“None,” assured Maddison. “I’ve just sent your laminate over to you with a courier.”
“Thanks.”
“I’d better run,” said her friend. “I promised the meatballs I’d take them to lunch then I need to be at the Gramercy for one thirty.”
“I’ll see you later,” promised Lori. “I’m taking Melody to the American Girl store in an hour. Annie’s taking Jesse somewhere on the subway.”
“Just pray she doesn’t take him to the nearest casino,” joked Maddy, visualising Annie and Jesse at a poker table.
“That does not bear thinking about!”
Stepping out onto the theatre’s stage for soundcheck, Jake felt his nerves begin to build. Both Grey and Paul had arrived earlier to help out on bass and drums. Rehearsal time had been cut short and so far, they’d only managed to run through the songs they were to guest on once. Smiling, Jake noticed that Riley was meandering through the rows of empty seats. The young vocalist looked positively terrified as she ran her hand along the red seatbacks.
“Miss Riley!” he called, his voice echoing out into the auditorium. “Get up here!”
As she ran up the stairs at the side of the stage, he saw that she was on the verge of tears.
“This is really happening,” stated Riley, her voice barely more than a whisper. “In a few hours, all of those seats will be filled. I’ll be on this stage. I’ll be performing on this stage!”
“You’d better believe it, Miss Riley,” said Jake warmly. “Have you warmed up for soundcheck?”
Riley nodded, “I want to run through Black Heart again. Think we’ll have time?”
“We’ll make time,” said Garrett, stepping out beside them. “Shit, this place is bigger than I remembered.”
“You’ll be fine,” said Jake, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt. “Let’s get this party started. Remember I’m pulling double duty here. I’ve two soundchecks to get through.”
“And I appreciate it,” replied Garrett sincerely. “Riley, why don’t we start with Black Heart. Help settle your nerves.”
“Thanks, that would help.”
Despite a few technical challenges, they made their way through the planned soundcheck. Both Jake and Riley were afforded plenty of time to run through the vocals that they wanted to focus on. Gremlins struck again as Paul worked with the unfamiliar drum kit. He was having kick pedal issues but Garrett interjected saying he’d get a replacement brought up from the music store.
With everyone finally happy with the setup, Garrett and the others left Jake to complete his own soundcheck for his solo support slot. Carefully, he set up his own guitars on the stage, choosing to use the borrowed Martin alongside his beloved acoustic, the vintage Gibson he’d bought from Mike and his much loved 1930’s National.
“You planning on playing a full set?” quizzed Grey, appearing on stage beside him.
“No fucking way!” laughed Jake. “Ten songs plus a duet. That’s more than enough.”
“Why so many ladies then?”
“No guitar tech. I’ve set them all up differently, I just need to remember who is tuned to what,” explained Jake, casting his eyes over his array of guitars.
“You realise that Todd’s coming tonight?”
Jake nodded, “But he’s one of us now. I need to find a replacement for him.”
“He’ll help you out if you need him to and you know it. Have you spoken to him about becoming one of us?”
“Not yet. Later. Tomorrow maybe. I know he’d bail me out tonight but I’m not planning on asking him. I’ve got this,” said Jake calmly. “Have you heard from Lori? Is she coming?”
“Maddison spoke to her this morning.”
“And?”
“And she’ll be here,” said Grey calmly. “Just don’t go expecting too much.”
“I just want to see her,” whispered Jake, gently picking out a familiar melody on the Martin.
“Don’t fuck this up,” cautioned Silver Lake’s bass player bluntly. “These past few months have been tough on both of you. Be gentle with her, Jake.”
“She’s my Lady Butterfly. I’ll be gentle. I just want another chance. Want my wife and my family back.”
“I know, buddy. I know.”
Almost as if they sensed that their mother had to be somewhere for a specific time, both kids began to play up during dinner. They’d all enjoyed a great afternoon and had met up for dinner at five o’clock back at the apartment. While Lori and Melody had spent a mother/daughter afternoon at the American Girl store, Annie and Jesse had explored Manhattan’s subway, getting off down at South Ferry to take a ride on the Staten Island Ferry. The plan had been to have pizza for dinner then to leave Annie with the kids and a pile of Disney DVDs for a movie night. Like the best-laid plans, it went awry not long after the pizza arrived with Jesse managing to spill an entire chocolate milkshake all over the Oriental rug in the lounge. While Annie rushed to fetch a cloth, Melody dripped oily tomato sauce from her slice of pizza on her new American Girl t-shirt. Within seconds, both kids were sobbing hysterically.
Taking a deep breath, Lori led Melody downstairs to get changed into her pjs then took the stained top to the laundry room to soak it, praying that the stain would come out. In the lounge, Grey’s mom wasn’t having much success at getting the chocolate stain out of the rug.
Trying not to let her exasperation show, Lori said, “Just leave it for now, Annie. Thanks for trying but I’ll arrange to get it professionally cleaned next week.”
“But your gorgeous rug!” protested the older woman.
“It’s fine,” assured Lori, hoping she sounded calmer than she felt. “It’ll come clean I’m sure. Let’s just eat the rest of the pizza before it’s stone cold.”
“Mommy,” sniffed Melody, snuggling in beside her. “Will you stay
