Not especially. He’d sat with Taylor, Jamie and Sam a good portion of the time while not on stage. Damn, he was definitely going to have to ask Sam.
“Have you ever recorded?”
He waved a hand. “No. I love my music, but it’s playtime. If you saw Taylor with me in reception, she’s the real star.”
“Yes, she has an amazing sound, very Eartha Kitt.”
Georgia had a good ear. That was Taylor’s sound. Out of the ordinary, not pop enough to get the kind of attention she deserved. She needed original songs, but none of them had any song writing capability worth a damn.
“You didn’t tell me you sang.”
Damon had a good ear too. Georgia was miffed. He cleared his throat. “Didn’t I?”
“You told me you liked ice-cream and parasailing.”
“And long walks on the beach. No lie.”
“But you didn’t mention the music and it’s a big part of you.”
Hang about, what was this? “You didn’t want to know me, if I remember right. Told me I reminded you of a person you’d rather not be reminded of.”
There was a long silence and he waited for her to say something like when you’re ready? “Georgia?”
“I thought maybe we could start again.”
He ducked his head, but she’d still know he was smiling. “How do you want to do that?”
“I love listening to live music.”
Go on.” He stifled a cough, swallowing the irritation in his throat.
“I wanted to be a sound engineer because Hamish was in a band. We were going to make albums together.”
There was a weight in her voice. Regret. “Did you?”
“No. He got hurt and it all fell apart. I finished my training but I took steadier work at radio stations and in production, like this job.”
“And you like what you do?”
“Sound rarely lies. Not like people, not like pictures, images that can be altered. Sound is pure, and if you listen to it carefully you can hear when it’s false. If you listen carefully, you can trust sound, but it’s not the same with people.”
“Jesus, Georgia, who lied to you?”
“I made a mistake, listened to the wrong people. I’m better with a panel in front of me than a person.”
They were worse than a blue green colour-blind test. Georgia could see perfectly but didn’t trust her eyes and Damon had very little sight left to trust.
“You know my voice is all over the register today.” It was one thing to work hard at never being the guy who couldn’t see in the sound studio, it was another to have a voice problem. Voice problems happened, people got colds and flu. This was a first for him, he’d never missed a day of work through illness or a bad throat. So much better that it was happening on this job than one of his regular gigs.
The door swooshed. She was in the booth with him. “I know. You’re too pitchy.”
He smiled in her direction. “We need to finish this another day.”
“We built a contingency into the project plan.”
“Good thing.” Avocado might be a small studio, but they knew their business.
She came closer. “I’m sorry, Damon. You’re not Hamish. You’re not the same as him at all. I’m sorry I reacted so…so—”