Chapter 11

While we waited for Mr. Eaves to figure out if we had a case or not, Warren and I worked out a plan, or at least the beginnings of a plan. We’d try and pick a region to the west that was close enough to drive to, but far enough that MAC would have limited contacts there to interfere with us.

The real problem was that meant places that were far enough away that we couldn’t make it a ‘day trip.’ We didn’t have time to put together a tour or really even bundle gigs in one area, so we’d have to do one-off shows, and probably sacrifice two Blue Ridge shows for one out west. While shows at actual clubs tended to pay better than the Blue Ridge, they didn’t pay twice as well, so for a while, we’d actually be losing money. Our hope was that, over time, we’d build up a following in that area and be able to start playing larger venues and actually make headway. If we were lucky, we could do that in a year and open up options the following year for a real tour, using the contacts we made during the year.

The other problem, besides the money, was that Warren didn’t actually know any club owners or anyone else outside of MAC’s area. He was still a professional and knew how to talk the talk, but a lot of this business was about relationships, and he needed to build those relationships, which would also take time.

We’d decided to split up some of the work, since I was home and had the time. I was going through websites, phone books, venue listings, and anything else I could find, trying to track down clubs and find a workable phone number for them, if I could. He had some ways to find those I couldn’t, but having the names of places helped him a lot. For now, we’d yet to decide on which region we were going to target because it was unclear how many clubs and venues we would find in one area.

Our best hope was going northwest, toward Eastern Missouri, northwestern Tennessee, and southern Illinois, all of which were fairly well populated and had the most venues. The problem with that was that MAC had regular contacts as far west as eastern Illinois, and they’d done some business a little further west, so targeting that region might not get us clear of their influence. Going straight west didn’t get us much, since it was mostly Tennessee and Northern Arkansas, which was a lot of open country and, outside of Memphis, not heavily populated.

Our last hope was southwest Tennessee, which still included Memphis, but also northern Mississippi, and northern Alabama. MAC was weaker in the south in general, so they didn’t have as much business west of Atlanta, which might mean we could add some of eastern Georgia into the mix. While still not as populated as the more northern option, it was better than going straight west, as far as options went.

What all that meant, for now, was that I had a huge section of the country that I needed to research, going city by city and county by county, trying to find any club, bar, or venue where we might have even a small chance at getting a booking, which also had music that wasn’t too different from our style of music. After a couple days, it was clear how massive the work ahead of us was. I’d only found a handful of good contacts so far, and only marked off one actual city from my growing list, and this wasn’t filling me with a lot of hope.

I was actually glad when the doorbell rang, allowing me to step away from the computer. I would have thought differently had I known who was on the other side of the door.

“Hey, Charlie,” Sydney said when I pulled open the front door.

For a moment, I didn’t say anything, I just stood there staring at her in surprise. Sydney was the last person I expected to find standing on my porch. We hadn’t spoken since our bitter breakup right after my mom’s funeral last year. While it hadn’t ended with yelling or breaking things, it had been brutal, at least from my end. Even though I’d clearly ended things in my head and had no interest in ever dating her again, seeing her there, on my porch, brought all the hurt and betrayal right back to the surface.

“I’m back from camp,” she said, shuffling her feet and not quite meeting my eyes. “Just got home today and I thought I’d come and ... uhh, check on you.”

“Why?” I asked bluntly.

I don’t know if she was just that nervous, or if my less-than-friendly response took her by surprise, but she didn’t answer right away. I could understand why she’d be nervous, but I just couldn’t fathom why she’d think to come by and see me, considering how she ended things.

“I’ve had some time, this summer, to think about us,” she finally said. “I made a mistake, Charlie. I shouldn’t have broken up with you, at least not the way I did. You’d just ... everything you went through, it was cruel. I made a mistake.”

“So you came to apologize?” I asked, still not getting the whole purpose of her being here.

“No. I mean, yes, I did want to apologize, but ... breaking up was a mistake. I let my dad get in my head and everything was so confusing. I’ve realized that I still really do like you and was hoping we could ... I don’t know, try again.”

I stared at her in disbelief. While I was all for people changing their minds, she’d ripped my heart out just after I buried my mother and while everything was falling apart for me. How anyone could drop someone they claimed to care about in their darkest moment, and come back after they’d had to pick up the pieces on their own, was beyond me.

“Sydney...” I began carefully. “I appreciate you realizing you made a mistake. But you can’t take back what happened. You left me at the moment I needed you the most. You can’t just say I’m sorry and expect everything to be okay. A lot has happened since then. A lot has changed.”

“So you wouldn’t be willing...” she started to ask, but I cut her off.

“No. I guess I appreciate you deciding I was worth a second chance, but I’m with Kat now. I’m not the type of person who’ll just drop someone on a whim, or if someone else comes along.”

That was a low blow, and a little mean, but I didn’t care. She’d made her choice and she had to live with that.

“So you were so heartbroken that you immediately jumped into things with Kat?” she demanded, her expression hardening.

“Whoa, pump the brakes there,” I said, holding up my hands. “You’re the one who broke up with me, remember? I didn’t end things between us.”

“But you always insisted you two were just friends.”

“We were, at the time. Things changed very recently, not that it’s really any of your business anymore. Kat was there for me when everything was falling apart, and we’ve gotten closer because of it. Hell, I needed someone I could lean on after the people who supposedly cared for me just dropped me cold.”

Sydney crossed her arms, glaring at me. I could tell she was furious, but I wasn’t about to apologize. She had no right to be angry about who I dated. I was serious when I said she’d made her choice.

“You expect me to believe that we were together for most of the year and a month after we broke up, you just happened to develop something with her?”

“I don’t care what you believe, because I don’t have to answer to you for anything. I’ll say it again, since you can’t seem to remember. You broke up with me, not the other way around. You don’t get to be upset about who I end up dating after that. Hell, you left me after my mom died, while I was being wrongfully tried for her death, after I lost my music contract, and after I’d been kicked out of school. You knew all of that and still chose that moment to break up with me. Only one of us has any right to be angry about how things ended, and that’s not you.”

She swiped at a tear that escaped from her eye and was trickling down her cheek. For a second, part of me felt bad. I didn’t hate Sydney, and I even understood why she’d done what she’d done. But the rest of me knew I didn’t do anything wrong, and she didn’t get to come at me now that she regretted her decision.

“Look, Sydney, I’m sorry this upsets you,” I said. “But you’ve gotta understand, you made your choice when you broke up with me. I needed support with everything I was going through, and instead, you left.”

Sydney opened her mouth to respond, but I held up a hand.

“Let me finish. Too much has happened. I don’t hate you, and I think, in some way, I’ll always care about you. I really did like you, but I’ve moved on, and I need you to do the same. Maybe one day we can be friends again, but for now, I need space. Take care of yourself, Sydney.”With that, I stepped back inside and closed the door softly but firmly. I felt bad for her, but I wasn’t going to let her come back into my life and pretend like nothing happened, and I definitely wasn’t going to let her try to take the high road, getting mad because I was with Kat.

Monday morning, I finally heard from Mr. Eaves about how to respond to MAC’s interference in my career. I hadn’t been sleeping well the last several days, probably because of how worried I was now that we’d finished the gigs set up by Willie, coupled with how worried I was about Willie’s condition. So when I finally did fall asleep, I found myself sleeping much later into the day, which is why I was still asleep when the sound of my phone ringing startled me awake.

I blinked a few times, momentarily confused before reaching over and grabbing my phone. I saw Mr. Eaves’ name on the screen and hit the accept button.

“Hello?” I mumbled.

“Charlie, it’s Arthur Eaves,” his brisk voice said when I answered. “I was discussing the possibility of a new case against MAC that Warren brought me, and we both thought it would be better if you were on the call at the same time, so this doesn’t have to be repeated twice. I have Warren here on the line with us.”

I sat up, all the sleepiness washing out of me. I’d tried to be patient, waiting to hear from him, but it had been difficult. We’d managed to find a few possible gigs in St. Louis, but with eighteen hours of round-trip driving, a Saturday gig there would mean losing at least two Blue Ridge shows, and none of them paid enough to make staying overnight actually worth it. Hopefully, this call was how we could get MAC to back off and let us get back to work again.

“Tell me you found something we can use to sue them,” I said immediately.

“It’s possible to sue anyone over anything, but this won’t be like the last lawsuit you had against MAC,” Mr. Eaves replied. “For one, trying to sue a company for various anti-competitive actions is a lot harder when they’re small. If they were larger, there are various trust and monopoly laws we could use, but companies are allowed to work out exclusive deals with vendors to limit a competitor’s access, as long as the vendor has a legitimate choice in the matter.”

“But threatening to take away all their performers isn’t a real choice! How can that be considered legitimate?” I asked, unable to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

“That isn’t the legal definition of the word, unfortunately,” Mr. Eaves replied calmly. “For one, it’s not all of the venue’s performers. Given the relatively small market share MAC holds, they do not have enough influence to make it impossible for venues to operate without their artists. There are enough artists signed with other labels, or unsigned artists, to give venues options. So the threat of withholding those artists from a venue isn’t considered coercion in the eyes of the law.”