“Before we’ve settled where and how to play the bridge?” Laura asked.
“Sure,” Jake said. “Sometimes working up the riff inspires the way the bridge should go. And it always inspires the solo.”
“Maybe you and Teach could do a dueling solos exchange for this one,” Celia suggested.
“You mean like Mary and I did on Done With You?” Laura asked.
“Exactly!” Celia said. “Only a little tougher, a little more ... hard rockish.”
“It could work,” Jake said, pondering this. He smiled at his wife. “Think you can keep up with me?”
Laura seemed doubtful about this. “I’ve never done any ... you know ... heavy metal sax before. Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“It wouldn’t be heavy metal,” Nerdly told her. “Just the hard rock backbeat tempo. And I’m sure you can do it, Laura. You’re a master of your instrument.”
“The tone of the song is one of anger,” Celia said. “You just have to project that emotion into your phrasing. Tell me you’ll at least try it.”
“Okay,” Laura said, chewing her lip a little. “I’ll try it.”
“I knew I could count on you, Teach,” Celia told her, smiling. She then turned her attention back to everyone else. “All right then. Now that that’s settled, how about I play you all a new tune I’ve been working on?”
“Let’s hear it,” Jake said.
“Yeah,” said Sharon, who was rocking Kelvin at the soundboard now.
“Bring it on,” said Laura, who was sitting on the drum platform.
Celia brought her guitar up and strummed it a few times with her fingers fretting a G major chord. “It’s called It Never Happened,” she told them. “It’s kind of a ... you know ... a tragic love song.”
Jake raised his eyebrows a tad as he heard the title. It Never Happened? Had she really written a song called It Never Happened? And if she had, surely it wouldn’t be about ... about what they had agreed had never happened, would it?
She strummed her guitar a few more times and then start playing a melody. It was a sweet melody, a three-chord progression, but kind of sad as well. It was the sort of melody that was immediately appealing to the listener.
She began to sing. As she worked her way through the first verse, Jake’s suspicion that she was singing about their night spent in Portland started to increase. She sang about a winter night, about circumstances that drove two people into each other’s arms, about a burning inside, and about things that were not supposed to be. And then she came to the chorus:
“We came together by fate one night
Cast our souls to the leanings of love
It was beyond our control
And we put up no fight
But it couldn’t stand up to the glare of the light
And so, we have to go on as if it never happened
As if it never happened.”
Jake felt himself flushing as she sang these words, felt guilt worming its way into his soul. He looked over at Laura, expecting to see her glaring at him in an accusatory manner. She was not, she was simply watching Celia play and sing, tapping her feet to the rhythm, nodding her head a little in appreciation of the music.
How can she not know what Celia is singing about? he wondered desperately. I can’t believe she is actually singing about ... about what we can’t talk about!
He looked over at the Nerdlys. Maybe Laura wasn’t picking up on what Celia was laying down—by some fucking miracle—but surely the Nerdlys would know what she was singing about. It was as plain as the nose on Jake’s face. But they did not seem to be doing anything but enjoying the show either. Nerdly was scratching something on a piece of paper—probably the notes of the primary melody. Sharon was still rocking Kelvin, now to the rhythm of the tune, while smiling at Celia.
Celia played out the second verse. It had to do with forbidden love, paths that intertwined but were not leading to the same place, powder kegs waiting for that one spark to set them exploding, that one spark that finally did land in the right place. And then she sang out the chorus again, her beautiful contralto voice relaying to everyone in the room that she and Jake had been overcome by passion one night in Portland and had fallen naked into bed. And everyone continued not to comprehend what she was telling them.
Her guitar jangled to a halt and her singing voice fell quiet.
“That’s about all I’ve worked up on it for now,” she told everyone. “There’s a bridge section that I’ve penned out, but I’m not quite sure how to fit it in just yet.”
Jake could only imagine what sort of sordid confession would be contained in the bridge. Maybe the naming of names? The description of sexual acts? Jesus fucking Christ!
“I like it,” Laura said brightly. “It seems like a sad song, a story of forbidden romance that’s doomed to failure.”
“That’s exactly the tone I was trying to set,” Celia said.
“There is definitely an emotional tug in the lyrics,” Sharon said. “I think it’s a keeper.”
“I enjoyed the composition as well,” said Nerdly. “How about you, Jake? What do you think of it?”
Jake swallowed slowly and looked from face to face. All were looking at him expectantly, even Celia. “Uh ... I like the melody,” he finally said. “It has good flow and rhythm to it.”
“What about the lyrics?” asked Laura. “Couldn’t you just feel the sadness and regret?”
“Uh ... yeah,” he said softly, casting his eyes to the floor. “Good lyrics too. A theme we can all relate to, right?”
“Yeah,” Laura said with a nod and an eye cast of her own. “I suppose we all can.”
They played around with the song a little longer, this time with Jake and then Laura playing out the melody on their instruments, trying to find what worked the best when they actually started playing it with a rhythm section and accompanying instruments. Celia sang out her lyrics over and over, verses and chorus. Jake kept expecting someone to suddenly realize what she was actually singing about, but no one did. He kept his face straight and did his job. Eventually, after what seemed forever, they moved on to another tune, this one an upbeat one called Nothing Matters but Love.
They broke for lunch just after 1:00 o’clock when the catering company delivered sandwiches and salads for them. Laura sat over by the Nerdlys so she could hold and cuddle little Kelvin and get her baby fix. Jake found himself sitting next to Celia on the edge of the drum platform.
“You seemed a little put off by my new tune,” Celia observed, her voice calm, cool, collected. “Did you really like it?”
“Yes, of course,” Jake said. “It’s a good tune.”
She took a sip of her Diet Pepsi. “It seemed like it made you uncomfortable though,” she said softly.
He looked at her, seeing her brown eyes looking directly at him, her face expressionless. “Maybe a little,” he offered.
“How come?”
He took a deep breath. “Sometimes there are lyrics that can strike a little close to home, you know?”
“Isn’t that what good lyrics are supposed to do?” she asked. “Bring emotions that are buried to the surface?”
“Maybe some emotions should stay buried,” he suggested. “Down below, where they can’t bite you, where other people can’t be hurt by them.”
She shook her head. “No,” she said. “I think certain emotions, certain events in our lives, need to have a relief valve to bring things to the surface. For me, my songs are that relief valve. For you as well, I think.”
“True,” he offered. “But what about those other people? The innocents? What if they get caught in the flash?”
She shrugged and gave him a smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, standing up. “It’s just a song. It doesn’t actually relate to any real events. Not that anyone would ever know about anyway.”