Assure Her (Assured Distraction Book 1) Read Free

the bench, open the fallboard and put her chubby little fingers on the keys. The sounds they created delighted her to no end. Much to her parents’ excitement, she began teaching herself songs after hearing them only a couple of times. But the silly children’s songs only held her interest briefly, and she soon began playing jingles she heard on T.V. from ear, and later started copying some of the classical music her parents often played in their home. That’s when her parents knew she possessed more than just a passing talent. She truly had a musical gift that needed to be fostered. She started on the fast track for Juilliard, with private tutors from UT’s Butler School of Music and lessons from members of the Austin Symphony Orchestra, weekends spent at Juilliard for children, and finally there were auditions and a subsequent acceptance into their college program at the age of seventeen, as a high school junior since she had received more than enough credits to graduate early.
    Graduation fell close to her twenty-first birthday, thanks to her starting college a full year early. She’d received a few invitations to audition for area orchestras and musical organizations, but staying in the New York area was not where her heart was. She wanted to return to Austin, the live music capital of the world, the one place that would always be home to her. Surely she could find a way to make something meaningful of her life there doing what she loved.
    While she was classically trained, her heart was always pulled toward the music she found on her own, music that seemed to call to her soul. In college, she felt she had to hide her passion for modern music because some of her instructors did not appreciate the beautiful melodies that were the undertones to much of rock genre. The guitar riffs of rock that pierced the airwaves spoke to her on a deeper level than anything she performed as part of her schooling. Playing both guitar and piano, she quickly found that she was able to learn a lot of the music she loved on her own just from listening to it, a gift she seemed she had always possessed.
    Moving back to Austin was strange for her after living on her own for four years in New York. She knew it would never work living with her parents again and why should she? She had a trust fund to live on, for a while at least. She knew her parents would never embrace her decisions, so she had been vague and non-committal about her plans. It was time for her to make her own choices now. She was ready to be her own person. Her first step had been to make her way back to Austin and get settled, and her second was to audition for rock bands for the first time ever and see what she could turn up by-way of a regular paying gig.
    She was jolted from her inner monologue when her phone rang. “This is Dr. Hobbs, returning your call.” The professor sounded fairly young to be the head of such a prestigious department at UT. Chandler jumped into the speech she had prepared.
    “Yes sir, hello. My name is Chandler Chatam, and Dr. Fowlin at Juilliard gave me your phone number as a possible place to start looking for a position.”
    Her first step was put into motion. She had left a message for the professor at the urging of her Juilliard mentor when he learned about her plans to return to Austin. He had hoped Chandler would reconsider her broader options, but she was determined to give Austin’s music scene a try first. So, her mentor had given her the contact information of his friend, who happened to head the music department at UT’s Austin campus and suggested she start there in her search for connecting with local musicians.
    “I know Dr. Fowlin well, and I’m sure he’s sent you to the right place. Come down to my office and let’s see what we can do for you.” Dr. Hobbs was excited to get someone with Chandler’s background in his office with the hopes of getting her to apply to their Master’s program.
    “Thanks, Dr. Hobbs. I