Page 50 of Born To Be My Baby

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.