Stronger Within (The Silver Lake Series Book 1)

by McCallum, Coral

  “Will you come to the UK with us?” Jake asked a few miles further down the road. “I want you to be a part of this.”

  “Maybe,” replied Lori. “I don’t want to be there for the whole tour. You don’t need the girlfriend hanging about. Where’s the last show?”

  “As far as I know we’re finishing with two nights in London,” said Jake. “I think it’s the third and fourth of December.”

  “I’ll meet you in London then,” agreed Lori. “And we can fly home together.”

  “It’s a deal, li’l lady.”

  Next morning, when the alarm clock went off at five thirty, the rock star life seemed a million miles away. It felt like a cool morning so Jake dressed in sweat pants and pulled on an extra T-shirt before he set off for his morning run. He left Lori curled up asleep as he headed out to run along the beach.

  There was a stiff breeze blowing in off the ocean and the waves were crashing onto the shore. As he ran, Jake’s mind drifted to the coming weeks. Both he and Rich had three weeks of school left, then there were roughly two weeks of rehearsals before they would pack up and head across the Atlantic. As he ran, he looked out over the ocean. It would be his first trip to Europe; it would be the first trip to Europe for all of them. Even preparing for the concerts was a dramatic change from just a few short weeks ago. The management company had them surrounded by technicians and stage crew - a far cry from hauling their own gear in the back of the truck and setting up the stage themselves. It definitely did not feel natural to have someone tune his guitar for him. As he ran, he made a decision - no one other than him would touch his beloved acoustic guitar. It might seem childish but it suddenly seemed important to him to retain something that was wholly his.

  When he arrived back at the beach house, Lori was up and in the kitchen making breakfast. He greeted her with a sweaty hug and a kiss.

  “You taste like the ocean,” she protested, pushing him away.

  “I thought you liked the ocean,” Jake teased, kissing her again.

  “I do,” she agreed. “But not like this. Go jump in the shower.”

  “Yes, li’l lady,” he called before adding, “Why are you up so early?”

  “I’ve a call with Jason at eight about a new piece of work,” she explained. “I need at least two coffees before I can cope with that man in the morning.”

  “That I can understand,” he agreed. “Are you going to see Maddy today?”

  “That’s the plan, if she’s up to it. I’ll call her around lunchtime,” replied Lori, pouring her first coffee of the day. “What’s your schedule like?”

  “School then the band are rehearsing at six.”

  “Here?”

  Jake nodded, “Just for a couple of hours.”

  “And, I suppose, you’ll all want dinner?”

  “We’ll sort something out later. You don’t need to feed us all, li’l lady.”

  The phone rang at precisely eight, just as Jake was heading out the door to school. Lifting a freshly poured mug of coffee, her third, Lori answered the call, “Good morning, Jason.”

  “Good afternoon, Mz Hyde. Apologies for the early start for you.”

  “Not a problem. How’s London?” she asked, as she set the mug down on her desk and took a seat.

  “Grey and wet,” replied the Englishman. “Have you seen Maddison?”

  “Not since Thursday night,” Lori answered. “I was going to call her this afternoon.”

  “You know she’s pregnant,” stated Jason bluntly.

  “Yes,” replied Lori, unsure as to how to respond.

  “Delighted for her, but it screws up the plans somewhat. Music management and touring isn’t the world for babies.”

  “She’s got a few months to go,” said Lori calmly. “No reason why she can’t work up until a few weeks before the birth. Most women do these days.”

  “I suppose,” he conceded reluctantly. “Now down to business. About this new band I’ve signed.”

  Their discussion took over an hour, as Jason described what he would like her to consider for the latest band he had signed to the firm. She made various notes and listened intently to his detailed requirements. On the face of it, Lori was happy with the project plan and then they got down to talking money. The Englishman liked to drive a hard bargain, but recent experience, of the multiple add-ons to the various commissions, caused her to challenge back firmly. Their monetary debate raged for a further half an hour before the Englishman gave in.

  “I’ll have the lawyers draw up the contracts and email them to your man in New York.”

  “That would be good, Thanks,” she replied, taking careful note of the final figure they had agreed on.”

  “I had meant to ask before,” began Jason. “Are you going on the road with Jake and the boys?”

  “No,” she replied quickly. “But we talked about the possibility of me joining them in London. I’ve commitments here to keep me busy till the end of the year so I can’t afford to take several weeks out just now.”

  “Sounds fair,” he responded. “I was hoping you’d join them at some point. You seem to be their Svengali. Jake especially is more alive on stage when you’re there, but I understand.”

  “They need to do this their way,” said Lori firmly. “I’ll come to London, but that’s it.”

  “Understood, my dear. Now I need to run. I’m late for another call. Ask Maddison to call me if you see her today.”

  “Will do, Jason,” replied Lori. “Pleasure doing business as always. I’ll look forward to the contract and the info files by the end of the week.”

  “Till next time, my dear.”

  And the line went dead.

  As soon as the call was over, Lori switched on her laptop and spent the next hour reviewing her calendar and checking emails. She blanked out the first ten days of December, marking the third and fourth with the Silver Lake shows. Including this new commission, she had three projects on the go, two of which had deadlines in November. As she stared at the dates on the calendar screen, she realised she could travel to the UK earlier if Jake really needed her to be there. Perhaps she could surprise him by turning up a day or two early.

  The chirp of a message alert brought her back to the present and she reached for her cell phone. It was a message from Maddy.

  “Finally out of hospital. Back at the hotel now if you want to come over. M x”

  Quickly she replied, “Fabulous. Will be over after lunch. How are you? L x”

  “Much better. Not been sick since Thursday.”

  “Great news. Do you need me to bring you anything? L x”

  “Just yourself. M x”

  Huge drops of rain began to fall as Lori walked from the car into the hotel. The stiff breeze hadn’t dropped all day and the wind was tugging at the bouquet of flowers she was carrying. Clutching them tightly, Lori prayed they would survive till she made it indoors. With a sigh of relief, she stepped in out of the inclement weather a few moments later. Taking extra care not to slip on the damp foyer floor, she headed straight towards the elevator. As she reached up to knock Maddy’s door, the door opened and Paul stepped out, almost standing on her in the process.

  “God, I’m sorry, Lori,” he apologised, reaching out to steady her, as she stumbled slightly. “You ok?”

  “I’m fine. Don’t panic,” said Lori giving him a hug. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

  “Ultimately, your place,” he admitted. “I have some errands to run before rehearsal.”

  “I’ll see you later then,” she replied, as she stepped into the hotel suite.

  Maddy was sitting at the desk in front of her laptop when Lori entered the room. She was also on the phone. Wondering why she wasn’t surprised to find her friend working already, Lori sat down on the couch, laying the flowers down on the table. From the edgy tone to her friend’s voice, she sensed the call was not going smoothly or to her liking. Still looking pale, Maddy smiled over at her and indicated she would only be a c
ouple of minutes. Sure enough, she ended the call two minutes later.

  “Working already?” chastised Lori, as her friend turned to face her.

  “I need to catch up,” explained Maddy. “And Jason’s being a complete pain in the ass.”

  “Ah, he caught up with you,” Lori observed, with a nod. “I had a call with him this morning about my next commission.”

  “He doesn’t want me to fly to the UK with Silver Lake next month. I’ve told him I’m going, unless I’m declared medically unfit to travel,” she explained, running her hands through her spiky black hair. “He’s also hiring a UK based tour manager.”

  “He was talking about that weeks ago,” Lori pointed out. “And you know that it makes sense all round. Relax, girl. Anyway, I didn’t come here to talk shop!”

  The pale Goth laughed as she came over to sit beside her on the couch, “You’re right as always, honey.”

  “So, what has the doctor said?” asked Lori, her concern obvious in her voice.

  “They did an ultrasound and everything’s fine. From that they worked out I’m just over ten weeks pregnant. I’ve to take the anti- sickness meds for another ten days and see if I’m ok without them after that. Apart from that, I’ve to eat sensibly and get plenty of rest,” explained Maddy, her hand subconsciously rubbing her tummy.

  “Did they say what caused you to be quite so sick?”

  “Hormones,” she replied, then a smile crept across her face. “If I tell you something you can’t tell a soul. Not even Jake.”

  “What?”

  “The scan showed its twins,” giggled Maddy.

  “Twins!” squealed Lori, hugging her. “Oh my God, Maddy!”

  “I know. I found out on Friday and I’ve been dying to tell you, but Paul said no. I don’t want it to be public knowledge until after the tour at least.”

  Shaking her head, Lori sat and smiled at her friend in stunned disbelief. Maddy was the last person in her circle of friends that she could imagine as a “mommy” but, seeing her sitting there so thrilled at the prospect of having twins, just blew her away.

  “Changed days, Maddison,” she replied eventually. “What happened to the party animals we were?”

  “You had your accident, introduced me to a rock band, I fell for the drummer and got pregnant,” stated Maddy with a giggle. “That about sums up the last ten months in one sentence.”

  “Ten months,” mused Lori. “Amazing how quickly life changes.”

  “For the better I hope.”

  “In some respects,” agreed Lori, subconsciously running her hand down her thigh.

  “Oh shit, I’m sorry….” stumbled Maddy. “Me and my big mouth.”

  “If I hadn’t had my accident, I wouldn’t have moved down here and I wouldn’t have met Jake and you wouldn’t have met Paul. Things, even the bad bits, happen for a reason.”

  “I guess,” agreed Maddy, then spotting the edges of the butterfly on Lori’s wrist said, “Do you have something to tell me about, girl?”

  “New York?”

  “Your wrist!” corrected Maddy sharply.

  Pulling back her sleeve, Lori showed her butterfly tattoo to her friend, who nodded approvingly.

  “Stunning piece of work,” complimented Maddy. “I never thought you’d get any ink done.”

  “Things change as you just said yourself.”

  “Touché”

  After they had been chatting for over an hour, Lori could sense her friend was starting to tire. They had talked about the weekend in New York and eventually returned to talking about work and the tour. When Maddy asked if she was coming with them, she gave her the same answer she had given Jake and Jason. Maddy promised to mail her the full itinerary as soon as it was finalised. As her friend tried to stifle a yawn, Lori said she would need to go. Having arranged to meet up later in the week, Lori left to drive home.

  Rain was still pelting down as she left the hotel soaking her through by the time she reached the Mercedes. Originally, she had planned to go to the food store on the way back to buy something for dinner but the torrential rain changed her mind. Instead, she headed straight home, deciding to order in some food later for dinner instead. Jake’s truck was in the driveway when she pulled up and, as she walked into the house, she could hear him warming up in the basement. She knew that his new vocal warm up routine had helped to strengthen his voice and was really helping him, but there was no denying that it wasn’t pleasant to listen to. Cringing at the almost operatic scales echoing up from the basement, she went through to the sun room and switched on the TV to one of the many rock music stations. Much to her amazement, the song that was playing was Silver Lake’s Dragon Song. The video looked to have been filmed out west as it was live concert footage. Seeing Jake on the screen made her smile.

  “Jake!” she yelled. “Come up here!”

  Thinking something was amiss, he came bounding up the steps from the basement into the sun room then stopped dead in his tracks.

  “It’s us!” he said, gazing wide eyed at the screen. “That’s Seattle.”

  “You sure?” asked Lori, moving over to stand with her arm around his waist.

  “Positive. That’s the shirt I had on for that show.”

  Together they stood and watched the rest of the video. Beside her, she could feel Jake tense up as he watched himself on the screen. When the video was finished, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

  “That’s the first time I’ve seen myself on TV,” he said, burying his face in her rain damp hair. “That was kind of weird.”

  “You looked great on screen.”

  “You’re biased,” he muttered. “I wonder if the others have seen it.”

  “Ask Maddy to get a copy of the video for you. Maybe there’s more footage from the show,” suggested Lori.

  “I’ll ask Paul when he gets here,” said Jake, kissing her on the top of her head. “I’d better get back downstairs to finish my warm up before they get here. How was Maddy?”

  “Fine. Still tired,” replied Lori. “But she’s back working as usual. She was on the phone to Jason when I arrived.”

  “Glad she’s ok. Maybe Paul will start focussing a bit better now. He’s been all over the place for the last couple of weeks.”

  “I wouldn’t bet on it,” laughed Lori, remembering how harassed the drummer had been as he had left the hotel.

  Grey was the first to arrive for the rehearsal, early as was his usual style, and with Becky in tow. He apologised for having to bring her along but Lori quickly shushed him, saying she would be delighted to entertain her for a few hours. He was soon joined by Rich and, a little late, Paul, who was greeted with calls of “Twenty dollars in the pot!” While the band rehearsed, Lori and Becky went down to the bedroom where, at the little girl’s request, Lori painted Becky’s nails. She allowed the little girl to choose whatever colour she wanted and was soon painting the tiny fingernails hot fuchsia pink. After some encouragement from Becky, Lori painted her own to match. While their nails were drying, they curled up together in the sun room to watch TV. Despite the soundproofing, the vibration from the rehearsal could be felt through the house. Occasionally, Lori could make out exactly what they were playing or could hear Jake’s vocals. Filling the house with music and friends made the place feel more like a home - made her smile. After the band had been rehearsing for about an hour and a half, Lori left Becky watching TV and carefully went down the steep steps into the basement. Her timing was perfect, as they had stopped to debate a change to the proposed set list for the tour.

  “I was going to run into town for some food,” called Lori from the bottom step. “Who wants what?”

  “Pizza,” joked Paul, winking at Jake, who groaned theatrically.

  “Anything but fish,” said Grey, as he tweaked the tuning on his bass. “Actually pizza’s not a bad call.”

  “Fine by me,” agreed Rich. “Jake?”

  All eyes were on him when Grey played the emotional trump c
ard, “Becky loves pizza.”

  “Ok. Ok,” he yelled, with a defeated look in his eyes. “I guess I can eat pizza just this once.”

  His fellow band members gave him a round of applause.

  Laughing, Lori declared, “Pizza it is. I’ll take Becky with me. We’ll be about a half hour.”

  True to her word, she was back at the beach house thirty minutes later with three large pizzas and three portions of cheese fries. As she set the boxes down on the dining room table, Lori called out as loud as she could to be heard over the rehearsal, “Food’s here!”

  Within minutes they were all seated round the dining room table enjoying slices of pizza. The band’s debate around their set list continued throughout the meal. As the discussion wore on, Becky climbed up onto Jake’s knee, snuggled into his chest, thumb in her mouth, and promptly fell asleep. After a while, Lori got up to clear away the empty boxes and asked if anyone needed a drink.

  “I’d better get Becky home,” said Grey, getting to his feet. “I’m easy about the changes. Just let me know what I’ve to play.”

  “Same here,” added Paul, checking the time. “I’d better get back to the boss. I’ll call you guys tomorrow.”

  After the bass player and drummer had left, Rich and Jake continued the debate while Lori cleared everything away. With the boxes out for recycling, she returned to the table with three beers.

  “Are you guys open to a suggestion?” she asked, taking a seat between the two musicians.

  “Go for it, Lori,” said Rich, opening his beer.

  “Have two sets. Rotate them. No huge differences, but just a bit of variety. Gauge what the fans respond well to.”

  “Fair idea, li’l lady,” nodded Jake, looking over at Rich. “I’m liking it. That way we can please all of us.”

  “Works for me,” agreed Rich, feeling a little sheepish that they hadn’t thought of that option themselves.

  The three of them sat on at the dining room table compiling the two lists, trying to balance out the harder songs with the acoustic numbers that seemed popular with the audiences. Each version started and ended the same, so it was only the middle twenty minutes that they were flexing about. When they had finally agreed on the two versions, Jake fetched his laptop and emailed the proposed lists to Grey and Paul.