“It usually follows Sunday,” I say, hoping to lighten her mood.
“Mason sends Katelyn a dozen roses every Monday and today will be the first day that she won't get flowers since…” If I didn’t know better I’d say she’s crying.
“Well, we can’t have Katelyn missing her flower delivery, now can we?” I pull up the internet and type in the address for the global florists. I choose a bouquet of lilies over the roses and request they be delivered via Josie’s shop. “All set.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I ordered her flowers. She’ll get a delivery every Monday for a year.”
“Liam…” her voice breaks and now I know she’s trying to control her emotions. These past weeks have been hard on her. The Josie I knew was always strong and confident then she lost Mason and I returned, creating havoc. We stay on the phone for a few more minutes before she has to go and fill my order. Hanging up with her is the last thing I want to do, but work calls for both of us.
When the guys come in, they seem happy. This mini-vacation must’ve done them good. We sit down and I show them the songs I’ve been working on. Harrison starts laughing at a few of them, earning a punch from Jimmy. I sit stoically, waiting for them to say something.
“Did you fall in love while you were away?” Harrison asks. Yes, but I never really fell out of love. She just showed me what I’ve been missing all these years.
“No, saw a lot of old friends. My buddy died and left behind a wife and two kids. Sort of hits home, I guess.”
“Well, I like them,” Jimmy says. “Putting music down for these won’t take us much time at all. I already have a f
ew ideas.”
We take to the studio and start brainstorming with different sounds. Most of the songs could end up being ballads, but we want to stay away from that. We need to add a rock vibe to keep our fans interested. If I put out an album full of love songs people will think I’ve gone soft.
“Painkillers has to be a slow song,” I say when Jimmy starts singing it.
“Why? We could blow this one up.”
I shake my head. “I want that one slow. I want people to feel the words and what they mean. I don’t want them lost in the loud vibrations.”
Painkillers is the first track we work on. It only takes a few tries before I’m happy with the melody. I’m going to have to push Sam to make this our first single. I want to release it as soon as possible.
After the guys leave for the night I work on mixing. Playing Painkillers, over and over, until I’m happy. I decide we're going to give it another shot tomorrow before we record the final.
Papers land on my mixing board. I turn down the track and leave my head phones on. I want to hear myself sing to Josie. This song has to be perfect. Sam is leaning against the board, pissing me off because she knows not to touch my shit. “What’s this?”
“What do you want?”
“Were you going to tell me you’re back in town?”
I turn away from her and move the papers she threw. “You’re my manager, not my mother. You handle my affairs, not my personal life, Sam.”
“Well, this is my job.” She picks up the stacks of papers and starts flipping through them. “Let’s see… 'Liam Page playing at Ralph’s no cover.’ ‘OMG Liam Page is so hot he’s at Ralph’s free show.’ Oh, and my personal favorite… ‘Liam Page Debuts New Song at local pub.’”
“Get to the point. I’m busy.”
“This!” She shakes the papers in my face. “Is my point! You were off doing god knows what with god knows who and decided to have a free show without even consulting me. Jesus, Liam! Do you know how much of a PR nightmare this is?”
I refuse to answer her because she’d never understand why I did the show in the first place. She doesn’t do nice for any of her friends. It’s all about what-can-you-do-for-me with her and that’s not who I want to be. The show was a success and Ralph did a hell of a lot of business that night. I have no regrets.
“Are you listening to me?”
“Not really. I’m trying to work.”
“I knew you heading back to that po-dunk town was a mistake. Maybe I should go check out Beaumont and see what all the excitement is about.”
I pull off my head phones and stand-up to face her. “What’s your problem?”
“You, Liam. I’m sick of this cat-and-mouse game we play. It’s time to make a decision.”