London Harmony: The Pike (10 page)

I fluttered back to earth then said in a hoarse whisper voice full of arousal and frustration, “We need to get these covers back on... now.”

She chuffed and grinned as she reached for the first one.

I spun in place with a goofy smile on my face then took my place by her tools, ready to help in any way to speed up the process so that we could have some private time.

She dropped her screwdriver, and it pinged on the huge stainless steel mixing bowl.  She glanced over at me with a devious smile as she saw me swaying to a song I was creating in my head.  I narrowed my eyes at her in challenge but it was too late, she started tapping the blade of the tool on the body of the mixer in an inspired beat.

I scrunched up my nose at her and succumbed to my second favorite thing to do with her, we made music.  Drawing on the frustration she left inside me with her feather-soft kiss, I sang about the courage she inspires in me.  How I feel whole and can face a whole world of people with her by my side.

She was now at the racks of pots, pans and dishes as she created a symphony of music to back me up.  I giggled as I sang as she discovered the plastic cups and started spinning and slamming them on a counter to create a unique drumming sound with the different tones from the different cups and the position of her hands on the cups as she spun them and slammed them down in a pattern.   Emphasizing it with quick strikes of a nearby pan.

I spun in place once as the words just flowed.  Our eyes were locked on each others, and I was positive my smile matched hers.  We both instinctively knew what the other one would do, and we traded off who was leading who until I got past the second bridge and slipped into the chorus again for the coda as we slowly faded to silence.

“When I stumble and fall.”

“I know you have my back.”

“Showing me how to stand again.”

“As our hearts beat through it all.”

She slammed the last cup to punctuate it, and we shared a smile, my heart pounding from the excitement of singing.  Then we both spun toward the door when we heard Zoey's voice chastising, “No June, leave them alone.”

She was blocking the doorway with her back to us and June and the other woman from yesterday were trying to get past her arms.  June was arguing, or at least trying to argue, “But Zoey, they...”

Zoey shook her head and said in an expectant tone, “Squirt?”

Ash had come to my side, and I buried my face in her arm, peeking at the doorway over her shoulder as my pulse started thudding for another reason as I fought off a mini panic attack.  I forgot where we were when I started singing.  Other people had heard us, and J8 was there wanting to get to us for some unfathomable reason.  I think I was starting to hyperventilate as Ashely comforted me with a protective arm around my shoulder.

June seemed to deflate, and Zoey pointed out of the kitchen as she said, “You can't.  Leigh isn't like the others, you don't understand her anxiety.  Just look at her.”

June started one last plea, “But...”

Our red-headed champion shook her head, still pointing out of the kitchen.  June exhaled in exasperation, shaking her own head then backed off.  Zoey shot a concerned look my way, “Sorry.  I have her corralled now.”  Then she popped out the door.

After a few minutes of just standing in Ash's arms, I calmed enough that she stepped back, looked into my eyes, prompting in question, and I nodded and exhaled.  “I'm fine.  It's just that... that was J8.”  I was normally ok in small groups of people, classes pushed the envelope but once I got to know people I was generally alright.  But a famous singer had heard my squawking, and it just flipped all my triggers.

She nodded and signed, “Lightweight.”

I grinned and slapped her shoulder. “Hey!”

Her smile grew as she retrieved her screwdriver and started securing the covers in place.  I paused then smiled back as I realized what she was doing.  Our banter always relaxed me, not to mention that it was a load of fun.  I silently wondered how she could put up with me, I was all kinds of broken.

I made sure to be the best tool wrangler ever for her as she finished up the job and I started the cleanup of her tools and the mess we made of the almost sterile kitchen.  She put the mixer through its paces as I cleaned up.

She used to tease me for cleaning her tools, saying that they were supposed to get dirty, but I really think she appreciates it.  It is just another one of my various neuroses, dirty things bug me.  It may be a touch of OCD or something.  Now I think she likes it since I always catch her smiling when I do it.

Zoey returned as we were finishing up.  She was backing into the kitchen and speaking to someone like you would a trained circus animal.  “Sit... stay!”  Then she chuckled and turned around to face us.  She looked between the mixer and us, her eyes twinkling as she cocked an eyebrow at Ash like she was asking permission.

Ashely grinned and signed, “She's all yours, and as usual it comes with my ironclad guarantee that it will work like new until either I walk out of the room, or you actually turn it on.”

Zoey has this great musical laugh that always borders on a giggle, I think she has to work at keeping it from slipping into a giggle.  She used it now and signed as she chirped out, “Once you fix something, it generally stays fixed brat.”

Then she asked with a sigh, knowing what came next.  “Bill?”

I tried to hide my smile but got caught as Zoey shot me a wink.  I bit back a laugh and blushed.  Ash pulled out a pad of sticky notes, and a pen then looked at an imaginary watch on her wrist then wrote the number four on the sticky-note.  She pulled it from the pad and bypassed Zoey's waiting hand and stuck it on her forehead with a smirk.

She never gives a rate to anyone, just the number of hours she puts in on a project and leaves it to them to pay her whatever they think is fair, and what they think it is worth.  She pulled the receipt for the parts from Gilbert's and handed it over as Zoey just grinned at me with the sticky-note still on her forehead.

Ash shouldered her jury rig kit and grabbed my hand, lacing our fingers as Zoey signed, “See?  Brat.”

We all chuckled at that as she took the yellow sticky off her forehead.

I caught myself taking a deep breath as we headed to the door like I was preparing myself to leave the relative safety of the kitchen to rejoin the rest of the world which I just observed instead of participating in. Like I was always looking at it through a window, never quite being a part of it, unless I were living it vicariously through close friends and family.

Zoey surprised us with quick hugs.  I don't normally like being touched unless you are a close friend or family, and she felt like family to me.  Then her gaze landed on the wall of Polaroid pictures by the door.  She said, “Just a second.”  She reached out to touch the photo of Mrs. Z and Amber and me.

She poked her head out the door and called out, “Max, bring the camera.”  Then she mumbled to herself as she looked at the wall, drawing our eyes to it as well, “This tradition will persevere.”

Max showed up with the old fashioned camera and Zoey wiggled herself between Ash and me.  She crinkled her nose at me and said, “Now smile short stuff.”

Maxine was all grins as she lifted the camera and got a shot of us.  When the photo slid out of the bottom of the camera, Zoey took it and pinned it on the wall and said as she signed, “You girls are the first of the new generation here at the Pike to grace the wall.”

We all looked at the slowly developing picture with a touch of sadness.  Zoey reached out to lay her fingers on a picture of Mrs. Z.  We all took a moment then sort of steeled ourselves as a group and turned to leave the kitchen.

I swallowed, the place was as busy as I had ever seen it, even busier.  June and I think her name was Vanessa, we hadn't been introduced last night because of my panic attack; looked up from one of the small expanded metal tables in the cafe from where they were in a spirited discussion with Teddy.  June looked ready to jump out of her chair but I think Zoey may have been giving her the evil eye because she stayed put.  What did she want with us?

I felt like everyone was looking at us so I looked away.  Zoey said, “Just a sec.”  She loaded a bag with all sorts of baked goodies and shoved it to me with both hands.  “For the road.”

The smell of fresh baked bread wafted up to my nose from the bag.  The bottom was warm which told me some of those croissants she had pulled out of the oven earlier were in there.  Yum!

We thanked her and made a hasty exit.  By that, I mean that I physically dragged my girl out and into the chaos of Pike Place Market.  Way to go genius, like there would be fewer people out here.  Ash just hugged me to her and expertly threaded us through the crowd, making sure that I didn't come into contact with anyone.

Then we reached the safety of the inside of her rolling death trap, and I exhaled.  I shot her an embarrassed grin as I shrugged and she tipped her head back and chuffed.  Then her expressive face changed into something... seductive... sexy, as she asked with slow, deliberate motions of her hands, “Now, let see about those one or two of those things you were thinking of earlier.”

I blushed as I melted into a puddle, grinning at my girl as she pulled us slowly onto the road as I bit my lower lip.  Then started digging in the bag for a warm croissant.  This was shaping up to be an awesome day.

Nessie chastised me as I drove her, Fran, and Tasha to Vancouver after spending some time with Zoey and the twins.  “Face it June, you're not going to get to speak with them with Gatekeeper Z there.  There are some things that even you can't do.”

I exhaled heavily in resignation. Besides her, only Zoey or Lizzy could derail me when I was determined to do something.  I whined, “But did you hear them?  And the other night?  It was almost like listening to a mashup of Abigail Addison and Amber LaLanie.”

She nodded and shrugged. “Some things are not meant to be.”

I sighed, and Fran chuckled from the back seat.

I gave her the stink eye in the rear view mirror, which just made her smile.  She turned to her sister. “Did you just tell June that something was...”  She paused when Tasha bumped her shoulder and nudged her eyes toward me.  Small Fry muttered, “Oh...”  Then brightened and chided her sister, “You are so manipulative sis.  You know telling June that she can’t so something will just make her...”

Vannie started chuckling and claimed my hand after she put her hand on my arm.  I deflated a little knowing she was just checking to make sure I was there.  Then I smiled at the sneaky minx.  “Small Fry is right, you're manipulating me.  You want them at London Harmony too.”

Van just smiled straight ahead, refusing to look at me as she murmured, “Maybe, maybe not.  Shut up and drive wench.”

We all chuckled as I replayed in my head, the impromptu music that those two girls... what were their names?  Leigh and Ash? Had been singing.

I had originally thought that the taller girl, Ashley, was deaf when I saw them signing to each other, but I learned that she couldn't speak because a dog attack when she was a toddler had mangled her throat.  But her expressive face and the music she was making from the odds and ends in the kitchen, gave her a voice that just made Leigh's voice soar.  They were a team, a single unit much like Minuette.  And... I just had to sign them, Zoey be damned.

I paused at that thought, Annette from Minuette had a bit of anxiety like this Leigh girl, only not as severe.  That and the fact that Annette and Mindy are constantly arguing that the other is Minuette caused us to create a mystique around the artist's duality and not reveal the identity of Minuette.  Almost like I had done for myself when I first started releasing my own music as J8.

So maybe I could convince the girls to entertain signing with me if I could give them the same cloak of anonymity.  I chuckled to myself.  It was becoming a trend with London Harmony, and the music industry was eating it up.

Fran said from the back seat in a humor tinged tone, “Great, see what you did Van?  Now she's plotting.”

I stabbed my finger at the rear view mirror and chirped out as I restrained my smile, “Hey, comments from the peanut gallery were neither solicited nor required.”

She chuckled and retorted, “The legume constabulary refutes your assertion of improprieties in the offering of valid observational input.”

I screwed up my face and crinkled my nose as I spoke out of the side of my mouth to my wife, “Somebody hit the on button on your little sister's thesaurus circuits again.”

Fran looked supremely pleased with herself while she hugged Natasha's arm as she laid her head on her shoulder.  Giving me a smug, triumphant look in the mirror.  I just chuckled and made a swift lane change, causing her to bump the door.  This got a burst of surprised laughter from her.

I smiled and tried to remember a time when I didn't have a second sister.  Fran had been part of my life for so long, and I loved her just like I loved my own adopted sis, Elizabeth.  I glanced at her one last time in the mirror.  She was a full grown woman now, not the unusually smart and loquacious young teen that I met a lifetime ago in an abandoned auto shop in New York.

Huh, as far as that goes, Lizzy, the Lizard was no spring chicken either.  I remember the day I first laid eyes on Liz as a baby, now she had a child of her own.  Fay is the most adorable baby girl, ever... unfairly blessed with my sister's exotic looks.

I actually heard Tash's stomach gurgle from the back seat and grinned as she said in a silly voice, “Hungry.”  We all chuckled.

We hadn't eaten since we had a late breakfast at the Pike.  I have to hand it to Zoey, she is one of the few people who have attempted to replicate the savory tastes that the Pike was famous for, under the culinary tutelage of Mrs. Z herself, and she did it well.  The breakfast bread bowls she served us up this morning made your mouth water just from the aroma alone.

Then we headed to Issaquah to gather some things from Hank and A.J.'s for a couple nights in Vancouver with my moms.  Of course, we wound up tagging along to see Bobbie and Blake off on another one of their hikes into the mountains.  I swear those two were made for the outdoors, leg braces be damned.

So it was well into the afternoon, and I was feeling a little hungry myself as we passed through Olympia.  I glanced back.  Think you can last another hour until we get to my uncle Dave's diner?  Her stomach gurgled again.  She gave me a toothy, cheesy grin and repeated, “Hungry.”

I chuckled. “You're worse than a little kid asking 'are we there yet?'”

Her grin never faltered then she started chuckling triumphantly as Nessie chimed in, “I could eat.”  And Small Fry nodded.

I was a bit hungry myself, so I exhaled and took the next exit off the freeway as I grumbled playfully, “A bunch of children I say.”  I'd get them for this, they know I love Uncle Dave's cooking.  Maybe I can devise some sort of clockwork delayed, mechanical chipmunk infestation in their beds tonight.

Fran asked from the back seat, “Mechanical cockatoos?”

I grinned inwardly, they all knew me way too well.  I shook my head and said imperiously, “Chipmunks.”  This set off a giggle fest from the unruly youngsters in the back.

I pulled into the Golden Arches drive through where the kid who took our order had recognized me and was beside himself as he asked if I could sign a napkin for him.  He seemed perplexed that I didn't have a British accent since my J8 music was considered import music here in the States.

I and ordered a Big Mac meal for myself and cut the others short as they were calling out what they wanted.  I instead ordered three Happy Meals.  They all stewed on that as we got back onto the freeway, then dug in like ravenous beasts as I smugly ate my Big Mac.

Van just looked at me in mirthful glee as she ate the chocolate chip cookie in her Happy Meal without sharing a bite with me.  Ooo, she was going to get it later tonight.  She ate the last bite and licked her fingers and said with her chin raised, “Mean girls don't get chocolate.”

I chuckled to myself as she claimed my hand in hers for the rest of the drive to Vancouver.  My first home.

Nostalgic memories flooded my mind, thinking about the places I have called home over the years.  Vancouver, Seattle, New York, and London.  Then I squeezed Van's hand, knowing that she was my home now.  Wherever she was, that was where I wanted to be.

She seemed to read that in me as a small smile quirked the corners of her mouth while she watched the world pass by out her window, her thumb caressing the back of my hand.  I sighed a happy sigh as we pulled off the freeway at exit 1B into Vancouver.

I navigated the streets that I still knew like the back of my hand, though I could see the things that had changed over the years since I grew up here. Progress.  There were even minor changes since our last visit here at Christmas.

But one thing never changed.  I turned onto the street that I spent more time on than at my house.  Fran pointed out Dave's Diner to Tasha as we passed by my uncle's old time Americana diner.  I flipped a u-turn a block later to park at the only free spot at the curb in front of the familiar blue music school, Harmony, with the attached record studio, Harmony Trax.

I grinned at the buildings, we saw their silhouette every day.  It was the background of our London Harmony logo.

Tash straightened up as she scanned the buildings.  She asked, “Why does this building seem familiar to me.”

Small Fry chuckled and held up her business card to her girlfriend.  Natasha was quick to glance between the logo and the building, then she smiled, getting it.

She smiled my way as we all departed the vehicle. “I never pegged you for nostalgic, June.”

I wiggled my eyebrows as I joined Nessie on the sidewalk, our hands finding each others like they were supposed to be.  I said in my best Donkey voice, “Layers upon layers.”

Then she asked as she and Fran were pulled together as if by gravity to hold their own hands, “Why are we here instead of your parent's place?”

This got the other two laughing and giggling.  Fran explained so I didn't have to, “If Anabella is home from DC, then this is where she and Mandy are.  This is... their Fortress of Solitude if you will.  It is hard to explain, you'll see.”

Tash regarded her with a studious perusing look for a moment then said, “You sound almost wistful when you speak about them.”

Small Fry shrugged as she dragged her along with us, and she said, “Mandy and Ana have sort of been like parents to me.  Besides Van and J-Dub, I have almost forgotten what having parents was like until I met June's moms.  They treat me like their own daughter and I... well, I sort of like it.”

I assured her, “Believe me, they feel the same way about you.  If they could have adopted you out from under us, they would have.”  I shot a cheesy grin because I knew it to be true.  Van was slowly nodding her head in agreement.

Fran just seemed to beam at that.  We made a beeline toward the door just to veer off when my cousin, Eve, poked her head out of the little headquarters for mom's activist offices, the AWK, or Ana West's Kids.  It was always teeming with teens who wanted to make a difference in the community by educating others about topics that affect their generation.  Eve is sort of their de facto commander general now that her sister, Zoey, lives in Seattle now.

She came tiptoeing over like she was sneaking out to give us our very own hugs.  “You got here a couple days sooner than I thought you would ladies.”  She was all smiles.

I shrugged and smiled back, “You know how it is, if we didn't get here soon, mom would have exploded, and we'd have to put her back together like a jigsaw puzzle.”

She nodded seriously.  “There is that.”  Then she squished her nose over to one side as she muttered, “Crap, I won't get to visit much.  I'll be commuting to Seattle daily for the foreseeable future to bail out sis.  She called earlier begging for help.  I guess the Pike had gotten even busier with the news of Mrs. Z's passing and that big article about the Pike in the Seattle Times.  She puts up that cocky front which I think she learned from you, acting like she can handle it all, but she sounded frazzled.”

I nodded and said, “Yeah, the place was standing room only this morning.  She didn't seem too stressed, though.”

She chuckled at that. “Of course, my big sis wouldn't show weakness around you J-Dub.  That would be like throwing blood in the water in a shark feeding ground.”

I gave her my toothy shark grin which just made her chuckle.  She looked back at the door of the AWK office then to us and scrunched her head to her shoulders. “I better get back in there before they realize I snuck out of the latest planning meeting.  I saw you guys through the window and couldn't resist collecting the Zil-Toll from you.  Drop by the house tonight?”

Fran nodded and responded for the group, “Of course.”

Then just like that, Eve did her faux tiptoe back through the glass door to the AWK headquarters.

We proceeded to the doors of the Harmony Trax portion of the structure, and I snorted out loud as my girl deadpanned, “Your whole family is a little off.”

I wiggled my brows at her and affirmed, “You have no idea.”

She countered playfully, “I married you didn't I?”

I nodded solemnly before breaking into a grin.  “Touche.”

I barely aborted a second snort when Tash asked Fran loudly, “They do know they are too playful for thirty-two don't they?”

Fran shook her head. “I thought I raised them better, but they are no better than a couple teens.”

I slapped her arm playfully as my other hand was claimed by Vanessa, who countered, “We weren't the ones making out in the backseat of the car on the way down here when we thought nobody was looking.”

Ooooo.... burn, just like the blushes on their faces now.  I gave Nessie a conspiratorial grin.

I looked around, the place was hopping.  Geraldine Potts was speaking with a manager type man, she was mom's latest find.  She was almost as good as we were at London Harmony about finding new undiscovered talent and shining a light on them.

Harmony Trax had almost the exact mission statement as London Harmony except for one slight difference.  My mother, Mandy Fay Harris-West, set up Harmony Trax as a non-profit business since she needed no income with the seven figure royalties still rolling every year, almost three decades after she retired.  My London Harmony was set up as a profit business while giving the artists almost the same cut as Harmony Trax.  Me and my partners have to put bread on the table after all.

I used most of my trust fund, which mom set up for me, to make London Harmony a reality, but haven't touched the trust since the day we opened our doors.  With the royalty share mom keeps dumping into the trust, it is almost into the eight figures now and growing.  I see it as my retirement fund.