The High Notes: A Novel(32)

“Consider it done. We’ll get the notice of termination letter out to him today. You’ll never hear from him again. There’s no way he can fight this. His contract is a disgrace.” She nodded and believed them. He was a miserable human being.

She left Clay with the attorneys then, and ran into Boy in the hall, coming back from lunch.

“I just signed with Clay.” She was grinning broadly. “And they’re getting me out of my old contract.”

“So did I.” Boy looked jubilant too. “I got a fifty-thousand-dollar signing bonus,” he said with awe. She had gotten a hundred-thousand-dollar signing bonus for her album, and had no idea what to do with it. She was going to put it all in the bank. “Let’s go out to dinner tonight, and celebrate,” he suggested to her.

“I’d love it.”

“There’s a diner on Tenth Avenue everyone says is great,” he said, and she laughed.

“We’re going to have to get used to better than diners now, I guess,” she said with a dreamy expression. It was all so hard to believe. But it was real.



* * *



—

There were red roses waiting for her at the hotel with a card when she got back there. “Welcome to the family. Love, Clay.”

She called Pattie on her cell. She told her she had signed with Clay, but not about the money. She didn’t want to make her feel bad. She had already written to Judd to thank him for the phone number that had changed her life. Pattie sounded tired and down.

“What about the contract?” Pattie asked her.

“They’re getting me out of it. They said it’s no problem. It’s not even legal. It violates all the labor laws and our human rights. You can get out of yours too,” she reminded her.

“I need the job. I may have to go home for a while, if he’ll let me. My mom is sick. I don’t have anyone else to take care of Jimmy.”

“How sick?” Iris was worried about her, she knew how Pattie depended on her mother to take care of her son.

“I don’t know. Maybe she’s just tired. He’s a handful for her at her age. He’s a lot for me when I’m home. Maybe she’ll be okay soon.” Iris hoped so for Pattie’s sake. They talked for a few minutes and then they hung up. After four years of touring together, Pattie was still her best friend, and now Boy was too. And Clay. But that was different. He was her benefactor, and her boss, not just a friend.



* * *



—

She and Boy went out to dinner that night to celebrate their contracts, and the diner on Tenth Avenue was pretty good. Neither of them could imagine dining in fancier restaurants. The diner was comfortable and familiar and felt like home to them. They walked back to the Plaza, to their new world of luxury and comfort, and security now, thanks to Clay. Boy had called his band to tell them it was official. He was staying in New York, and wasn’t coming back to Nashville, maybe for a long time. They were happy for him, and said they missed him. Annie and Sean had been offered a place with another band, and Joe was trying out some new bands before he made a decision. There was plenty of work in Nashville, but they all agreed they would miss Boy, yet were happy for his big break with Clay Maddox. It sounded like a miracle to them and felt like one to Boy.



* * *



—

Iris had just gotten into bed when her cellphone rang. It had been a big day, signing the contract, and it was the first night she had taken off in weeks. She was in a great mood. She looked at her phone, and thought it was Boy. No one else called her except Pattie, and they had spoken earlier. The call was from a blocked number. She answered, and was shocked to hear Glen Hendrix on the other end.

“Where the fuck are you?” were his opening words in a vicious tone.

He couldn’t touch her now. She was safe. Clay and the lawyers had told her so. “I’m in New York, and I’m not coming back. Your contract isn’t worth a damn. I’m done. You don’t scare me anymore.”

“Who’ve you been talking to? Some ambulance chaser? That contract is rock solid, and if you don’t get your ass back here, I’ll have you put in jail,” he threatened her. “You’re lucky I’ll still take you back.”

“You’re pathetic, and an affront to the human race. All you do is exploit everyone who works for you. That contract isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. You’re lucky no one puts you in jail.”

“Get back here, Cooper. I mean it. You’ll be sorry if you don’t.” She had run away and defied him, and no one did that to him. He had to make an example of her to the others or they’d all be trying to do the same thing, and his profits would go right down the drain.

“Don’t call me again,” she said, tired of his threats, and hung up. She was shaking when she ended the call, but not like she used to. She had Clay now, and his contract and lawyers to protect her. They had told her that Glen couldn’t do anything to her, and she believed them. But he had such an ominous, evil voice. She never wanted to hear it again.



* * *



—

Glen was enraged when she hung up on him. He called Scott Campbell the next day. The scouts hadn’t found her, she hadn’t turned up in Nashville either. But she had told him she was in New York the night before.