I’m in the car with my driver, wondering what the studio wants at this time of the morning. It's seven thirty. I should still be in bed—especially on a Friday morning. There's an emergency meeting and the car came to pick me up. Even Mom’s nervous about it as she keeps holding my hand and stroking it.
“I’m sure that everything’s going to be all right.”
I wish I shared her enthusiasm. Apart from the fact that I haven't written a new song in three months and my contract’s due for renewal in the fall, there’s a lot to worry about.
“I mean, they could just want to talk about the contract renewal.”
“Right, Mom. So, that’s why they sent a car to the apartment at seven thirty in the morning.”
“Kylie, why do you have to be so negative all the time?”
Because staying with her for the last couple of weeks had led me to be more irritable than when I was back home. I should just go home because I'm far from relaxed these days. She insisted that staying with her would help bring my mojo back, but I’m fucking losing it because she’s driving me insane.
I need to go back home, eat too much, drink a bit more, and not think about tomorrow. That’s what I’m missing. This diet is not happening, and my clothes have changed from being skinny jeans to sweats and hoodies.
“I’m just parking, ladies,” the driver announces on the speakerphone. I don’t want to go in. Ever since I sang that song like a million times and it became a hit, I’ve had a feeling of not wanting to sing anymore. It may sound crazy, but ‘Loving’ is the only song that made it. Nothing else reached Billboard the way that song did, and that’s the real problem—not being able to replicate my success.
“Here goes nothing,” I say as he opens the car door. Why did he have to park so quickly?
“Stop being so negative,” Mom repeats as she takes my arm and walks with me. If anything, she looks like the star—perfect blonde hair all pushed up in a bun, a red Calvin Klein skirt suit, and everything that I should look like right now. I shouldn't be wearing a hoodie and sweats in the middle of the summer, but even a T-shirt makes me look fat. How’s that even possible?
As we follow the driver like lambs to slaughter, I wonder if maybe Mom’s right and this is all good news. But as we walk into the boardroom, the fears start to reappear again. Everyone’s here at eight. My manager, agent, choreographer, even my damn hair stylist. What the fuck?
“Sorry, Kylie, to wake you up so early, but we had to get this out of the way. It’s been a long time coming.”
I nod my head as no one greets me. To make matters worse, everyone’s avoiding eye contact with me. Not Mom. She’s going round the table waving to them as if they’re her number one fans.
“Ron, Tracey, Betty, and John… Nice that you all could make it.”
My agent, Ron, clears his throat, “Well, they knew about this meeting for a couple of weeks. We got together and decided that this would be the best way to talk to Kylie. Please, can you both sit down.”
I want to say something, like fuck, no! I mean, the fact that they’ve all known about this meeting kind of rocks me the wrong way. How come I never knew about it until now?
“We’ve noticed that the latest pictures of you are not the image that we expected of you. We thought that we made it clear?”
They start a presentation, one of me going to a concert in my sweats and hoodie, another of me going to Starbucks again in my sweats and hoodie. Then, there’s another one of me going to Ellen’s show. Guess what I was wearing?
Okay, so I get the point. But again, what is Tracey doing here?
She can feel my eyes boring onto her as she speaks. “I’m known as your makeup artist, so when you go around wearing black eye shadow…”
Again, another picture. I can’t watch any more of this, so I avoid it and just stare at her instead.
“…and keep turning up to events like this...”
Oh, God, it’s horrible. Someone save me from this torture.
“Then my reputation goes down the tube. I mean, poor Fred. He quit last week.”
“He told me that his mother was sick!”
Tracey blurts out, “She is. Sick of you going everywhere with your hair like that. I mean it looks as if you put a mop on top of your head. You have a beautiful face, stunning hair, and…”
She’s searching for the words, but as the photos clearly show—nothing’s stunning. I’ve gone full scale downward.
“It’s not that we’re saying that you’re not beautiful,” Ron interjects with that killer smile.
I swear, every time he talks there’s a little twinkle sound. His teeth are perfect—a little too perfect for my liking.
“You’ve not recorded in months. I mean, for an artist that’s rare,” John says. He’s the head of Waters, my record label, who will drop me if I don’t make a change. This is what the talks about. Tracey I can deal with cutting me—my label and agent, I can’t.
“What we’re trying to say…”
Mom starts crying and putting on the water works. “It’s just that she’s still grieving.”
I’m just about to ask her about what, but she kicks me under the table.
“It’s been hard for her the last few months. She just needs time.”
I start to nod my head. Silence will be my friend as my mom takes center stage. Damn! I never knew that she was an actress. She’s damn good at it. It works, because before I know it, they’re giving me six weeks to get my act together. Six weeks to lose some weight and six weeks to come up with a new hit.
It sounds so easy, but how much can realistically happen in six weeks?
“Thank you so much for the opportunity, but could we make it a little longer?” Mom’s tears turn into a smile—a wicked one at that. She really should get into acting. The crazy part is, Mom classes herself as being my manager too. She vocally states that she’s my manager, but she’s just my mom. I make her think that she’s my manager by financially supporting her and taking her wherever I go. Like here. One thing about this industry is that it’s tough, and anyone can turn on you any time they feel like it just to be one step ahead of the game. I’m a little naive when it comes to that department, but Mom isn’t.
She can tell me when someone’s taking me for a ride, what opportunities I should be grabbing, and the ones I shouldn't even think about involving myself in.
John blurts out, as the other’s nod around the room. But not Tracey. Her arms are folded and she’s not budging. Fine, because most of the time she makes me feel like a clown. I didn’t think that much of her makeup skills until she outed me and said that she wanted to dump me.
“Eight weeks, not a moment later and that’s a lot of time!”
Mom smiles as she takes my hand, probably trying to get out of the meeting before the label changes their mind.
Tracey says, “Well, I can’t wait that long. I need to move on.”
John nods, “I can understand that. Besides, I assume Kylie will be out of the picture for the next few weeks.”
Mom nods and says, “She will.”
Then we leave the room so that they can all talk among themselves. We get to the elevator and the doors open. Mom laughs. “We needed to get rid of Tracey. She wasn’t good at doing your makeup anyway. She always made you look like a clown.”
At least we agree on one thing. There just one issue. Mom’s promised for me to turn things around in eight weeks, and I haven't been able to do that in three months. I sigh as the realization hits me. I felt good walking out of the boardroom, but now I feel shitty thinking about my reality and not knowing what got me into this phase in the first place didn’t help.
“What’s that?”“Seriously, Dan, don’t ask me stupid questions!”He came over five minutes ago, and since then he’s been taking photos and laughing at me, and so have Chad and Martin. It’s as if he got the whole Storm Rocks posse with him. “No, I meant on your shirt. What’s that?” Since they came, I can’t even put Richard down. Every time I attempt to do it, he screams at the top of his lungs. Even Aria came back for a while and said that she would help Richard. Not me. She wouldn’t want him having a salad for breakfast. She thinks that I’m stupid. Richard’s a baby, so of course, he drinks nothing but milk. Anyway, I was glad to get out of there, when lo and behold, as soon as I handed Richard to her, he started crying again. I think that he must be my baby. He seems to know exactly how to wind me up, and now, I’ve got spit-up on me to prove it. “Ugh!” I put him down. I don’t care if he cries again—which he starts to do the moment I put him down. “Daddy, I could do with some milk
As soon as we get home, Mom doesn't stop talking. She sounds like a mosquito buzzing in my ear. Just like when we went to Egypt and the damn things would be buzzing in my ears. No matter how many times I swiped them out of the way, they would just get closer to my eardrum. “The thing is, you’re going to need to stay at the ranch. This thing is going to make you regret the rest of your life.”I’m twenty-four. I have so many years ahead of me. Being dropped by my agent, label, and even my makeup artist is not the end of the world.“Could you believe Tracey? I mean, to complain? She's not even that good, and she wants to get rid of me,” I say in my defense. She holds on to both of my shoulders as if she’s trying to wake me up from a nightmare. “You did hear what they were saying, didn’t you, dear?”I wish that she would stop calling me that. It must be the most condescending name ever, one that she never used until I came to stay at her house two weeks ago.“Yes, Mother.”“I wish you
Kylie’s just parked the car, and I’ve got Richard inside. I didn’t want to scare her from the moment I saw her. If I came out holding Richard, she might just get back in her car and drive home. I haven't seen her in the flesh in what feels like forever. She’s changed, really filled out. We haven’t spoken since that night. I’ve seen her on screen, and I’ve kept an eye on her social media, but that's been quiet for weeks. The only time we do talk on the phone is so that she can make sure that I'm not going to be somewhere. ‘Mom’s party. You going?’I don't want to trick her, so I always tell her that if she can’t make it, then I’ll go, and if she can, then I don't go. That’s the way it’s been for the last three years since Stephanie got married to my dad’s best friend, Terrance. I thought that she may change her mind about the situation. And for once just want to be in the same place with me at the same time.She looks sad in a way, not the singing sensation in bright lights. Even her
I feel like such a fool. I got my hopes up high. I thought that he wanted us to get together again. Or something? Looking after a baby never featured into the equation. I took the long drive here, and it made me think that he’ll think twice about what happened that night. Sure, it was three years ago, and I'm sure that he's moved on. But, a girl can only hope, right?I look horrible. I sigh as I look in the mirror in the bedroom. I've never thought that way about myself. Don't get me wrong, I don't think of myself as being the most beautiful girl in the world. My almond-shaped blue eyes and my long fair hair used to be the talk of the town. I’ve got full lips, and some used to call me angelic in the reviews. If they saw me now, they’d be calling me the complete opposite. I’m nothing like the girl he’s used to seeing, and part of me wanted to change before I drove down here. Mom was messing with my head, so I just threw as many things as I could in the suitcases and left. I wanted to
I came home and Kylie was fast asleep in the chair where I’d spent last night sleeping when I was checking in on Richard. I should have woken her up and told her that I was home, but there was something calming about watching her sit there. She looked at peace, not sad like when she first came to the house, and all I could think about was, why did she come if she didn't want to be here? I was tempted to call Terrance and ask him, but then I remembered that I only call him if I'm desperate—which isn't often. * * *I get home wanting to take a nap. I was exhausted this morning when I got up at five. Later on, I have to go back to the ranch, so I head to the kitchen and grab something quick to eat. Kylie’s already made bottles, and it even looks as if she's taken him out in the sling, the one that I’d planned on telling her about. I wonder where else she's been in the house. She seems to have made herself at home in one day. I didn't see her or hear them in the house, so they must stil
I’ve been here two days and I haven’t seen Noah. It’s like he does this disappearing act on me. One minute he’s here and the next he's gone. I only know he comes home because I get up in the middle of the night and hear him snoring like a pig. Damn! When did he get to be such a deep sleeper?I know that today I’m not going to let him pull the wool over my eyes. No way!I think that I’ve lost a few pounds already. I’ve been timing Richard’s naps, and I hate to admit it, but Mom was right. Noah doesn’t store any junk food, and there’s no Starbucks or McDonald’s within easy reach. I don’t have a car seat, so I’m forced to take Richard out in the stroller. He loves being in that thing more than the sling. I think it’s because he has the freedom to look around. He’s a curious little thing, that’s for sure, and it’s as if Noah can read my mind because he shows up midday.“Hey,” he says once again as he sees me. I realize that all the time I’ve been here, we haven’t even had a conversation.
After feeding Richard, I decide to head to the kitchen and whip us up a meal. Everyone says that I’m obsessed with my diet. That’s not true. It’s just that working on a ranch is hard going, so I try not to keep crap in the house. I don’t even buy beer. I must be the only guy in Texas who never buys beers. Drinking is for going out, and I find that there’s nothing lonelier than drinking alone, so I try and avoid it. “What you cooking?” Kylie asks as she sits on the kitchen bench. “Couscous, chicken, and some beans.”“Looks good.” I can tell that she’s not happy about it. “Only healthy produce here, baby.”“Yeah, I know it’s just what I need. Even my skin’s clearing up since I’ve been here.”“That’s good, right?”She shrugs. “I suppose.”Shit, I remember her being the most confident girl in the world—the one that would walk into a room and just light it up. I wonder what changed her? What made her give up? “I work on the ranch all day, and I need this to help fuel me up, or I’ll jus
Last night, I thought that Noah would come into my room, but after seeing to Richard, he just fell asleep on the chair. I didn't want to wake him. I wanted him to come to me, not for me to hint.But he never did. Maybe I'm misreading the signals, but I thought that there’s still something between us.As promised, he came back from working on the ranch midday, and we went for our walk. This place is so damn beautiful, part of me doesn’t want to leave. I know that Noah won’t say no because he needs help with Richard, but I want him to want me. Every so often, he just stops and looks at Richard, even when he’s crying. When I first came, he was acting like the competent dad, but now he kind of looks lost. We’re on the sofa crashing out because we know that we have around four hours before Richard wakes up and needs another feeding. “Kylie,” he says as he looks at me with fire in his eyes. I’m leaning on his shoulder, hoping that this is the moment that I’ve been waiting for. It’s as if