She set the photo on her knee and nodded.“We did.”
He tipped his head toward the stairs.“Dinner at the table, then a list.You can tell me where you want outlets, and I will pretend to have opinions.”
“You always have opinions,” she said.
“I have good ones about you,” he said.
That earned him the simple, quiet smile he liked best on her.He stood and offered his hand.She took it, and they walked down together.
At the bottom, Tony looked up from the map.“You ready for the part where we scare ourselves on purpose?”
“Every day,” Jami said.
“Good,” Tony answered.“Because I have a route that looks like us.It includes our current tour stops, then I've added more.”
Carlene listened as they marked the first five cities in pencil, not ink.No dates, no promises they could not keep.Just a path.
When they finished, she wrote one more line at the top of her pad.
Own it.Build it.Play it.
Then she closed the cover and tucked it under her arm.The barn felt different now.Not bigger.Just truer.
“Let’s go home,” she said.
“Let’s go home,” he echoed, and the day moved with them.
ChapterThirty-Seven
By late morning, the barn smelled like sawdust and promise.Sunlight cut through the old windows in strips, falling over the cleared corner where Carlene’s office would live.Quinn Kurtz stood with his tool belt slung low on his hips, blueprints rolled under one arm, and that same focused calm he’d always carried.
“Man, this place has good bones,” Quinn said, running a hand over the worn beam that split the loft.“You did right keeping it raw.You planning a full studio expansion or just giving it more polish?”
“A little of both,” Jami said.“We want to build a second control room behind the live space, a glass wall, soundproofing, the works, but keep the barn’s character.Carlene’s office will be up here.”
Carlene came up the stairs, pad in hand, hair caught back, sleeves rolled to her elbows.“Hey, Quinn.You ready to work your magic?I've been so excited about this.”
Jami chuckled."She's been waking up for the past few weeks, talking about her excitement."
Quinn grinned.“All of the supplies have been delivered, and we're ready to start.It'll be loud the next couple of weeks.”
“It's alright.We're headed out of town on a short tour.Do what you need to do.”Jami said.
Carlene smiled."But before I leave you to it, can we go over everything one more time?"
Quinn laughed.“Okay, deal.Let’s start with the loft.I believe you said, desk here, shelves on this wall, and you said bathroom above the downstairs one.”
“Right,” Jami said, stepping closer to the window.“We’ll need plumbing brought up and maybe some noise insulation.She’s planning to work through rehearsals, and the last thing she needs is Axel’s kick drum shaking the floor.”
“Appreciated,” Carlene said.“I like to think the world revolves around me when I’m on a call.”
Quinn pulled a pencil from behind his ear and made quick notes.“I’ll bring a crew tomorrow to rough in plumbing and wire outlets.Want the same reclaimed wood for your desk?”
Jami looked to her.“You decide.”
She studied the boards under her feet, then the color of the old beams.“Use something from here.Something that’s already lived a little.”
“Got it,” Quinn wrote everything down, then drew it out on his pad.Looking up at Jami, Quinn grinned.“You ready to go over the recording studio?”
