Stronger Within (The Silver Lake Series Book 1)

by McCallum, Coral

  “I love you, li’l lady,” he sighed. “I was so scared you’d say no.”

  “Ah,” she sighed with a smile. “Everything from earlier on makes sense now. Your nerves. The mad dash back into the house.”

  Jake shrugged his shoulders and continued to dance to the dying notes of the song, forever now etched in his mind as their love song.

  As the hall echoed to the sounds of Brian Adams “Everything I Do”, Jake escorted Lori back to the table. Both of them re-took their seats and Jake casually draped his arm around his fiancée’s shoulders.

  “You guys looked cute out there,” complimented Linsey. “Just like a pair of kids.”

  “It was our first dance,” announced Jake with a mischievous grin.

  “And our last for a while,” added Lori, as she took a sip of her soda. “I never could dance.”

  “I know!” laughed Maddy. “Not even copious amounts of alcohol helped.”

  “Where’s Grey?” asked Jake, noticing the bass player was missing from the table.

  “On the dance floor,” pointed out Rich. “With the head of the history department.”

  “Nice to see him having fun,” observed Jake, watching the bass player dance. “Time he moved on.”

  All too soon, the principal announced that it was time for the last musical number of the evening. When she looked round, Lori realised that the four members of Silver Lake had vanished. Before she could turn to ask where they had gone, the stage lit up and Jake and Rich were centre stage with acoustic guitars, Grey and Paul behind them with tambourines and sleigh bells. On a count of three, they began to play an acoustic medley of Christmas classics starting with “White Christmas” and eventually ending with the whole audience singing along to “Jingle Bells.”

  “Merry Christmas, everyone!” roared Jake then added, “Safe journey home, all.”

  For a final time, the students and staff filled the hall with cheers and applause. This time the lights came on, signalling the end of the party. Slowly the students began to leave the hall, some of them pausing to say good night to the band, others still cheerfully singing “Jingle Bells”.

  As the Silver Lake party prepared to leave, they had a quick debate as to where they were moving on to. It came as no surprise to Lori when they unanimously agreed to meet up at the Green Turtle for a few drinks. Before they left, Rich went over to the staff table and extended an open invitation to his colleagues to join them at the boardwalk bar.

  Snow was falling gently as Jake drove into town. He had the stereo turned down low and smiled as he watched Lori fingering her engagement ring.

  “You do like it, don’t you?” he asked somewhat anxiously.

  “It’s perfect,” she replied, gazing down at her hand. It was a three stoned ring – a large emerald cut diamond flanked by two smaller emerald cut stones set in a white gold band. “How long have you been planning this?”

  “A while,” confessed Jake grinning. “I bought the ring a couple of weeks ago.”

  “But I was with you a couple of weeks ago?”

  “True,” he replied with a nod. “But you were pre-occupied at the time. I believe you were purchasing a watch.”

  Lori laughed, “You bought this in Glasgow!”

  “I sure did,” admitted Jake. “And managed to hide it from you until tonight. I never told a soul.”

  “What do you think the others will say when we tell them?”

  “We’ll find out soon enough,” he said, pulling into a parking space around the corner from the bar on Wilmington Ave. “I’ve a confession, li’l lady.”

  “What?” asked Lori, as she unfastened her seatbelt.

  “The Turtle are expecting us,” said Jake. “I’ve arranged for them to stay open late for us. Private party.”

  “Confident were we?” teased Lori with a giggle of excitement.

  “No, but definitely optimistic.” He paused, then added, “The guys think it’s just an after show party. The champagne and decorations might be a giveaway though.”

  “I love you, rock star,” giggled Lori, reaching across the car to hug him.

  Despite Jake’s offers of assistance, Lori insisted on negotiating the stairs up to the bar on her own. She was pale and a little shaky as they walked into the bar room, but quietly assured Jake she would be fine in a minute or two. The manager rushed over to greet them with two glasses of champagne. Jake politely accepted both glasses, then allowed the bar manager to show them through to the function suite. The room had been decorated with silver and blue balloons. The ceiling was festooned with twinkling blue and white fairy lights. Lori stared round, eyes wide with wonder at the lengths Jake had gone to. Putting the glasses down on the nearest table, Jake reached out to hug her.

  “Like it?” he asked, kissing the top of her head.

  “Love it,” she sighed, beginning to tremble with the emotion of it all.

  “Come on. Let’s sit down before you fall down, li’l lady,” he said caringly.

  They had just sat down at the table in the centre of the room and taken their first sip of champagne when the rest of the band, closely followed by the management, came clattering loudly into the room. As soon as they saw the decorations and champagne glasses set out on the tables, they stopped in their tracks.

  “Are we celebrating something?” asked Grey, getting straight to the point as ever.

  “Christmas,” replied Lori with a glance up at Jake that said “Not yet.”

  “I’ll celebrate Christmas!” declared Paul pulling his Santa hat out of his pocket and putting it back on.

  Once they were all seated and the Turtle staff had poured everyone a glass of champagne, Jake decided he couldn’t stay quiet any longer. A few of the teachers from the school were still making their way in but he had to share the good news with the band.

  “Guys,” he said, clinking his glass to get everyone’s attention. Spotting Scott with his camera ready, he said, “Turn it off for a moment, Scott. Please.”

  Jake moved to stand behind Lori. “Guys, I’ve an announcement to make.” He paused, feeling all of their eyes boring into him. “Lori’s agreed to be my wife.”

  “Woo hoo!” screamed Maddy, rushing to hug her friend and spilling several glasses in her hurry. “Congratulations, darling!”

  The next few minutes were chaos as they all congratulated the happy couple. Each of them hugged and kissed Lori. Most of them hugged Jake too. Champagne flowed. Someone started the music in the background and the party was soon in full swing.

  It was well after one and the party was beginning to wind down. The champagne had been replaced by shots of tequila and most of the band were more than a little the worse for wear. In the corner, Maddy was resting against Paul, struggling to keep her eyes open. Beside Jake, Lori too was showing signs of fatigue. With his camera confiscated for the night by Grey, Scott had passed out across the next table, surrounded by empty shot glasses.

  “One last toast,” said Jake, slurring his words slightly. “Here’s to all of us! Here’s to Silver Lake’s success! Here’s to our happy ever after!”

  “Here’s to friends who are family,” added Lori, raising her glass with a smile.

  The story of Jake and Lori and Silver Lake will continue in

  Impossible Depths

  Excerpt from Impossible Depths – Book 2 in the Silver Lake Series - due to be published 2016

  Bright sunlight flooded the bedroom when Lori finally roused herself from sleep on Sunday morning. Instantly she knew she had slept late, but if a girl couldn’t have a long lie on her birthday, when could she? A single red rose lay on the nightstand beside the bed with a small white card tucked underneath it. On the card were a series of scribbled music notes and “Happy Birthday li’l lady. J x” written on it.

  The night before both of them had worked on until after midnight, hence the need for the lie in. One of Lori’s deadlines had been pulled forward causing her to work flat out for three days straight as she tried to cram two wee
ks’ worth of work into four days.

  Pulling on one of Jake’s discarded T-shirts, Lori lifted her rose and went through to the kitchen to put it in some water before it wilted. A bud vase already filled with water was sitting on the counter and under it was another card. This time the card had the same music notes drawn on it plus a picture of a sun. Curious, Lori put the rose into the vase and wandered through to the sunroom. Silence was filling the house and she felt confident that she was alone. In the centre of the sunroom one of the small occasional tables had been moved into the centre of the room and placed on the centre of it was a vase with eleven roses and another card. More music notes and a champagne glass were drawn on this one and a small pile of sand had been drizzled on top. With a smile, Lori wandered outside and across the deck to the edge of the path in her bare feet.

  She spotted Jake immediately. Without pausing to dress or to fetch her cane, she very carefully made her way across the warm, soft sand towards the picnic blanket and her fiancé. As she drew closer she saw he had a champagne brunch laid out for them. He was sitting on the sand with his back to her, facing the ocean and was playing his beloved acoustic guitar.

  “Hi,” said Lori softly as she reached the edge of the blanket.

  “Happy birthday, beautiful,” said Jake as he turned to face her.

  Carefully, he laid his guitar in its case and got gracefully to his feet. In two long strides he was beside her and had wrapped his arms round her. “Happy Birthday,” he whispered before kissing her tenderly.

  “Thank you,” replied Lori with a bright smile. “I never expected this.”

  “That was the general idea.”

  Taking her by the hand Jake led her over to the blanket, then helped her to sit down and get comfortable. While Lori settled herself, he popped the cork on the bottle of champagne, firing it towards the ocean. Bubble flowed over the rim as he poured them each a glass.

  Passing her a half full glass, he said, “Here’s to many more birthdays, li’l lady.”

  “To us,” she toasted, raising her glass to his.

  Coral McCallum lives in Gourock, a small town on the West coast of Scotland with her husband, two teenage children and her beloved cats.

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