The weeks following her pivotal meeting with the label were a whirlwind of activity for Callie. Between finishing tracks for her album, tour rehearsals, a video shoot, the radio release of ‘Let’s Start Over’ and subsequent promotional tour, plus working with Jason to interview and hire her new assistant, Callie felt she might have gone crazy had she not had JC to lean on for support. He had a way of calming her and giving her perspective—just do this one thing, right now. And when you get to the next thing, just do that, until you’re done for the day. And tomorrow, start again. ‘One foot in front of the other, Callie,’ she continually told herself, his words echoing back.

On a rare morning off, Callie was enjoying the quiet solace of the loft. Paula was spending her usual one week a month in New York. Jason had found office space in LA and had spent weeks hanging things and being obsessive over furniture and generally irritating Callie. JC was busy working with another artist, writing and producing and would be busy most of the day. They had loose plans to see each other later but nothing was set in stone—and that was how they liked it. Neither of them had the time nor the will to dedicate to anything serious, but Callie liked that she could call him and he’d make time for her, and vice versa. They had a great friendship and a nice, budding relationship. Rushing things would ruin it, so they were taking it very, very slow.

Callie often thought back to the peace and quiet with him, in that hotel with the ocean view, with nothing around but sand and shore, when she found out what it was like to make love to someone who genuinely cared for her, in a way she’d never experienced before. From time to time, Jason would find her staring into space and smiling to herself and shake his head. Her only regret was listening to the voice that told her she should not feel anything for him and that a relationship with him would be wrong.  For  moment, it was just what she needed and so VERY right.

The shrill electronic beeping of her cell phone interrupted a series of steamy daydreams. Callie hoped it was JC but the display told her Jason was calling.

“What’s up, J-dogg?”

Jason paused, likely rolling his eyes. “You’re just gonna work your way through lame nicknames till one sticks, aren’t you?”   

“I’m out of names after that one. What?”

“Just got call-- good news on the single.” ‘Let’s Start Over’ had debuted in the top 20 and shot up the charts a few steps every week. She’d been flirting with the Top spot for two weeks, but some hot young upstart was keeping her at number 3. Callie had hoped this would be the single to break the ‘peak at 3’ curse that seemed to haunt her.

“So? What’d they say?” Callie asked, almost holding her breath.

“Probably #1. Maybe 2, but more toward 1.”

Callie sucked in a breath. “You’re shittin’ me!  Are you serious? Do you know I’ve never had a number 1 before?”

“I’m totally serious! Yeah, I know that,” Jason said, practically squealing along with her. “This is GREAT news, Callie. A real boost for the album release. So, I’m gonna try to get you on with Ryan tomorrow, it’ll be a great day to pop in and ‘oh by the way, you hit number 1 today’ kinda thing. You can talk about the mini concert coming up, the video debut, the album release, maybe the next single? ”

“Probably premature on the next single,“ Callie mused. “But yeah, that sounds good. I haven’t seen Ryan in awhile. I’m kinda… lightheaded.”

Callie leaned against the arm of the couch and ran her fingers through wild curls. “I can’t even believe it. WAIT! What do you mean, probably? I mean, what if I don’t hit it? Won’t it be stupid to just pop by Ryan’s show and still be sitting at 3?”

“I’m not confirming Seacrest until I am for sure on it. We’ll know in the morning but Soundscan is giving great numbers and the charts from today so far look good. Check R&R after midnight.”

Radio and Records Magazine was one of the industry bibles. Every music artist’s life revolved around Tuesday, when the spins and weekly sales were released. They ranked each artist week by week and noted if they’d dropped, risen, or stayed the same.  If you were obsessive, you could track yourself electronically, but Callie tried to draw the line at hunting down her numbers week after week. She paid people to track that information for her and she didn’t want to get caught up in it.

“Just call me when you know. JC is gonna shit his pants. He hasn’t had a record he produced go number 1 in… God… YEARS.”

“You just remember whose name is on that single, ok? Downplay the JC angle, he’s just the producer.”

Tension crackled over the line. Jason knew he’d said the wrong thing but couldn’t UN-say it, so he braced himself for what was sure to be a screaming fit. He was surprised when it didn’t come, rather a   terse, “You wouldn’t tell me to downplay Timbaland, don’t tell me to downplay JC.”

“Callie—I’m just saying. Just take credit for your work and try not to make it sound like the guy swooped in and saved the day.”

Callie stood, her voice an obvious angry tone, though she was not yelling. “Except, Jason, he kinda DID. Look, I’m not arguing this with you. I get your point but unless you can come up with a good, viable reason I can understand for not mentioning him, he’s getting songwriting and producing credit till I’m blue in the face. I didn’t do this alone and I don’t intend to make it sound like I did. Got it? Am I clear?”

“Crystal,” Jason bit out after a long pause.

“Good.” Callie paced, trying to grasp the reality of what was happening. “When does Ginny come in?”

“She’ll be in this afternoon. She had some ends she needed to tie up in Springfield.”

Jason had received an excellent lead on a personal assistant from a friend of his and snatched her away from the clutches of a rookie NFL player. Virginia “Ginny” Thompson had glowing references and her stellar interview had made Callie feel comfortable and like her personal affairs would be taken care of with the utmost in privacy and efficiency.  

“Good, well call me when she’s here, we can meet and talk about things.”

“Cal, if you don’t mind, I sort of had a little orientation planned for her. It’s gonna take a few hours to go through. Can she start with you tomorrow?”

“Orientation?”

“Yeah, basically likes and dislikes, the basic structure of your day, what stuff you’ll want her to take care of and how she should take care of it. You're picky—it’s taken me six years to get you down pat. I’m probably going to have her shadow me for a few days and then let her fly solo.”

“Jason the job isn’t that hard, all of that won’t be necessary—“

“Cal!” Jason interrupted. “You hired me to do a job, told me I sucked at it and asked me to do it better. Get off my lawn, let me handle this. I will call you when she’s ready for you.”

“Whatever, bossy,” she said with a smile, impressed at his take-charge attitude. “Fine. But someone will be here tomorrow, right?”

“Bright and early, ready to kiss your ass.”

“Shut up, Jason. You do so well and then you say something stupid. Is that it?”

“No. Uhm. I… need to tell you something.”

“Uh oh.”

“Uhh….so that mini concert for Macy’s that you’re doing in a couple of weeks? Soul Train is doing one, too.”

“Really.” Callie hadn’t thought about Curtis since the night she’d kissed JC. Honestly, he simply ceased to exist in her mind and she never though of him until someone brought him up.

“Yeah. I have some calls in for details but…  Cal, what do you want? Do you want to be away from him, do you care if you see him, do you want him to keep a wide berth…what?”

“You know what, Jason? I could not give a shit. I don’t care at ALL.  I’ve moved on to someone that answers the fucking phone and wants to see me more than once a month. Speaking of, I gotta go. See you tomorrow.”

Callie pressed ‘end’ on the phone before he could interject another comment and opened her text messaging function.

‘Will not believe the news I have for you. Call me when you have a minute’.

‘Can’t call for awhile. What’s up?’

‘Number 1 hit, Producer Man! Time to triple your rate!’

‘STFU. 1?! What? I’ll call you. Don’t know when but I’ll call you.’

Callie had committed to voicing a cartoon character in an upcoming film and spent her afternoon  closed off in a sound booth, sounding cute and cheery. It was easy work that she didn’t have to get all dolled up for, and she knew her little cousins and Tillie’s grandkids would love it. Plus it gave her a softer touch and chipped away at her reputation for being difficult and surly. 

After a few hours, the engineer called a dinner break, and she dug in her bag for her cell phone. Sure enough, she had just missed a call from JC. Hoping he could still talk, she pressed ‘send’ to return his call and chewed on her bottom lip. Relief washed over her when he picked up.

“Hey cutie,” he said, his tone hushed.

“Hey… you!” Callie answered.

“You’re not alone?”

“No. Should I be?”

“Please.”

“Hold on.” Callie placed her hand over the receiver and asked the engineer if there was a private room to take a call in. He shrugged, but said she could stand in the hall if she wanted. Hardly anyone would be walking by and she could get a little privacy by walking toward the far end. She did so, whispering to JC as she walked.

“Ok. So, Jason called today—“

“What was your name for him today?”

“J-dogg. Lame, I know. So, he called and said the numbers are looking good. Very close possibility I could wake up a Number 1 artist tomorrow. I mean we won’t know for sure till the morning, but oh my GOD! I’ve never had a number 1 before!”

Callie found it hard to contain her excitement and keep her voice down. JC recognized her effort but laughed anyway because she sounded so cute. If people only knew that tough, brazen, outspoken Callie Phelps sometimes morphed into a five year old, they’d never believe it.

“Honey, I am… I’m very proud of you, I really am. You sang your ass off on that record and it’s good. Is this where I say ‘I told you’? Right in here?”

Callie rolled her eyes and grinned into the general vicinity. “Aw shit, I knew you’d be obnoxious when this happened.”

“When what happened, when you went number 1? With a song I picked out of stack of hundreds? And had to BEG you to record, because I knew it was a hit? That part? When that happened?” 

“Fucker,” she said, shaking her head, then lowering her voice and pulling the phone close to her lips. “So you get some of the praise, too. We need to uhm…celebrate.”

“I’m up for celebration. When, tonight or tomorrow?”

“I have to pick?”

“Pick, woman!”

She sighed, dramtically. “Tonight. Cause if I’m not number 1 tomorrow, it’ll suck. At least tonight a girl can dream.”

“Uhm…I’ll have to let you know when I’m about done. You want to come over?”

“I’ll be there, with bells on.”

“Hey now, that’s just more I have to take off,” he said, a low seductive tone to his voice.

“That’s never been a problem before,” she teased.

He groaned into the phone, a sound that shot a bolt of electricity through her. “I have HOURS before I can see you. I better go before I get in trouble. I’ll call you later, ok?”

“Go make some hits!”

***

“Sooooo…” JC rolled over on his side, having finally caught his breath and rested enough to be able to move.

“Sooooo… what?” Callie asked, pushing her disheveled hair out of her face, still breathing heavy.

His hand smoothed her hair, then slid down the length of her body. “You nervous about tomorrow?”

“Not really. Either the numbers are there or they aren’t. I hope they’re there, but if not… I just keep on going…”

“One foot in front of the other. Good girl,” he praised as he leaned down to kiss her.

“Mmm…,” she moaned, then rolled to her side as well so she could face him. “So, what happened when you guys did it? Do you remember being nervous?”

“I don’t remember, honestly. That whole time is kind of a whirlwind. I know when the album came out, ‘No Strings Attached’, we didn’t find out till that DAY that we’d sold a ton. The singles… well we didn’t have too many number 1 singles but I don’t think we found out till the day of and it was always in passing, like people calling all day, saying ‘you guys are number 1’, stuff like that. It was crazy… we just… couldn’t even breathe. It’s a pretty cool experience, but reserve your excitement for the album release.”

“I know, I know. I’m excited about that. I have a really good feeling about it, too.”

After her label meeting, JC reviewed the songs she’d completed before they met and immediately rejected half of them, saying they were too much like songs she had already released. Callie wrote several songs and JC worked with her to rework some from her collection, including a Charlie Phelps original that she modernized and made her own. Just under the wire, the songs were submitted, liner notes completed, and the cover art shot. Despite the hurry, Callie was more confident about this album than her first two. With three weeks until the release date, the promotion schedule was relentless but she was sure it would pay off—and the bonus was that much of her promotion was done in LA.

“When do you find out? Is Jason calling you in the morning? Do you want to look it up, right now?”

“Yeah he’ll call me. I don’t want to look it up. I don’t want to obsess about it, or be disappointed. I want to lay here next to you and enjoy being with you.” Callie felt his arms close and tighten around her as she moved closer to him and laid her head on his chest.

***

The sun wasn’t even up before Callie’s cell phone started ringing. Her first call came not from Jason, but from Paula, who was screaming into the phone.

“Paula! Calm down. What are you screaming about?” Callie glanced over at JC to make sure she hadn’t awakened him. He was still breathing deeply and hadn’t moved. She picked up a light blanket off of the chair near the bed, wrapped herself in it and closed herself off in his master bathroom to continue her conversation.

Paula chattered excitedly in Callie’s ear. “I just heard on the radio, they just talked about the hottest singles of the week and they said yours hit number 1! You did it!”

“Yeah, Jason called me yesterday and told me, we were just waiting on confirm. I guess we got it.” Callie yawned and climbed up onto the spacious counter.  

“Well you don’t sound very excited.”

“I am, I am, it’s just early here. The sun isn’t even up.”

“Oh, well I’m sorry. You know I’m three hours ahead of you. Listen, do me a favor if you can and run downstairs really quick to my office, I need a phone number.”

Shit. “Paula, I’d love to but I can’t, I need to go, hon—“

“No no wait, I really need this number! Please, Callie, it’ll take a second!”

“It’ll take longer than a second, Paula.” Callie paused, questioning whether she should reveal anything to her.  She cleared her throat, then said, “Uhm, I’m not… I’m not at the loft.”

“Oh. Damn! Where are you, Jason’s?”

“No.”

Paula paused for a beat. “Well, you’re not at a hotel are you?”

“Uhm…no?” Callie knew Paula could hear the smile in her voice. Likewise, Callie felt Paula was catching on and grinning like a fool. 

A sharp gasp came over the line. “Oh. My. God. You’re--Are you-- CALPERNIA JOY PHELPS!”

Callie giggled quietly. “What?”

“You’re fucking him!”

“Who?”

“Don’t act stupid with me! You know that pisses me off! How long has this been going on?”

Smug, Callie took a moment to answer. “Awhile.”

“How long is that? Tell me right fucking now!” Paula was pounding on her desk but her voice held an undercurrent of laughter.

“Awhile! Maybe 9 weeks? 10 weeks? Since the label meeting. Well, we haven’t been having sex that long but we uhm… spent some time together in New York. And took it from there and... yeah.”

“Well, well, well. You got what you wanted, then. Without my help, even.” Paula sniffled. “I’m so proud.”

“I love how you take credit for stuff you had not part in. I gotta go, though. Jason will be calling soon.”

“Wait! Who knows?”

“You and Jason. That’s IT. And it needs to stay that way. I don’t care if people threaten to pull out your toenails with a rusty tweezer—you will tell NO ONE and you will DENY DENY DENY that we’re together until we decide we’re ready. Got it?”

“Yes! Of course, I know how it works. I never said a word about you and Curtis.”

“Uh yeah that was the worlds worst kept secret. Ok, ok. I really have to go though.”

“Have fun, today and congrats!”

Callie hung up the phone and sighed. And then yawned. Checking the time, she tried to decide if she should try to go back to bed or head back to the loft before Jason showed up. Before she could make a decision, a taptaptap sounded at the door and a groggy, sleepy naked man stumbled in.

“Aw, I’m sorry did I wake you up?”

“No,” he growled, his voice thick. “I reached over for you and you weren’t there. I came to find you. Heard giggling in here. Scoot over.”

Callie moved a few inches over and watched JC splash his face with water and brush his teeth.

“You alright?” he asked, wiping his mouth with a towel. Callie nodded.

“Paula had to call me and scream. And she figured us out.”

He stopped wiping and looked at her, checking to see if she was serious. “Really. Damn. It won’t be long. How’d she find out?”

“She wanted me to go downstairs to her office and get a number for her, and then couldn’t understand why I couldn’t go get it. So I told her I wasn’t at the loft and she needled me till she figured out where I was. And it went downhill from there.”

“Do we have to worry about her saying anything?”

“No. She’s a vault.” The phone rang in Callie’s hand and Jason’s number popped up in the display.

“Here we go,” she said, picking up the line. “What’s the good word?”

“Numero. Uno. ‘Let’s Start Over’. One. ONE! Woohooooo!” Callie grinned at JC, who could hear him from across the room and chuckled while he shaved.  

“Jason, I think you’re more excited than I am! So what’s the plan? What am I doing?”

“Well, you’re gonna get out from under your producer-“

“JASON WALSH!”

“—and get over to the Loft. Ginny and I will meet you there and go over your schedule. Hurry up, my phone is SCREAMING, your first interview is at 8, by phone, on the way to an in studio at Good Day LA. I gotta go.” The line clicked and went dead.

“I gotta go to WORK,” Callie whined.

“Awww. Me too.” They shared a long, lingering kiss, and then JC helped her off the counter and followed her back to the bedroom.  “Where are you going?”

Callie found her t-shirt and jeans, socks and shoes and put them on. “Uh… first I have to meet with Jason and my new assistant. Then a phone interview, Good Day LA, and then Ryan’s show and then I don’t know what else. Probably a long day.”

“Sounds it. Me too. So we’ll talk later? I want to hear all about what it’s like to be a number 1 artist.” He winked and smiled as he stretched out across the bed. 

“You tell me, Producer Man," she said, kneeling down to kiss him. "If you don’t call me by midnight I’ll call you, k? I gotta go; Jason is on his way.”

 …

 “Welcome back. Our next guest woke up to a nice surprise today, didn’t you? I always wonder how people find out stuff like their movie or their song hit number 1 or broke a record… is that something you find out because your phone starts ringing?”

“Well, it was something we’d been keeping our eye on for awhile, but I was fast asleep this morning when my best friend heard it on the radio—in NEW YORK—so she had to call and wake me up to tell me. That’s how I found out. And then my manager called and was like ‘get out of bed, you have work to do!’ And here I am!”

Callie smiled brightly for the cameras as the Good Day LA anchors chuckled along with her. They all seemed nice in person, not rushed or hurried, like so many other interviews. Most of the time Callie wondered why she’d even bothered to show up—she never felt like people cared one way or the other what she said, they were just looking for good sound bytes.

“Now, I know you’re not dating that cutie Curtis Soul anymore, but are you guys still friends at all? I mean, you’re right next to each other practically, on the charts right now.”

“I haven’t talked to Curtis in… gosh…awhile, but I really haven’t talked to anyone but my manager and my producer in months. This record really took a lot out of me. I mean, I put so much of my own personal self in it; I just really haven’t had much time for socializing or anything. And Soul Train tours nonstop-- it was one of the reasons we stopped dating, so… but I’m happy for them, I’ve known those guys since they were playing high school proms back in Illinois so this is such a good time, for them.”

“I bet, I bet. Curtis is the only celebrity you’ve dated, right? No one new right now?”

“Yeah we’ve known each other awhile, since before we both really… hit it big, I guess you could say. I wasn’t dating a celebrity when I started dating Curtis and we were so off and on… he just wasn’t really a celebrity to me. And no, nothing right now. My work is my boyfriend.” Callie laughed and mentally patted herself on the pack. It wasn’t really a lie.

“When does the album come out? Are you excited about that?”

“Three weeks!” Callie squealed into the camera and laughed at herself. “I could not be more excited. I think I’m more excited about this one than the first two.”

“Really, why is that? What’s different?”

“Well, you should definitely expect to hear something different from me, some stuff you haven’t really heard before. Like I said, I put a lot of myself into this album. My previous albums were very cathartic and I enjoyed making them and they really gave me a voice and established a sound for me and now that I’m here I feel like I want to spread out a little bit, talk about things I never talked about before, in  way I’ve never talked about them before. I’m looking forward to reviews, actually. I want to see, you know, what people think.”

“Of course, yeah. We hope people love it. You named this album ‘Charlie’… any significance to that?”

“Uhm, yeah I dedicated this album to the memory of my father, Charlie Phelps. He was a Jazz Great, in my eyes. He used bring me up on stage with him and let me sing, taught me piano and guitar, and more than anything, showed me the beauty of music. It was his heart and soul, and uhm he’s been gone for 11 years, now, and ever since I signed my record deal I’ve wanted to make some kind of mark on the world and do something I felt my dad would be proud of. I finally feel like I’ve done that, with this album, so really even if it fails critically, it’ll always be something I hold close to me, because of him.”

“I heard an interview you did a few weeks back—didn’t you remake one of his original songs?”

Callie nodded. “Yes. Yes. I sure did. I had some songs I was going to put on this album but at the last minute we nixed about 6 of them so I needed more songs, and uhm, one night I was flipping through his old stuff, just looking for inspiration and I landed on ‘Rag Doll’, which he’d been singing for… gosh 20 years almost. I left the jazz in it and added some rock on top of it, changed a few words around but left the integrity of the song in place. And then my Producer worked with me to spice it up some and it turned out really well. I’m hoping it’s the next single.”

“Looking forward to hearing that. Did you do a video for this song? Oh, there it is. Oh, wow that turned out nice, Callie.” In her earpiece, Callie faintly heard ‘Let’s Start Over’ playing in the background and on the monitor behind her a clip of the video was playing. Callie stared, almost unbelieving that it was her on the screen-- an ultra close-up of, wind blowing her hair around, skintight leather dress hugging every curve, impeccable makeup, surrounded by dramatic lighting inside a warehouse. For the first time, Callie saw herself on TV and didn’t pick out her flaws and mistakes, just enjoyed it.

“Yeah, it’s… it’s out there. If MTV played videos you’d see it!” Callie and the other 3 anchors laughed together. “Uhm, yeah it’s there on MTV and Vh1, I’ve seen it a few times and I think it’s doing ok, top ten at least, or something. I try not to follow things too closely, then I get all wrapped up in the numbers and not the music.”

“Oh, exactly, I’d lose my mind,” said one of the female anchors. “Do you watch yourself a lot? Like if you hear yourself on the radio or see your video, do you watch it, or listen to it?”

“You know, on my first album, I was so… I think I was so in awe that it actually happened that I think I listened to my song every time it came on the radio and I watched every video, if it came on, I watched it. I was obsessed and really into myself,” Callie admitted, laughing so hard she could barely continue.

“But uhm, my second album, I think I made myself have a ‘whatever’ attitude and I didn’t really pay attention to anything. I couldn’t tell you what song was where and didn’t watch any of my videos, I just didn’t really care. This album… I haven’t really heard the song on the radio, mostly because I haven’t been listening. I mean, its obviously being played but I feel like I’ve been SINGING it everyday—morning shows, the Late shows, talk shows, and stuff--but I’m not sick of it yet. I LOVE the song and it’s a lot of fun to perform. I get to yell a lot.”

“Before we let you go, any tour plans? Are you coming to a city near… someone?”

“We, my band and I, are rehearsing for a tour, right now. Just putting together the set list and stuff and uhm, we’ll be putting that together after the album releases so I’ll probably spend a lot of the fall and winter on the road, which I’m really looking forward to. I haven’t been on tour in probably 2 years and those are always so much fun.”

“Overseas, too? Going to Europe or anything?”

“Well I’d LOVE to go back to London, France, Germany—I had a great time on the overseas leg of the My Street tour so after the US leg, I’ll definitely hit overseas if I get a chance, if only for a couple of weeks.”

The interview wrapped up with a few anecdotal stories and reminders of when the album hit record stores, and then before she knew it, her earpiece was being removed and her mic was unclipped from her blouse.

“Thanks so much for coming in on short notice, Callie. That was a great interview.”

“Aw, thanks so much for having me, I enjoyed myself!” Callie shook hands with each of the anchors and stepped off of the platform before they returned from their commercial break.

“What’d you think? I do ok? And I didn’t mention JC, you happy?” Callie took the bottle of water that Ginny offered her with a smile.

“Great, I thought that turned out really well. You sound happy, up… gonna do great for your reputation. Ding dong, the Bitch is Dead!”

“Well, let’s not go that far, I’m hardly a sweetheart. Where are we going now? Can we eat?”

“Ryan is waiting for you, and we’re late. We’ll go pick something up for you while you’re talking with him and you can eat after. Let’s go, we’re late.”

…

“Look who’s here! It’s Callie.” Ryan looked like he’d rolled out of bed, and drove to work- unshaven, hair sticking up in various places, eyes bloodshot.

“You look like hell, Ryan,” Callie teased, slipping on a pair of headphones. “Late night?”

“Very. VERY. You look good, though. All rested up. Did you work last night?”

“No, no. I uhm, I didn’t really have a day off, but I’m the voice of Dottie the Penguin in ‘Happy Feet 2’ so…”

“Oh really! That’s a cute movie.”

“So...yeah. I looked like you, yesterday, ‘cause I didn’t have to get pretty for anyone.”

“Its such an easy gig, isn’t it? Wake up, throw something on, go talk for 4 hours, drink some coffee, go home…”

“It doesn’t suck. Definitely doesn’t suck.”

“So how are you, Miss Callie? You should be doing good today, you got some good news, right?” Ryan took a sip of water and winked at her. Callie rolled her eyes at the obvious opening.

“Uhm, yeah around 6 am my best friend called me, screaming her head off about ‘Let’s Start Over’ being at number 1. So, that’s how I found out, but I didn’t really mind, for news that good.”

“So, this is your first number 1, right?”

“YES! I’m really REALLY happy because I’ve had this curse where I don’t go any higher than 3, so I was really hoping to break that curse with this album. I’m pleased.”

“Good, good. You worked with a friend of mine on this album—tell everyone who—“

“Oh, JC? Yeah we uhm… he co-wrote ‘Let’s Start Over’ and several other songs on the album, and he produced 4 songs and then when I showed those songs to the label, they liked them so much that they wanted him to look at the rest of it. And then he pretty much tore my album apart and put it back together, but I’m SO proud of it. I’m really excited.”

“Is he not the nicest guy you’ve ever met? Seriously, every time we hang out, I’m like ‘GOD, you’re nice’.”

“He is a total sweetheart, really laid back. One of the first times we worked together, we were at his house—at the studio there—and he offered me the BEST cup of coffee I’ve ever had. So I’m like ‘oh, this coffee is excellent’ and he’s like ‘oh here, have some beans.’ He didn’t even KNOW me.”

“He’s totally like that. Have you ever met his mom? She knit me a sweater. I live in LA!”

“Yeah, uhm, we recorded up in Chicago and his folks live out that way so I spent a little time out there. Super nice people.”

“Very. So when is it out, and why is it called ‘Charlie’?”

“It is out in three weeks, and counting. I’m very excited. And it’s called Charlie in honor of my dad, Charlie Phelps. In fact there’s one of his original songs on this album and JC helped me do the remake on it. I think it sounds great, I can’t wait for people who knew my dad to hear it.”

“I heard that--I heard about that, a few weeks ago, in an uhm... an interview you did. So, what’s up with you and Curtis Soul… you guys aren’t dating still, right?”

“Oh, Ryan, you know better,” Callie said, frowning. She shook a finger at him and he shrugged and grinned, unashamed.  “Uhm, I haven’t been with Curtis in awhile. A LONG while.”

“But you don’t hate him or anything, right? What happened, there? I thought you guys were a cute couple. ”

“No, oh no, I don’t hate him at all.  I -- Soul Train works HARD; they’ve been touring for the last year or something. I just never saw Curtis and could never TALK to Curtis, he was always working and I was always working and we just…fell apart. But no, I don’t hate him or anything and I’m really happy they’ve been doing so well.  I heard uhm, yesterday that they’re gonna be at the Macy’s All Star concert in a couple of weeks. It’ll be the first time I’ve seen him in about six months.”

“Good to hear. So, tell us about this album, it’s out in three weeks, the first single hit number 1 today, there’s a huge expectation for it. Are you ready?”

“I think so? I think so. Uhm, yeah. I-we, actually, recorded this album the fastest I’ve EVER done an album but the weird thing is that I feel really good about it, better than I felt about the first two, which took a really long time to hit the market. The songs are really strong, and there’s something very different about this album, and I really can’t say enough good things about JC as a producer, as a songwriter and as my friend.”

Callie glanced over at Jason out of the corner of her eye. If she went by the expression on his face, she was still doing ok on JC mentions.

“Yeah tell all the good stuff, spill some juice about him. Is he a slave driver, or does he let you totally run all over him?”

Callie burst into laughter. “He’s an evil, EVIL slave driver. Uhm…. he… he definitely has a style and I told him he’s a machine. We do this and then we do this and while we’re doing that, this can be done. He doesn’t put up with a lot of whining and if I wasn’t in a creative mood, he was all about taking a break and talking it out, and not forcing something. And thankfully he’s really so laid back that you don’t realize you’re working hard. It just seemed like a lot of fun to me, you know? We got to spend a lot of time together and now we’re pretty good friends and see each other when I come to LA.”

“Now, whose idea was it, to get him? Yours, your manager?”

“The label, actually,” Callie said, eyebrows raised. Ryan looked shocked.

“Which, I kind of took as an insult at first, and I didn’t really want to work with him because I knew nothing about him. And I know, I have something of a reputation, so I’m sure he thought it was gonna be a nightmare to work with me but he rode it out and won me over and really, really helped me bring more of myself into this record. What I really liked was that… he didn’t treat me like ‘I’m the great songwriter, producer, famous guy; you need to listen to me and do as I say’. It was all about ‘what do you want to do, what you want to say, what story do you want to tell, how do you want to tell it, what did you have in mind when you wrote this, what was going on at the time’, stuff like that. He really just… is the best at drawing things out of people that they don’t even know is there. He’s an excellent producer; I hope I get to work with him again soon.”

“Nice things said about a very nice man. I hope he knows what it means to get Callie Phelps to say something nice about you.”

“Heyyyy, I was nice about Soul Train, too! I don’t even talk about that stuff usually, but you know… it’s Ryan Seacrest and all.”

“Yeah but you told ME I look like hell.”

“I’m really rude to people I loike. Ask JC, I’m so rude so him, he just laughs.”

“Well that’s good to hear, I’m among good company. Callie, as always its good to see you, thank you for coming in. You look fabulous, beautiful, very happy and you didn’t throw anything! “

“Aw thanks Ryan. You want me to throw something, just for old time’s sake?”

“Let’s not. Let’s let bygones be bygones. Callie’s new album ‘Charlie’, on sale in 3 weeks. Go get it! Back after this.” Ryan gave a signal that told her they were off air and Callie took off her headphones.

“How was that? Good?”

“Excellent, honey. Come here, gimme a hug before you head out.”

Callie and Ryan shared a bear hug and he patted her on the back as they filed out of the studio. “So tell JC I said hey and gimme a call. I gotta hit the restroom before we come back. Good seeing you!”

Callie waved and then whined, “Jason, can we eat? I thought you were going to get me something.”

“I was, but they wouldn’t let us back out. Yeah, let’s go eat. You have an LA Times interview at one, a Chron interview at 1:30, and then you’re on Jay Leno, they want you down there at 3.”

“Performing?”

“Yeah. Band will be there around 3:30 for a run through.”

“Dammit, Jason. Could I get some notice that I’m gonna be singing?”

“I just set that up during the Good Day thing, forgot to tell you. Do you want to cancel?”

She stopped and turned to him, a hand on her hip. “No, but I would have liked to know before I got on a NATIONAL radio show so I could have said something! THINK, Jason, THINK!” She nodded at Wolfe as he held her door open.

Exasperated, Jason threw his hands in the air and stepped into the car. “I’ll text Ryan and ask him to mention it. Take note, Ginny. This is Callie, 99 percent of the time. BITCHY.”