Keeping Secrets

by Parker, Weston

  Clark took a step closer to him, and Craig winced, but Clark didn’t back down. “I’ve told you before and I’ll tell you again. I will stop recording. I’ll never make another album again if it means not going on tour with those assholes.”

  “What about the rest of your band? Would they let you throw everything away just because you have a problem with some guys in another band you wouldn’t even have to spend much time with?”

  “I’d have no problem stopping recording,” I volunteered. I’d still play, and that was all I needed in my life. I didn’t need to record what I played, not anymore. “The others wouldn’t have a problem either. They’ve all gotten offers since people know our contracts are up now that we’re done with the tour. They could take any of those.”

  “You’d really quit?” Craig yelled suddenly, spittle spewing out of his mouth. “You’d destroy everything you’ve worked so hard for when you’re at the top of your careers, over this?”

  I nodded silently, but Clark hadn’t run out of things to say yet. “I looked into why you were pushing this on us so hard. You were going to get a massive cut of our earnings, more than double what you made before.”

  Craig paled, but he gritted his teeth and pushed through. “You don’t have a choice here, boys. You’ve authorized me to sign certain agreements on behalf of the band and this was one of them. It’s done. All I need you to sign are the finer details concerning what compensation each of you will be getting and confirming your riders.”

  “It’s not done,” Clark seethed. “What is done is us. You can’t force a band to go on tour when there is no band.”

  My mouth dried up and I felt my stoicism crack. Is he really doing this?

  Clark’s gaze found mine, obviously seeking backup. I nodded because I was with him. I had his back, even with this.

  Of course, if Craig knew the truth about Axe, he wouldn’t have looked as utterly shocked as he did now. Clark wouldn’t have ripped Kraken apart over anything except for this, but this was pushing him several steps too far.

  Clark and I had a history with the boys in Axe, and it wasn’t a pleasant one.

  Axe had hit the bigger leagues a little ahead of us. Their first big hit had come out about a year before ours had. We were pretty neck and neck with them popularity-wise for a while there, though.

  But that wasn’t the problem we had with them now. It wasn’t some friendly competition or having to open for rivals. It was so much worse than that.

  We’d known those guys, played a lot of the same festivals, and even sort of became friends.

  Clark’s sister met them at one of our shows and we’d introduced her to them because why not?

  She’d struck up a friendship with their drummer, and when Axe started immersing themselves into the drugs part of the sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll lifestyle, so did she. She overdosed on the drugs the boys from Axe had gotten her hooked on not long after.

  The other members of Kraken knew the truth, but no one else did. The assholes hadn’t even called for help until all traces of Axe ever having been in the room with her had been cleared.

  So, yeah, we’d all start over at the pinnacle of what we’d achieved together as a band so far if we had to, but we wouldn’t be going on tour with Axe. There was no fucking way.

  It didn’t matter what it cost us or how hard we’d worked to get here. This was the one thing none of us were prepared to do to make it to the top.

  Craig sputtered for a few more seconds, then seemed to realize we were dead serious. With his face a worrying shade of purple, he grabbed his briefcase and stormed out of the studio.

  Clark massaged his temples, collapsing into the chair behind him. His eyes were filled with uncertainty when he looked up at me, and his voice was shaky.

  “Fuck, I can’t believe that really just happened.”

  I walked to the chair next to his, gripping his shoulder as I sat down so we’d be at the same eye level. “You did the right thing, bro. Really. We’re all with you on this.”

  “Yeah, but fuck, Cal. After everything we’ve both done to get this far? You must fucking hate me.”

  “Absolutely not,” I said, looking him right in the eye. He needed to see how serious I was. “I need a break from all this anyway. I have to figure out how to get my damn shit back together. Craig forcing our hands couldn’t have come at a better time for me.”

  A deep frown appeared between his eyebrows, concern and sorrow etched into the skin around his eyes. “What will you do? Whatever it is, you know you don’t need to do it alone, right?”

  “I think I do need to do it alone,” I said quietly, squeezing his shoulder before letting it go. “I’m going to go to Myrtle Beach. It’s where Alice always wanted us to be in my downtime, and I think Winter might be happier there. I don’t know why. I just think that if I’m going to get my shit together again, it will be there.”

  He nodded, understanding where I was coming from without needing any more of an explanation. He already knew it.

  “If you decide to do anything else, let me know?” I asked.

  “Of course,” he agreed. “Same goes for you.”

  “Of course.” I left Clark a few minutes later, striding out of the studio with a new-found sense of purpose.

  This was the right thing to do. I could feel it all the way to my bones.

  At some point, I knew shock over Kraken being gone would set in. But as I walked out of that recording studio for what could very well be the last time, I didn’t have a single fuck to give about turning my back on recording or on the life I had always imagined.

  Before going to pick up Winter later that afternoon, I called a realtor in Myrtle Beach and found a moving company in Los Angeles. Now that I’d made the decision, I wasn’t going to spend the next month or two getting things done.

  Urgency drove me now, egging me on. Thankfully, the one thing I had in excess was money and I threw enough of it at the various people I had to deal with that doors just opened left, right, and center.

  By the time I picked Winter up from school, we were basically all set to go. We had a few days of driving ahead of us, and if we made a road trip out of it and took some time to bond, our stuff would get there before we did.

  Winter gave me a huge hug when I arrived, allowing me to carry her to the car and strap her into her car seat without any fuss. I’d already packed the stuff we would need for the next week or so, and excitement over her reaction grew in my chest.

  “Guess what, baby?” I asked, turning over the engine and looking back to meet her eyes before pulling out of the parking spot.

  “What?” she asked, leaning as far forward as the restraints on her seat would allow.

  “You and I are going to get away from here for a little bit. You ready to go on a new adventure with me?”

  Her smile lit up her face, making her blue eyes sparkle. “I’m ready, Daddy. Let’s go.”

  Well, then. Goodbye LA, it is.

  Chapter 4

  Tiffeny

  “How about this?” Julia asked, dropping her spoon into the bowl of ramen in front of her and sitting up straighter. She looked proud, like she’d been hit by a wave of brilliance. “You hire strippers to bring in more male customers. Females are the primary demographic that visit both of our shops. If we can do something to bring in more men, you’d have your rent covered without a problem.”

  I laughed, sitting back in my seat in the ramen-noodle joint at the end of the mall we were in. It was our regular lunchtime hangout, cheap enough we could afford it without having to worry about digging too deep into our pockets to get a good meal every afternoon.

  “That might have worked if the strippers wouldn’t end up costing us more than what we’d make. I don’t know how many ice creams I’d have to sell to cover the cost of strippers for a few days, but I’m pretty sure the men aren’t going to buy that much ice cream. Or have their nails done, for that matter.”

  She sighed, but there was laughter in her e
yes and a smile on her lips. “Fine. What do you suggest for bringing more business to your shop? I’m all ears.”

  “I’ve also been thinking about the demographics of who my most regular customers are.” I took the bite on my fork, chewing and swallowing it down with a sip of orange soda as I thought about how best to formulate my idea. “Like you pointed out, my primary demographic at the moment is women. Young moms who bring their kids in from time to time mostly.”

  “Okay.” She motioned for me to continue, a spark lighting up her eyes. “So you want to think of a way to expand that market?”

  “Kind of. I was thinking that if I could get in a band or some live music, I could bring in more of a younger crowd. The shop could become the kind of place they could come to hang out, sort of like people used to do back in the day.”

  “You might be onto something there. Not with the band, but with the young mom thing.” She scrunched up her nose as she thought, holding up a finger to let me know she needed a minute. Once she had a few more bites of her food, she smiled. “How about going around to schools and local day-care centers? I’m sure they supply ice cream to the kids there sometimes. So why not buy it from you in the future?”

  “You think they would?” I frowned.

  I’d considered supplying in bulk before. I just hadn’t gotten around to doing it yet.

  It was a good idea. It would be much easier to make enough money to cover my rent if I wasn’t selling cone by cone but tub by tub to people who bought a few tubs at a time. Maybe it was time to reconsider the bulk sales.

  I sold tubs of ice cream in the shop but only to customers who were already there and looking to take some home. It wasn’t wholesale business the way this would be, and best of all would be that I wouldn’t need to lay out a heap of capital on something I didn’t know for a fact would work.

  If I did it right, I’d be able to meet with local schools and day-care centers before I actually started making the ice cream. I’d know for sure they were taking an order before I spent any money at all on it.

  “If I can combine that with some kind of loyalty or incentive program, I might even be able to get more feet into the shop,” I said. “Like giving people a stamp card and every fifth ice cream is free.”

  “If you make it every tenth, I definitely think it can work,” Julia said, grinning like mad. “And while those loyal customers of yours are there, they might decide to pop in next door to have their nails done while the little ones enjoy their free ice cream.”

  My lips drew up higher than they had since Joseph had given us the news. “That’s genius. I can’t believe we haven’t done any of this before.”

  “Me either,” she said, but then she shrugged. “I guess it’s because we got stuck in our comfort zones. Why try to drum up more business when you’ve got enough?”

  “Exactly. Maybe Mr. Nicholson’s rental increase was the kick in the butt we needed. We’ve been too complacent.”

  She pointed her spoon at me. “You know I don’t know anyone else who uses words like complacent in everyday conversations?”

  “That’s why you love me so much,” I said.

  Julia shook her head and struggled to hide her smile. “Girl, you own an ice-cream shop right next door to where I work. You don’t need to look any further than that to know why I love you so much.” She winked, then sighed when she saw the time as she glanced down at her watch. “Damn. My next appointment is in five minutes. We can keep brainstorming ideas later, but I have to go.”

  “Go. I’ll get the check and see you later.” Julia and I ate there so often that we never bothered arguing over the check or insisting on paying our own portions anymore. It took way too much time and energy. I knew she’d pick up the check next time.

  After paying and heading back to my shop, I immediately pulled up a list of all the day-care centers and schools in the area on my computer. Painstakingly rummaging through them and visiting their websites to get a feel for each, I narrowed it down to three places to try first.

  Calling every school in the county and trying to set up and get to meetings with all of them would result in me having to close the shop too often. Besides, this was a targeted effort. I was bound to yield more results this way than just cold calling every school around.

  The first place on my list was an elementary school who put me through to their cafeteria. I waited with bated breath but was let down after I’d explained my idea. “I’m sorry, ma’am. We’ve already got someone who supplies our ice cream. Leave me your contact details and I’ll call you if we ever need someone else.”

  Disappointed, I rattled off my number and wondered if I’d been overly optimistic before. Realistically, I knew people could get their ice cream from many places. My shop was attractive to some because the ice cream was handmade and I was always playing around with new flavor combinations in addition to the usual, but schools didn’t need much more than chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla.

  Any one of the suppliers they already used could supply a couple of tubs of that. Unfortunately, they could also do it at a better price than I’d be able to offer.

  I couldn’t give up just like that, though. I had to keep trying. The fate of my shop depended on it.

  The possibility of having to approach my parents for help made me feel like I was trying to breathe underwater. It was completely suffocating.

  One of the reasons I loved my shop so much was because it was mine. I’d decided on the type of business I wanted. I’d found and leased the space. I’d designed the logo myself and spent months sourcing all the producers I bought from.

  I didn’t want anything more from it than what it was. I only needed to make enough money to keep going and to be able to cover my expenses. I wasn’t an empire builder and I didn’t want to be one.

  Under my parents’ guidance and control, they would try to turn it into the next big thing. They’d brand it, franchise it, and do it all under the guise of giving me what I want: to have my own ice-cream shop.

  Sighing as I clutched my phone, I dialed the second number on my list. I got a similar reaction from them, but the lady I spoke to was much kinder about it.

  “Why don’t you try some of the private schools in the area, dear? They might be interested in more exotic flavors and their students might actually give a damn about it being handcrafted.”

  I smiled into the receiver. “I’m planning on looking into that next actually. Thanks so much. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

  “You too, sweetheart.” The woman hung up, leaving me mulling over what she’d said. I really had thought about it between the walk from the restaurant and the shop, but I’d decided to stick to this part of the plan first.

  The private schools had more money but with more money came more drama. If I needed to, I’d take that route.

  If I could avoid it, though, I wanted to try. Not only because I knew the crazy kinds of demands kids in those schools could make but also because it felt like that was dipping a toe into my parents’ pool.

  It was a little too close to their circles for comfort, but it was an option I was willing to leave open. If push came to shove, I’d start calling them tomorrow. While I’d rather not call them, I’d still rather get a private school as a client than having to call my parents or be forced to close up shop.

  The last place I had on my list for the moment was a day-care center not too far away. It was in a nice, family-friendly neighborhood that wasn’t overly swanky but where people definitely lived comfortably.

  The center was on the outer reaches of the geographic area I thought I should be targeting if I was going to try to pair it with an incentive scheme, but it wasn’t too far away. The strip mall we were in was only a few miles away from them.

  It was probably too far to randomly bring a child for some ice cream, but it was close enough to bring a child who already loved the ice cream and might get some kind of reward for coming here. I still had to figure out what the reward would be, so I wouldn’
t mention it yet, but I really was hoping to increase the traffic in the shop itself at the same time.

  “This is Tomorrow’s People,” a professional-sounding voice said. “Anna speaking. How may I assist you?”

  “Hi. I’d like to discuss your menu and catering with someone please? I’m not a parent. Don’t worry. I’m a potential supplier.”

  “Ah, you’re going to want Ms. Austin then. She’s our manager. Just a minute.”

  True to her word, I was on hold for no more than a minute before another women’s voice came over the line. I explained my idea to her, then held my breath as I waited for her answer. If she rejected me, I didn’t know what I would do.

  “That sounds like a wonderful idea,” she said. “Would you be able to come in for a meeting later this week to discuss it? We’re always looking for new and innovative ways to give our center that little edge above the competition, and this might just be it.”

  I punched the air in victory and felt a massive smile creeping onto my lips. “Yes, I’d love to come in to meet with you. When would you be available?”

  Ms. Austin and I quickly hashed out the details, and when we hung up, I released an incredulous laugh into the air. I’ve done it. I’ve really gone and done it.

  Fine, it was only a meeting, but I knew this could be just what I needed to save the shop. I would have to make sure that I did whatever it took to turn this meeting into a resounding “Hell yes.”

  Chapter 5

  Callen

  Winter’s warm body was still curled up beside mine when I woke up the first morning in our new house. She had her own room but had gotten so used to sleeping in my bed on tour that I’d felt her come crawling into bed not long after I’d come to bed.

  I didn’t mind it, though. The tour, constantly moving from place to place, and then moving again so soon after we’d come off tour had been a huge upheaval for her. Eventually, we’d transition her to sleep through the night in her own bed.