Kirstie and Avi show up together. Kirstie, having graduated from Juilliard and wrapped up her last musical, is deciding between no less than four lead roles on Broadway. Maybe she's decided and she doesn't have to start until next season. Avi, though, he has a family. There's no way I'm letting him leave his wife and children to run around the world with us, and there's no way he'd do that. If he can come for just one month, though, or even less... it would be amazing.
I feel a little overwhelmed as Avi and Kirstie both hug me at once. They sit down, and now everyone's looking at me, waiting for some kind of reaction. "Explain. Please."
Kevin speaks up. "We all talked at your wedding. We miss you, and Scott says you still miss us too, and I thought, let's just make this work. The timing was perfect. Ebony was just wrapping up her work at Microsoft."
"She found a new job?" Of course she found one. It's been ages since Avi mentioned she was thinking about moving.
"In San Francisco," Avi nods. It's much closer to L.A. "She found it ages ago, but they needed to close their round B funding first, and she wanted to finish a work project. As I may have mentioned on several occasions," he gloats, "my wife is a genius." Yeah? Well mine is an international superstar. "She's at a video conferencing startup, and they really encourage telecommuting, which means..."
"She can work from L.A.?"
"From anywhere. The bus has Wi-Fi."
She's coming on tour? "What about your girls?"
"She wants them to see the world. It seems totally impractical, but Kevin, man, he makes things happen. He's arranged for a nanny/tutor, basically a governess, to come on the road with us."
Can he afford that? It seems like a lot. "That's a great idea. Can Scott and I pitch in?"
"The label is covering it," Kevin explains.
"Oh, you can absolutely pitch in," Avi smirks. "Just make the check out directly to me."
"Ha ha. Our label, though? Seriously? They would never. How on earth did you get them to agree to any of this?"
"I pulled some strings."
"You've always been good with strings, Kevin, but I feel like talking to our label is more like boxing than cello." They acted all whiney when I came on board, like I was going to cost more than I was worth, distract Scott, and lower sales. It was all just a negotiation tactic, and Esther knew how to handle it, but it's been an uphill battle every step of the way.
"Your managers are... They might be better suited to other work. They have more of a, uh, financial mindset." That's a nice way of putting it. "Esther assured me they wouldn't be willing to accommodate anyone else on tour when you're already selling everything out." They pay me a lot less than Scott, and if I want more, I have to go solo and start making money that Scott wasn't already making without me. "So I hired them."
"But of course!" What on earth is he thinking? "Why didn't I think of that? Just hire the money grubbing scoundrels! Perfect!"
"I've worked with a few artists who are pretty preoccupied with the bottom line, and I figured they could work well together. And if they can't, well, I can send them along. Esther will be managing us now. She can settle down with Darrien, knowing Scott is in good hands with you, Mitch. Kate will take over as tour manager."
"Is there nothing you can't do? What about your business, though?"
"It's not like I wasn't always away making music anyway. I have to go back in a week and wrap some more things up, and I'll still have to go to quarterly board meetings, but the chair of the board of directors will take over as CEO."
Right, so that's Avi and Kevin accounted for. Avi's bringing his whole family, and Kevin hired two new executives just to get them out of our hair. This is insane. Honestly, though, I can't say I wouldn't do exactly the same thing in their positions. "What about Broadway?"
Kirstie shrugs. "Been there, done that."
"And you loved it!"
"I mean, it was a love-hate kind of thing, and so is touring, but either you're letting me come with you, or I'm making all four of you join the cast."
"Let you?" I'd be begging if she weren't volunteering already. "What will we sing, though? What about choreo?" We don't have enough time. We can certainly do it; it's just not gonna be pretty.
"Nothing changes," Scott answers. "It isn't Pentatonix. Kevin will be a full-time writer, and Avi and Kirstie will replace our opening acts."
"We can't ask them for that, Scott. Every single one of you deserves to be headlining."
"Oh, I tried to tell them," Scott assures me.
"He did," Avi is quick to confirm. "On the list of my priorities, though, being famous doesn't even begin to compare to being with you guys."
I don't want to talk them out of this, but I can't quite believe what's happening. "It's not just fame, though." Headlining means more control, more autonomy, more money, more fans, and more momentum.
"This isn't my first rodeo, kiddo." I guess he'll still be calling me that when I'm 80. I mind a lot less now than when I was 19. "I know what I'm doing. It's up to you, though. Do you want to think ab—"
"No, no need. I want this." I nod resolutely and look down at my unoccupied chair. I'm supposed to sit here. I'm supposed to sit at a table with my best friends and talk about music. It's like we never parted, like there's nothing wrong in the world anymore, like everything that was ever broken in my life is whole again, just like that. I pull out the chair, but I'm not quite ready to sit. I can't just let go of everything, can I? It can't be over. I spent so long trying to accept my losses, and... screw it. I'm going to make the most of this. I sit down and lean forward. "Let's go."
