Sweet Little Thing: A Novella (Sweet Thing) by Renee Carlino Page B

completely silent. His laugh echoed off the walls in a terrifying way before he took a deep breath and continued. “In the beginning, they wanted you to feel like your talent was real so you’d agree to sign your life away for the prestige of being signed with a major label. Now that they have you, they’ll try to make you feel like crap until you give them what they want. These days, people need to see the musician on TV. No one listens to the radio anymore, and the people that do will buy albums from independents and small labels. So they need the whole package, and they only make money on the artists who reach celebrity status. I think they agreed to let you come to Will, knowing he wouldn’t produce the crap they want, that way they could put the responsibility back on you. They didn’t know who you were as an artist. They just knew you were good-looking with a good voice.”
    “I can’t get out of my contract.” Chad finally spoke. His voice was shaky.
    “There are other things we can do.” Frank turned to me. “Remember the time you said you wanted people to be in awe while you performed, not because of the pyrotechnics going off on stage but because they connected to the music?” When I nodded, he said, “I have a suggestion.”
    I was getting worried about where the conversation was going.
    “This is totally off the record.” Frank leaned in farther. “Your auntie did a few good things for you, kid.” Chad’s face lightened and Frank said, “There is nothing in this contract that says you can’t start performing these songs. That’s the first good thing she did, the second was that she insisted you stick with Will.” He turned to me. “How much does this mean to you?”
    “Me? Not very much, if I’m being honest, Frank. I’ll get my money no matter what happens to Chad.”
    Chad and Michael remained quiet while Frank slowly shook his head back and forth with a look of pure disappointment on his face.
    “I have a baby on the way,” I pleaded.
    “You really just want to give up on Chad and roll over for these dummies?”
    “I don’t even know what you’re suggesting.”
    “I’m suggesting that Michael and Chad go back to the label and tell them that pushing the release is fine. Tell them they’ll get their ballad and hit. Meanwhile, Chad will start performing up and down the East Coast as part of the Will Ryan Band. You can promote yourselves online and gather a following. People will get to know Chad and get to know the way ‘Soldier’ was written. That song could be an anthem, it has a hook, but the label is right—it’s not commercial, it’s original.”
    “I can’t leave Mia and go on the road while she’s pregnant.”
    “Hold on a minute, Frank.” Michael finally found his voice. “Are you saying that we leave the album as is and that Chad starts performing the songs under a different name?”
    “Legally, we can make it happen. Will, get Mia down here. I’m not suggesting you leave her. We need her. I’m suggesting you both go.”
    “I don’t think she’ll be into it,” I said.
    “Let’s see what she has to say.” He motioned for me to pick up the phone and call her.
    I grabbed my cell phone and texted her: ARE YOU BUSY?
    JUST TAKING THIS PHOTO TO SAY THANK YOU. She sent me a photo of her naked from the waist up, wearing all my Post-it notes like a bikini top.
    I replied, I LOVE IT! CAN YOU GET DOWN HERE? WE NEED YOU. PUT ON A SHIRT FIRST.
    Everyone filled their coffee mugs and waited for Mia to come down. When she came in, she smiled and said hello and then took a seat at the table. Frank, in his typical fast-talking fashion, basically laid down the whole situation for Mia. At the end of a very long speech, he said, “What do you think, sweetheart?”
    She looked at me first. I didn’t give her any indication of how I was feeling. The truth was that it sounded interesting to me. We could do some live shows together and then during the week go back into the