“A life’s worth,” commented Jake, feeling slightly self-conscious under her intense gaze. “How far are you going? I’m headed up to the towers.”
“Me too.”
Together they ran along the hard-packed sand just out of reach of the incoming waves. Conversation was minimal and Jake guessed that Nicole was struggling a bit with the pace. After they made the turn and were heading back towards town, he eased up a little.
“Do you run regularly?” asked Nicole as they both jumped out of the way of a rogue wave that swept towards them.
“I try to get out most mornings when I’m home,” replied Jake. “I usually run south down towards the bathhouse. It’s a longer route.”
“What about when you’re on tour?”
“I try to get out a couple of times a week or at least to grab some time in the gym. Depends where we are in the world and the schedule. The two hours a night on stage is a good cardio workout.”
“I’ll need to catch another Silver Lake show sometime,” mused Nicole.
“Come to the show in Baltimore on the 30th,” invited Jake without hesitation. “I’ll add you to the guest list.”
“Guestlist?”
“Yeah,” he grinned. “Sounds fancier that it is. Show’s sold out. You can hang out backstage though and watch from the side.”
“I’d love to!”
“It’s a date,” replied Jake, almost instantly regretting his choice of words. Swiftly, he added, “Lori and the kids will be there. They like seeing daddy at work.”
When they reached the centre of town, Nicole peeled off with a wave and headed for the boardwalk. Free to run at his own pace again, Jake upped the tempo and ran hard over the final half-mile to home.
Lori was making a pot of coffee when he entered the kitchen, trailing sand over the white tiled floor.
“Morning, rock star,” she greeted with a smile. “Good run?”
“Mornin’, li’l lady,” he replied, delivering a salty sweaty kiss to her forehead. “Enjoyed that. Ran up to the towers for a change.”
He almost added that he’d met Nicole then thought the better of it.
“Go jump in the shower and I’ll fix you some breakfast,” said Lori, wrinkling her nose at the sweaty aroma filling the kitchen. “When do you expect to be home tonight?”
“Shouldn’t be late. Why?”
“BBQ,” stated Lori. “Grey and Paul are coming over. Kind of a goodbye BBQ. Lucy and the boys need to drive home tomorrow.”
“How come?”
“Something about Sam’s school. He needs to be back for a pre-semester course.”
“Ok. I’ll need to squeeze in another lesson for Josh too,” replied Jake. “I’ll try to get back for four if I can. Or, I could take Josh with me. Is he awake?”
“No idea,” answered Lori.
By the time Jake was ready to leave for JJL, both of his nephews had convinced him to let them tag along. As they drove up the highway, Jake explained that his students were getting a lesson on music production and mixing, adding that he wasn’t sure if they would get the chance to play in the actual main studio. Both boys looked disappointed. Hating to let them down, he called Paul to see if he was free for a couple of hours. The Silver Lake drummer confessed he had planned on going fishing but, when Jake explained about having Sam and Josh with him, Paul agreed to come in and put Sam through his paces on drums.
All ten students plus Nicole were already sitting in the lounge when Jake and the boys arrived.
“Good morning!” called out Jake loudly. “Ready for your final day?”
“I don’t want this to end,” muttered Landon sourly. “It’s been awesome.”
“Me neither,” said Dorrian. “I’ve learned so much this week.”
“Glad to hear it,” replied Jake with a proud grin. “So today is all about the black magic that Dr Marrs and Kola work in the control room. I won’t be teaching today. Dr Marrs is in charge. What he says goes. Understand?”
The students all nodded.
“I’ll be out in the rehearsal studio,” continued Jake. “If Dr Marrs doesn’t need you in here then feel free to join me out there. Let’s have some fun today.”
“Jake,” interrupted Dr Marrs from the control room door. “I need your input for about an hour first.”
“You do?”
“I do,” replied the producer formally. “These young recording stars and I were chatting. We feel you’ve not pulled your weight for this album for the school. We all think you need to lay down a sixth track for it.”
“And when did you all decide this?” quizzed Jake curiously.
“This morning,” said Nicole with a wink. “Will you record a song for us? The kids would love to see you at work in the studio. Plus, a Jake Power track will boost CD sales and help the school fundraising drive.”
“Ok. Not a problem,” agreed Jake. “Did you all agree what I was to play too?”
“The song you made us learn in an hour,” said Cody. “That was tough.”
Nodding, Jake said, “Ok, I’ll record you an acoustic version of Depths. Give me half an hour to warm up.”
“I’m feeling generous,” called back Dr Marrs. “Have a whole hour. Cody and Carlos, I need you guys in here for the first hour.”
Mid-morning, Dr Marrs called Jake through to the live room to record Depths. Keen to see a professional at work, all ten of the students, plus Josh, Sam and Nicole squeezed into the control room to watch.
Settling himself on a low stool with one of the studio’s acoustic guitars, Jake felt more than a little nervous.
“Best of three, Jim?” he proposed hopefully.
“Let’s see what you can pull out of the bag, Mr Power,” replied the
