---

Editor Note: The images used for this story were purchased and used under royalty-free license* from iStockphoto.com . ~Sephrena
Author Note: Please email me at AngelJediGirl (at) gmail (dot) com before posting this story to any other site. Posting to a pay site is prohibited.

Comments and suggestions are also welcome at the above email address.

*  *  *

Sarah Carerra Book 3: Concerto in A-

Chapter 3.19 - The Calm before the Storm

When I awoke Saturday morning, it was with excitement. The next two days were going to be fun, and I couldn't wait to get started.

After getting dressed and eating breakfast I drove to a familiar office that I hadn't visited in nearly two months.

I was still excited as I took a seat in the waiting room of Mary's office. Mary was my therapist and had been instrumental in helping me to recover from the horrible car accident I had been in when I was 10 and through the many changes that my life had taken this year. The concert tour had kept me from being able to visit her at our regular time, but now that it was over I was happy to pick up where we had left off.

Eventually Mary came out of her office with a boy about my age. She said goodbye to him, and turned toward me. I ignored the looks the boy was giving me as I focused my attention on Mary.

"Megan!" she said excitedly. More excitedly than I would have expected from her. It seemed like she had actually missed talking with me as much as I missed talking with her.

"Hi Mary," I replied happily and stepped into her outstretched arms for a friendly hug. When she let go, she gestured toward her office before looking over my shoulder.

"Did you need anything else, Jake?" she asked. I turned to find that the boy who had exited her office was still staring at me.

"No," he said and I was happy to see him turn a nice shade of turnip. "I'm just waiting for my ride."

"Okay," Mary replied and turned back to me and gestured toward her office once more. I walked into her office and took my regular seat while she closed the door behind us and took her own seat.

"How have you been?" she asked me excitedly, and I could see it in her eyes. Mary was one of the few people who knew about my secret. She knew that I was Sarah Carerra, and it was obvious that she really wanted to hear about all the exciting things that a pop star went through.

I smiled. "I've been great," I told her truthfully. "So much has happened since we last talked. Most of it was good. I can't complain about any of the things that Sarah has had the opportunity to do. School has been harder, but not so bad."

I caught a slight frown as I tried to steer the conversation away from Sarah and onto things that would be more helpful for me. I knew that we’d still have plenty of time to talk about Sarah at the end of our appointment.

Mary, who was the consummate professional, caught on immediately, and I finally had someone to talk to about all of the troubles I'd had in school so far. I vented about the crap the girls had given me in P.E. I got to complain about Mr. Benson's desire to try and expose my secret. I know he wasn't doing it intentionally, but I was deeply suspicious that he didn't have my best intentions at heart. We even talked about Jared Lumbart, whom I hadn't had any more problems with for several weeks.

By the time we got around to talking about Sarah I felt like a burden had been lifted off my shoulders. Talking with Mary always gave me that feeling, and I hoped that she would be there for many years to come.

* * *

After leaving Mary's office I drove to a small restaurant that served really good food. I grabbed the small bag I had brought with me off the passenger seat, climbed out of my car, and entered to find another face that was always able to make me smile.

"Hi Heather!" I greeted my cousin's little girl with that smile as I took her from Tracy. The little infant lit up immediately and I could see her own smile creep across her face. I looked up at her mother again. "Hi Tracy."

"Hi Megan," she replied, as I heard the humor in her voice. I was pretty sure Tracy still got a kick out of seeing how happy Heather could make me.

We were led back to a table, and I split my time between Heather and Tracy. The food was good. The company was better. It was exactly what I needed before I spent the afternoon in a sound booth with Josh Holliday.

As we finished and headed for our cars I finally opened the bag that I had pulled from my car.

"I have something for Heather," I told Tracy as we approached her Escalade.

Tracy looked at me quizzically for a moment before I pulled a small pink bear out of the bag. Then her eyes shot up as she recognized the Carerra Bear. She had seen them before and knew what they were about, but it was apparent she had never expected me to give one to Heather.

"Megan..." she said before trailing off. I smiled and handed the bear to her. She held it close to Heather, who reached for it immediately. The little girl wouldn't be able to hold it herself yet, but even she seemed to sense some of what the bear symbolized.

"Thank you," Tracy finally found her words again.

"You're welcome," I told her. I didn't need to tell her anything more. She knew how rarely I gave out these bears.

We said our goodbyes, but Tracy was still speechless by the time I climbed into my car and pulled away.

* * *

I felt unsettled walking into Platinum Records an hour and a half later. I had never set foot in a recording studio that wasn't owned by my own record company. But the duet that I was recording with Josh was being produced by his record company. I knew that a deal had been struck between his record company and my own, but it still felt vaguely like I was breaking some rule by being here.

"Sarah," an older man said as I walked into the lobby. The look he was giving me and the tone of his voice immediately put me on guard. His greeting was more than just simply saying ‘hello’; I knew that he was hoping to poach me away from Olympic Records. Little did he know how unlikely that was! Scott had been the catalyst for starting my career, and he had done nothing since then to make me even think about going somewhere else. I had no reason to leave.

"Hello," I replied. One of the downsides to being famous was the disadvantage it gave me when meeting people. Nearly everyone I met already knew my name, yet I didn’t know theirs. It was always an uncomfortable few moments between the time they greeted me and when they realized that they should introduce themselves. This was made even more uncomfortable by the hunger that was in his eyes as he thought about how much money I could bring to his company. Eventually I raised my eyebrows and looked at him quizzically.

"I'm Jeremy Morrison," came his eventual realization. "I'm the President of Platinum Records and I wanted to greet you personally."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," I told him. Even though I knew what he was up to, I felt that it was a good idea to be nice to him. He might not be able to hurt my career if I angered him, but he could hurt Josh's.

"We're honored to have you with us today," he continued his spiel. "If you'll follow me I'll show you to the studios. I believe Josh is already here."

"Okay," I agreed and followed him as he led me down many corridors. I soon realized we were not taking a direct route. It was his way of giving me a tour of the facilities to try to tempt me away from Olympic Records. However, what I saw didn’t impress me at all. I knew that Olympic Records was a bigger company, so I wasn't sure why Jeremy thought he could lure me away.

I humored him, however. We had all afternoon to record the duet, and we had already sung 'I Need You' in front of a crowd twice. It wouldn't take us too long to get it recorded. I wasn't exactly looking forward to seeing Josh again after what had happened at my concert in Utah, so the detour was a nice distraction.

But I knew it wouldn't last. Eventually we ended up outside a door that led into the studio we would be using today.

"Here we are," Jeremy said, opening the door and stepping in. I followed in behind him and found Josh sitting on a couch in the control room. Thankfully, he smiled. "I found your pretty duet partner, Josh," Jeremy said while grinning at him. He thought he was being funny, but it just sounded like more campaigning to get me to switch to his company.

I smiled and chuckled for him anyway, before turning my attention to the young man I wasn't sure how to respond to anymore. "Hi, Josh," I said, leaving it in his hands.

"Hi, Sarah," he replied. "It's nice to see you again." At least his smile seemed genuine. We had both hurt each other at our respective concerts, but I still hoped that we could be friends. This seemed to be a good first step.

"Well, I'll leave the two of you to your work," Jeremy said before walking back out of the room. I couldn't tell if Jeremy had given up on his campaign, but as long as he wasn't around I didn't have to worry about hurting his feelings by saying 'no'.

"Sarah," Josh said after the door had closed. "I'd like to introduce you to David Karlson. He'll be helping us produce the song today."

"It's a pleasure," David said grinning, while extending his hand.

I took it and we shook briefly. "It's nice to be here," I replied.

"Good," he stated with another toothy grin. "We've got a lot of work to do today. If you two are ready to get started..."

He trailed off, but Josh and I both understood what he wanted. Without another word we headed into the studio to get to work.

* * *

"It wasn't that bad!" I said, but the laughter in my voice didn't help.

"Maybe not," Josh replied through his own laugh. "But you were certainly scared to death."

"Well of course I was!" I shot back. "I'd never had that many people staring at me before!"

He broke out into laughter again before eating another mouthful of the pizza that we had ordered. David had proven to be a bigger taskmaster than Scott ever was, so we were still working on recording the duet. We stopped for dinner, and Josh and I reflected on my first foray onto a red carpet when I had accompanied him to the Tweeny Awards earlier this year.

Both of us would be on the red carpet again tomorrow, but unlike the first time we wouldn't be together. I had nixed the idea of being escorted by anyone and had happily invited Emily to be my ‘plus one’ for the evening. She was as excited as I expected her to be, and I had even employed the services of both Julia and Stephanie to make sure that she looked her best. Ethan had, of course, professed his jealousy at being left out. I knew this wouldn't be the last time that I attended an event like this, and I'd had to promise to return the favor for him so that he would stop complaining.

"You didn't show it," Josh commented, which brought a smile to my face. He was right. I had been scared to death that night. But having Josh there with me had kept me from turning and running. I don't know if I would have been able to make it without him.

"Thank you," I told him and took a bite of my own pizza. Tomorrow would be completely different. I wasn't scared to be in front of a crowd anymore. I wasn't afraid of the cameras or the questions that would be pointed my way either. I was actually looking forward to it.

We sat in silence for a moment as we ate.

"I'm sorry," he broke the silence, but he seemed unable to look at me.

"For what?" I asked warily, unsure of where he was going with this.

"For pushing you away," he said, looking up and directly into my eyes. "I never should have let you go."

I stopped, my pizza half way to my mouth. There had been many chances for the two of us to get together. But we had never been able to click. First it was me, and then it was him, now it was me again. Josh was a great guy. He was going to make some girl very lucky someday. But I couldn't see myself being that girl anymore. It just didn't seem like it was meant to be.

Josh watched me, as if he could see all of these thoughts flow through my head. But instead of turning sadly away, like he had been at the concert in Salt Lake City, he was smiling at me. That smile was full of the friendship that we had developed and had grown as we worked together today. We had proven that we could work together. We had proven that we could be friends.

No response from me was needed. No response would have conveyed the way I felt.

"Is there anyone else in your life?" I asked instead. It was apparent that he had come to terms with what had happened, and I was curious if he had started to move on yet. I hoped he had. He deserved to be happy.

"No," he replied. "Not yet."

I nodded. "What about Megan?" I asked him. He had shown an interest in my real identity earlier this summer. I had half-expected a call from him hoping to take me on a date. But nothing had materialized.

A weird expression crossed his face. It was part longing, part I don't know what. I couldn't understand exactly what he was feeling right now.

"I don't know," he said. "She was pretty cool. But I hardly know her. And honestly, she reminds me a bit too much of you."

I giggled, causing him to smile.

"Well it's true," he said. "I only met here for a short time, but you two are so alike."

"Don, her dad," I told him. "He thinks we were twins separated at birth." It was a white lie, but it did sound like something my dad would say.

"Then how come you are always with Chloe and not with Megan?" he asked. A jolt went up my spine as I realized that I had treaded into territory I didn't want to be in. I needed to separate myself from Megan, but this conversation was doing the opposite!

"Megan and I have known each other for a long time," I told him. "She's one of my best friends. But Chloe and I have been inseparable since birth."

"Oh," he said. I wasn't sure if that was a good 'oh' or a bad 'oh' but he seemed to buy it.

"What about you?" he turned the conversation around. "Is there anyone in your life?"

"No," I replied immediately. Maybe too fast. He gave me a look that made it seem like he didn't believe me.

"Nobody?" he tried to confirm.

"Well…" I said, realizing what he had seen and what I had felt. "I do have one friend who I think is interested in me, but I don't really feel the same way." Paul had pretty much come out and told me that he wanted to be my boyfriend after he had found out that I was Sarah Carerra. But I had told Josh the truth when I said that I didn't feel the same way. Paul was a great guy, but...

"I'd guess you probably have a lot of guys you could say that about," he said, as I heard the humor in his voice.

"I could say the same about you!" I shot back, and then we broke into laughter once more.

"Are you two ready?" came a voice from the door to the room we were eating in. I looked up to find David in the doorway.

"I guess so," Josh replied and I nodded before starting to clean up.

"Great!" David exclaimed. "I think we almost have it. It shouldn't take us more than another hour or two."

That wasn’t reassuring. But at least it was fun work.

* * *

"Good night, Sarah," Josh said as we exited the record studio and made our way to our cars. Platinum Records had a designated parking area for people like us, so our cars weren't too far apart.

"Good night, Josh," I replied. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'm sure I'll see a lot more of you," he replied with a laugh. "I mean, five nominations in your first year. I've never had that many, combined!"

I had to laugh too. I knew that Josh was jealous of how successful I'd been in such a short time. But he deserved just as much recognition.

"It's not like I'm going to win any of them," I said modestly. I really hoped I won at least one of the categories I was nominated for. But it was unlikely. I had a large fan base, but I was still confined to the 'Pop' genre. I wouldn't be able to overcome the many fans of other types of music. It was nice to get nominated, though.

Josh busted out laughing again.

"Oh, Sarah," he said in a tone that told me he thought I wasn't seeing the true picture. "I wouldn't be surprised if you won all five."

I laughed this time. That didn't even seem possible to me.

* * *

* * *
Want more Sarah Carerra?
Book 1: I Am A Rock Star is now available for the Kindle! Click here for more information. Become a fan of Sarah Carerra by joining her on Facebook or Twitter by clicking the buttons below.
   

If you've read book 1 I'd love it if you shared your opinions with others. Review the Kindle version at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006IZG49M. :)