Chapter 10 Way Back When
Way Back When
Time to give up and get up.
Paloma’s major label record release party was taking place at the Artemis Club that evening, and if Jace didn’t handle every tiny detail perfectly, she could totally derail the whole night.
The reps from Seal-Eye Records were flying in from Los Angeles that afternoon, and she needed to re-reconfirm their flights, limo service, and rooms at the Townsend Hotel up in Birmingham plus ensure the restaurant where they and the band were having dinner beforehand would honor the food preference info she’d sent to the executive chef earlier in the week.
Mid-afternoon, she’d meet with Mo and Louis for tech rehearsal and sound check.
Then she had to review the comp list with the box office and ensure the catering and liquor orders were still on track.
Once onsite, she also needed to make sure the hair and makeup area was organized backstage, the public bathrooms had been thoroughly scrubbed, and no one had carved obscene graffiti into the freshly painted stall doors.
Sabine had promised to tidy up her office in case the Seal-Eye reps needed to take a call.
Mary had been fighting a cold on and off for weeks, so Jace would have to set up a supply of cough drops and hot water, honey, and lemon.
Colin had promised to hit the laundromat before dinner, but Jace was going to have a clean pair of jeans and a T-shirt backstage just in case.
Jace gently rolled into an upright position and looked down at Paloma’s sleeping form, relieved that she hadn’t woken her girlfriend.
Last night, they’d rented a movie, kept the lights low, burned candles, and drank herbal tea in an effort to stave off the stage fright and general giddiness around hosting a massive event with hundreds of friends, fans, reporters, and VIPs.
None of that worked, though, and they’d tossed and turned until a couple of hours ago.
At least now Paloma could sleep as long as she needed to.
Her people could handle the rest. Well, her person. Jace would take it from here.
The record release had been a long time coming, yet at the same time it felt like it had all happened in a flash.
The Grit-o-Matic EP had been playing on alternative radio stations and available in stores nationwide for months; Jace had taken photos of Paloma holding copies and pointing to prominent displays at every Tower Records they could find out on tour.
Somehow, the EP had gotten into the hands of an A you should take it.”
Paloma shook her head. “They should be equal partners here. I wouldn’t be getting this deal at all if it weren’t for them.”
“I know this feels like a betrayal, and your loyalty is something I love about you,” Jace said.
“But the truth is that you’re the sole songwriter.
You’re the lead singer and guitarist. You’re why people show up for concerts, and you’re why they’ll buy the record.
With this deal, you’ll be able to pay Mary and Colin more than they’ve ever made.
And no need to feel guilty about it. Think about it: If Mary got this deal without you and Colin, she’d sign the second she got it.
” She put her hand over Paloma’s. “You earned this. You know that, right?”
Paloma took a beat before replying with a coquettish grin. “If you say so.”
“Of course I say so,” Jace said, following up with a peck on her cheek.
Besides, as Jace reiterated over the intervening weeks, in many ways the record deal was better for Mary and Colin financially than it was for Paloma since they’d gotten paid up front by the label.
Jace kept Paloma’s modest advance under lock and key, since they’d have to live off that money while they put the album together, and she wouldn’t start collecting royalties until after the advance and the label’s marketing expenses had been earned back, which could take months or even years.
On top of that, the label did not budget for a music video, even though Jace was certain that would be key to promoting the album; if they wanted one, Paloma and Jace would have to pay for it out of pocket.
Determined to make it happen, Jace tapped into every contact she had, from the club owners and musicians they’d met on tour to the kids in the AV club from her high school days, and they’d been able to pull off a pretty great video on the cheap.
With all that promotion and a bit of luck, Paloma could clear the debt with Seal-Eye, start making money, and maybe, just maybe, have an even more successful follow-up album in a year or two.
But for now, Jace was spending a lot of sleepless nights ruminating over the finances, sometimes even wondering if it would have been better to just keep recording with Bob Sarkisian and handling the distribution themselves.
Hence the insomnia.
Jace put her flannel robe over her T-shirt and tiptoed toward the kitchen in stocking feet.
The plumbing made enough noise to wake Paloma out of a sound sleep without the water running, so Jace decided to wait on taking a shower until a slightly more decent hour.
She grabbed her notebook from her backpack and sat at the head of the table, figuring she could get some cereal and coffee into her system then re-review her to-do list for the day.
The coffee maker had barely started to burble before Jace felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, babe.”
Jace stretched up to meet Paloma’s kiss. “I’m sorry I woke you up.”
“Not your fault; I wasn’t really asleep.
” Paloma sat in the chair next to her, wearing an ancient pair of gym shorts and a frayed henley shirt, her blond curls compressed around her face.
With no makeup on, Jace could see the handful of freckles speckling Paloma’s nose.
She loved being one of the few people on earth who was allowed to see them.
“Want some coffee?” Jace asked.
“Desperately.”
Jace poured out two mugs’ worth and came back to the table. “So, Record Release Day…how are you feeling?”
Paloma took a large slurp of coffee. “Tired. Hungry. A little chilly. You paid the heating bill, right?”
“Ha, ha,” Jace said. “What I meant was, how are you feeling about this ginormous achievement of yours?”
She rolled her eyes with a blasé smile. “Oh. That.”
Jace was determined to overwhelm her with glee.
“I, for one, am so stoked! When I met you for the first time in that rasty bar in Ann Arbor two years ago, you thought playing the Artemis was going to be your biggest gig ever, and now look at you! You’re about to conquer the East Coast before taking over England and Scotland!
And Cutie Pie! It’s a mass-produced, nationally distributed album with shrink wrap and liner notes and a logo instead of being a cheap-ass CD we copied off a laptop with your name written on it in Sharpie. I’m so proud of you!”
Paloma chuckled. “Well, I have to admit, I’m proud of me, too.
” She sat low in the wooden chair, her legs extended and her arms folded across her stomach.
“It’s weird, though. When you’ve longed for something this big and impossible for so long and it finally happens, it doesn’t even make sense anymore. ”
“What do you mean?” Jace asked.
“We know so many musicians who have been hacking away in this business for a lot longer than I have. They’re more groundbreaking than I am, have better licks, a cooler vibe. Only a couple of them ever got this far.”
“I know some of this is because you were in the right place at the right time,” Jace said. “That doesn’t mean you don’t deserve it. You believe me, right?”
“I’m lucky you love me,” Paloma said, sharing a sloe-eyed smile. “Because I would not want to do this without you. Any of it.”
Jace sat with this, joy glowing like a jewel within her chest. “I wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else.”
Paloma sat up and pulled Jace’s left foot into her lap, removing her slouchy sock before starting a massage. “You mean to tell me this is a dream come true for you, too? Like, ever since you were a little girl, you wanted to be the business manager for a singer-songwriter from Taylor, Michigan?”
“No, I wanted to be Wonder Woman,” Jace said, a pleasant shiver spreading through her nervous system as Paloma’s hands stroked down the top of her foot and back up underneath.
“I used to wear my red-and-blue bathing suit and rain boots with a jump rope taped to my side and run around outside looking for bad guys.”
“Oh my God, that is so adorable!” Paloma said with genuine delight.
“I was only five but had a huge crush on Lynda Carter. I didn’t know what to do with that, so I decided I should be her instead.”
“You kind of are,” Paloma said, gazing at Jace. “My one-woman Justice League. And you look like her, too.”
“You’re shitting me.”