Roswitha took the chance and interfered in the conversation. "It's absolutely out of the question for you to come out in public! Are you crazy?!" Roswitha was seriously upset. "You can see that the pressure is already too much for Michelle. And we're only here in a small circle. What's it going to be like when everyone knows about it and picks on her?!? " she argued angrily and only then started to really get into it.
"You know that not everyone will accept the fact that you suddenly want to live your life in a completely different way than you did before and that it is generally considered right?!!!? The hater in the social media will not take your feelings into consideration. And sooner or later this will have an impact on sales figures. After all you want to present your CD very soon.
She looked at Adolé piercingly. "I don't have to tell you how all this will affect your career. There is no one in German show business who has even remotely your calibre, who has come out of the closet so far. Not to mention that he or she would be successful afterwards. " Roswitha was actually angry and reacted more violently than Adolé had ever expected. "You're risking everything we've built up over the years. And as long as I'm responsible for you and your business, you won't jeopardize it!" Roswitha underlined the seriousness of her statement by repeatedly tapping the table with her index finger.
Adolé was surprised by the sharpness of the statement. She swallowed, but didn't let herself be bullied. "Yes, I know not everyone will like that. "But I don't care, I can handle it. I can do without those trolls, let them deal with it. They will not prevail and sooner or later lose interest. "To stand up to Roswitha took a lot of strength. "But only when everyone finally knows the truth, I will finally stop pretending and live someone else's life. It's worth it. That means freedom for me and honesty, not to speak of Michelle and her worries. “
Lovingly she looked at Michelle, who had slowly calmed down again. Facing Roswitha, she continued. "I don't necessarily like other people's concepts of life either. But I don't have to. I just have to deal with my lifestyle and be fully behind it. And I think I like my future lifestyle. It is true and honest and right and I can't change it. And I don't want to! " She made an elaborate pause and expected Roswitha to contradict her again. But nothing happened.
Into the general silence, Adolé was already determined after: "I have finally met the right woman with whom I want to share my life. And as sorry as I am and as grateful as I am to you for everything you have done for me so far: "You will not stop me from showing everyone who I really am and what makes me who I really am."
"Yes, Adolé, I will. You are contractually obligated to clarify and discuss such important strategic decisions with me and to obtain my consent in advance. But I can't give you that. And so it remains. And that's that.
With these words Roswitha stood up, grabbed her coat and left the restaurant without a word.
31.
She woke up alone in her hotel room in Hamburg and felt deeply miserable. While she tossed and turned restlessly back and forth half the night, she had to fight her way through a restless sleep the other half. Once again. The rest that sleep had given her in earlier days had become less and less to her in recent weeks. The unpleasant taste of last night's red wine spread on her tongue - a taste that had become all too familiar to her recently.
She turned to get up, but broke off again exhausted and let herself fall powerlessly back into the white fabric of the hotel bed-set. A narrow gap of bright sunlight broke through the drawn curtains, so that she had to squint her eyes. She breathed out with resignation and stayed crouched for a few minutes before finally dragging herself into the shower, completely exhausted.
Because of the lukewarm water that was splashing on her stressed body, she felt at least some spirits awakening again and that was good. She would need her strength. Today would be a long and exhausting day, like the awarding of the German music prize "Echo" every year. But this year's event would be very different for her from all the others - for one thing, she would go to this event alone for the first time. This time there would be no Julius at whose side she could present herself confidently to the fans and the press on the red carpet.
Although Roswitha, for strategic and contractual reasons, had rigorously refused to make Adolé's relationship with Michelle public and Adolé had finally reluctantly submitted to this, she had at least cleared the air and confided in Julius, with whom she was on friendly terms. At the same time, she had cancelled the agreement between them and asked him not to comment on her and their relationship until they had informed the press of their friendly decision to go their separate ways in the future, and Julius had thankfully kept to this decision.
On the other hand, Adolé would meet Roswitha today for the first time since their argument on Sylt. After the conversation in the restaurant in Westerland had ended so abruptly, they had only had purely business contact. Although Adolé often wanted to call Roswitha and talk to her, she had decided against it. She knew from experience - once again - that it was no use. Roswitha knew her contractual obligations and rights. And once she had made her decision, it was naive to assume that she could change anything by arguing on the phone. After all this time, she knew Roswitha all too well for that, and Roswitha was too much of a businesswoman for that, to throw overboard all the efforts she had made to build Adolé into a superstar.
Although she was also humanly disappointed in Roswitha because of this fact, she was angry with herself in addition to everything else in her heart, as she had ever assumed and expected that Roswitha could put her - Adolé's - personal needs above her business interests.
But what brought the barrel of her personal defeats to a head was a telephone conversation that took place a few days after the argument with Roswitha. She had called Michelle and explained to her that they had to put their relationship on hold for the time being - quasi for their own protection - again because of Matthieu and the fear that he might take the children away from Michelle. Of course Michelle had not understood this strategy. She had contradicted the whole plan and talked Adolé into believing that there must be another way. But Adolé had not been impressed and preferred to play it safe. Now that her plan to make everything public and Matthieu's secret knowledge worthless had failed, she did not want to be a risk for Michelle. She had already endured enough. So she had continued her plan to keep Michelle away out of love and since then she had ignored her calls, SMS and all messages by any other means, even though it almost broke her heart. But it had to be done. Otherwise she would blame herself one day, and Adolé was determined to prevent this.
And as if all this wasn't enough to make her lose her mind in desperation, this damned Echo event unfortunately took place in Hamburg, the city where she had spent so much time with Michelle during her recordings and where she had first met her. This awakened many common memories - beautiful memories, which now more than hurt her.
Again and again this senselessness almost made her despair - why had she finally found her soul mate after all this time, only to lose her again directly after such a short time? Fate obviously took pleasure in such twisted turns, leaving her at a loss. No matter how hard Adolé tried, she could think of no other way. It was simply too risky to continue her relationship with Michelle as if nothing had happened. Even if their meetings were secret, she would only expose them to the risk of incurring the wrath of her ex-husband. It just wouldn't work.
But even if they had only agreed to "put their relationship on hold" until then - it was only a matter of time for Adolé before they had to end it completely. What other way out would there be? It was just pointless...
But all this had taken a lot out of her, more than she wanted to admit to herself. The many sleepless nights since then had left their mark, not to mention the countless red-wine pregnant evenings with which she had had to comfort herself to sleep. But in the end she had to realize that there was no consolation - it was all very difficult to digest. It cost her infinite strength not to react to Michelle's many attempts
to make contact. But all the nagging didn't help, she had to get through it.
At least the new CD was released successfully and stayed in the Top 10 album charts for about three weeks without any promotion. This was already a tremendous success for the collaboration between a pop hit singer and a classical pianist.
Today promised at least some variety and distraction, because - unlike her last days - it would pass quickly due to the many activities. At noon she had a hairdresser's appointment, in the afternoon she had to try on her festive dress appropriate for the occasion and around 6 pm she had to start moving towards the event arena.
But as much as she was looking forward to the reunion with numerous esteemed colleagues and enthusiastic fans, the reunion with Roswitha was also in her stomach. She knew from the promoter that Roswitha would sit next to her during the show, relatively far in front and in the middle, as she always did, because normally she was one of the main nominees and therefore one of the main characters of the show. This time, unlike in previous years, there would be no performance by her, but thanks to the CD release, she would still be the center of attention.
That was a lot of time she would have to spend and bridge next to Roswitha during a show of about two and a half hours. The thought of it made her shudder. It wasn't Roswitha for whom she had respect, but for the unfamiliar situation - because she didn't know how Roswitha would even approach her and how they would get along, if she would talk to her at all. And all this always under the watchful eyes of the press and the television, which broadcast the show live.
32.
Adolé had left the red carpet behind him in his usual professional and friendly manner. The fans had met her as always friendly. Here and there a short greeting, now and then an autograph, a few selfies and then some press photos and she was already inside the event hall. On the way to her seat she first visited the toilet to check her appearance one last time and then went to the bar just to be prepared for the next hours. The toilet visit had been a bit difficult in her overflowing evening gown, but in the end it could be managed in a fairly mannerly way.
At the bar she had a drink of water and then headed for her seat in the second row of the hall, which holds around 16,000 people. When she reached her seat, she sat down and looked around shyly. The hall was already well filled, which was no wonder, as the show started in just over three quarters of an hour.
Until the beginning of the event, she talked to some colleagues sitting in the rows in front and behind her and then enjoyed the opening of the festivities, which were moderated by various musicians. Contrary to her expectations, she certainly felt well entertained at times.
Only after about half an hour Roswitha finally made her way through the filled second row, greeted her with a nod and took a seat next to her. Without saying another word, they then watched the next award ceremonies and acts together.
When the first opportunity arose, Roswitha turned to Adolé to ask how she was doing. In reply, Adolé merely formulated a brief "according to circumstances, just fine" and was herself astonished at her serene coolness. It was not difficult to notice, but the last few weeks had left a rift between them, a distance they had never known before. Although Adolé was uncomfortable with the realization, she suddenly noticed how strange Roswitha had suddenly become to her.
To distract himself, Adolé continued to concentrate on the show and tried not to think any further about the break that had obviously developed between her manager and her and what consequences it would have to entail sooner or later.
Fortunately the show picked up speed. The appearance of the next artist was already announced. Hastily a grand piano was pushed onto the stage, which was immediately illuminated by a single spot. The whole rest of the stage was dark, the whole hall was silent in anxious expectation of what was going to be performed next.
Adolé's heart almost burst when the presenter formulated his presentation from offstage.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud and happy to be able to welcome one of the world's most famous solo artists at the piano today. She is a star of classical music and has now finally turned her attention to light music. Together with Adolé Varell, she has created an unexpected but very artistic and entertaining album, which has reached number 3 in the album charts this week. Please join me in welcoming the French world star on the piano - Michelle Mimieux!!".
The audience gave benevolent applause, but was more reserved than usual. Adolé's heart was almost bursting with excitement. She hadn't counted on this at all. Until now, the Echo Awards had merely been a pleasant distraction from her recently dismal everyday life. That the event now took this surprising turn almost took her breath away. Aware of her public impact, Adolé applauded somewhat more enthusiastically than before - no one who didn't know the details would ever notice that she was torn by her emotions and didn't know about this performance in the slightest.
When the applause had died down, Michelle set to one of the classic piano pieces that were on their joint album. She presented it in a new, pepped up and very rhythmic new style. Adolé again saw, just like in the studio, what a gifted musician Michelle was. It was easy for her to find the right keys and take the whole hall on a musical journey. It was beautiful. Adolé secretly had to congratulate Roswitha once again on her unusual idea - even though she still didn't like to admit it, she had been right in her decision to take a risk and to go completely new ways with this collaboration. It was an offer of peace when Adolé put her hand on Roswitha's arm and said loudly in her ear: "You were right - she is really great!
Roswitha took note of the late confirmation benignly and thanked with a nod. In reply, she leaned in Adolé's direction and replied, "Thank you. I'm glad how everything worked out in the end."
Adolé was pleased to see that the pressure between the three of them had eased noticeably and that a certain basis for communication was emerging. While she was still thinking about it with relief, the play ended and the audience gave an enthusiastic applause. Adolé also applauded politely.
Thinking that the show would now safely continue with the next eulogy, Michelle unexpectedly took the microphone in her hand, rose elegantly from her seat behind the piano in her gorgeous evening gown and addressed the audience directly with her smoky voice and delightful French accent.
"Mes amis. Thanks for welcoming the new album so warmly. It has been released only three weeks ago, and although it follows an unusual concept, you have given it a real chance. From what I have seen and read so far, I can see how much you like it. I am very pleased. And my musical partner, who is right here in front of the audience, likes it too. Thank you very much for that." With the last sentence and a glance at Adolé, she made sure that all the spectators in the hall and all the cameras turned to Adolé at the same time.
Adolé's heart was beating like crazy. What was that? What was she doing? This performance and this speech left her speechless. She never expected any of this. But she was glad to be recognized. Also how the album was received by the public, that it was so well received and spontaneously made it into the Top 5, was a great success. This was not to be expected after all the difficulties and quarrels they had to deal with during the recordings. Secretly, she enjoyed show business as much as she rarely did at that second and was happy about the creativity and the opportunity to create something extraordinary. It was a terrific feeling to meet the taste of the audience before they knew themselves what they liked.
Again a huge applause filled the whole hall. Apparently the audience had taken the French pianist, whom they had only known in another context before, into their hearts. Michelle was still standing with her microphone at the very front of the stage.
She continued with what she had to say. "To be honest, the time spent here in Germany during the recording sessions was not the easiest. It took a long time for us to find each other, to know what we wanted and I realized how important these recordings are for me, for my whole life. Today, as difficult as it was, I wouldn't want to
miss this time any more. It all showed me what is really important in life and also what is worth fighting for."
With these words she went back to her piano, straightened her long evening gown, sat down and put the microphone back into the microphone holder with a muffled sound. Adolé, whose thoughts suddenly no longer revolved around the shared music recordings, but between what she felt for this woman and what was happening here, could not quite follow the whole thing. Questioning, with her mouth open and her eyes wide open, she sat next to Roswitha, stiff as a poker. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that she too had to fight with what was happening on stage.
Although both were well aware of the attention still being paid to them by both the cameras and the local audience, Roswitha slowly bent over to Adolé. Trying to maintain her posture and not be conspicuous to outsiders, she hissed at Adolé, smiling, "Damn! What's she up to?!!" in her ear and looked at her urgently. Adolé, for whom all this was just as surprising, raised both shoulders only briefly and almost imperceptibly and then concentrated again on the events on stage.
The Pianoplayer: A lesbian love story Page 15