"Please. “
She closed her eyes and breathed heavily. What was that about? She thought, hesitated briefly, doubted. She couldn't have been involved in a meeting like that, could she? And what good would it do? I mean, Michelle had had enough chances, and she'd let them all go by. Worse, she had also ignored professional arrangements, contracts and had turned the whole project upside down. She had gambled away all credit.
"No. No!" Adolé shook his head. The sting of the injury was too deep. How did this French keyboard player imagine this? "At first she treats me as if I were a supplicant, but my career is at least equal to hers! Then she endangers our CD and our whole project. This is so irresponsible!
And then she wraps me around her virtuoso fingers, only to disappear from the picture at the end... And I fall for her, too!" Adolé again closed his eyes stunned. She still couldn't believe this had really happened to her. But that wasn't all. "And then she also expects that she only has to snap her fingers and I stand at attention when she changes her mind again?!
No! Not with me!"
Adolé took a deep breath. She sat up, grabbed her cell phone and blocked Michelle's WhatsApp contact without comment.
That's it for now. Once and for all!
20.
Since Adolé had fended off Michelle's last attempt to contact her, she had not heard from her again. On the one hand, she found this a relief, especially since she had not succumbed to her charms. On the other hand, she still thought of her, although several weeks had passed in the meantime. Her heart still jumped as soon as her thoughts strayed to her, but often she didn't allow herself these runaways.
Besides, she had enough on her mind. Now that the recording sessions for the record were officially interrupted, the studio musicians were released from their duties and the studio was no longer kept free, her daily appointments became more and more important - here a TV interview, there a charity event and repeated appearances in well-known TV shows, which further maximized her fame and popularity. Soon there could be no one in Germany who did not know Adolé Varell.
Michelle Mimieux had disappeared from her life as quickly as she had appeared. Adolé compensated for this loss with work and a sense of duty.
She was on her way with her driver to one of those talk shows that are very popular in Germany on Friday evenings when she received a call from Roswitha.
"Yes, please," she whispered happily into the receiver, knowing that Roswitha had set up one of her usual "I wish you all the fun in your life small calls". "Are you on your way yet?" she heard Roswitha ask. "Yes, of course, it's just about to start. You know, I still have to get into make-up, and we always get these short instructions at the beginning, what is allowed, what not, how we should sit and talk and what questions they want to ask, whether we agree with them. Bla bla bla. ", replied Adolé bored.
"Yes, I know." Roswitha replied. "But that's not why I'm calling. “. She took a creative break, a fact that made Adolé nervously sit up and take notice. Roswitha always resorted to these pauses in art when she didn't quite know how to tell Adolé bad news.
So Adolé impatiently reiterated: "Oh no... Then why are you calling so shortly before a recording?! Tell me!"
Roswitha pushed around a bit more and then took an audible run-up. She took a deep breath and then said: "Adolé, we still need a real hit on your project CD with your Frenchwoman. I know you don't want the contact anymore, and of course I understand that. Nevertheless, we still need a real lead, a song that will lift the CD for you from an insider tip and interesting excursion to a new level and also make your work a financial success that justifies all the effort. That's what we are missing so far and you know that...". She paused to wait for Adolé's reaction. She almost thought she couldn't believe her ears, but said only "You're not serious!"
"But little one. Look. You've had so much work on the album. It really turned out pretty good under such difficult circumstances, which wasn't to be expected, because the pianist didn't really participate and on the contrary was more of a brake than a help. Nevertheless, together with the excellent studio musicians and the technology, you really did a great job. You hardly let yourselves be distracted and conjured up a great album from the little you had. Let's now make sure that it is worth it for everyone...".
"So what do you want from me now?!" Adolé returned annoyed. She knew that it would be nothing that would get off her hands easily if Roswitha was already buttering her beard so massively.
She heard Roswitha taking a deep breath at the other end. "You need a hit. And I have two composers on hand who wrote one. I really think their piece is extraordinary - and it fits you perfectly. All you have to do now is work with them and make your song out of them. That's all," Roswitha tried to play down the fact that Adolé should go into the studio again together with Michelle.
"What?! You want me to take her back to the studio? We've been through this long enough! You know how this goes. "What the hell are you doing?!" she was outraged accordingly.
"Yes, I know, sweetheart. "Roswitha gave in. "I've already spoken to Ella about it, and she assured me that things would be different this time. Michelle will be there and will also be actively involved in the preparation of the pilot play. In the end at least the EUER will be a joint hit. And Michelle will be good. Ella has assured me."
"And you believe her again? That's what she said about the other pieces. Weren't we promised a completely different approach for the whole project? Better still - even contractually promised? You know yourself what became of it and how she behaved. All the work got stuck to the boys and me, not to mention everything else. I really don't need that again - I can do my records on my own, I'm better off and I know what I've got.
Roswitha could not help but agree with her. "Yes, I know, little one. And you're right, of course. But if we don't have this one shot, all the other drudgery was for nothing. Don't do this to yourself. Take one more bite of the apple and finish it properly. Then you'll have something to be proud of for the rest of your life - you and the st
udio musicians at least. At least think of them. You know that they are involved on a percentage basis and can make good use of that extra money.
When Adolé still didn't bite, she pushed afterwards: "I only ask you to try again. If it's another disaster like this, we'll call it off."
Because of the studio musicians, who had now really done everything humanly possible to save this crazy idea of cooperation, and because Roswitha assured her that she could stop the work if she tried and it didn't work out again, she finally reluctantly agreed. The press hadn't yet got wind of what had happened here for an extraordinary collaboration - at least externally. Adolé knew this could have been good publicity. Especially free publicity. Without it, they themselves would have had to drum up publicity for their project when the time came. So a real hit at the beginning of the release was actually a real plus.
She was torn. Over the last few weeks she had gained some distance from the events with Michelle and their unpleasant course - now she was again forced to expose herself to the pianist for a long time. She had to produce a piece with her that was good for something, that the public liked and that guaranteed that not only the single sales went up but also the album CD sales - and the downloads were an important aspect as well. A lot depended on this one track, so a good cooperation was the basis for the success of this track.
Adolé knew that Roswitha was right, as always: a successful first release would draw attention to the entire ensemble and their extraordinary idea, arouse the audience's curiosity and boost sales in all sectors. But for obvious reasons she had reservations and respect for the new start of the collaboration. And not least before meeting Michelle again, because deep inside she knew that no time in the world could give her enough distance to this extraordinary woman, too much had touched and hurt her core.
"Very well," she reluctantly added, "but we'll stop immediately if I think it's right. Without discussion!!"
Adolé sighed resignedly and let herself fall even deeper into the back seat of her car. As she looked out the side of the back window of the limousine through her dark sunglasses, she knew that not only the success of the entire project depended to a large extent on this one shot - perhaps the rest of her life as well.