“What?” I asked.
“Things havebeen so easy breezy over the past two months that I was starting to forget whatthe old days were like. Butnowit feels like a Melody Morgan tour.”
Melody
Ipaced backand forth, phone in hand,desperately fighting the urge to call my sister. Harmony had made it perfectlyclear when she’d resigned as my assistant/road manager/firefighter that sheneeded to draw a healthy boundary line between our sisterhood and my career.Her decision to leave was rough on me but I’d understood it completely. To saymy life back then was out of control would be the understatement of the year.Hell, I would have walked away from the burning wreckage that was my life if Icould have.
After the“leaking” of my sex tape with Bam Nelson, followed by the incident with mystalker who ended up beingHarmony’sstalker, followedthenbymarriage and divorces numbers two and three, legal battles with my formerrecord label, then blah, blah, fucking blah, I was sicker of me than anyone.
“Come onMelody,” I said out loud to myself. “You’ve got this handled all by yourself.You don’t need your sister.”
I’d spent thepast three days calling everyone I knew, trying to find a suitable guitaristwith an open schedule, to no avail. Everyone in the band had exhausted theircontacts list as well. The problem was, all the summer tours had been bookedmonths ago, so all the top players already had gigs lined up. Plus, I wasdamaged goods. Of course, no one in the band was going to tell me that, but Iknew it was the response some of their buddies had given them. Who could blame them?My flameouts were as epic as my successes.
Then there wasthe fact that some people simply would never see me as anything other than a“child star.” I could hardly blame them. After all, I did start off in thebusiness when I was just four years old as the baby of the Morgan Familysingers. By the time I was fifteen I was the star of my own Dizzy Channel showand had signed my first recording contract as a solo artist. Within five years,I was considered a modern pop diva and ten years after that, a cautionary tale.A shining star reduced to fodder for the gossip bloggers and bottom feeders.
But I was in acompletely different place now. Mentally, artistically, and spiritually. Only,the world didn’t know that yet. This tour was my chance to show them who I’dbecome over the past three years. To show them the real me.
For this tourwe’d scaled back the stage production, big time. Partially because I was nowworking with a smaller label and a greatly reduced budget, but also by design.I wanted this tour to be more intimate and personal. Less of the three-ringcircus we used to take on the road, and more like bands back in the 90’s wouldtour. For the first time, I didn’t have dancers or my usual arsenal of backupsingers. The entire show would be carried by me and the five bandmembers onstage. Four if I couldn’t find a guitarist.
My thumb beganto cramp as it hovered over Harmony’s name.
“You don’t needher. You can do this,” I said, defiantly sliding my phone into my pocket,before immediately digging it back out and calling my sister.
“What have youdone?” Harmony answered.
“Oh, I didn’texpect you to pick up so quickly, I…” I stammered, caught off guard.
“Spill it.”
“I really didn’twant to call you, NiNi,” my voice began to quiver. “I know you’re not my tourmanager anymore and this isn’t your problem and I want to respect yourboundaries, and—”
“Hey,” Harmonystopped me. “Slow down. It’s okay. What’s wrong?”
“Are you sure,because if you want me to fuck off, I can figure this out on my own.”
“It may not bemy job to help you as a singer, but I can still help you as a sister, right?”
I startedsobbing. Like, super ugly sobbing. Gasping for air, snot shooting out of mynose, sobbing. I told her all about firing Gill and not being able to find hisreplacement, my worries about my new security team, and then eventually aboutevery problem I’d had so far putting this tour together. I was so busy beingexcited over the tour, I guess I hadn’t realized how much stress I’d beenholding in.
“Wow,” Harmonyreplied once I’d finished my mega dump.
“So, as you cansee. I’m doing a realwhiz-bangjob without you,” I said.
“Yes, you are,”she replied enthusiastically.
“What? I wasbeing sarcastic.”
“I’m not,” shesaid. “I have never been more amazed by you. The amount of work and dedicationyou’ve put into this tour? Are you kidding me? I’ve never seen you so focusedor passionate. Sure, you’ve hit a bunch of roadblocks, so did I, but you’veovercome every single one of them.”
“Except thisone,” I said. “I was lucky to find Gill, and now he’s gone, and I’m screwed.”
“He’s gonebecause you did the right thing. You protected that girl from a dangerouscreep. You put the safety of a stranger before your own needs, and I couldn’tpossibly be prouder of you.”
“Thanks sis,” Isniffled.
“Any time.Besides, I just won a hundred bucks in the ‘how long will it take for Melody tocall Harmony’ pool.”
“Shut up,” Isaid. “That’s not a real thing.”
