Chapter Eight
Ready for the Floor
“All I can thinkabout is all the times I didn’t use my shoulder. I should have played more baseball, been an air traffic controller. Hell, I even want to do yoga. Renee, you have no idea how badly I need to stretch,” he moaned. I peeked my head out of the shower to glance at my miserable husband.
“I know baby. Well when you finish healing, I'm sure we can find a way to live out your fantasy of being an air traffic controller. How’s Cleo doing, by the way?”
He grimaced. “Every time she sits down at the set I cringe.”
“Is she getting any better?” I did a final rinse and turned the water off. Grabbing a towel, I wrapped myself up and stepped out onto the pink padded mat. He tilted his head back and forth.
“Yeah, she’s really trying. I just don’t like the idea of her getting too comfy. Drums are my thing. Singing is for the birds.”
I chuckled. “I thought you liked the idea.” He rolled his eyes.
“I did at first, but we can’t agree on a song to sample. We are going with Hedwig and the Angry Inch, though. It’s progress.”
I reached for my lotion and as I rubbed the moisturizer on my calves, I noticed that Mark’s eyes followed my hands. He gulped.
“Well that’s something. I love that musical.”
Mark’s resting at home lasted about a week. He has never been able to just sit still, so finally he said they needed to figure out a way to make it work. They had the idea of Cleo jumping on drums and Mark would take her microphone and sing a song. There were two things problematic with that idea. Cleo couldn’t play drums, and Mark can’t carry a tune.
Over the last three weeks, Cleo has been spending her time working on learning the new instrument, while Mark has been working with Derek and Ethan to train his voice. All the while trying to find a good song to write. Since they would have two guys on vocals, they wanted to do something fun that Cleo wouldn’t be able to do. Ethan suggested they sample ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch’. Naturally we had to rewatch it that night.
“I can agree to the musical, but I will not sing “Angry Inch”,” Mark said. It wasn’t the song that bothered him, it was the performance that would go with it.
“I’m having to get used to the idea of being front and center, performing something crazy like that is too much for my first time. I want something more focused on my voice,” he reasoned. Everyone thought that was fair and have been trying to find a song in the musical to sample.
“I still like ‘Origin of Love’,” I commented as he followed me into the bedroom where I opened the closet and dropped my towel. He whistled.
“Baby, if you come over here with that hot body, I’ll sing you whatever you want,” he said. I reached for a bra and pressed it against my chest as I turned around. He pouted.
“Oh, come on.”
“Sorry, we need to get you over there.” He groaned and sat down on the bed.
“They are going to make me sing ‘Sugar Daddy’. To Derek.”
I snorted and my hands went to my face to try to stop the laughter. The bra dropped to the floor and Mark grew excited.
“Sweet! Is that what does it for you? Whatever works, come here. I miss you,” he whined.
I waved my finger at him and reached down to grab my bra. Slipping it on I hurried to pick out my other clothes.
“You’re not the only one with things to do. I’ve got to be at the theatre. The show is tomorrow so it’s crunch time.”
“What can you possibly have left to do?” He asked, following me down the stairs.
“As far as the show itself goes, just one more dress rehearsal. But we have to prep the theater for patrons. We do a lot of baking for intermission and the after party. Lots of cookies and brownies.” Mark thought about it for a moment and then patted my shoulder.
“Just bring me back something good. Maybe a lemon square?” His big eyes pleaded. I kissed him quickly.
“I will bring you a whole plate of lemon squares if you will just get your shoes on. We need to go.”
I dropped him off at the Andrew’s and the band quickly went to the studio. Looking at my phone I saw I had some time to spare. I popped my head in and saw that Jimmy was seated at the drums, her mother watching her with curiosity.
“Maybe we should have Jimmy join us on tour and take over for this song,” Derek teased. Mark shot him a look that told him he’d kill him. He was having some hardcore replacement issues. Jimmy beamed.
