Chapter 109

I expected a lot of things when my name was announced.

I had figured about half the studio audience would wonder who I was. I figured the other half would wonder why I was being interviewed.

I did not expect them to stand up and start clapping the moment I stepped through the curtain. I stopped and looked around to see who was coming out with me to garner such a reaction. But I was alone on the soundstage.

Denny Daniels saw me stop and got up from behind his desk. He walked over to meet me, his left hand extended.

I had a microphone pinned to a lapel of the suit coat I insisted I be allowed to continue wearing. The wardrobe department had wanted to put me in something that showed off my sling but I was adamant that I wasn’t going to go for the cheap sympathy.

I also had insisted that I had to wear my own shirt because I wasn’t about to subject myself to having somebody undress me and redress me again. After a brief glance at the straps on my sling, the woman in wardrobe had permitted me to keep on my own clothing.

“This guy...” Denny said as he pumped my hand. “We all saw it on TV or the Internet. We’re thrilled to have Travis Blakely with us.”

The crowd continued to clap and cheer and Denny deftly led me across to the small couch. It took me a moment to get comfortable but at least they hadn’t expected me to sit in a low chair with arms. It would take a fucking crane to get me up again.

“Travis, it’s great to meet you,” Denny said with a wide smile.

“You too, Sir,” I said. “I’m happy to be here.”

“Before we start, I wanted to relate a personal story,” Denny said. “I’m not part of the A-list that gets to hang out with Liz Larimer. I know her music, though. And the one time I’ve met her, I think I got to know the person underneath the fame. That’s the thing about this life. It’s really easy to lose yourself ... to forget who you really are when the stage lights go dark. I’m fortunate that I have a wife and three children to remind me that my most important job in life is as a husband and as a father. You’ve become the symbol of courage, devotion and hope to a lot of people, Travis ... myself included. I hope that, God forbid, if my family ever found itself in a life-or-death situation, I’d have the courage to act like we’ve all seen Travis act.

“I’ll be honest. I’m not sure I have it in me.”

“Everybody has it in them,” I interrupted. “It’s not that I’m any different from anybody else. I’m not. I’m a guy with a lot of flaws that the people that love me overlook. What happened ... happened. I saw my friends in peril and I did what I could to help them. That’s it. And I think if your saw your wife or your children in harm’s way, you’d do whatever you had to do to get them out. There are millions of stories just like mine. Men and women – adults and children – that do what they have to do to protect their families or help out a stranger. It might be something as simple as getting out of bed and going to work because their child needs food on the table and clothes on their backs. What I did got caught on video. It involved somebody famous.

“That’s the only reason I’m sitting here and those people aren’t. I’m nothing special.”

“You’re special because you think that way,” Denny told me. “I know this might be rough but I’d like to hear about that day if you feel up to it.”

“It’s still an ongoing criminal investigation so I can’t go into specifics about possible motives or the individuals that were arrested,” I noted.

“No, that’s fine,” Denny said. “We want to be certain that the ... things ... that did this get what they deserve. We’re more interested in your thoughts that day.”

“I’m not sure I had any thoughts,” I said, shaking my head. I could still see the scene vividly. “I heard the screeching of tires and the sound of metal hitting metal. That was the van running over the metal pylon that was meant to protect pedestrians. I looked up in time to see a van strike Brian Evans. He’s become a very dear friend to me and he’s dating another of my very dear friends.

“I didn’t really understand what happened until the van door opened and a group of men jumped out. One of them struck Dom Salducci in the back. Dom was trying to help Brian. After that, my thoughts were on making sure my friends were safe.”

Denny nodded thoughtfully and I noticed the studio was eerily quiet.

“The throw,” Denny said. “We’ve all heard about the previous damage to your arm and shoulder. We’ve seen pictures of your arm in a sling for the week before the attack. You had to know that it would cause severe injury if you tried to throw something.”

“I knew,” I admitted. “But the options were limited. We were outnumbered. The security guys were unarmed and the assailants weren’t. I saw one of the guys trying to flank the security team. You have to understand. Ryan Davis, Dom Salducci and Brian Evans ... they’re not employees. They’re part of Liz’s family. They’re our brothers. That’s where the attackers made their mistake. The attack wasn’t on an individual. They attacked a close family. We might fight among ourselves but if you take a run at one of us, you take a run at all of us.”

The applause caught me off guard again and I looked at the audience.

“One thing that I’m not sure everybody has noticed,” Denny said, “but I know you know it. Dom and Brian and Ryan ... they didn’t stay down. A broken leg couldn’t keep Brian Evans from trying to keep Liz safe. Broken ribs couldn’t keep Dom Salducci from coming to her aid. I counted 19 times that Ryan Davis got hit by retractable metal batons. Nineteen times. And these weren’t love taps. These were the sort of blows where one of them would have put me down. He never gave an inch of ground.

“If it was just a job ... if those fine men felt like mere employees ... they go down and stay down. Nobody would have faulted them if they hadn’t stayed in the fight. But they stayed, by God. They stayed and they took the fight to the attackers. You can tell they feel the same way about Liz as she does about them. That should be obvious to everybody.”

The crowd started clapping again and this time I wasn’t as uncomfortable. They were giving credit where it was due.

“And you,” Denny said, shaking his head. “The video makes it pretty clear that you were hurt badly. Your arm ... it just hung there. Have you seen the video?”

I shook my head. I didn’t need an overhead view. I had the ground-level attack in my head.

“What I saw ... what America saw ... was an act of devotion,” Denny said. “Not just to Liz Larimer. Nobody ever doubted your devotion to her. But the way you reacted to seeing your comrades in danger ... I think we all got a lesson in friendship, in dedication ... and love. It’s not often that we get to see tangible proof of love but we did that day. We saw a man that cares so much about those around him that he was willing to give whatever it took to make sure everybody went home to their loved ones. We hear about that from soldiers serving in war zones but you never expect the war zone to be in Nashville.”

“I’m uncomfortable being compared to our military heroes,” I interrupted. “Dom and Brian are both combat veterans. My new friend Dayton and his wife, Bobbi, are both combat veterans. Dayton was a police officer for two years in Baltimore. He’s put his life on the line every day since he was 18 years old. Those are men and women that every child should want to emulate. I’m a guy that found himself in a spot where he could help and I took the opportunity. I didn’t seek it out. If I could have avoided it, I would have. Our military heroes volunteer to stand in harm’s way. I’m just a guy that blundered into harm’s way.

“There were seven people on the plaza that day. Six people acted rationally and professionally. Ryan, Dom and Brian used their training and their skill to keep the attackers at bay. Jill Clay, she’s Liz’s road manager, moved to call the police. I think they synched the video with the 9-1-1 call. Four seconds after the van hit the sidewalk, Jill had alerted the police. Skye Bennett, Liz’s assistant and a star volleyball player at Tennessee during her undergraduate days, moved to shield Jill. They did their jobs and then advanced to help if needed.”

I shook my head and looked behind the host as I recalled the event for maybe the millionth time.

“You’ll notice that Liz didn’t run,” I continued. “She stood her ground. She had to be dragged away because she was willing to fight for her friends as fiercely as her friends were willing to fight for her. Dom had to struggle to get her to leave. But he got her out of there because that was his duty. He and Brian and Ryan acted coolly and professionally. Liz, Jill and Skye acted calmly and rationally. One guy acted recklessly and irresponsibly. Wanna guess who that was?”

I raised my left hand.

“I got lucky,” I said firmly. “I have no training in private protection. If I’m honest, I have no training in even protecting myself. I hadn’t thrown anything but a tantrum in years. I had no idea where that brick would go. I knew where I wanted it to go and, through some miracle, it went there. I could have just as easily hit Liz with it. That would be a great video. I could have just as easily hit Ryan in the head with it.”

“But you didn’t,” Denny said. “You hit just where you were aiming.”

“Luck,” I said again. “Then I charged like a rhino into a situation I didn’t understand without a plan in my head. I could have just as easily caused more problems for the professionals on the scene. Those guys ... my new friend Dayton ... they act as security for me because I don’t know what I’m doing. Ryan and Dom and Brian were still communicating with each other. I wasn’t. They had no idea where I was. When I came up beside Ryan, I might have distracted him and got him severely injured. I probably would have if Brian hadn’t told him what I was trying to do. My actions were out of fear and ignorance.

“The fact that everybody got out of there alive is in spite of me ... not because of me.”

“I think a lot of people will disagree,” Denny said. “We’ll be right back after a few words from our sponsors.”

A sound technician brought a bottle of water out and set it down. I looked at it forlornly when the man had disappeared. I couldn’t open it.

“Let me get that for you,” Denny said as he turned the top. “You’re doing great. Really, don’t be so hard on yourself. Liz’s team ... they all rallied around you. They didn’t think what you did was stupid and reckless. Nobody else does, either. But it’s nice that those guys are getting credit. I’m not sure the men and women that do that job are recognized often enough.”

“They’re good people in a tough job,” I said.

“They are,” Denny agreed. “Just keep doing what you’re doing. Your PR background is really showing and that’s good. It helps that you actually believe everything you’re saying.”

“I do,” I said.

“I can see that,” Denny said, smiling. “The audience can see that and I think America will see that tonight. You’re not as polished as a professional actor. You have ... an authenticity ... that we strive for but rarely achieve. I think you and Liz are perfect together.”

“Yeah, me too,” I said. “Most of the time anyway. Then she talks me into doing stuff like this.”

Denny laughed because he could see I was joking (mostly).

“I know we need to stay out of her career situation,” Denny said. “But I’d like to ask you how she’s dealing with things. It had to be awful for her. Is that OK?”

I nodded. Liz and I had discussed it and she said it was fine so long as I stayed in general terms.

“Thirty seconds,” a voice boomed from offstage.

I started to run a hand down my face but Denny stopped me.

“The makeup will smear and you’ll look like one of the ghosts from Scooby Doo,” he said. I chuckled and nodded. I doubted many people my age would get the reference but I had loved the cartoon when I was a kid ... something I figured Jill had passed along as part of my biography.

“We’re back with Travis Blakely and we were discussing what transpired last month in Nashville,” Denny said. “Let’s move off that for a minute and talk about something lighter. You grew up in North Central Ohio, is that right?”

“A town called Bay View,” I answered warily. We had given the crew a list of topics that were not to be discussed. Right at the top was Liz’s pre-fame years.

“Tell us about growing up in small-town America,” Denny said.

“I had a great mom and dad,” I said, smiling involuntarily. “My dad sold insurance. He passed away a few years ago and I miss him every day. My mom is still teaching at a preschool there. She’s the best. My parents gave me room to grow but made sure that I had limits and boundaries. My dad always said that life is about responsibilities and privileges. And he said that the responsibilities have to be taken care of before the privileges arrive. That stuck with me. I find myself thinking back to the lessons they taught me growing up. What’s that old saying? ‘I’m amazed at how much smarter my parents have become as I’ve grown up.’ That certainly applies to me.”

“But it wasn’t a typical childhood,” Denny said. “You were a really good athlete.”

“I was a pretty good baseball player,” I answered.

“Pretty good,” Denny said with a scoff. “I should offer full disclosure and tell you that I’m part of a group that owns a portion of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Did you know that?”

I blinked. I had no idea. I knew the name of only one of the owners – and it wasn’t Denny Daniels.