“Thanks,” she said, blushing as she accepted the mug of coffee from him. “I love that one. Love the lyrics.”
“Lyrics are awesome,” he agreed with a nod. “Garrett’s really come up with something special there.”
“Can we do Young Eyes Old Soul again?” asked Riley hopefully.
Nodding, Jake said, “Coffee first then we can do it as many times as you like.”
“Thanks,” she replied with a smile. “This is all I’ve ever wanted to do. Singing and playing has been the dream since I was in kindergarten.”
“How old were you when you picked up a guitar?” quizzed Jake, curious to learn more about her background.
“Sixteen,” replied Riley, sitting cross-legged on the floor. “My grandma taught me how to play the piano when I was little. She had one that she got when she got married. A wedding gift from my grandfather. I never knew him. He died before I was born. Got killed in Vietnam. Airforce.”
“You play anything else?”
Riley shook her head, “A bit of bass if I have to.”
“I suck at playing bass,” Jake confessed with a grin. “Ask Grey when you see him tomorrow.”
“How old were you when you started playing?”
“About fifteen or sixteen,” revealed Jake. “I didn’t start singing till I was in college.”
Shyly, the teenager said, “I’d love to do a duet with you sometime.”
“A duet?” teased Jake, noticing that Riley’s cheeks were scarlet. “With me?”
“Yeah,” she giggled. “I was at the show in Baltimore. I saw Ellen Lloyd and Tori up there with you and thought “I want to do that”. Silly, I know.”
“Not at all,” said Jake, flattered by her admission. “What would you want to duet on?”
“Oh, tough one!”
“Well, you’re the one who’s given it some thought,” teased Jake with a mischievous grin. “Pick a song and we’ll give it a go. Just for fun.”
He could almost hear Riley mentally flicking through the catalogue of songs in her repertoire. After a moment or two, she said, “Would you be offended if it’s not a Silver Lake song?”
“Of course not!”
“Can we try Miles From Home?”
“Good choice,” agreed Jake, setting his coffee cup down and reaching for guitar. “I duetted it with Ellen about five years ago.”
“I know,” confessed Riley. “I’ve got that CD in my car.”
“So, you know the words and the split?”
Riley nodded.
Opting to play a slightly slower, bluesy version, Jake began to play the intro to the Weigh Station classic then nodded to Riley to come in. Picking up on his lead, she sang with a voice oozing with pure honey tones. Soft and warm, Riley’s powerful vocal echoed with emotion as she sang the first verse. Together, they sang the chorus then, in a change of plan, Jake nodded to her to lead on the third verse before letting her sing the final chorus on her own.
“Awesome!” he declared when they were done. “Love what you did there. Great job, Miss Riley.”
“I love that song. I can relate to it only too well,” she said with a smile.
On impulse, Jake suggested, “Want to do it tomorrow night? I can add it into my set.”
“Wouldn’t Garrett be mad that I’m singing with you as well as him?”
“Not if I say that singing a duet with me will help calm your nerves about singing for him later on,” Jake countered, genuinely seeing the sense in taking that approach with his former student.
“You really think he’d be ok with it all?”
Jake nodded.
“Then let’s ask him,” giggled Riley, reaching for her lyric sheets. “Guess we better get back to these. Young Eyes Old Soul?”
Smiling to himself, Jake thought, “Yeah, fits. You might have young eyes but that’s an old soul inside.”
Despite the set agenda, the board meeting at Hyde Properties overran by an hour. Once she had taken her seat at the table, Lori instinctively slipped into “business woman” mode and found herself questioning and challenging some aspects of the acquisition paper that she hadn’t initially intended to. Her obvious understanding of the deal caught some of the junior members of the board off guard. Only occasionally deferring to David, her financial confidante, Lori held her own throughout the meeting and, after a few minor amendments, she signed the deal off shortly after five-thirty.
With the agenda finally completed, the meeting was brought to a close and the board trooped out of the conference room. Only David and a younger man, Townes, remained seated.
“You drive a hard bargain, Lori,” declared David sincerely. “Your father would be proud of you.”
“Thanks,” she said with a weary sigh. “Nice to know I’ve not lost my touch.”
“You certainly haven’t, Mz Hyde,” complimented Townes, his accent a soft Southern drawl. “Impressive.”
“All in a day’s work,” replied Lori, pouring herself a glass of water. “Do we have time to go over my Mz Hyde accounts or should we reschedule for tomorrow morning?”
“Whatever is easier for you, my dear,” said David with his usual paternal concern. “I do need to talk to you about a personal matter.”
Checking the time, Lori said, “Well, I promised to meet Annie and the kids at six-thirty for dinner. How about we meet for breakfast at the apartment tomorrow morning to go over the accounts?”
“What time?” quizzed Townes.
“Eight,” replied Lori. “And bring the JJL figures too. Jason was talking about investing in a third studio in Nashville. I want a look at the projections for JJL and JJL West before I agree to anything.”
“Certainly, Mz Hyde,” said Townes as he gathered his paperwork and iPad together. “I’ll have those ready for the morning.”
“Email them over tonight if you can,” requested Lori as he got to his feet. “I’ll look them over after I get the kids to bed.”
“Yes, Mz Hyde.”
Both Lori and David watched the younger man leave the room. As he closed the door behind him, David rose from his seat and came round to sit beside her.
“I see congratulations are in order again,” he said warmly. “You’re looking radiant.”
“I’m looking fat and exhausted,” laughed Lori, her musical laugh echoing round the vast empty conference room. “This is definitely the last.”
“Jake must be thrilled,” commented David, oblivious to the events of the past few months.
Keeping her head bowed, Lori whispered, “He doesn’t know yet.”
“Oh!” exclaimed her surrogate father. “Care to enlighten me?”
Struggling to keep her emotions under control, Lori explained about the workshop at the high school, the incident at JJL, the text messages and her separation from Jake. Beside her, David sat listening without interrupting. When she finished her tale, he let out a long sigh and sat watching her.
“Lori,” he began softly, reaching for her hand. “Jake isn’t your father. I’ve seen how he looks at you. It’s clear he idolises you. He freely admitted what he’d done. He didn’t try to hide anything from you. He loves you too much to lie to you.”
“I’m going to see him tomorrow,” she whispered. “I miss him but I don’t know if I can forgive him.”
“That’ll take time, my dear,” soothed David, recalling a similar conversation with Lori’s mother from almost thirty years before. Silently, he prayed his gut instincts were right and that Jake would never cheat on her again. He’d witnessed first-hand the pain and heartbreak that her father’s infidelity had caused. “Now, I hate to mention this but I need a word. A personal word.”
“I think I can guess,” said Lori sadly. “You want to retire and hand the reins to Townes.”
David nodded, “It’s time. I was seventy-five on my last birthday, Lori. Townes is the first person I’ve worked with that I deem capable of taking over from me. He’s a bit shy and awkward at first but he’s excellent at his job and hi
s judgement’s sound.”
“That’s praise indeed coming from you.”
“Yes, I guess it is,” said David with a smile. “Do I have your blessing on this?”
Lori nodded, not trusting herself to speak for fear of opening the flood gates on the emotions surging inside her.
“If you’re agreeable, I’ll finish up at the end of the year. That gives me plenty of time to bring Townes up to speed on your personal financial accounts and the JJL finances.”
“And if I need your advice?” she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.
“I’m still your Uncle David. I’m still here for you whenever you need me,” he promised sincerely. “And, for the first few months, I’ll still be here to support Townes should he need a second opinion.”
“Oh, David,” sobbed Lori, her emotions getting the better of her. “I’m going to miss you.”
“You’ll be so busy with this new baby and Melody and Jesse and Jake that you’ll not have time to miss me,” he prophesied wisely. “Now, don’t you have a dinner date to keep?”
“I do,” she said, forcing a smile. “Want to join us? The kids would love to see you?”
“I’ll see them for breakfast,” promised David, checking the time. “Olivia has tickets to a lecture at the Natural History Museum. If I’m late, she’ll never forgive me.”
“Breakfast it is then,” she agreed, gathering her paperwork together.
With the shop closed for the day, Garrett joined Riley and Jake down in the dragon’s lair. They planned to work their way diligently through Garrett’s set, ironing out all the kinks. When the older man stepped into the room, he walked straight across to pick up his guitar and said simply, “From the top.”
“The first three songs on the set are you flying solo,” pointed out Jake calmly. “So, from the top, Garrett.”
“Touché,” laughed the older man to cover his embarrassment. “Guess I asked for that.”
Flawlessly, Garrett performed the first three songs on the setlist then gave Riley the nod to prepare to sing on Same Strings New Vision. Keeping her eyes on Jake for reassurance, the teenager delivered a faultless performance.
“Bravo,” complimented Garrett warmly. “Jake, the bar has been set.”
“Certainly has,” replied Jake, reaching for his Mz Hyde custom. “Ace Up The Sleeve?”
“Ace it is,” agreed Garrett, switching guitars.
The blues-based tale of gambling with emotions was a powerful song. Sensing that it was autobiographical of Garrett’s relationship with the late Salazar Mendes made singing the lyrics even more of a challenge for Jake. As he focussed on the music and the words, he tried to distance himself from the context in which they’d been written. When the song ended, he was dissatisfied with his performance.
“That one’s missing something,” he commented. “I’m not feeling it.”
“Harmonies,” said Riley from her seat on the floor. “It needs harmonies.”
“It does?” quizzed Garrett, glancing over at their teenage songbird. “Show us then, Miss Riley.”
When they’d played through the song for a second time, both Jake and Garrett had to agree that Riley had been correct. With her simple harmonies added to the last two lines of each verse and to the chorus, the song came to life.
“Well done,” praised Jake, genuinely relieved to have some help with the song. “Don’t go away while we play the next one. Want to hear your thoughts on that one too.”
Their three-hour rehearsal overran and became a six-hour marathon. When midnight passed, Jake was the one to call a halt.
“If you want either of us to be able to sing tomorrow, we need to call it a night,” he declared, reaching for a bottle of water. “Especially as I’m pulling double duty here.”
Nodding, Garrett acknowledged that his friend was right.
“What time have we to be at the theatre for?” asked Riley, feeling the nerves in her stomach begin to flutter.
“Eleven,” stated Garrett bluntly, a sense of dread washing over him. “Load in is at eleven.”
“That’s ten or eleven hours before your set!”
“Watch and learn, Miss Riley,” said Jake with a smile. “This is a whole new experience for you. Welcome to our world.”
As they headed towards the door, Riley asked, “But what do we do for all that time?”
“Some press. Soundcheck, Rehearse the tricky bits. Eat. Relax,” listed Garrett. “Relax might be a challenge.”
“Riley, stick with me,” suggested Jake, assuming teacher mode once more. “I’ll show you the ropes.”
Pulling on her leggings, Lori caught sight of herself in the cheval mirror in the corner of the bedroom. She looked like she’d swallowed a basketball. Her growing bump was perfectly rounded and, like her previous pregnancies, was all to the front. From behind, no one would have guessed she was pregnant. When she pulled on her soft grey marl tunic, it draped over her swollen belly.
“No hiding you now, baby,” she said, running her hand over the swell of her stomach. “Big day for us, little one. Big day.”
“Mommy!” wailed Jesse from the doorway. “Mommy!”
Lori looked up.
“Want to watch Power Rangers. Auntie Annie said no.”
Smiling, Lori remembered Grey’s warning that his mother was not a morning person.
“Has Auntie Annie had her coffee?”
“I not know.”
“Well, let’s go check,” suggested Lori, reaching for her cane.
Frowning the little boy stared at her then declared, “Mommy, you’re fat!”
Realising that her son was too young to understand about babies and baby bumps, Lori stifled a giggle and said firmly, “That’s not a nice thing to say to someone.”
“But you are. You told me to tell the truth.”
“I guess Mommy will need to go on a diet then,” compromised Lori as they headed towards the staircase. “No more burgers or pizza or ice cream for me.”
Once upstairs, Lori found Annie in the lounge watching the early morning news with a fresh cup of coffee in her hand.
“Morning,” greeted Lori warmly. “Did you get something to eat?”
“Not yet,” replied the older woman. “Coffee first then I can think about food with a second cup.”
“David and Townes will be here in fifteen minutes,” she commented. “David always brings pastries from his local Italian bakery. You’ll love them.”
“Sounds sinfully delicious,” said Annie without taking her eyes off the TV screen.
“Are you ok to watch the kids while I go over these papers with David?” quizzed Lori, suddenly a little unsure that Grey’s mother was in the mood for small children.
“Once the news is done and I’ve finished my coffee,” stated Annie bluntly. Her tone left Lori in no doubt that there was no negotiating on this.
Shaking her head, Lori limped through to the kitchen to fetch herself and Jesse some orange juice.
As she passed through the dining room, she found Melody sitting at her usual place at the table with a bowl of cereal and a glass of strawberry milk.
“Morning, angel. I didn’t know you were awake”
“Morning, Mommy,” replied Melody brightly. “Is it today we see Daddy?”
“Want my Daddy! Want my Daddy!” chimed in Jesse.
“Maybe late tonight. More likely tomorrow,” said Lori confidently. “I’ve work to do first. You guys need to stay with Annie again today.”
Both children groaned.
Shortly after eight, Lori heard the front door open and David calling out to her.
“Come on through,” she yelled. “I’m in the kitchen!”
She was busy fixing a fresh pot of coffee when David ushered Townes into the room a few moments later.
“Good morning, my dear,” said the older man, hugging her tight. “Olivia sent Danish and some special treats for Melody and Jesse. Where are they?”
“Watching TV in the loung
e with Annie, I hope,” replied Lori, accepting the large white cardboard box from him. “We’ll have to sit in the dining room. Hope that’s ok”
“Fine by me,” said Townes, gazing round. “This is a fabulous apartment, Mrs Power.”
“Thank you,” replied Lori with a smile. “Now, if you’re going to be taking over from David, we need to get one thing straight. Drop the Mrs Power. It’s Lori.”
Blushing slightly, Townes repeated, “Lori.”
“How do you take your coffee?”
“Black. One sugar,” he replied.
“David, show Townes through to the dining room while I take some pastries through to the kids,” suggested Lori. “Then I’ll bring our coffees through.”
Paperwork was scattered across her mahogany dining table when she came through with the coffees. It took her two trips but, with Townes’s assistance, the three of them were soon seated at the table and ready to start their meeting. Together, they pored over her personal accounts and the Mz Hyde business accounts. The figures were looking excellent, her personal investments were performing well and her Mz Hyde work was returning a handsome profit. After questioning a few deductions, Lori happily signed off on them then asked to see the JJL and JJL West figures.
Both Dr Marrs and Jason were pressing her to expand the JJL family of studios and had argued long and hard that they should acquire a newly built studio complex on the outskirts of Nashville. Like JJL, this property had a linked house to accompany the main studio and two large rehearsal studios. There was also an adjoining storage facility.
“So, what’s the gut feel about this new venture?” asked Lori, scanning the projected earnings forecast.
“Townes,” prompted David, deferring to his would-be successor.
“Competitive market place,” began the younger man slowly. “I took the liberty of researching other available facilities in the area to determine its unique selling potential. I’m no expert in the music industry but there are a lot of studios available to hire in that town.”
Shattered Hearts Page 38
