A month later Kris still believed that Zac and Ginger were trying for a baby, and Taylor had no idea that both girls in the house were pregnant, despite the fact that the mood swings were becoming painfully obvious. Three days before the wedding, Isaac and Roni arrived. They were going to be staying in the guest room until after the wedding when they returned to Tulsa. Taylor and Kris were finally moving out of the apartment, which upset Ginger quite a bit, but it turned out they'd purchased another penthouse suite at an apartment complex just down the road, walking distance from Zac and Ginger's home. Ginger cried when they started moving their things out, which made Kris cry, and Taylor and Zac had to leave to get away from it.
"I'm going down to the studio," Zac said the morning Isaac and Roni arrived. "I have to talk to Peter about this band thing."
"Do you want us to come with?" Isaac asked. He was sitting with everyone else in the living room.
"Nah," Zac said. "I doubt he'll want anything to do with me for the rest of the day. I'll bring you two along tomorrow." Zac took a sip of coffee out of his travel mug. "Anyway, I'll see you guys in a bit."
"All right," they all chorused. Zac smiled and left. He went downstairs to his car, where he drove the short way to the studio. Traffic wasn't too bad, considering it was much later than Zac usually left. He just wanted to get this meeting over with so he could go back home. Peter was not going to be happy about this. Peter was just like all the other record company executives Zac had come across during his career. They all wanted to take an idea and ride with it forever. Zac had always hated that.
He pulled into his usual space at the studio. He sat in the car until he finished his coffee, then got out and walked into the building. Ellen the receptionist was sitting at the front desk, looking very bored as usual. Although she insisted she was always on the phone with someone or another, whenever Zac passed her she was never doing much of anything.
"Good morning, Zac," Ellen said. "How did your promotions go?"
"Wonderful," Zac said. "Just wonderful. Is Peter in?"
"Yes he is. He's expecting you. He's in his office upstairs. I'll let him know you're here." Ellen picked up the phone to call Peter, waving Zac to the elevators. He walked into one and went upstairs. When he arrived at Peter's office on the top floor, Peter was waiting.
"Zac! Good to see you," Peter said. "Come on in." Peter sat behind his desk, leaving Zac to one of the chairs in front of it. Peter did it this way for a reason; he wanted to make Zac feel inferior. It never worked on Zac and this time was no different. "How's work on the new single coming?"
"It's making progress," Zac said. "My sister's going to be in town for my brother's wedding, so we're planning on shooting the video after the wedding."
"Great. So you said you had some changes you'd like to make on the new album. Isn't it a little early to be thinking about the next album?"
"It's never too early to think about the next album," Zac said.
"All right, so what would you like to change?"
"Well," Zac said, shifting in the chair. He was unsure of how Peter was going to react to this. "I was thinking of getting a new band." Peter opened his mouth. "There's nothing wrong with the band I have right now. I'm not having any problems with any of them. It's not that. I just want a completely new band. Right now what I have in mind is for me to go back to my drums while I hire a new pianist and guitarist. I'll also be hiring new singers."
"What's wrong with the singers you have now?"
"Nothing!" Zac said. "I'm just going for something different. They're not going to be back-up singers, they're going to sing lead with me." Peter eyed him carefully.
"So what you're saying is that you want a new band and other lead singers? It sounds to me like this next album is not going to be a solo project."
"Yes, that's right." Peter sat back.
"Do you have anybody in mind?" Zac nodded. "Who?"
"I was thinking�Taylor and Isaac Hanson."
"No," Peter immediately said. "No. I signed you as a solo artist, Zac. I did not sign Hanson."
"All right. Then I'm not making a second album." Zac stood up.
"No, wait, wait, Zac," Peter said. "Sit down." Zac sat back down. "Zac, you have to understand where I'm coming from. On the Balcony has sold fifteen million copies and it's only three months old. That's amazing. Both of your singles have dominated everything in music lately and you're up for four Grammy awards."
"Yeah, yeah�" Zac had managed to hide this from Ginger since the nominations were announced in early January. He was too busy to go to the announcements, but he found out he was up for four awards and they wanted him to perform. The award show was still three weeks away, which just might give Ginger enough time to find a dress, if he told her right away. He didn't want to. The success of his solo album put too much of a cloud on him because he wanted to do music with his brothers again. "But I don't want this success and you know that."
"Then why'd you agree to the contract, Zac?"
"Because it would be stupid to pass up money like that," Zac said. "This is what I want to do, Peter, and I'm sorry if you don't like it, but this is the way it's going to be. Either the next album is a Hanson album, or it's not getting made at all. I'm sorry it has to be this way."
"All right," Peter said, sitting back. "All right, you can have what you like. I really can't stop you." Zac cracked a smile. "I'm going to have to speak with your brothers, you know that."
"Yes. They're both in town for the wedding on the 15th."
"All right. We should meet�" Peter opened the date book that was on his desk and looked through it. "Tomorrow. Is tomorrow at noon good?"
"That's just fine," Zac said. "We'll see you tomorrow at noon." Zac stood up as Peter did. Peter shook his hand.
"You do realize you're all splitting your pay for that album."
"Yes, Peter, I realize that," Zac said. "Pleasure doing business with you, sir." Zac turned around and left Peter's office. He walked to the elevator with a smile on his face. His smile quickly faded however. He'd all but forgotten about the Grammy awards and he knew the moment he told Ginger about it she was going to be incredibly upset because he didn't mention it sooner.
He took the long way home and when he arrived everyone was still hanging out in the living room. Lively bunch of people, he thought. He walked into the room and everyone looked up at him. He wasn't used to having so many eyes on him. "How'd it go?" Taylor asked.
"Well, he agreed, like I thought he would," Zac said. "It took a little coaxing, but he still agreed. We're supposed to be meeting with him tomorrow at noon. It's just going to be some boring little official meeting, nothing big. Is that okay?" He looked at Isaac, who nodded, and then looked at Taylor who also nodded. "Great. Ginger, can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Sure baby." Ginger got up and Zac took her into the bedroom. "What's up?"
"Um�you know the Grammy awards are in a couple of weeks, right?" She nodded. "You're going to have to look for a dress."
"Zac, I've been looking for a dress," Ginger said. "I think I found one, I just have to go back and check it out."
"How'd you know you were even going?" Zac asked. "I never said anything."
"It's obvious, Zac," she said. "You've got a new album and it's very successful, I figured you'd be going. Why didn't you say anything anyway?"
"I just didn't say anything," he explained. She snorted.
"Nice, Zac. So, what are you doing there? Do they want you to perform or something like that?" He nodded.
"Yeah, they want me to perform," Zac said. "And�I'm up for an award." Her eyes grew.
"Zac, that's wonderful!"
"Four, actually."
"Four? Oh my God! How come you never told me?" She hit him.
"Ow!" He rubbed his arm. "I'm sorry I never told you. I just don't think it's a big deal. I don't think I'm going to win or anything�"
"That's crazy talk," she said. "Of course you could win." Zac shrugged. "Well I'm glad you finally told me. I would have shot you if you would have waited any longer."
"Yeah, I kind of figured that." She smiled.
"So are you excited?" He shook his head. "No! I'm excited!"
"You've never been to one before," he said. "It just doesn't mean as much as it used to. I don't care if I win any awards. This whole music thing�it's just kind of something I do so I don't drive you crazy." She smiled. "Oh, and you're going to have a killer dress to top last year."
"I didn't go last year," she said.
"No, but I went and I took Gwen. People are still talking about her dress." Ginger put her hand on her hip. Whenever Zac mentioned Gwen she did that. He didn't like to bring her up�she was still a very touchy subject�but when it came to the Grammy awards, it was hard not to. "I don't mean to bring her up but Ging, she was a big hit last year and I think they're expecting me to bring something just as spectacular this year."
"Something spectacular?" Ginger asked, her voice rising. "Something spectacular? Is that all I am to you? Something?" "No! You know that's not true! I'm sorry!" he said. "They expect you to be spectacular this year. That's what I meant to say."
"But that's not what you said," she told him. She huffed and turned around to leave the room.
"Ginger!" he called after her. "Ginger, come back here! Ginger! Laura!!" She stopped and turned around.
"Don't call me that," she said. "And don't worry, I'll be something spectacular. No anorexic supermodel slut is going to stage me up." She turned around again and left the room. Zac sat down. Taylor came in.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I don't know," Zac said. "I made the mistake of dealing with Ginger while she's pregnant." Taylor paused and Zac realized what he said. "Oh my God�"
"Ginger's pregnant?" Taylor asked. "I thought you two were still trying."
"No, she's pregnant," Zac said. "Don't tell Kris yet. Ginger wants to tell her." Taylor shrugged.
"All right. So is she just having a mood swing?"
"Probably," Zac said. "You see, I made the mistake of mentioning Gwen again�"
"Yeah, that's true. Ginger gets in a bad mood whenever Gwen's mentioned, pregnant or not." Zac nodded. "Why'd you mention Gwen again?"
"Because Ginger and I are going to the Grammy's and you can't mention the Grammy's without mentioning Gwen's dress last year. That thing was just as notorious as that J.Lo dress."
"Yeah, that was a killer dress."
"Yeah�" Zac stood up. "I better go talk to Ginger."
"I'd let her calm down first." Taylor walked to the door and opened it a crack. Zac heard Ginger screaming. He nodded.
"Good idea." He sat back down.