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Jackson didn’t need my verbal confirmation, though. He knew, and there was nothing I could say to change his mind.
“Let’s just get back to work, okay?” I said weakly, standing up and stretching, pretending like we had so much to do and couldn’t talk about my love life anymore.
Jackson let loose another long laugh as he walked back to his equipment.
“Yeah, sure, man. I’m sure you have a lot of inspiration to draw from now that youfinallyadmitted you have the hots for Thalia.”
I sighed, but the sound was betrayed by the grin that stretched across my face. It actually felt good to sort of let Jackson in on the secret. Even if I didn’t let him in oneverysecret just yet.
But we did have a busy day ahead. Aside from working on the album, I had a meeting with the board and the executive team this morning. All of that was a reason why we needed this early start. At least Jackson could head home early if he wanted.
I was starting to worry because Thalia wasn’t at work yet, because she was usually here by now. I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Jackson was clearly going to start teasing both of us as soon as she stepped inside the studio. I could feel the anticipation and confusion when she didn’t arrive. Jackson was chomping at the bit.
We silently trudged upstairs from the empty studio to the conference room. I appreciated Jackson’s silence because I knew he was desperate to talk about Thalia. He was also more than smart enough to know that our situation was sensitive stuff and shouldn’t be discussed when anyone could overhear us. It was one of those things I appreciated about Jackson; he was hugely emotive and fun to be around, but he absolutely knew when to draw the line and be serious. It was rare to find friendships and relationships like that, I’d realized over the years.
“There he is! The worldwide sensation himself!” Kurt’s voice immediately assaulted my ears, making me want to punch him right in his red sausage face.
Usually, I could find it in me to tolerate his loud outbursts. It was a relatively new character trait for him. Back when he was in charge, he was abrasive, but also business-driven. It wasn’t until I bought out the company that he started to act… more goofy is the best description. I wasn’t even sure what he was blabbing about most of the time, to be quite honest.
“How have you been, buddy?” Kurt slung an arm across my shoulder and I let out an involuntary shiver. Yeah, that was weird.
Politely, I removed his arm from my body and gave him my most professional smile.
“I’ve been great, Kurt. Thanks for asking.” I was in charge here now, and made sure to lead by example, keeping professional boundaries but still being respectful. But that still didn’t mean I had to give him an opportunity to continue talking to me, so I just went to my chair at the head of the table before he could utter another word. If I let him, he’d just keep talking and talking, and then we'd start on the broken record of, “back in my day”. At that point, the Kurt blab-train was hurtling down the hill and it would be impossible to stop him.
I scanned the room as I sat down, wondering if Thalia would be there. She usually attended these meetings to be kept in the loop, and was typically sitting next to Sadie. But Sadie was on her own, nose deep in her laptop.
Sadie was amazing. She was a rock. A fantastic production manager, to be perfectly honest. If it weren’t for Sadie planning every single schedule for the tour, we would be in shambles. And I knew she did just as well for our other artists because she didn’t just save her A-game for me. Shewasthe A-game. When the tour first started, I’d tried to encourage her to come with us. Sure, everything could be handled remotely from the office on her end, but I wanted her to have the chance to get off her phone or put her tablet down. But she said she didn’t enjoy traveling, so I didn’t push the issue. Truth be told, we couldn’t afford to lose her.
Sadie also recommended Thalia – I didn’t know much about their relationship or history, but they seemed pretty friendly.
So, basically, I owed all of my happiness and this next chapter of my life to Sadie. Without her, I wouldn’t have reconnected with Thalia, and I definitely had to thank her for that one day. I’d remember all of this come bonus time. Because she sure as hell was going to hate me right now.
“Alright, everyone. Thank you for taking some time to join this last-minute meeting,” I started, and everyone fell silent and paid attention to me. “I’m sure you’re all wondering why I called you. But before we get started, I just wanted to let you all know that the progress of my next album has been great.”
Everyone started clapping. Jackson was, of course, the loudest.
“Man, it took some time to get there, but we're there and the steam is pouring out of my ears,” he chimed in, earning a small chuckle from the rest of the people in the room.
I nodded, thankful for everyone’s support. It was probably the last few shreds of positivity I was going to get for the rest of this meeting. I knew I had a bombshell to drop, and no one was going to be happy.
“Next up, the reason I called this meeting…”
I was cut off by the sound of the door opening a little aggressively, only to be revealed by a huffing Thalia who looked like she ran a few blocks to get here. Judging from her lateness, it wasn’t unlikely.
“Sorry, sorry,” she whispered to everyone, still catching her breath. Meanwhile, I was suppressing the pleased expression that was forming on my face upon finally seeing her today, and I could see the teasing look in Jackson’s eyes in my peripheral vision. “Please, don’t mind me, Mr. Apollo. Please proceed,” Thalia insisted.
“As I was saying…” I said a little loudly, trying to capture everyone’s attention back.
I could see Thalia walk to Sadie’s side of the table, and they were mouthing to each other. Good thing I was very good at lip reading.
“What happened to you?”Sadie mouthed
“The traffic was insane,”Thalia mouthed back.
I cleared my throat before continuing. Everyone looked happy now, but I took a deep breath, knowing it would be short-lived.
“The reason I called this meeting was to inform everyone that I want to reschedule the East Coast dates of the tour. We’re going to have to push it back a couple of months.”
