Lando held his promise and helped find me new management. Just a couple of days after our meeting, I wouldn't want to call it a date, he called me and told me his father would love to meet me in person to talk about options he had. I loved the idea, even though it made me somehow very nervous to think about meeting his father. I felt like it was something official, and Lando and I were just friends. But friends knew the parents of each other, don't they?
I was just getting ready to get going again in Fifi's flat when she walked into my room. I had just come back from a flat inspection yesterday in London, but it wasn't what I was looking for.
"What's up, looser.", Fifi greeted me with a grin on her face. I chuckled.
"Hey.", I said back and watched her sitting down on the bed through the mirror. I only needed to finish my mascara, then I was ready to leave again.
"What are you up to?", she then asked me and scanned my face through the window.
"I'm about to leave. Lando texted me to meet his father and him to discuss a possibility of new management.", I explained.
"Lando, huh? He did that?" Fifi wiggled her eyebrows. I gave her a slightly annoyed gaze, then turned around with a playful smile on my face.
"Yeah, he did.", I replied. "And I met with him some days ago in Woking, when I told you I'll be looking for a flat." My best friend looked at me in disbelief. Then she grabbed the closest pillow and threw it in my direction.
"You did what!", she almost screamed at me. I couldn't reply, so I let my laughter be the answer she got.
"You lied to me!"
"I'm sorry?", I asked more than I stated. "I knew you would freak."
"Ehm, yeah. You bet I would. That's the guy you like and you just get up yourself and got yourself a date!" She was so excited about this and I knew I had to stop her high soon. I needed to be honest with her and tell her that I turned him down. For now.
"It wasn't a date.", I set straight and looked at her in all seriousness. "Because I turned him down for now. Well, at least a relationship with him." Another pillow flew in my direction.
"Tia, what the hell!" Now Fifi was fully screaming and I was worried about the neighbours. I knew Fifi had some problems with them before, so I wanted her to stay quiet.
"Stay calm.", I told her and dropped the pillow to my right side, where the other one was laying on the floor as well. "It's just for now. I told him I needed to figure so many things out right now and I am not ready for another relationship yet. He completely understood and offered me to help." A smile appeared on my face as I remembered the words he used.
'I would never cut you out of my life. I would rather have you in my life as a close friend than not have you in my life at all. You're worth the wait.'
Fifi stared at me still not believing what I had just told her. When I focused back on her face completely, her face softened.
"He said something adorable, didn't he?", she asked me immediately knowing what was going on. I just nodded and continued to smile. "That's great."
"I know. I don't deserve him.", I said and stood up from the chair.
"You do deserve a guy like that.", she told me seriously. I laughed a little.
"Yea, you're right. I do.", I joked and flipped my hair back in a playfully sassy way. Fifi joined my laughter. Then I laid my eyes on the clock on my phone.
"Alright, I have to go. Talk to you tonight.", I said and grabbed my backpack from the other chair in the room.
"Alright, good luck. Or whatever you say when looking for new management.", Fifi said and I quickly thanked her before leaving the flat.
---
I was sitting in the small restaurant close to Birmingham that Lando told me to meet his father and him in. It was cosy, small and very nice to sit in. It was just outside of the city, so not a lot of people were walking by the glass wall that opened the restaurant to the street it was set on. I decided to order a coffee for the time I waited for the two Norris men and started to scan through the script of the new movie the old management had sent me just before I got out of the contract. Luckily, I personally had signed the contract for the new movie and the second season of toxic, so the management couldn't deny me from doing these two jobs.
Lando and his father arrived about 15 minutes after my coffee arrived. I watched them walking into the restaurant and closed my laptop while still watching them walking over to me. Adam, which was Lando's father's name, I learned, had a bright smile on his face as he saw me sitting at the table. I immediately felt less nervous. To my surprise, they had another person with them, a middle-aged woman, dressed in a formal black skirt, a white blouse and a navy blue blazer.
Her white high heels made a loud sound every time she took a step forward. Her stride was determined and confident, yet not intimidating. Her brown hair was laying perfectly styled over her shoulders. Black, round glasses were balancing on her nose and made her brown eyes look a little lighter through the reflection of the light on the glass. When the three of them stopped at the table, she had a big, warm smile on her face.
I had stood up just before they stopped so I could properly greet all of them. Lando smiled at me while introducing me to his father.
"So, Tia. This is Adam, my father.", he said and I turned my eyes to Adam.
"It's lovely to meet you.", Adam said and opened his arms for a tight welcoming hug. It felt amazing and much needed.
"The pleasure is mine.", I replied, just as brightly smiling as him. When we let go of each other, Lando continued to introduce me to the lady that joined us.
"And this Stacey Kane. She is a representative from a management company we thought you would like to get to know.", he explained and I smiled at Stacey.
"It's nice to meet you, Mrs Kane.", I said and held my hand out for her to shake it. She had other plans though.
"Oh, please. Call me Stacey.", she said first. Then added: "And I don't do handshakes. I'm more of a hugger." I laughed and hugged her as well. I didn't mind her attitude towards handshakes. I had the same opinion about it. They were useful for people you will never meet afterwards. And with Stacey, I had a good feeling that this wouldn't be the last time we would see each other.
"And this is Lando, by the way.", Adam then said and motioned to his son that stood next to Stacey and watched me hugging everyone except him. We all laughed at Adam's comment and I played along.
"Oh my god, you're that racing driver!", I said excitedly. "It's so nice to finally meet you." I stepped towards him and embraced him in a tight hug that lasted longer compared with the two hugs before. For one moment, I rested my head on his shoulder and smiled to myself.
"And you're that actress! I'm a big fan!", Lando also played along and we were still laughing as we all set down at the table again. Stacey was sitting across from me, Adam to my right and Lando to my left.
"It's an honour to meet you, Tia.", Stacey then started and I smiled. "No. I'm impressed by the work you did in Toxic and I believe you have a bright future in front of you. It's just a shame that we meet under these circumstances, with your old management and all that."
"Yea.", I agreed. "It was a shame what happened there."
"But how are you feeling now? Both mentally and physically? Maybe even emotionally?" Stacey's question overwhelmed me and even threw me off a little bit. I just didn't expect such a question from a manager. Julian or any other manager in my old management would have never asked me such a question. I knew that they never cared about me as a person and my health. They just saw the money, just like Lucas did. I needed to swallow at that thought, but other than that, I tried to not let the pain show.
"I'm better than right after all of this came out. Not fully back on a hundred percent, but I'm getting there.", I admitted truthfully. I saw Lando watching me out of the corner of my eye and he smiled a little bit as he heard my answer.
"That's great. I know you still have a long way to recover from all of that but I just want to make sure you know we would love to help you with that.", she then told me and I nodded. Her professionalism and care for me as a person impressed me. Even though I was still a little overwhelmed by the sudden change in management behaviour, I felt comfortable and taken care of. An amazing feeling, that was, I have to add.
"I think I would love to accept your help.", I admitted. "I know it might be very early, but I feel comfortable around you."
"Lando, I think we should let them talk in private now.", Adam said towards his son and Lando nodded.
"Yea, you seem comfortable, so we'll let you discuss in private.", Lando agreed and followed his father towards the little bar the restaurant had sitting in the middle of the room. I smiled at Lando as he looked back at me to ensure him it was fine for him to leave and that I was more than comfortable. I also whispered a 'thank you' towards him and he nodded with a smile.
"Now, I just like to start with hearing your plans for your future. I know you have the second season of toxic coming up and another movie. But other than that, are there any other plans or wishes you have for your career?" It was a little weird being asked that question. I never would have imagined being able to have a say in plans about my career. If I was being honest, I couldn't have dreamed about it a couple of weeks ago.
For the next thirty minutes, Stacey and I talked openly about my imagination about my career and what I wished for. We also talked about what I feared or was scared of, which was kind of crazy giving the fact that I had never talked about that in a professional setting. I was being raised with the fact that everything the management does was right and there was no way I could fight it. But I knew now that that was complete bullshit and there were managements out there that cared about their clients. In the end, we also talked about what doubts about anything I had left in me.
"Well, to be honest, I am kind of hesitating to sign a contract.", I explained my feelings openly. Right now, at the end of our conversation, I felt more comfortable speaking openly like that. It was not normal to me before, but I knew this was something I could get used to very quickly.
"After the entire lawsuit of just getting out of the contract with the old management, I am having my doubts about signing another contract. It has nothing to do with you or your company, I just have that old thing in my mind now." Stacey still listened to me carefully and nodded understandingly.
"I completely understand. And if I am being honest, I can't take that doubt away from you.", she answered in a caring, yet professional way.
"But I can tell you some things that might reduce that doubt. Before I would let you sign anything, I am inviting you to visit our headquarters in Manchester. This way you can get to know every single manager you would work with and even get to know the bosses of the company. You can get impressions about us yourself and get to know how we would work. And, if you do decide to sign with us, we would make sure to write in the contract that you can get out of it at any timepoint. Does that sound promising?"
"It does.", I replied and smiled at her. "That is very kind of you. Thank you so much." Her offers did take some of the doubts away from my mind. I knew that this management would work very differently from my old one, but I still needed to convince myself for a hundred percent before I would sing anything. I reckoned visiting them would take any last doubt away from me.
"My pleasure. If you would be up for visiting us in Manchester, maybe we can already set up a day that you would come now?", Stacey suggested.
"Yes, I think that would be great.", I said and we then compared our schedules to find a day which both of us fit in our calendar. To my surprise, it was sooner rather than later.
Just when we both set down the appointment in our calendars, Lando and Adam rejoined us at the table. Both of them had a smile on their faces. Lando scanned mine, but when he saw that I was still comfortable and happy about how the conversation with Stacey went, he relaxed completely.
"So, ladies.", Adam said and looked at both of us after each other. "We felt you were done with discussing details?"
"You're right, Adam.", Stacey agreed and stood up from her chair. I copied her movement and stepped a little closer to Lando. Stacey said her goodbyes to both Lando and me and thanked Adam once more for the opportunity to meet me. Adam told her he would bring her to her car. Then both of them were gone and I began to pack my things together.
"So, you look happy.", Lando remarked and watched me put my laptop back into my bagpack.
"I am.", I replied and looked up for a second to meet his eyes. "Stacey is so nice and humble and I think it would be amazing to work with her."
"So, you signed a contract?", he asked me a little surprised.
"No, not yet.", I sat straight. "She didn't want to push me into anything, so she offered me to visit the headquarters in Manchester. We set up an appointment and I'll visit them before deciding anything." I had started walking out of the restaurant. Lando followed me closely and hold the door open for me.
"That sounds amazing. I'm happy for you. You deserve good and supportive management.", Lando told me when we walked out onto the parking lot.
"Thanks, Lan.", I told him and he made eye contact with me as he heard his nickname from me. A grin appeared on his lips. We stopped in front of Adam, who was waiting patiently for us in front of Lando's road car. A McLaren of course.
"So, Lando.", he started and thereby got his son's attention. "Have you invited her yet?"
"Invited me where?", I asked interested and looked at Lando.
"No, not yet.", Lando answered his father a little ashamed. Then his head turned back to me.
"My family and I are having dinner today at my place. I wanted to ask if you wanted to join us?" Lando was suddenly a little nervous and shy. It was cute. A smile appeared on my lips now.
"I would love to.", I answered out of instinct. I didn't think about it too much and I also didn't want to.
"Great.", Lando said relieved and his smile grew even bigger. "I'll text you the details. Would you be okay driving there by yourself or should we wait for you?"
"I'll be okay. I mean, I need to get back from Woking to here again, so I'll drive myself.", I answered him and he nodded.
"Alright, great. See you tonight then.", Lando said. In the next moments, he had giving me another tight hug as a farewell. Adam did the same before I watched them drive off. The smile hadn't left my face. I was happy. Happy about how well the conversation with Stacey went. Happy about Lando being supportive, even though I had turned him down just before. Happy about being invited by Lando. And even happy about meeting his entire family tonight.