AnnieLee turns up at the Cat’s Paw, where Billy has given her the 7:30 slot. Her secondhand boots make her three inches taller. She spots Ethan, and Billy teasingly remarks that Ethan missed her. AnnieLee is secretly thrilled that Ethan likes her. Ethan asks whether it’s true that AnnieLee ran out of Ruthanna Ryder’s house, and she feels guilty when she learns that Ruthanna made pancakes for her. However, she snidely comments that Ruthanna probably paid someone to do that for her. Ruthanna says, “I most emphatically do not” (108).

Ruthanna tells AnnieLee that she has come to listen to her and talk to her. She notes the importance of having allies in the industry and getting into a recording studio. Ruthanna says that she wants to hear how AnnieLee sounds with a decent mike and backup musicians. AnnieLee responds that she has never sung with anyone else before but that she’s ready to try something new.

Jack, Ruthanna’s manager, calls her and asks to meet AnnieLee. However, Ruthanna explains that AnnieLee is inexperienced, having never heard her own voice played back to her, and knows nothing of the technicalities of producing recorded music. Jack asks when he can see Ruthanna, and Ruthanna picks up on a more intimate