Page 8 of Legendary Rock Star
She took my hand and pulled me up as she said, “Come. ‘Silent Night’ is my favorite Christmas song.”
I held onto her hand and ignored the spark that rushed through me and said, “I have a fondness for ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’.”
She opened the door and shrugged like she was flirting. “We can sing both.”
I probably made up the last bit in my mind. No way a good girl like her flirted with a man in his house in the middle of the night. I retook my seat near the guitar and said, “I should get you back to the hotel with your parents.”
But she played the piano and I let my fingers follow. And then our lyrics blended and we sang again.
As we finished, she jumped out of her chair and said, “Let’s mix these songs too.”
I saw the brightness in her eyes and my own body reacted, but I put my hands in my pockets and asked, “Are you sure?”
She held up one finger and curled it, calling me like a siren. She said, “It’s my life. So, yeah.”
My last girlfriend had been a model. The one before had been an actress. Maybe I’d been spending too much time with people without a song in their heart.
Or maybe it was just Maggie who made my heart sing again, but I wasn’t sure. I sat at the mixing table and said, “You didn’t have to do this, you know.”
She shook her head and started analyzing the beats like she was the one with music in her background. She said, “If a few Christmas songs bring you cheer then, yeah, it was fun. And I hope you don’t give up on music.”
Her blonde hair framed her blue eyes. I could see now that it had brown roots.
So she dyed her hair. Maybe she wasn’t as naïve and innocent as she appeared, but either way I winked like I knew her secret and asked, “So you want me to win?”
She snapped her fingers like she was declaring war and said, “No! You’re going down like theTitanic. But music is part of your soul. Don’t give up on yourself.”
I relaxed next to her and drank from the water bottle she’d left for me. I said, “I am feeling better tonight.”
She took my hand and curled it in hers as she said, “So let’s head in and record the rest of the Christmas album now.”
My heart was almost bursting with everything that had happened tonight. I had won a spot on the show, recorded music for the first time in months, and met this sweetheart of a woman who continued to surprise me. I raised my eyebrows and asked, “What?”
She gave that adorable over-the-shoulder smile of hers and said, “We’re already one-third done. Seven more songs and we’ll cut ourselves a merry little album.”
Now that was a title,Merry Little Album. And it would prove to my agent that I was serious and back in action. But I asked, “You’re serious?”
She laughed and the sound was infectious. Part of me wished I could record it and listen to her whenever when I was feeling low.
“Why not?” she said. “Your studio is pretty awesome, and we can finish before we have to check in for training.”
If we rushed. It was already one in the morning, but we could record all the rest of the songs within the hour. My skin had pins and needles of excitement, but I asked, “What about your parents?”
She stopped at the desk, picked up her phone, typed and hit send as she said, “I don’t need their permission. I’m an adult now. And besides, they know that when I’m doing music, I can’t stop.”
At least her parents trusted her. My own parents hadn’t been supportive—unless teaching addictive behavior counted. But I only said, “That’s good.”
She put her phone away and headed into the studio.
We continued recording, singing our souls and hearts into every syllable. She probably had those classic family Christmas memories, while I had memories of singing on TV specials and being adored by my fans. Either way, our voices blended. When we had finished and the light dimmed in the recording booth, I said, “This was a lot of fun.”
She jumped off the piano seat and headed out, “We’ll have to work separately on songs if we want to finish before eight.”
She was right. Six hours wasn’t a lot of time. She sat at one of the mixing stations and asked, “Trust me?”
“I’m starting to,” I answered, and focused on mixing three more songs.
At close to six, we both sat back and just listened to our ten songs. She put together an album cover while we listened and showed it to me.
