She sat back in her chair, stunned. As much as she was still confused, hurt and angry with Sully, she couldn’t deny his penchant for making money. He had taken to business and finance like a fish to water that was disguised under a long-haired rocker.
She nodded and chuckled. “Doesn’t really surprise me. The guy is more brilliant than my classmates at Wharton or any Harvard MBA when it comes to things like this.”
Spencer nodded in agreement. “Yep. Can’t deny that. Now, he’s proposing a merch division for KMK. It’s a new idea, we haven’t had time to explore it because of his schedule, but I believe it’s viable. Pair that with our existing touring division and it could be very lucrative.”
She grinned. “Oh yeah, that’s viable and could make us big money. Wow. Ok, enough of that, let’s get to it.”
He smiled. “How’s Kendalle?”
She giggled. “She’s fine and open to hearing more about possibilities for her to work on the tour, so reach out to her and discuss it. I’ll give you her number before I leave. Why am I here? Talk to me.”
He pushed a report toward her. “Take a look at this and let me know what you think.”
She grabbed the document recognizing it immediately. It was a sales report from Diamond Records. She had seen thousands of these over her career. She never imagined she’d be looking at one for a single of her own.
She grinned, liking the progress she was seeing. The sales were much larger than expected. She glanced down and noticed a huge spike coming from a channel labeled ‘GTTM.’
She pointed to it. “Damn, this is a huge spike! What retailer is GTTM? Is that new? I haven’t seen that before.”
He nodded. “It stands for Gypsy Tango Tour Merch.”
She frowned, confused. “Huh?”
He leaned forward and folded his hands on the desk. He knew it would be better if he left it more generalized than specific to Sully spearheading the entire initiative. “The band’s management reached out to me. Sully and the band expressed an interest in promoting your single during radio interviews and during each show. I agreed to it. Sully started announcing it the first day your single dropped in stores. To make it easy for fans to purchase, they made it available at their merch table.”
Kit’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She shook her head, too stunned to speak. Spencer could tell she was wavering between astonishment and annoyance. He was quick to clear up her concerns.
He held his hands up. “It’s a pass through, Kitty. It’s merely taking up space in their merch booth. They aren’t taking a cut. They’re doing this for you.”
He met her eyes and nodded. “Because of everything you’ve done for their careers—this is their way of thanking you. It’s been a tremendous boost for your chart position and your sales, as you can clearly see.”
She stared at the report again. She knew in her gut that Sully was the ringleader of this entire movement. As much as she wanted to be angry with him and question his motives, her inner guidance system wouldn’t let her.
She knew the desire that pushed him to do this was pure heart and aimed at her success. He had championed her creative efforts from the start and she was quick to recall that.
She swallowed hard and looked back up at Spencer. “Ok. So what now?” She was desperate to snuff out the intensity of the situation and countered with humor. “Are we sending a thank you fruit basket?”
He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “Honestly hadn’t thought of that. I can do that if you’d like but that’s not why I asked you in here.”
His eyes met hers. “The band would like to showcase you in their last two shows—the L.A. shows. They’d like you to perform the single and two additional songs of your choice. They’re willing to learn the songs and soundcheck them with you before those shows. We’ve got a three-day lead going into it, meaning they’ll be back with plenty of time for you to rehearse with them.”
She stared at Spencer. “This was Sully’s idea wasn’t it?”
He sighed. “Now Kitty…”
She interjected. “No, I’m not mad. I understand his motives on this. I’m not questioning that at all. I’m merely confirming, Spence.”
He nodded. “It was his idea, yes.”
She thought about it for a moment and nodded. “I’ll do it. It will help the single plus build momentum for the album when it releases. This is something that Lew would have been drooling over. I’m a little nervous to perform my songs live, but you mentioned that we have three days and a soundcheck leading up to the shows. We can work out the kinks then.”
Her eyes then widened as she stared at her brother. “Shit just got real, Spence.”
He chuckled. “Indeed it has. Welcome to your new life as a pop star, Kitty.”
* * *
Camped out at the dining room table, Candice carefully watched Kit on the phone wondering whom she was speaking with. So much had transpired in the last few weeks with her termination from Diamond that it could be anything.
Kit’s cheerful expression quickly turned to a furrowed brow with a touch of sadness. She pretended to get back to business when Kit ended her call.
She hung up the phone and let out
