Chapter 38

For a couple of days, nothing happened with the emancipation and I heard nothing from Dad. If Mr. Eaves hadn’t confirmed that they had, in fact, been served, I would have started to doubt Dad even knew about it. It really wasn’t like him to sit back and let something just happen. My impulse control, or problems with it, paled in comparison to his. I couldn’t imagine that he heard that he was losing his meal ticket and was just sitting back and letting it happen.

Wednesday night was the first sign he wasn’t, and it came from Rowan of all people. I only spoke to Rowan once or twice since calling him for advice about Brent. After producing our album, he’d gone back out west to work on several others and I hadn’t wanted to bother him. Which is why I was surprised when he suddenly called me up out of the blue.

“Hey, Charlie, I know it’s late, but do you have a moment?” Rowan asked.

Immediately, I could hear in his voice that something was wrong.

“Sure. What’s up?”

“A couple of people at MAC who know I produced your record have called me over the last few days to let me know about some talk that’s been going around. Is your father been calling the label on your behalf a lot recently?”

That sent a chill down my spine. I couldn’t remember if I’d mentioned my dad to Rowan after Dad came back, when I talked to him about Brent and asked for his advice on what to do about the Brent issues. I don’t remember mentioning him to Rowan either way, but even if I had, there was no reason for him to be asking about Dad.

“I don’t know. We’ve had some problems, so I’ve been living with a friend for the last several weeks. What have you heard?”

“Not a lot of specifics, just that your dad’s been making a lot of crazy demands, apparently threatening to pull you off your contract or sue the label for breach of contract. I don’t know the specifics, so don’t hold me to any of this, but for it to get to me, it must be bad. They were mostly asking if I’d met him and what I thought about you. They didn’t say it in so many words, but I think the label is thinking about canceling your contract.”

“Damnit,” I said.

“Is everything going okay over there?”

“No. It’s really not. I don’t know if I mentioned it or not, but Dad used to be a musician himself and even had a record contract for a while, but never got as far as cutting a record. He got out of prison while I was on tour, over some technicality, and sees me as his way back into the industry. It’s gotten really bad. So much so that I filed for emancipation on Friday.”

“Shit, Charlie. I’m really sorry. You’re trying to get emancipated over your record contract? I mean, you’re not the first, but I’ve only ever heard of that when millions are at stake.”

“It’s not just the contract. He’s violent and he’s been trying to get me to drop out of school so I can work full-time. He doesn’t have a job and I don’t think he wants to get one. He’d rather I was out there making money for him.”

“Man, that sucks.”

“Yeah.”

“I hate to say this Charlie, and I’m sorry if it comes off as insensitive, but that isn’t going to matter to the label. Especially at the level where contracts are decided, they’re only interested in the bottom line. Right now, he’s annoying, but once they have to spend any money dealing with his complaints, they’re going to start looking at dropping you. I’ve heard your sales are pretty decent, but you’re still too small of an artist to be worth any kind of trouble on their end.”

“Yeah, I know. I talked to Kent after Dad fired Warren, our new manager, and he said basically the same thing.”

“Warren Rice?” Rowan asked.

“Yeah. He got assigned to replace Brent as our tour manager and primary booker, but Dad didn’t like that he was willing to work around my school schedule instead of pushing for me to drop out of school like Brent did. I talked to Kent, and he said he’d go slow on processing the firing to give me time to get Dad under control, but that was like two weeks ago. It’s part of the reason I decided to go for emancipation, because I couldn’t talk him down from all this. Unfortunately, it’s going to be more than a month before anything happens at court, so I’m kind of hanging in limbo.”

“That’s not good, Charlie. If I’m hearing about it, you’re getting really close to losing your contract. I don’t know if you have a month. Can you talk to him, maybe get him to see reason?”

“I really don’t think so. The last time I tried to talk sense into him, he took a swing at me and I ended up dislocating his elbow.”

“Ohh.”

“Yeah, it’s bad.”

“You need to talk to Kent. I don’t know if there’s anything he can do, but it’s better to get in front of this thing. If you let them make the decision, it will be really hard to get them to take it back.”

“Okay. I’ll do that. Thanks for the heads up.”

“No problem. I’m sorry things are so bad. If you need anything, you know how to get me.”

“Thanks, Rowan.”

I hung up and sat there staring at my phone. I should probably have called Kent after I filed for emancipation, but honestly, I was afraid it would make things worse. He’d made it clear they’d been hesitant to sign me because of past issues with problem parents. Hearing I was about to go through a contentious emancipation hearing wasn’t going to make things look any better. I knew it wasn’t going to go away, but I guess I’d just hoped it would stay in limbo for a month. Clearly, it wouldn’t.

I sighed and dialed his number. It spoke to how bad things were that I got transferred right through to him, instead of sitting on hold till he finished up with whatever he’d been working on.

“Charlie,” he said, and not in that friendly, jovial tone he normally used with me. “What can I do for you?”

“I wanted to check in with you and see if everything’s okay. I’ve heard some rumors that MAC wasn’t happy with me at the moment.”

“I see. Charlie, I’m going to do you a favor and be frank with you, instead of treating you like a kid.”

“I’d really appreciate that.”

“Yes, we aren’t happy with you. Your father is becoming a real problem here, and I’m not going to lie to you, we are seriously rethinking our contract with you.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. “Is there anything I can do to fix this?”

“I don’t know, is there? Do you know what your father has been doing?”

“No. I’m not currently living with them and haven’t spoken to him for almost two weeks. I heard he’s been calling, but I don’t know what he’s been demanding.”

“All kinds of things. First, it was mostly about you. He wanted us to ignore the contract and demand you play through the fall. I explained to him that we’d agreed to work around your schedule and we were confident we could continue growing your brand even with you only doing minimal regional tours, but he didn’t want to hear it. Last week things escalated. He’s now demanding that we give him a record contract, or he’s going to pull you off the label. I tried to explain to him that it doesn’t work like that and you couldn’t just walk away without violating the contract, but he’s ... unreasonable. I like you, Charlie, I really do, but I have bosses to answer to, and when they start hearing stuff, it gets difficult to find ways to make this continue to work.”

“I know, and I’m so sorry. I didn’t know he was calling you, but I knew he was becoming a problem, which is why I filed for emancipation last week.”

“You did?”

“Yes. It was over more than just my contract with MAC, but that factored in. It’s going to take at least a month, but once I get my emancipation, it should enact the parts of the contract that deal with when I become a legal adult. At least according to my lawyer.”

“It could, but I don’t actually know. I’d have to ask our legal department. I’m not sure you have a month, though. His calls are becoming more insistent and there are specific things he can do that would put you in violation of your contract. If that happens, I can guarantee we won’t be able to repair the breach.”

“Even if I’m playing all the shows you guys set up for me and any press you set up, doing everything I’m supposed to do on my end.”

“What shows? Warren got fired, remember? Right now, everything related to you is in limbo except the digital marketing for your album; and that’s only because the album is still selling well in spite of no marketing that you’re still on the label at all. You have no show revenue coming in and we’re not doing any press to promote your record. We’re almost through the first-month window, which is basically as far out as we can get you spots to push your album. After that, you’re down to passive marketing only unless you get your brand known more, which won’t happen with things on hold.”

“Is there any way to get Warren back on the job without my parents’ say so?”