On the night of April 24th, a combination business meeting and going away party for Celia was held at Pauline’s house. The Nerdlys were there, as was Jake and Laura, as were Celia and Greg. Everyone took turns holding little Tabby and talking business for a bit before any alcohol was served.
“Living and Talk will both be released for sale on Tuesday, May 3,” Pauline told them as they sat at her dining room table. “The suits at Aristocrat are still bitching about the order of song release for promotion, and the fact that we’ve made no videos for the songs, but bitching is all they’re doing. The promotion campaign proceeds as Jake has dictated.”
“You would think,” said Nerdly, “after the significant measure of success KVA enjoyed with Jake in charge of promoting the last albums, they would embrace his methodology.”
“You would think,” Pauline said, “but we’re talking about record company suits here. Their opinion is that Struggle and Down would have sold twice as many albums if only record company professionals would have been in charge.”
Jake shook his head in disgust. “Leave it to them to scoff at triple platinum for me and quadruple platinum for Celia. It can’t possibly be that I know what I’m doing here. They write it off as luck. They won’t even acknowledge that our tunes and engineering are what made those albums. They think we just accidentally blundered into the right gimmick for the times.”
“They’re a piece of work all right,” Pauline said. “In any case, once Celia hits the road this week, I’m expecting over-the-top sales on Talk in every city she visits. You ready to shine, girlfriend?”
“I’m ready,” she said. “Eager to get out there and start playing.” She frowned a little. “I still think they’re screwing me on the whole air travel between venues deal.”
“They’re leasing a plane and a flight crew for the exclusive use of you and the band,” Jake said. “How is that screwing you?”
“It’s a tiny plane,” she complained. “With propellers! I understand that my contract said they would fly us from venue to venue by first class or private, but I really wasn’t expecting them to interpret private as a goddamn puddle jumper.”
“It’s a King Air 350,” Jake said. “That’s a nice plane. It has a bathroom and everything.”
“That’s your qualification for what’s a nice plane?” she asked him. “If it has a bathroom?”
“Yeah,” Jake said. “You’ve been in my plane, right? No place to take a leak there.”
“I know,” Pauline said sourly. “I seem to remember a flight with you where that was an issue.”
“You see?” Jake said. “Paulie agrees with me.”
“How is the tour doing anyway?” asked Greg. “Have they left for Phoenix yet?”
“They rolled out last night,” Pauline said. “The Phoenix Suns are playing their final home game of the season the night before the show, but the arena should be ready when the crew starts setting up on the morning of the 27th. That show has sold out America West Arena. That’s nineteen thousand tickets sold. Word is that the scalpers are charging up to eighty bucks a ticket.”
“Hey, not bad for a show where I don’t show my tits or dance around and lip synch,” Celia said.
“Exactly,” Pauline said. “And you’ve sold out all of the dates for the next two weeks after the Phoenix show. Of course, Aristocrat credits their concert promotion department with this.”
“Naturally,” Jake said with a shake of the head.
“Hey, as long as the paychecks keep coming in, right?” Pauline said.
“Fuckin’ A,” Jake agreed.
They moved on to the next item on the agenda: Project Brainwash. Jake was in charge of securing lodging for the members of the band from Providence, who would be arriving in Los Angeles on June 6, families and children in tow. They discussed a few details of the itinerary for that. The band would stay in a hotel in LA and occupy KVA Studios for two weeks so Jake and the Nerdlys could help them pick ten or eleven solid tunes from their repertoire to record. They would then move the entire operation to Coos Bay to begin laying down basic tracks for those tunes. Obie agreed to rent the studio time for them at his standard rate and Jake managed to secure the same house on the cliff KVA had used before, though the actual bedroom assignments were still up in the air.
“We’re on budget with this Brainwash thing then?” asked Greg. He was not a fan of the project—he considered it far too risky to KVA’s capital—but had accepted that they were going forth with it over his objections.
“So far, so good,” Pauline told him. “Although the real grinder is going to be how much studio time will be needed and what sort of promotion royalties we’re going to have to pay once we get masters in hand.”
“Both things to worry about on another day,” Jake said.
“I think we should at least open a discussion about this now,” Greg countered.
“If we stop talking about business now, we can start drinking,” Jake replied.
“I move we adjourn the business part of the gathering then,” said Pauline.
“Seconded,” said Celia.
“All in favor?” Jake asked.
The vote was unanimous. Even Greg was ready for a drink.
About an hour later, Greg and Jake were sitting out on Pauline’s deck, watching the windsurfers ply across the lake while they sipped scotch on the rocks and smoked cigars. Greg seemed a lot less stressed these days and he and Celia seemed to be speaking to each other a little more.
“It looks like you and C are getting along better?” Jake asked him.
“There’s still a strain,” Greg said, “but we’re moving in the right direction now. She still won’t talk about ... you know ... what happened up in Alaska or what it means going forward, but she’ll hold a civil conversation with me now. And her interest in sex has come back. Thank God for that.”
“Oh yeah?” Jake asked, unsure whether he should be happy about that or jealous.
“She’s actually been quite amorous of late. It started that night she came home after going out shopping and to the spa with Laura.”
“Really?”
Greg nodded. “I’m not sure what happened that day, what those two talked about, but it obviously had some sort of effect on Celia. That was when she started speaking to me again. And it was right after she got home that she ... well ... she resumed our sexual relationship with a passion.”
“Hmm,” Jake said. “Laura didn’t mention anything about any deep conversation they might have had. She can be pretty insightful though.”
“Well, I thank her for whatever she did. One odd thing about it though.”
“What’s that?”
“Well ... it’s kind of private,” Greg said. “Maybe I shouldn’t discuss it.”
“Oh come on now,” Jake said. “You can’t bring up some shit like that and then shut it down. Give it up.”
“Well ... ever since she resumed having relations with me, she ... well ... she’s become kind of obsessed with ... you know ... oral sex.”
“Oral sex?” Jake asked. “You mean sucking your dick?” That would be odd indeed, as Laura had certainly developed that same obsession since returning from tour.
“No,” Greg said. “The receiving of oral sex, not the giving.”
“You mean she wants you to eat her pussy out?” Jake asked. This was still odd. Laura had chilled a little with her aversion to this act over the past few weeks, but she still never asked for it to be done like she used to.
“That’s right,” Greg said. “She wants that all the time now. It’s how we start out every session.”
“Are you complaining about this?” Jake wanted to know, thinking he’d eat at Celia’s Y all day long if she wanted him to.
“No ... not really,” Greg said, “although my mouth and jaw do get a bit sore at times. I do enjoy participating in that act. I just think it very strange that she suddenly developed this obsession with it. Any thoughts on where something like that might have come from? Something Laura might have said to her to trigger it?”