“You look rough. Wild party?” Taylor sat in the chair by my office computer.
“Everett was up all night with a cold. Nikki is going to take him to the pediatrician today.”
“Why are you here, then? Go home and help her.”
“I’ll probably cut out a little early, I just wanted to come in to check the presale numbers for the tour dates. The draft for the t-shirt design is supposed to be here today, too.”
“Alright, whatever you want to do. Since you’re here we can start practicing a few of the new songs for radio promo. My voice has been acting weird, too. We might have to drop the key for MMMBop.”
I turned to look at him. “We’ll do whatever you think we need to, but you need to take care of your voice. If you over strain, you might do irreparable damage. I guess you decided against the surgery your vocal coach recommended, then?”
Taylor picked up a Hans Solo figurine from my desk and started fidgeting with it. “Yeah. I just don’t know when I could go 6 or more weeks without singing. And there are risks to that as well. If they mess up, my voice is gone anyway. We’ve been working to adjust my technique so my voice doesn’t go out as much, but he thinks I should try to sing in a lower key as much as possible.”
“We are still far enough out that we can move the tour later into the fall or into next year, even, if it means you have time to take care of yourself.”
“No, I’m fine. I’ll just keep with the technique. Oh, shit. Sorry, Ike.” Taylor looked up at me, a piece of Hans Solo in each hand. I just shook my head. I had been dealing with him breaking my things since forever. I took the pieces out of his hands and laid them back on my desk.
“Don’t worry about it. I can super glue it back together.”
“Okay. I’ll get out of your hair before I break anything else.
“Wait. Is this Avery?” I had pulled up a few fan sites to check out the buzz around the tour, but found something I was not looking for at all. Avery was in a gay bar kissing some girl I had never seen before. She wasn’t even old enough to get into a bar. And by now she should know better than to kiss anyone in public, let alone another woman. Our fan base could spread a rumor faster than a wildfire, and do just as much damage.
Taylor looked over my shoulder. “Looks like it. I’m glad she’s getting out of the house more.”
“Jordan Taylor Hanson! Our sister is kissing another woman. Do you know what this could mean for the band?”
“She isn’t in the band, Clarke Isaac.”
“Yes, but unfortunately some of our fans can’t seem to grasp that concept. What if our parents see this? Mom will have a fit,” I slammed the cover of my laptop and shoved it into my bag. “I’ll go talk some sense into her. This could be very bad. You know a large part of our fan base are ultra-Christian. Those gay rumors about you were enough to make some of them leave.”
“Hey, calm down,” Taylor put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it until I sat back down. “She is young. I’m sure you remember some of the trouble we got into. We were just lucky enough not to get caught.”
“Smart enough, you mean.”
“Avery is smart. If she wasn’t, she wouldn’t be able to deal with band crap as well as she does. Look, you need to go home and check on Nikki and Ev. I’ll go talk to Avery. Taking at her with smoke coming out of your ears will just make her shut out anything you try to say. I’ll call you later.”
“I’m the oldest, Tay. I should go talk to her. It’s my responsibility.”
“I understand that you feel that way, but you have a responsibility to your wife and son as well. Let me help you with this one. It doesn’t make you a bad person to ask for help.”
“Alright, Tay. I’ll try to get these pictures taken down. Don’t forget to call me later and tell me what she says.”
“I won’t.”