Falling Into Grace. Michelle Stimpson

      First thing Monday morning, Camille hopped out of bed humming an old Faith Evans song. Hearing her own voice scroll up and down the notes precisely warmed her like a cup of hot cocoa in December. This was her element. She needed her voice, needed to know she could do something better than anyone else.

      Some kids kept their noses in books growing up. Camille had been tethered to a headset, listening and singing along to whatever blared through the earpieces. Ballads, solos, jazz, pop, neo soul. Across genres, she imitated her favorite artists, rewinding and replaying the toughest notes until she could hit them exactly the way Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, or even Dolly Parton did. She ran through player batteries like water, costing Bobby Junior a small fortune. He didn’t mind, though. He always said his baby girl had simply caught the creative bug from himself and dear, rich singing cousin Lenny Williams.

      Camille sang morning, noon, and night. When she wasn’t singing, she was learning about music. She spent her weekly English class library time researching lyrics on the Internet, following her favorite groups. Momma trained her in the children’s and young-adult choirs. Jerdine didn’t let her daughter lead every song. Wouldn’t be fair. But at almost every Pastor and Wife’s anniversary event or women’s fifth Sunday program, someone would request that Camille sing their favorite number, usually “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” or “The Safest Place.” Like so many other vocalists, she had been tried and tested in church first. She had learned to sing whether she felt like it or not, whether she knew all the words or not. The best singers could skip a whole line and the audience would never know.

      Over the thousands of hours she’d spent practicing, Camille became one with her voice. She could make it do exactly what she wanted it to do. Hop, dip, twist, stretch, climb, whatever.

      People at school knew she had pipes. She performed many a recess concert for her friends. Every now and then, some new student would fall under the mistaken impression they could sing better. This, of course, forced Camille to go slamp off on the poor child. She’d pull out an old song most of her classmates hadn’t heard, maybe Shirley Murdock’s “As We Lay,” and demonstrate how a real diva blew.

      She watched videos and learned the choreography and words of every week’s top-ten tracks. In short, she was obsessed with music and singing. After studying Star Search and Showtime at the Apollo, Camille convinced herself that she had what it took to make it big.

      Jerdine insisted that Camille finish high school before she started chasing her dreams. “No matter what happens, no one can take your diploma away from you.”

      Nowadays, Camille wished her mother had added a college degree to the request, because the value of her high school diploma was shrinking right along with the American dollar.

      Nonetheless, Camille had honored her deceased mother’s wishes. She completed twelfth grade before she allowed her brother to circulate the cheap demo she’d recorded of a Deborah Cox instrumental. He caught a few tugs on the line and traipsed Camille all over Dallas and Houston until she finally got a meeting with an up-and-coming producer, T-Money, who was trying to start a new record label. He needed a female group to get the ball rolling.

      “Cami, this is the most important audition of your life,” Courtney had warned her before they got out of the car. “If you get into this group, your whole life will change forever. You understand?”

      He didn’t have to tell her that. She knew this must be crucial for him to miss work so he could take her to meet these people in Houston. Not exactly the Mecca for R&B talent, but now that Jermaine Dupri was putting Atlanta on the map, and some guys out of St. Louis, Missouri, of all places, were making a name for their town, reputable, well-connected studios were popping up all over the country.

      Though only a few years older than his sister, Courtney had a severity about him that afforded him instant respect with adults. People even called him “little man” growing up because, in some ways, he was never a child. “He’s just got an old spirit,” Bobby Junior would say.

      The day she auditioned was the day she met Alexis and Tonya for the first time, along with twelve other girls they beat out for the top slots. The fourth spot went to a girl named Janiah, who didn’t have the good sense to keep the fact that she was pregnant under wraps until she’d signed a contract.

      An audition that was supposed to last a day or two turned into a week as the producer called back several of the girls he’d sent home crying. Kyra was one of those girls. Realizing she’d better sing like her life depended on it, Kyra nailed the song the second time around. Camille never really thought this was fair to the other girls, but, hey—she was in no position to speak her mind.

      Courtney hadn’t expected to be in negotiations with T-Money’s business associates most of that week, but he was more than ready for the challenge. Camille left all the paperwork and money talk to her big brother while she and the rest of what would later be known as Sweet Treats sang their throats raw in the adjacent recording room.

      When it was all said and done, Courtney’s bargaining skills landed him the job as the group’s manager and some kind of limited rights that Camille didn’t quite understand at the time. She trusted Courtney to handle the legal mumbo-jumbo. He said he’d bet on the group with T-Money, and he hoped that one day, he’d be a rich man. Camille hoped so, too, because staying in Houston had cost Courtney his management trainee job and put him in a rough spot, financially, since he had to pay for a hotel room for the week.

      Bobby Junior wired them some money halfway through their stay, which came with thick ropes attached. Though she wasn’t actually on the phone, she’d heard her father’s words to Courtney, “This is coming from your momma’s insurance money. Y’all better make it count, ’cause it’s all we have left of her.”

      Courtney’s skinny face never looked so heavy. “Don’t worry, Dad. I’m gonna make it happen.”

      And that’s exactly what Courtney did. Up until the day he got replaced.

      Camille couldn’t think about that now. “Life is too short to look back,” she told herself.