Page 23 of Love on Tour
It was from Phoebe.Are you out with Austin?
Christine replied,Yes. How’d you know?
Phoebe texted back,Socials are blowing up again.
She pulled up Austin’s accounts and saw a comment from AGFan:The video awards date is with Austin again. And she’s on his bus. I don’t get what he sees in her.
AUSTIN4Ever replied,I just saw that pic too. WTH?
AGFan said,I don’t get it. He could have anyone. Why her?
AUSTIN4Ever said,Have you seen her thighs?
Every comment was like a knife sawing through her. She regressed to her teenage self and the negative feelings came rushing back. She shook them off. She was a successful, professional, adult woman. She needed to act like it and rise above this.
A third person, COUNTRYFANGIRL, said,In fairness, she’s not fat.
Well she ain’t thin!AUSTIN4EVER said.
Christine clicked on the link to the pictures. In one photo, she was getting off the bus in her big ol’ sweatpants and oversized T-shirt. Her hair was twisted up in a sloppy bun. Not a cute Victoria’s Secret model sloppy bun, either. It was a hair-sticking-out-all-over-the-place sloppy bun. The next photo showed her walking beside Austin. She looked better after a shower, but whoever had taken the picture must have been sitting down. It was taken from a lower angle, making her look like she had elephant thighs. Her legs weren’t twigs, but they weren’t that large, either. They were solid, average thighs.
Someone out here had taken these. But who?
“What’s wrong?” Austin asked when he looked at her.
She showed him her phone.
“This again?” he said.
Christine nodded.
“What is wrong with people? I’m going to tell them they can all go to hell.” He grabbed his cell phone and started typing.
“You can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re Austin Garrett. If you do that, you’ll lose fans. Just leave it alone. It’s not a big deal.” Christine had to think of Austin’s career and the fact that hers was tied to it.
“Bullshit it’s not. It’s a big freaking deal if people are posting crap about you.”
“Please, let it go. You’ll only make it worse. It’ll die down.” She continued pleading with him until he put his phone down.
“Let’s listen to some music,” she said.
“I’m letting Matt know about this,” he said, texting his tour manager.
Christine stared at him, willing him to let it go.
He exhaled slowly. “Okay. Here are the three songs I like the most. Two came from you and one came from another publisher. Three different themes and all different tempos,” Austin said.
Christine held her breath. Her anxiety level rose. If he chose the other publisher’s song, it could be eight to ten months before she could pitch to him again. Did Hit Songs Publishing have ten months to wait? She needed him to cut one of her songs but didn’t want to steer him. An artist had to pick the best song for their personality and sound. If that song wasn’t hers, she’d have to accept it.
He scrolled through his phone, connected it to the sound system, and played the three songs. Just like she did in her office, Christine silenced her phone, set it aside, and gave all her attention to the music. She intimately knew the two songs she had pitched but wanted to hear them in a different environment, along with the third song. Sometimes music was perspective, and this would give her some. She didn’t say anything until the final chords of the last song faded.
“I know I pitched it, but I really like the ballad. The message moved me. It’s a story song, and telling a story is what country music is best known for. It’s also what the format has been lacking in the last few years.”
“So that would be your choice?” Austin asked.
