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“The record label’s on board with the charity angle.”
“And Chelsea?”
“She’s in—” I pump a fist in the air before I hear the hesitation in his voice and suddenly the victorious feeling drains out of me.
“But?”
“She wants all the profits to go to the foundation.”
“Okay, so?”
“Well, I wasn’t sure you’d still want to do it,” he says. Merrill’s never been a huge fan of doing anything for free. And I get it. But my career’s made us both rich enough to not really need to worry about that anymore. I can afford to do some work for a good cause without anything in return. So can he.
“Of course I do. Make it happen, Merrill. I need to work with that girl.”
He sighs and I know what he’s thinking. He’s thinking this is the old Ian talking, just trying to get into her pants at whatever the cost. Maybe he’s not entirely wrong, but he’s not really right, either. This is about Chelsea and how much I’m attracted to her, sure. But it’s also about the way we make music together. Without any practice or even ever meeting each other before, we left everyone speechless. Just imagine what we could do with some studio time. And that’s not to mention how much I want to help out the Wish Givers. If you ask me, this seems like a great deal all around and I’m gonna have a hard time mustering up any sympathy for Merrill not being able to buy another Ferrari.
“All right. I’ll get everything worked out and book some studio time. You two should probably get together ahead of time to work out the song list… Maybe write a new song? That would be great publicity. Is Friday too soon for you to be in the studio?”
Normally, yeah, that would be crazy. He wants me to get together with this girl I don’t even know, come up with enough tracks for an album, and write a new song all in… three days? Yeah, that’s insane and I should tell him so. But I know that being in the studio on Friday means I’ll be with Chelsea on Friday and that’s all I need to know.
“Not soon enough, but that’ll work.”
Merrill clucks his tongue at me and I can just imagine him on the other end of the phone shaking his head in dismay. “Don’t go getting ahead of yourself, Ian. This is all to give you a better, cleaner image. Don’t forget that.”
“I know, I know,” I sigh. “Trust me, I know. I’m not going to screw this up, I promise.”
“I know what you get like with a pretty girl…”
“That hasn’t been me in years,” I argue, but the fight’s not really in my voice and he knows it.
“And that’s all I’m reminding you of. Chelsea Garten isn’t some groupie that’s going to fling herself at you. She’s a consummate professional and a freaking Grammy nominee, so keep it in your pants, could you?”
I know he’s serious and wants me to be also, but I can’t help but laugh. “Yeah, Merrill. I got it. All business. I’ll be a good boy.”
“You better,” he growls. “I’ve spent too much time trying to make this happen to watch you piss it down the drain to get your rocks off.”
“All right, all right. I got it, I swear.” He’s not normally so forceful, so I know he means business. There’s a time and a place to tease Merrill and this isn’t it.
“Once I’ve talked it over with Rosa, I’ll send you her number and the two of you can work out when you want to practice and all of that.”
I’m so grateful that this isn’t a video chat; Merrill would be able to see my huge grin and probably be annoyed by it. “Sounds good,” I manage to say as evenly as possible, even though I’m damn near bouncing off the walls. I did not expect this day to go so well, and for the first time in a long, long time, I’ve got something to look forward to.
Chapter 4
Chelsea
“We’re all set!” Rosa exclaims cheerfully through the phone. “It’s a done deal!”
Silence hangs in the air. It’s almost oppressive with how long it lingers.
“Chelsea? Did you hear me? They’ve agreed to donate all the proceeds to the foundation.”
“Seriously?” I’m more than a little dumbfounded. When Rosa called me to tell me about her idea to have Ian Monroe and me work together on an album and a tour… Well, I was torn. Part of me really wanted to work with him. Almost couldn’t wait to. But the other part, the more sensible part, the part that remembers Eric telling us all he was clean only for us to be burying him two weeks later… That part really doesn’t want to work with Ian Monroe, or really have anything to do with him at all.
So I’d decided to throw up a little roadblock. Instead of a portion of the profits going to charity, I demanded that every cent be donated. I didn’t expect Ian—or the record label, if I’m being honest—to agree to it. And now here we were. A done deal.
“Yeah! Why don’t you sound excited? You love helping out Wish Givers. This could generate a lot of money for them.”
