Chapter 38
38
A s soon as he'd entered the studio, Jami nodded and hugged him. "How are you?"
Sean shrugged. "Raw. Sad. Sore. Hopeful. Excited for the future. I'm a mess, man."
Jami nodded. "Let's see what you've written down."
Sean pulled out his phone and texted his words to Jami. He'd taken a picture of his notebook last night for this purpose.
Jami was quiet as he read the words. He looked over at Sean. "Man, bud, I'm sorry for all of this. For you. How are you handling it?"
Sean shrugged. "I guess I'm kind of numb, but mostly, what I want is to know my daughter." He swallowed. "And I have to admit it, Jami, I still love her. I still love Gloria."
Jami nodded. "I know you guys were nuts about each other back in the day. That's a fact."
Jami swallowed and looked down at his phone. He read the words out loud, then he sang them. He added a key to his words and started singing.
Sean began playing his guitar as Jami sang. They'd done this for so many years, it was simple to match each other. Jami stopped singing. "Let's go up at this word; Stunned. Then we freeze to make that point stick."
Two hours into their jam session and Sean's emotions were raw. He and Jami played with chords, added some riffs, found a melody, and sang Sean's words. More than once he had to stop and collect his feelings as the words poured from Jami. And, not that he needed to be reminded, because he'd known this from the first note he heard Jami sing more than twenty years ago, but that man could sing. He had a deep, melodic quality to his voice. His pitch was excellent, and as Sean watched Jami singing those sad words he'd written, the emotions were all over Jami's face as if this had happened to him. It was chilling. And it was exciting. These songs were coming together beautifully.
S ean played through once more, then they continued to work the song. About a half hour later, the door opened and Tony, Livia, Axel, and Mads walked in.
Sean grinned. He swiped at his eyes as they seemed to be in perpetual flow. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?"
Axel shook his head. "Man, we're here for you and we're here to jam. Jami texted and said we needed to hear what you've put together."
Axel stepped forward and hugged Sean. "Sorry for all this, man."
Sean shook his head as he held his friend close. "It's a mixed blessing, for sure."
Axel stepped back and Mads took his place. Her voice was soft near his ear. "How are you, Sean?"
"I'm better now."
She giggled. "Flatterer."
Sean shrugged. He leaned forward and shook Tony's hand, then hugged Livia.
He shared the notes with his words and Jami sang to them as they read along.
Axel took a seat at the drums and added some percussion to the song. The girls added some backup voice to Jami and their first song, “Forgive Me”, was born.
They took a brief break as they each made notes on their tablets for themselves. Jami nodded. "Let's run it again."
They sang it through and it raised goosebumps on Sean's body. Jami turned and stared at him for a long time. "That's good."
Sean nodded. "Making lemonade out of lemons."
Jami nodded. "Let's go on to the next one.”
The process began anew. Words were changed and massaged. Melodies, harmonies, riffs, and percussion were added and before long, they had another hit on their hands. They all felt it. The mood in the studio gradually changed from morose to excited as they each took part in the process.
They worked up four songs in the course of five and a half hours. He was exhausted. He'd expended a lot of mental energy. Emotional energy too. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was 5:30.
He said, "Hey, I promised the girls I'd be home for supper, so can we call it a day?"
His friends nodded, stretched, and packed up their tablets and instruments.
Axel nodded. "Thanks, man. I was going to sit around and do nothing all day, so I'm glad Jami texted."
Sean swallowed. "Having you all around, really." He took a deep breath. "I'm a lucky man."
Tony chuckled. "Damn straight you are."
Sean flipped him the middle finger and Tony laughed as he and Livia walked out the door.
Jami shook his head and laughed. "When are you going to bring them around here? We'd all like to meet Mina. And I haven't seen Gloria in years. I'd love to see her again."
"Mina wanted to come today. She's still pretty sore, but I told her later in the week when she's healed a bit more. Tomorrow Gloria and Mina meet with the network they work for. We'll know more about what their future looks like after that meeting. And then we'll be able to make some plans for the future."
Jami nodded.
Axel said, "Alright, well, let us know if there's anything we can do." Then Axel punched him in the arm lightly.
The others offered their support, which they didn't have to do. The fact they all came as soon as Jami texted told him everything he already knew. He had strong friendships with these folks, and they'd do anything for each other.
He grabbed his guitar, hung it on the wall in the corner. He wasn't even going to bring it home today.
Right now, all he wanted to do was spend time with the girls. He shook his head as that thought ran through him. There's a whole new life right now. Used to be he'd do what he wanted when he wanted.
Now he was looking at the clock and wanting to get home. Hopefully, that wouldn't change.
That had largely been the reason he didn't allow himself to get involved over the years. He saw people get married and then wanted to be unmarried. He never wanted to be like that. The music industry was hard enough as it was. But if he could do it all over again, would he?
Would he have broken up with her? All things considered, no. But then again, he didn't have all the information.
He nodded to Jami, Axel, and Mads, "See you all tomorrow." And he left, eager to get home for the first time ever.
And that felt pretty damn good.