With determination and privacy granted by my location, I take my phone out and dial my mom’s number.
“Hey, honey,” she says when she answers. “How are you doing?”
“I’m good, Mom, and you?”
“I’m the same, which at my age is a pretty good thing. How’s Kay?”
“She’s good. We’re in Vermont this weekend.”
“Oh, that’s good. She likes it up there. I hope you can make it here for Christmas.”
“We’ll try. Mom, I called to ask you something.”
“Okay.”
“Do you remember when Tony came to our place to offer me the chance to play with the band?”
My question is followed by silence.
“Mik, honey. I think there’s something you should know about that weekend.”
Fuck. I knew it.
I take a stilted breath as she continues.
“Do you remember when I called a few weeks ago?”
“Yeah, the day I got caught in the rain.” The day I saw Tyler.
“I’d been working up the courage to speak to you, but then I lost it again. I’m so sorry it’s taken this long.”
“Mom, what happened?”
“Last year, I was clearing some of your dad’s stuff to remodel the office. Remember I always said it had the perfect lighting to be a library?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“When I was going through the drawers, I found something…a contract.”
“What kind of contract?” I ask.
“It was signed by Tyler. It was a contract where he signed over all the songs you wrote together to you.”
What?
“The songs? Why would he do that? Those songs were ours.”
“Honey, your dad made him do it.”
“Dad?” My brain is scrambling to make sense and coming up blank.
A heavy sigh comes from the other side of the line.
“Your dad was a stubborn, proud man. Not always the best father…or husband. He loved us, but in his own way. I want you to remember that. But he did something awful that I can’t condone, and if he was here now, he’d be served divorce papers.”
“What did he do?”
“The contract Tyler signed also states that he will have no contact with you ever, or he will be sued for the amount of the medical bills attached.”
