Page 98 of Your Play to Call
“Who is calling you on Thanksgiving?” Alan scoffs while not taking his eyes off the football game.
Willow gets up, grabs her phone, and stands in the kitchen, her brows furrowed. She sighs and puts her head back before Emilie meets her in there.
“The balls on this man to call you on a holiday.” Emilie comes back, with more Rose in her wine glass, and an eye-roll that I don’t want to be on the receiving end of.
“Who is she talking about, sweetie?” Kath asks.
“It’s Erik.” Her brows are scrunched like she’s trying to put the pieces together.
I know she’s been dodging his calls since their latest meeting when they tried planning a tour she specifically didn’t ask for. They’ve been trying to get her to come in for a planning session, but she keeps telling them to send over preliminary ideas to show they’ve shifted to her direction.
I’m fucking proud of my girl for standing strong. I know being in limbo bothers her, but she does it, nonetheless.
When her phone rings for a third time, this time with a video call, Willow answers it and walks to the bedroom—I follow because I’m a little nosy.
“Erik, are you kidding with this? What do you want?!” she says to the phone screen.
“Don’t be mad. I promise, it’s good news. I wouldn’t bother you if it wasn’t.”
I don’t care what kind of news he has. Calling on a holiday? Questionable. I know they’ve been at odds. I’m fucking proud of Willow for saying it how it is, right off the bat.
She gives him this look that screams “you would, and you know it.”
“I mean, I may have done that in the past, but I do have good news.”
“I’m listening,” she says, sitting on the edge of the bed. Her eyes glance to me and then next to her. I follow her unspoken instruction and sit by her.
“Are you out of town? Where are you?” he asks, confused by her background. Nosy prick.
“I’m at Tripps. We just wrapped up dinner with ourfamilies.” She enunciates and smirks at him. “Say hi to Tripp.” She turns the phone so I’m looking at Erik. I’ve never met him but have heard enough about him.
“Oh, wow! Hey, man. HUGE FAN. I’m hoping to get out to a game soon. Been a fan since you started.”
Before I can respond, Willow turns the phone back to her.
“Erik, don’t lie. I know you have a Detroit Lions tattoo.” She sells him out so fast I can’t help but laugh. Not with Erik, but at him. He won’t know the difference.
“That was a dare, and you know it!” His voice is low like he’s a little embarrassed. I love it.
“Let’s get to that good news.” I have no interest in having this guy kiss my ass on Thanksgiving.
“You got it. Willow, we reconsidered the tour start date as well as the venues. Aiming for something smaller, that will make almost zero dollars—”
“Erik.” Her voice is clipped.
“I’m kidding.”He laughs in a way that tells us he wasn’t. “We’ve managed to get a better split, more 1000-2000 person venues, with a start date in April. I emailed you the new proposed tour date list. There are even some open dates, gaps, in case you wanted to pick some of the venues yourself.”
Wow. He might’ve actually come through. I know this is much closer to what she wanted.
“Really? You mean it?”
“I mean it. It took some convincing on my end, but we think the marketing plan will lead to more sales, across more units, and have some ideas for new revenue streams surrounding the tour. All with your approval, of course.”
“I’ll review the list and let you know.” She doesn’t let her excitement come through. Don’t think she wants to give him the satisfaction.
“Let’s aim to have the music mixed by the first week of January. Sooner is better but we want to give you some time to put the final touches on it.”
This man is being accommodating. I bet it came down to the fact that she could actually hold this album until her contract with them ran out. Money talks.