Colin shrugs. ‘It wouldn’t be too much. Just two extra dates across the capitals probably. London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Dublin, Belfast, Madrid, Lisbon, Berlin…’
Mimi shakes her head. ‘The current tour schedule is fine. I’m worried about Sienna’s voice if she takes on any extra shows. And she needs those rest days while she’s travelling.’
Colin purses his lips. ‘So, I should ask my assistant to stop working with the venues to make additional dates work?’
‘Yes,’ Mimi protests, gritting her teeth. ‘We didn’t agree to extra dates.’
I look at Mimi and her eyes are wide, gaping at the laptop screen. Speechless.
One minute until tickets.
‘Actually, you did. We have final say in everything as stated in Sienna’s contract.’ Colin is one step away from bringing up my contract on his shared screen and highlighting the clause in fluorescent yellow. ‘If Sienna needs days off between shows to see her little boyfriend, that’s not my problem.’
I bite my tongue. I want to tell him Luc’s not my boyfriend. That the tour is the only reason Luc and I are ‘together’. That I deserve rest as much as the next person. I’m not a puppet, or an Abba Voyage hologram. I can’t perform with as much energy as they want me to if I’m doing five nights in a row without a break. Or eight nights in a row where my only break is travelling to the next venue.
‘They’re not going on sale this time, but if there is a lot of interest in the tour, we will add them later,’ Colin grumbles.
‘No.’ Mimi’s foot falls off the ledge of the bar stool and hits the floor with a stomp. ‘I’m telling you now… If you force Sienna to do extra dates, she will not have a voice to be your circus animal after that.’
The page refreshes on Mimi’s laptop and tickets are officially on sale. I watch as the page displays how many tickets are left and it’s almost a countdown, going down bythousands every few seconds. We all watch it, Colin finally sitting in silence as he watches the page from his end.
At seven minutes past nine, the page officially declares there are no tickets left for the UK and Europe leg. Tickets for the international leg go on sale in January, when we’ve properly finalised the dates and seen what state the first section of the tour has left my voice in.
‘Well done, Sienna.’ Mimi hugs me tight. Jess does the same.
Colin’s lips pull together in a pinch. ‘Not as fast asUnlikely Silence, but at least it’s sold out.’
I fight not to roll my eyes.
‘Before you all go,’ Colin clips in just before Mimi hangs up the call. ‘I’d like to discuss the contract renewal.’
The adrenaline from the ticket sale is still coursing through my veins, my palms clammy and a lump lodged firmly in my throat which only intensifies with the mention of my five-year contract with the label coming to an end.
‘I’ll find time in our diaries which fits,’ Mimi offers.
We need to go and get ready for the next thing happening today: the surprise drop of the deluxe album.
‘What’s the point in waiting, Maria, when we can discuss it now?’ Colin asks, and Mimi’s back straightens hearing her full name.
‘You can’t catch us off-guard like this,’ Jess smiles politely. ‘We need proper time in the diary to discuss such important matters.’
‘I’m not asking you to sign a contract today,’ Colin shakes his head. ‘I just want to let you know that,whenyou resign your contract, there will be a new clause.’ He lets this land. Jess’s hand finds my leg under the table and squeezes. ‘We’ve decided to add a sort of… code of conduct clause, if you will. To ensure what happened with Benji and all the others won’t happen again.’
‘You want to put her under a morality clause,’ Mimi deadpans.
‘If you want to put it like that, sure.’
‘Not going to happen,’ Mimi replies. ‘Now, I will put time in the diary that works for everyone to discuss this properly, but just be aware, Colin, that Sienna will not be signing a contract which rules her personal life in that way.’
She hangs up before Colin can get another word in.
Mimi looks me in the eye. ‘That is not a conversation for today,’ she reassures. ‘But you’re not signing that contract. We’ll find another way.’
The plan didn’t work. I’ve put my heart on the line bringing Luc back into my life again for nothing.
I need to accept my career is coming to an end.
I take a bath to relax, to hopefully remove the adrenaline from my veins, everything that built up from the tour tickets and Colin’s comments. We’ve overhauled my image enough that people are interested in seeing me on tour. But not enough that my label doesn’t want to add a stupid clause into my contract. That they still think I’d ‘embarrass’ them with my behaviour. That they want an excuse to get rid of me as quickly as possible should I ever act astray again.
