Page 53 of Baby Blue
“He’s gonna be a funny dad,” Toady said innocently.
But Blue caught his comment.I hope I’m a good dad, he told himself. One glance at the sleeping baby in the carrier and he knew he was well on his way.
Apparently Anne forgotabout his phone call because she never asked about it after she got off work that evening. Blue was sort of glad. He didn’t want to tell her and then have her disappointed. But he hadn’t forgotten. He’d spent about three hours researching AlexWynn, and he’d discovered something important.
The guy was no fake. He was about as high on the mucky-muck scale as anyone could be in Nashville. There were pictures of him all over the internet with all the Tidal Wave recording artists, mostly at big-name awards programs. Even more important to Blue, there were pictures of him with songwriters at the awards programs too. It seemed Tidal Wave had a habit of hiring highly successful songwriters, and Blue wasn’t just impressed. He was hopeful.
He left at two thirty the next day and made his way down the city streets toward the coffee house. Pulling into the parking lot at ten before three, he was surprised to see AlexWynn’s car already there. He unlatched Indigo’s carrier from the car seat base and carried her into the shop with his diaper bag over the other shoulder.
Alex seemed surprised to see him with a baby. “Well, hello there! And who do we have here?” he asked, leaning down to get a good look at infant.
“This is my daughter, Indigo.” Blue waited while a young employee set up a child seat holder, and once he had the carrier in it, he sat down.
“Would you like some coffee?” Alex asked.
“No, that’s okay.”I don’t have any money for their coffee, Blue thought. He’d looked at the sign when he walked in and it was expensive.
Alex patted him on the shoulder. “Nonsense. Come on and drink something with me.”
Blue sighed and shrugged. “Okay. Columbian roast, black.”
“Good choice.” He watched as Alex went to the counter, ordered, and then came back to sit down. “Could I see some of your other work?”
“Sure. I brought my binder with me. It’s full of songs.” Blue pulled it from the diaper bag and handed it to Alex.
“These are good,” Alex said, flipping through the pages. “I mean, I’m a musician myself, and I can hear these in my head. And they’re really, really good.”
“Thanks. I’ve been doing it most of my life,” Blue told him.
Handing the binder back, Alex sat back in his chair and said, “So I’m not going to beat around the bush. HankChamberlain is very interested in your work. But the game has changed.” One of Blue’s eyebrows shot up and he waited what seemed like foreverbefore Alex said, “He doesn’t want to write with you. He wants you to writeforhim.”
This is not happening, Blue told himself.I’m imagining this. He couldn’t think of anything clever to say. All he came out with was, “I see.”
Alex thanked the server as she set their coffees on the table. “So here’s what we’ve come up with. We want to pay you up front for at least three songs, and he’ll choose. Then we’ll put you on retainer for more. They may come out of your current catalog, or they may be new things you write.” Alex pulled a folded letter-sized piece of paper out of his pocket and slid it across the table to Blue. “It’s all broken down. Payment for the first song, then retainer for one song every quarter, more if you’ve got them. Each additional song will be a bonus. He has to like them and agree to record them before you’re paid. But we already know he wants to record the one you sang at the bar.” Blue sat stone still. “Well, go on,” Alex said. “Open it.”
Blue took the paper and unfolded it. When he looked down at the figures, he blinked a couple of times. No. That wasn’t possible. It had to be a mistake. “But this is?”
“A lot of money.” Alex laughed loudly. “Yeah, I know! It is a lot of money. And if songwriting comes easy for you, then you could make a lot more. Oh, and we have other artists who are always looking for new material, so if he passes on a song, we might be able to find someone else who’ll like it and you’ll get paid for that too. But Tidal Wave has a long-standing reputation for paying writers well. Sure, we need singers, but if all they have to sing is crap, we get nowhere. The songwriter is every bit as important as the singer. What’s your initial reaction?”
Blue could barely breathe. Without really thinking how he sounded, he murmured, “I think I just pissed myself.”
Alex exploded with laughter. “Oh my god! Don’t do that!” He just kept laughing while Blue’s head reeled. “So I’ve got a checkwith me for the initial amount. That’s for the first song. You can sign this offer and then we’ll draw up an official contract. I’ve got a copy, so you sign mine and I’ll sign yours. When it’s all settled, we’ll have to fly you to Nashville to sign everything else. Interested?”
The roar in Blue’s head was abating and he had something he had to force out. “Under one condition.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
He took a deep breath and glanced down at his sleeping baby before he said, “That song? The name can’t be changed. It has to always and forever be Indigo’s Lullaby. I won’t compromise on that.”
Alex gave him a gentle smile. “Before I leave here, I’ll make a picture of the two of you together to show to Hank. Once he sees that, I think he’ll be fine with it.”
“So where do I sign?” Blue asked, and Alex pointed to a line at the bottom of the page. As he signed it, Alex signed the other copy and handed it to Blue. In seconds, the documents were signed and Alex handed him a check. “Here you go. I’ll be in touch in a few days. In the meantime, do something nice for yourself and for that baby. Take your wife out to dinner. The Tidal Wave family is proud to have you as one of ours. I see great things in your future, Blue.”
“Thank you, sir. Thank you so much,” Blue said, shaking Alan’s hand and waving as the man left. He opened the envelope and looked at the check, and the room started to spin.Keep your shit together, Wallace, he told himself.
He could barely wait to show that check to Anne.
The soundof her car in the driveway woke Blue and he stumbled to the door. He opened it just as she turned the knob and she stepped inside, then turned and kissed him immediately. “Wow. A guy could get used to this,” Blue mumbled against her lips and kissed her again.
