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“And she loves you.”
I nod and sit in the chair once more. “She loves me.”
“Then you need to work this piece out, for both of your sakes. Because this relationship is brand-new, and you drew a line so deep in the sand, it’ll come back to bite you in the ass. There are going to be moments that happen in her career when she’ll want you by her side. And you should be there, Keaton. You have to accept all of her.”
My head whips up to stare at him. “That’s what her dad said, too. And I know you’re both right. I’ve just resisted it for so long that the thought of diving into that life is intimidating.”
“You don’t have to dive into the deep end. You just have to be open-minded. Don’t be such a stubborn ass.”
I sigh with a nod. “I don’t want to disappoint her over and over again.”
“Then don’t. Let her have the spotlight, but be there to hold her hand. That’s what your mom did for me, and it made all the difference in the world.”
I lick my lips and stand. “Thanks. It might be next week before I get this movie stuff emailed over.”
He raises an eyebrow.
“I have to go to Dallas.”
“That’s my boy.”
Chapter 17
Sidney
“As always, the majority of your money is going to come from touring,” Annie says as we sit next to each other at the table in her hotel suite, looking over contracts. “The royalties from songs and album sales are standard. They want to release the album no later than this fall.”
“That’s only a few months away.”
“Which means you’ll immediately go into the studio,” she says. “So, you’ll be coming back to Nashville right away, of course.”
“No.”
Annie lifts a brow and sits back in her chair, watching me.
“I can record in Seattle,” I add. “I can use Leo Nash’s studio. If I need to go to Nashville to finish things up, that’s fine, but there are studios outside of Nashville.”
Annie makes a note. “I’ll take that back to the studio. I don’t see why they wouldn’t agree to that. It happens more and more now that technology is what it is.”
“Is that number my take per show?” I blink at all the zeroes. I’ve done relatively well in my career so far, but it’s not easy to make a lot of money unless you’ve hit the big time. That number is on par with people I’ve admired for years.
“It’ll fluctuate a bit with the size of the venue and such, but yes, that’s your take. Minus my 10 percent, of course.”
“Of course.” I shake my head. “All of this because I wrote one song with Leo Nash?”
“It’s a damn good song. This is about to be a huge turning point in your career, Sid. I can feel it in my bones, and my bones are never wrong.”
“No, they’re not. Wow.”
This is exactly what I’ve always wanted for my career. Now I just have to figure out how I’m going to make it work with Keaton.
Right now, I feel torn. Because I want him, too, but I don’t know how I’m going to do it.
And I don’t like feeling as if I have to choose.
“Why aren’t you turning cartwheels? I busted my ass on this.”
“I know. I am excited! Maybe I’m a little overwhelmed, too. I wasn’t expecting this at all.”
“Okay, let’s sign.”
I hold up my hand and offer Annie an apologetic smile. “I need to think, just overnight.”
“For fuck’s sake, Sidney, what’s to think about? This is as good as it gets. And if you sign today, you get all the label perks tomorrow at the show.”
“That’s really nice, but I need to make some phone calls. You know I trust and appreciate you. It’s not that at all. I just need, like, twelve hours.”
“Okay.” She holds her hands up in surrender. “Let me know when you’re ready to sign. Because I know for a fact that you won’t turn this down.”
I give Annie a hug before I leave her room and walk down to mine. I’m already tired. I spent about two hours rehearsing with my band, and then I met with Annie, and my mind is swimming.
I don’t know what to do.
And I don’t feel like I can just call Keaton and lay this all out at his feet over the phone. The last thing I want to do is make him feel guilty about something that he can’t control. That’s not fair, and I’d be pissed as hell if he pulled that shit on me.
Gray’s on his honeymoon, and I refuse to interrupt that.
So, I call Leo.
“Hey, Sid. What’s up?”
“Hi, Leo. Look, I’m sorry for suddenly calling or texting you all the time. I promise I won’t make a habit of it.”
“If I didn’t want to talk to you, I’d send you to voice mail. Don’t worry about it. What’s going on?”
