his life. And while I can sympathize with that, I don’t know how you get from where he is to where you’d probably like him to be. Or even where, maybe, he wants to be, if he really wants to do things like go to album release parties.”
“He doesn’t tell me this stuff,” she said. “He doesn’t even tell Xander this stuff.”
“Well, he didn’t really tell me much, in the end.”
I wondered, briefly, if I should tell her about the panic attack thing. But it didn’t seem like something I should just blurt out. If she already knew, then it wasn’t news anyway. And if she didn’t know… then who was I to go telling her, if he hadn’t?
She shook her head slowly, her eyes still looking pretty misty. “No. He doesn’t tell us anything.”
I took a sip of my chai, while Courteney just sat there looking mildly shellshocked.
“Look, I’m not sure what else I can tell you, Courteney,” I said. “I can help you find an assistant for your brother, if you still want me to. But I don’t think it’s going to change his life. It might help him keep organized, take some tasks off his plate and maybe open lines of communication with him a bit more.” I knew she wanted that. She’d told me so. “But beyond that… I really can’t say. I’m no expert in psychology.”
“You’re wrong about that,” she said softly. “What we need is a people expert. You know, someone who’s great at working with people. And if you aren’t that… I don’t know who is.”
Oh, God. If she only knew how wrong she was. “I’m not a people expert, Courteney.”
“My brother hasn’t talked to anyone like that in a long time. He doesn’t talk to our parents, he doesn’t talk to his best friends… and he definitely doesn’t talk to strangers.” She just kept shaking her head. “I’m actually completely shocked that he talked to you at all.”
“Really?”
She blew out a breath. “I thought maybe because you’re pretty he might actually hear you out for a minute or two. You’ve got this thing about you, you know? This sexy thing. All the guys just notice you. I see it at the bar.”
“Uh…”
“I know that’s gross. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that upfront. I just wanted to get Cary’s attention. The fact that he invited you into his house and talked to you for twenty minutes and told you these things, though? That’s unprecedented. You have to let me hire you, Taylor. Please.”
Uh-oh.
“Hire me… to do what, exactly?”
“To be my brother’s assistant.”
I took a deep breath and tried to say it as gently as I could. “Look, I’m sorry, Courteney. I really appreciate that you thought of me. But… I can’t work for your brother. It’s just too close to home. I like you, and I know you and Danica are close. And if it doesn’t work out, I’d feel terrible.” When. When it didn’t work out. It was a matter of when, not if.
At least, that’s what my experience told me.
My experience told me that no matter how nice Courteney was, her brother, if I worked for him, would go crazy on me.
Too many of them went crazy on me.
And already, this job had all the signs of being a very bad fit for my own psychological well-being.
“Of course,” she said quickly. “I understand. And that’s why I asked you to help me hire the right person to work with him. I thought it would be too weird to ask you to work for him. I mean, I would feel awful if it didn’t work out. To be totally straight with you, my brother hasn’t really been great with assistants in the past. I worked for him briefly last year,” she explained. “‘Producer’s Assistant.’ It didn’t work out so well.”
“Oh.”
“I had no idea what I was doing. I don’t even know what a producer’s assistant is. I tried to figure it out. I asked people I know in the music industry. I got a list of personal assistant duties, things that I thought I could help him with. I really tried. But my brother just wasn’t interested. I think he was uncomfortable having his little sister as his assistant. He never said so. He would never say so. Because… he’s very good to me.” Her voice softened with those words. And I could see it there, in her eyes…