“What are you doing?” Miranda looked from Blind Pete to the rest of the band. Only the singer stood in the studio in front of a microphone. “No wonder you’re so badly over budget! All of you need to get in there and record it all in one go!”
Every face turned her way. Not one of them looked happy to see her.
Well, what did she expect? She had intended to approach them with a kindly, lighthearted demeanor. She’d set foot in the studio hoping to see them wrapping it all up. Maybe the billing she’d received was a clerical error. What a relief that would have been.
Instead, she’d walked in on a nightmare in the making. Not only had they not done the two songs she’d requested, they were busy re-recording one of the ones they’d already sent her. Worse, they were doing it in the most expensive way possible.
“We tried that,” the keyboardist said. “But we couldn’t make it sound good enough.”
“What are you talking about?” Miranda’s vocal cords tightened painfully. “You were perfectly fine with that awful video of yourselves when I made the offer.”
“That was just for practice. This is for real,” Tracy said. Tracy had been over to the house so many times that Miranda couldn’t help but learn her name. The girl might as well just move in with them the way Gene had.
“Yeah.” That drummer girl nodded in solidarity with Tracy. Kate. Right, her name was Kate. “Pete said this album would follow us all our lives.”
“Pete showed us how much better it is to record like this.”
“Pete.” Miranda drew the name out in warning. She could see where all the trouble was coming from now. He was probably padding the bills to give himself a bigger pay check. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time she’d seen it.
Still, though a little on the melodramatic side, Pete had always seemed to airy-fairy do gooder for that. She’d turned the kids loose with him because she’d trusted him.
“When they told me what they were doing, I volunteered to work for free.”
“Free?” Miranda made a mental note to give the bills a closer look. “But it’s costing an arm and a leg!”
“Well, the studio time…” His voice drifted off into a weak mumble. “It really is better to do it this way.”
“But I can’t pay for it! I don’t have enough money. It’s either do it my way, or pay for it yourself!” She addressed this salvo to everyone in the room.
Most of the kids visibly paled. The girl in front of the microphone on the other side of the glass pulled the mask that had been riding on her forehead down so it covered her whole face.
She hesitated. She didn’t want to be the bad guy here. Suzie would probably rip her a new one. But she didn’t dare just walk out and she would look like a total idiot if she just stood here. She had to lay down the law.
“Decide now. Either all of you get in that studio and produce the two songs I need, or all of you agree to pay for everything.” She pointed an imperious finger at the studio.
To her relief all the kids shuffled past her to filter into the connected room and pick up their instruments. It might not be enough to save her, but it was a start.
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