great little nurse. Wanna check my vitals?" he smirked pulling her down on top of him both still naked
"I'd love to, babe, but everything's gonna take a little longer with you crippled. We really need to get ready to meet Watty at Edgehill."
"Mmmmmm….one more kiss….I lied, a few more…." He continued to nibble on her neck and bare chest as she squirmed from his grasp
"I'm gonna be the mean nurse and bandage your foot. Lay back, foot off the edge so I can clean the stiches with this antiseptic. It doesn't look too bad today." She carefully cleaned, dried, and re bandaged his foot.
"Will you be my naughty nurse later?" he laughed
"If you behave yourself today…I might…" she smirked and put a clean sock over his bandages
"Thanks, baby. You're takin such good care of me. I love you."
"I love you too. I'm sorry I pushed you away the past few days. I know staying sober is hard on you, and I'm proud of you for making it as long as you did. I'm sorry about your foot. I should have cleaned up that glass."
"It's alright. Shouldn't of had the damn glass bottles in the truck in the first place. I don't think I can get a boot on my bad foot today." Deacon frowned as he tried to pull his black dress boots on, wincing in pain as he pulled it on the bad foot
"I'll get you a pill. Why don't you just wear one boot today. You'll be on the crutches anyway." Rayna came back from the bathroom with a pain pill and glass of water
Living in a 2nd floor apartment on crutches with a tender foot was proving to be a challenge for Deacon as he maneuvered going down the stairs to the truck.
"Goin downstairs is a little tougher than goin up!" he quipped as he made the bottom step after several minutes
"Do you want me to drive?" Rayna asked
"No, I got one good foot. I did it OK yesterday. Just seems a little more tender today, that's all."
"The anesthesia helped yesterday. It's all worn off now. Are you sure you're OK to drive?"
"I'm fine, Ray. It's just a few stitches, baby." He snapped as he fought with the temperamental trucks first morning start, finally getting it going on the 3rd try
"What the hell happened to you?" Watty asked as Deacon hobbled into Edgehill's lobby area
"Had a fight with an angry beer bottle. He won!" Deacon quipped
"Are you gonna be OK to perform?" Watty asked worried
"Yeah, yeah, Wat…just have a stool onstage for me for a couple weeks. I'll be fine."
"This is Marshall Evans. He's Edgehill's label head." Watty introduced everyone as they entered a conference room
"Well, let's get right to business. Vince's people loved your opening act. As you know we've been watching you for a while here at Edgehill. We'd like to make things official and sign you before you go back out with Vince. Once you wrap up the next 5 shows with him, we'd like to get started on your first album to release by fall, and maybe a Christmas album. Here's the contract." Marshall slid a thick packet towards Deacon and Rayna
Both were surprised by the number of zeros after the initial payment amount, with more royalties to come as things progressed, but Deacon as always was a bit argumentative.
"Alright, hold on a damn minute! Yeah, Edgehill has kinda been courtin us along with these small gigs for months, but you didn't set up the Vince Gill gig, correct?" Deacon asked
"That's correct. Watty was solo on that one." Marshall agreed
"So, now that Vince's people have taken an interest suddenly you wanna sign us BEFORE we go back out with Vince?" Deacon asked
"Look, Edgehill has known for a while we wanted you. You were just so new to the music scene as a duo we wanted to gauge interest a bit, see what our target audience was. Yes, you're right we'd like to sign you before you make another big appearance. We don't wanna lose you, but you're certainly entitled to shop other labels, other deals."
"I just find it a little odd you waited till now to make an offer, that's all." Deacon quipped
"I'll tell you what…I'll give you some privacy to talk. We don't need an answer today if you'd like to think about it a little, but let me add $10,000 more each for a signed contract by 5pm." With that Marshall left them alone to discuss things
Rayna was in a bit of a haze and shocked as Marshal left the room.
"Well, what do you think, baby?" Deacon asked as they thumbed through the contract
"I…I…dunno…I just didn't expect this all so soon…" she stammered
"You've made it, baby! This is the big time!" Deacon leaned in for a kiss
"What do you think, Watty? As far as contracts go…Is this a good deal, or can we do better?" Deacon asked
"It's not bad. I think you could do a little better, but you could also do worse. It's on the higher end of offers. With the extra $10,000 each it's comparative with the big guys. They obviously really want you to sign since he threw in the extra cash, which tells me there's some wiggle room. Look it over carefully, if there's anything you don't care for we can ask to change the terms a bit, maybe a little more money."
"Ray…you're not sayin much, baby? What do you think?" Deacon asked
"5 years is an awful long time to be locked into a contract. Can we change that?" she asked thumbing through the pages
"Yeah, sure we can ask for maybe 3? Once you get out there and start tourin times gonna fly by." Watty suggested
"…and what about final creative say so?"
"I'm not sure there. Labels are a little picky about that. You do get some say, but they usually reserve final decisions."
"Well, baby…you wanna go out for lunch, think about this a little and come back?" Deacon asked rubbing Rayna's back in support
"I'm not sure…should we make them wait?"
"He said 5 if we want the extra 10 grand each, but we don't gotta decide today, Ray. Maybe we should talk to some other labels?"
"I dunno, Watty? Would you take this deal if you were in our shoes?" Rayna asked looking to him for the answer
"I can't tell you what to do here, kid. It's a good deal. They're not trying to screw you, but it's your choice."
"C'mon, Ray. Let me take you out for a nice lunch to celebrate. I know you want this, but at the same time I think we need to make them wait a little for our answer, OK? Wanna join us Wat? On me today." Deacon smiled as Rayna helped him up onto his crutches
"Sure, that sounds good. We can talk about some of the managers I'd like you to meet over lunch." Watty accepted Deacon's invite
The trio decided on a nearby pub for lunch. Out of habit Deacon almost ordered a beer, but caught himself. They chatted and decided to accept Edgehill's offer with a few contingencies and changes. Watty talked them into meeting Bucky Dawes as a prospective manager, and set up a meeting for later.
"We're really doing this?" Rayna smiled as she helped Deacon back into the driver's seat for the ride back to Edgehill
"It's just the beginning, baby! I promise…I'm gonna be here to help make all your dreams come true, OK?" He pulled her to him in the driver's seat for a quick make out session before heading back to Edgehill
"Is this all really OK with you, Deacon?" she asked concerned knowing the fame part of this business wasn't really Deacon's thing
"If I get to see you smile like this everyday, baby, it's all fine with me. I'm just happy you want me to be a part of it."
"Without Deacon Claybourne, there'd be no Rayna Jaymes. I need you so much, babe. I can't imagine doing all this with anyone else."
"Alright then, Let's go sign a contract and get ourselves a manager."