The little boy paused then took another step towards the sand.
“Now!” roared Jake.
“Still pushing the boundaries, I see,” laughed Paul as Jesse trudged back up onto the sun deck.
“Yup,” nodded Jake as he scooped his son up into his arms. “Do you want to go back on the time out bench?”
“No,” replied Jesse tearfully.
“Then behave, young man. Final warning.”
“I be good,” promised the child, choking back tears.
“Ok. Go and tell your Mommy that Maddy and Paul are here.”
By mid-afternoon, almost all of their guests had arrived, the BBQ had been lit and both Lori and Kola were down under the gazebo assisting with the shell painting. Music was filtering out from the sound system in the sunroom. Like all parties at the beach house, everything was totally relaxed, adding to the family feel of the gathering. Glancing round, Jake realised that Rich hadn’t arrived yet and neither had Scott. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Jesse making another bid for freedom round the side of the house. Before he could get to him, he heard a voice, “Hey, tiger, where you going so fast?”
“You got him, Rich?” yelled Jake as he made his way down the path, the pavers burning his bare feet.
“Yup,” said Silver Lake’s guitarist as he appeared from the driveway with the two-year-old under his arm. “Where do you want him?”
“Nailed to the deck,” stated Jake bluntly. “You need eyes in the back of your head with this kid.”
“Put me down!” protested Jesse, wriggling furiously under Rich’s firm grasp. “Down!”
When they reached the deck, Rich let the little boy down. He scowled up at the guitarist then said sourly, “Want Mommy.”
“Go and stay beside her then,” suggested Jake. “She’s down on the beach painting. Go help paint some shells.”
“That’s girl stuff!”
“Once the girls have finished up, I’ll clear the tent away and get the football out,” promised Jake, trying to be fair. “If you don’t want to paint, go sit on the deck with Jethro.”
“I paint!” declared Jesse without hesitation as he ran off in search of Lori.
“Still scared of Jethro?” laughed Rich as they watched the little boy disappear.
“Looks that way,” replied Jake with a grin. “Want a beer?”
“Just soda for now,” said Rich. “When I leave here, I’m heading down to Florida. Going to drive down to Maria’s. Spend some time with her.”
“That’s a hell of a drive.”
“I’ll break it up. Maybe take two or three days to get down there. Got a few stops I want to make.”
“Get down where?” quizzed Grey from his chef’s post over at the grill.
“St Augustine,” replied Rich. “Going to head down there straight from here to stay with my sister.”
They were interrupted by Melody’s arrival up on the deck, “Daddy.”
“Yes, Miss M.”
“You promised you’d paint a shell for me. I’ve kept one especially for us to do,” began the birthday girl. “Mommy says we need to do it now so she can lay them out to dry.”
“Ok, I’m coming.”
With all the shells painted and spread out on the garage floor in trays to dry, Jake and Paul dismantled the gazebo and makeshift tables. Soon the arts and crafts area had been transformed into a beach ballpark as all the members of Silver Lake played with the kids. Fast on his feet, Jesse was usually the first to run off to score a “touchdown” with Jake hot on his heels. Balancing little Anna on her hip, Kola commented to Maddy and Lori, “Hard to tell which ones are the kids.”
Laughing, Lori had to agree as Maddy added, “The boys need to run off some steam too. That last tour took its toll. Nice to see them relaxing for a change.”
“Were things really getting that bad?” asked Lori, conscious that Jake had revealed very little so far about the last leg of the “Elements” US tour.
“Things were strained,” admitted the band’s tour manager. “They were bitching at each other. Rich seemed a bit off. Moody. Quiet. I just put it down to too long on the road together. I was starting to feel the same. The Silver Bullet was getting kind of cosy.”
“Grey said he was worried about Rich. Said he kept going off on his own or just lying in his bunk,” added Kola softly.
“Think they all just needed some personal space,” said Maddy. “I know I sure as hell did.”
“Well, they’ve plenty of space now,” laughed Lori as she watched Jake sprint down the beach, clutching the ball, with Becky in hot pursuit.
As the sun sank lower in the sky, all of the guests were sprawled over the deck. The hamburgers had all been eaten. Most of the salad was gone. Almost half of Melody’s mermaid birthday cake had gone too.
“Evening!” called a voice from the path up from the beach. “Any cake left?”
Before any of them could reply, Scott and Ellen arrived with a third person following behind.
“Sorry we’re late,” apologised Ellen softly. “We had to drive up to the airport to collect Tailz. His flight was an hour late then he was in the baggage hall forever!”
“Plenty of cake left,” assured Lori, getting up to hug their friends. “We might even have a few hamburgers left in the refrigerator.”
“We’ve had dinner,” explained Scott, stepping aside to allow Taylor, the guitarist from After Life and Ellen’s bandmate, onto the deck. “We ate on the boardwalk on our way over here.”
“Grab a beer and find a seat,” invited Jake from his reclined position on the sun lounger. He had Wren and Melody snuggled in beside him and Jesse, who was almost asleep, curled up
