He looked at me sharply while I listened and then he said, “What do you think? Too much on the low end?” The look on his face was intensely serious.
“No way! It’s perfect. That depth makes the song,” I said.
“Yeah, I agree.” He worked at the board like every dial was a string on his guitar. I was astonished. Jeff the engineer literally did nothing; he was leaning back in his chair with his feet propped on a table. I’m pretty sure I saw dollar signs on Frank’s eyeballs as he shot me the most self-satisfied smile I had ever seen. Will was a perfectionist and there was no doubt that he was in his element in the studio.
“Let’s do this, then,” he said while flipping a couple of switches. He stood up, reached for my hand, and led me into the soundproof room where I sat down at a gorgeous Yamaha grand piano. He spoke to Jeff through the window. “Okay, we’re gonna go, start to finish, one take, and then we’re outta here.”
“What? Will, what do you mean?”
“You know the song, Mia, we’ve played it hundred times. The room is already miked for it. I want to do piano, guitar, and vocal… organically, like this… together.” He paused and assessed my look, which must have been pure fear. “We’ve got this, you and me, remember… mystical alchemy.” And then he winked, grabbed his guitar, and took a seat in front of the microphone. I shook my head frantically, but he just shot me an arrogant smile and said, “It’s a recording studio, they’ll let us have another take if we need it, but I have a feeling we won’t.”
And we didn’t. The acoustics in the room were magical. Will was right; recording the song that way gave it more identity. After we finished our take, he went to the mixing console and started the playback. He was ranting to Jeff about push-ins and drum tracks, so I decided I should get out of his way.
I put my arm around his shoulder and said, “I’m gonna get outta here unless you need me?”
“Yes! I need you. Why, where do you have to be?”
“Nowhere. I just don’t want to get in your way.”
“You are never in my way. I want you here; you’re the only one who knows the sound I’m going for.”
I was so incredibly flattered that Will felt that way. I stayed the entire day and into the night working with him to tweak each song. It took him several hours to perfect the drum track on “Polarize.” I didn’t even know Will could play the drums before that day, but he was competent enough at it that he was able to achieve the sound he wanted. When Frank and Jeff left, Will put some final touches on the last song and we listened to the completed demo tape all the way through. He was leaning back in a big leather chair. When I walked over to sit at the console he pulled me onto his lap. I leaned against him, resting the back of my head on his shoulder as we listened to music we’d created.
On the subway ride home, he seemed truly at peace and satisfied with his work that day. He thanked me over and over and I just kept thanking him back; I told him it was one of the best days I’d had in a long time. When we got home we took turns in the shower and then went to our rooms. Will yelled at me from his bed, “Night, pretty baby!”
“Night, Will.”
It was getting colder in the city, Halloween came and went without fanfare and Will and I saw less and less of each other. He was working a lot, trying to keep himself busy while he waited to hear from the record labels. Jenny and Tyler were back, but not really; they weren’t kidding about wanting to start a family right away. I’m, pretty sure they only got out of bed to go to work. Sheil started dating a fellow sitar player; I was really happy to see her moving on, but for me it still felt like a reminder that my father was gone forever. I kept at it with the café, even though the daily business of running it started to feel mundane. I hoped that I would find more studio work to keep me busy, so I started working on putting together my own demo tape to offer people looking for a pianist.
One morning at Kell’s I noticed Jenny looking a little pale. There was a line of patrons forming, but she and the old monster weren’t keeping up. Sheil popped in and started helping while Jenny leaned against the back counter, looking ill. I told her to go up to my apartment and rest. At lunch I went to see her and found her listening to Will’s demo.
“This freakin’ rocks!” she said, bobbing her head.
“Yeah, Will is going to be big.” I feigned enthusiasm. I knew it was selfish; I wanted to be genuinely happy for him, but the thought of him moving on was becoming a giant void in my heart; a void that I tried desperately to ignore. “You seem to be feeling better.” There was a long pause.
“You’re going to be an aunt, Mia,” she said with a huge smile.
“Oh my god!” I wrapped my arms around her for a long hug. “I’m so happy for you guys. “
Jenny and I spent the afternoon together at Kell’s, talking about babies and pregnancy. I realized I was extremely uninformed on the topic. I was an only child, no younger siblings, no nieces and nephews; I didn’t even have friends with kids. My only experience was the small amount of time I’d spent with Jacob and a few music lessons I’d given in Ann Arbor. Jenny told me she wanted Will and me to be the kid’s soul parents. I looked at her with amusement. “Is that like godparents?”
“I guess it would be like godparents if we were religious… it’s like backup parents, you know?”