By My Side, Always

The drive took over five hours, but the time flew by with the spirited conversations and the reminiscing.

When the bus pulled into the mansion's courtyard, Gary and Emma stared out the window at the sprawling two-story building in shock. It was huge! To the side, three delivery trucks were parked by the back of one wing of the home. People rushed from the vehicles into the house and back, carrying boxes and covered silver trays. Gary assumed these were the caterers and grocers stocking the home for the event and weekend.

Everyone piled out of the bus, and Selina faced them. "Everyone, speak with Janice and get your assigned room. You can grab a quick lunch in the dining room: sandwiches, vegan and otherwise, plus salads. You have the rest of the afternoon to wander the grounds or walk on the beach, but dinner will be served in the dining room at eight tonight." She smiled. "Welcome!"

Everyone collected their bags, then walked over to the side entrance where a petite and very pretty brunette with a thousand-watt smile waited for them with a tablet and a stack of floorplans. She identified which room they'd been assigned and circled them on the floorplan with a marker.

Following the plan like a map, Gary and Emma found their room on the second floor and discovered it had a beach view. The room was gorgeous, and they had their own ensuite bathroom with a walk-in shower.

"Let's go for a run on the beach!" Emma quickly suggested with a grin.

Gary rolled his eyes at her, but he knew she was right. He hadn't been as vigilant with keeping his running up as she had. For the past two weeks, Emma had been in touch with a lawyer friend who was negotiating with the executives of the fitness chain she used to work for. Mrs. Delaney was also representing Yvonne with her case against them pro bono. Nancy had convinced her to forgo looking for a new job until the firm blinked, which the lawyer was convinced would happen very soon.

Emma, and Gary, were relieved to know the billboard was no longer displaying Emma's goodies to strangers on the street. The photographer was also without a business license to work in the state of New York.

When Nancy told Emma she'd take him down, she wasn't kidding.

"Come on, Mr. Lazybones!" Emma teased, and Gary quickly changed into his running clothes and followed the beauty downstairs, out the front door, and down the path to the beach. They stopped on the firmer sand near the water and breathed in the scent of the sea.

Emma began her stretches with a brilliant smile, and Gary followed along. Once their muscles were warm, Emma got them moving along the shoreline, and Gary kept pace beside her.

They couldn't help but glance over at each other with silly grins.

This was a slice of heaven!

-=-

Gary was ravenous by the time dinner came around. Janice once more stood at the entrance and directed people to their assigned tables. As everyone seemed to be getting along and had a common interest in music to keep the conversations going, there were no contentious seating issues.

Emma and Gary discovered they were seated next to Selina. Once more, dinner was set up buffet-style, so they filled their plates with hot roast beef au jus, steamed veggies, and a side salad and brought it back to the table.

Raven, Delia, and Latisha, Selina's three backup singers, rounded out their group, and there was a lot of laughter during dinner. Emma was amazed at how quickly they could harmonize. Apparently, years of practice was the answer.

Once dinner was done, people were encouraged to bring their instruments down to the basement level, where a large open chamber was filled with couches and love seats in a roughly circular arrangement. If people felt like participating, great. Amps would be provided for electric instruments.

Gary brought his acoustic guitar down and spotted Emma surrounded by a bunch of long-haired, freaky people. Musicians, in other words.

"What's this?" Gary said as he moved up next to Emma and eyed the men with a raised eyebrow.

Emma saw he wasn't seriously worried, but she took his hand to play along.

"Just making conversation with one of the few single ladies at the event. We saw no ring on her finger," a fellow carrying a bass guitar said.

"Emma and I are in a relationship whose depth transcends all religious and antiquated cultural artifacts. It's nothing less than the merging of two souls. Keep that in mind when you come around with your weak game," Gary said with a sly grin. He nodded to the men, then led Emma away.

She grinned at him. "That was pretty slick talk, Gary."

He nodded to her as well. "Truthful, too."

"What if I like ceremony and antiquated cultural artifacts?" she asked quietly.

"Then you shall have them," he said as he held her eye.

She held his gaze in return. She finally nodded with a satisfied smile of her own.

"Gary!"

They looked towards Selina's voice and saw her waving him over. They joined her and two others, and she made the introductions. "Gary, Emma, this is Eric Gladstone, my bass player, and this is Julie Punk, my percussionist."

They greeted each other with nods and smiles.

Eric was a big black man, tall and muscular, handsome but with a naturally serious expression, making his bright yellow Sponge Bob t-shirt seem incongruous.

Julie was also tall but thin to the point of starvation. She was just lean muscle, sinew, and bone in a sleeveless muscle tee, ripped jeans, and Doc Martins. She'd shaved the sides of her head, but her hair from her forehead back looked like it hadn't seen scissors in decades.

"Eric and Julie have been with me from the start. Actually, they were with Greg before I joined. Stefano wasn't stealing money from them. Just me."

"Did you recover any of the funds Stefano embezzled?" Emma asked.

Selina smiled wolfishly. "Yes! Stefano had a miraculous change of heart when he arrived in Buenos Aires. The funds he'd stolen from me over the years were returned to my account. There was actually more than I expected. My family there were very pleased with how generous he suddenly became."

Gary smiled at her. He wisely chose not to ask the follow-up question of what happened to Stefano next. Instead, he placed his hand on Emma's back to distract her as he redirected. "I was wondering if you have a cassette tape player?"

Selina pondered that for a moment. "We don't use cassettes anymore, but there might be something in the studio. Eric, do you know?"

The man nodded. "There should be an old deck in there. What do you have?" he said to Gary.

Flipping open his guitar case, Gary plucked out three cassettes he'd pulled out of the boxes they still had under their bed.

"That's a lovely old Gibson!" Eric said, looking at the guitar.

Gary nodded with a smile. "It came with the apartment we moved into. So did these cassettes, but I have no idea what's on them."

Julie looked confused. "What kind of apartment comes with a guitar?"

He shrugged. "The previous tenant left it under his bed when he traveled around the world."

Emma gave Gary a raised eyebrow for his teasing. "He's leaving out that the older gentleman discovered he was terminally ill, decided to take the trip, and passed while he was away. He had no family, so the landlord said we could have the apartment's contents."

"Sweet find," Eric said as he held out his hand for the cassettes, and Gary nodded in agreement as he gave them.

Eric looked at the labels in interest. "Burn: April 1989"

Selina looked at him curiously. "I wonder what Burn means?"

Julie grinned. "I've heard of burning a CD or a DVD but a cassette?"

Eric shook his head. "CD burning didn't become a thing until after the late nineties. Certainly not back in 1989." He read the labels on the other two.

"Burn: November 1987. Burn: July 1988." He frowned. "This is tickling my brain. Let's go listen."

He headed off with Selina, Julie, Emma, and Gary following. When they left the large room, they walked down a hall and entered a door on the left side, halfway down. They were in a control room for a recording studio, and one wall was filled with technology. There was a wide audio mixing station with hundreds of controls over it. Greg grinned at Emma, who was staring around in wonder.

Selina powered up the board, and Eric went to the wall where a dual cassette deck was incorporated into the rack. He powered that on and then inserted one of the cassettes. Selina adjusted one of the controls on the board and nodded to Eric, who pressed play.

The tape was quiet then a background whistle could be heard. It quickly tapered off.

"A kettle?" Emma asked with a smile and got nods from Selina and Eric.

There were a few more domestic sounds, and Eric reached for the fast-forward button.

"Hang on. He's talking," Selina said, raising her hand to stop Eric.

A deep and gravelly voice moved closer to the recorder. "Burn: April 1989... let's do this."

Eric's expression was frozen. He looked at Julie. "Go get Benny!" he said excitedly.

Gary watched this, then he smiled as he heard the strum of a guitar, which definitely sounded like his Gibson's deep and warm tone. That strum evolved into a run of notes, and a melody came into being. It was slow and sad, evoking images of a smoky, dark stage in a nightclub.

Pure Blues.

Julie returned with another man. He was older with a coffee-toned complexion, peppery grey hair, and a matching trimmed beard. He wore dark-rimmed glasses and dressed in finer clothes than anyone else in the room. He looked at the group with a question in his eyes then a slow smile came to his face as the voice they'd heard earlier began to sing.

Gary observed Benny's expression as it was rich with emotion. Recognition turned to joy which became curiosity, then confusion as he struggled with something.

"I don't know this one...." Benny said softly. "How?" he asked with wonder in his voice.

Sorrow flicked by then he locked his eyes on Eric. "What recording is this?"

Eric watched Benny carefully. "You know who this is."

Benny became cross. "That's not funny! Of course, I recognize Casey's voice! When was this recorded? I don't recognize the lyrics, and I know all of his songs!"

"April 1989," Eric said.

Benny's expression froze. "What? That's impossible. He died in 1982."

"Apparently not. Gary and Emma found his hideout. When they moved to New York City..." he looked to Gary.

"Last summer," Gary offered.

Eric nodded. "They moved into an apartment of an older gentleman who'd discovered he had a terminal disease, took a trip around the world, and passed away during the journey. Gary found Casey's guitar under the bed and these cassettes." He held up the other two, and Benny took them and read the labels.

"Who was Casey?" Gary asked.

Benny snorted, but he seemed a little shaky. "Good question. The man lived to reinvent himself. When I met him in sixty-eight, he'd already had two stage names and settled on Casey 'Burn' Burnelle, a fresh young voice in Blues. I was learning how to play the Blues, and he took me under his wing though he was only five years older than me. As it turned out, I was his friend for longer than anyone. He and I shared a house in New Orleans during the seventies. Then he got cancer and fought it. I thought he was winning, then he disappeared."

"Who told you he died?" Selina asked.

"A fan sent me his obituary from a newspaper in Arizona," Benny mumbled as his mind turned over the facts.

Finally, he shook his head. "Hell of a thing. To be that talented and all you have to show for it at the end are a few cassettes."

Emma shared a look with Gary.

Selina caught the interchange. "What is it, Emma?"

"Gary brought three tapes, but there are five shoeboxes filled with cassettes," she said as she watched their faces.

"Shit!" Benny exclaimed.

They were quiet as Burn sang of his sorrow for his lost love.

"This is really good," Gary offered.

Heads nodded, but they remained quiet.

Benny finally broke the silence. "He went back to writing and playing, but he didn't release anything. With that many cassettes. He might have hundreds of new songs."

"Why didn't he publish them?" Emma asked.

"Probably because he killed off the stage personae, but he couldn't kill his creativity," Benny suggested.

Selina looked to Eric and nodded. He turned off the player and rewound the tape. Once it was done, he put the cassette back in the case and handed it to Gary. He put it back into the guitar case.

"Is that Casey's guitar?" Benny asked.

"No, it's Gary's," Selina said.

The older man nodded. "Yes, I didn't mean anything by that. You've already proven you can draw magic from it." He smiled at Gary.

Selina's eyes lit up. "That reminds me. I brought the recording Greg made the last time we jammed with Gary. After the Celebration of Life tomorrow, I'll be playing some tracks from it for the gathering."

"Let's join the others and see if anyone is creating magic of their own," Eric said.

After powering it down, they left the studio control room and went back to the larger chamber where they could hear music being played, laughter, and conversation.

They listened in for a while then the players reached the end of their set. Everyone clapped then Selina dragged Gary and Emma back to the central couch where Eric had his bass and Julia was sitting before a group of digital drum pads. She spun the sticks in her strong hands and grinned at Gary.

"Do you want to get your electric?" Selina asked.

"I'll get it!" Emma chirped and rushed away.

Selina grinned. "She has a lot of energy!"

Gary smiled fondly and nodded. "You have no idea."

Eric brought Gary an instrument cable.

"What are you going to do with all those tapes of Burn's songs?" he asked.

Gary shook his head. "I have no idea. I'd hate for them to remain trapped on that old media. I don't even know how much longer they'll last. Cassettes can't last forever. They should be converted to digital and published somewhere."

"I heartily agree!" Benny said as he approached their seats with another musician who was also older but whose skin was much darker than his friends.

"So, it's true. You have many cassettes of Burn's music?" the new addition asked.

Gary looked at him and nodded.

"Perhaps we can make an arrangement to purchase them from you," the man offered.

"Oscar! Gary isn't in the biz, and we haven't even gotten him a contract yet. If Gary is interested, he should have representation from a business manager who can inform him of the true value of the recordings."

"Look who's becoming a businesswoman!" Oscar retorted.

Selina frowned. "It should have happened sooner."

Oscar redirected his point. "I thought he was a musician?" Oscar said as Emma returned with Gary's electric guitar case.

Emma smiled as she eased by the big man to give the guitar to Gary, who smiled and gave her a quick kiss, putting another kind of smile on her face.

"Gary hasn't played professionally yet, and he doesn't have a manager," Selina continued. "Once we get him to sign the contract I brought, we'll be doing a studio album."

Oscar's eyebrows rose. "With a tour?"

"Not with me," Gary added immediately to get that fact in the open.

"That's no way to become a famous musician," Oscar suggested.

Gary grinned at him. "That's fine. I plan on being an accountant."

Oscar burst into laughter which faded as Gary held his eyes.

"You not kidding!" Oscar gasped.

"Gary is a brilliant bookkeeper already," Emma said proudly. "Music is his way to relax."

After bumping his shoulder against hers gently with a grin, Gary pulled his new guitar out of the case, and eyes around him widened.

"Not a professional, and you own such a beautiful and expensive guitar?" Benny asked.

Gary shrugged self-consciously. "It was a gift. From a fan of my playing that night at Rocky's."

"Rocky's?" Oscar asked.

Selina grinned. "It was the small club in Gary's neighborhood where we first played together. My recent single?"

The man's eyes lit up. Then he looked at Gary. "That's one hell of a present!"

"I think so, too!" he admitted honestly.

"What should we play?" Julie asked.

Gary grinned. "Can I make a request?" he asked, and they nodded.

"Ever since I played this for the first time on an electric guitar, I've wanted to do it with accompanying instruments and vocals."

"What song?" Selina asked curiously.

"Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits," he said with a hopeful smile.

Selina looked at Oscar. "Gary's lead guitar, but we need another. Do you want to join us?" the man nodded happily. "Benny, would you be our keyboardist?" Benny smiled with a nod as well.

Once they had the extra instruments set up, Gary finished tuning his guitar, and Eric adjusted the mini amp for Gary to get the optimal sound. They were ready.

The other guests gathered around to see how the new kid would fit in.

Holding her mic, Selina looked across at her percussionist. "Give us a beat, Julie."

The music began, and Gary's smile and the love for her in his eyes told Emma he was living a dream.

She couldn't have been happier to be part of it.

-=-

The following day had perfect weather for Greg's Celebration of Life. Saturday dawned with perfectly clear blue skies, but by noon, the horizon over the ocean was filled with grand and dramatic fluffy white clouds that looked like towering mythical castles slowly passing by in a royal procession.

Rows of chairs were set up on the side lawn with a small podium. The breeze off the ocean was gentle and helped keep the guests cool as they took turns at the microphone telling stories of their memories of Greg.

There was lots of laughter, a little half-hearted cursing, and a few tears, but for all his faults, Greg touched the lives of everyone in attendance in a positive way.

When the speeches concluded, Selina played three of the songs she, Greg, and Gary played the night they jammed, ending with the new song.

There was a buzz in the gathering after the final notes played. Selina returned to the podium to thank everyone for attending, then noticed the excitement. Benny stood to face her.

"Selina, we think that was some of Greg's best work. How many tracks did you record that night?" he asked.

She smiled fondly at Gary. "We recorded ten tracks, including the new song."

"You have Greg's keyboard channel isolated in the recording?" Benny asked, and Selina nodded.

Benny looked at the hopeful faces around him, then back to Selina. "This would make a beautiful tribute album. We'd all be willing to help on it."

Selina blinked at him as the idea surprised her. She looked at the others and saw their smiles.

A smile spread across her lips as her eyes became glassy. "That would be so wonderful!"

"Let's go inside and see how we can make this happen," Benny suggested.

It took the rest of the day to go over the tracklist and match it up to the talent available. As there were more musicians than they had tracks for, Selina and Benny decided to expand it to a double album. The original ten tracks with Gary would be disc one, and the second disc would be Greg's favorites, remastered and accompanied by the remaining artists.

To support customers who preferred digital, they'd set up a link on Selina's ecommerce site where users who purchased the album there could stream the songs. It was an ambitious project, but everyone was excited to participate.

Janice was asked to document which artists were on which tracks so everyone who played would be properly credited and compensated for their contribution.

Working with Janice closely, Emma volunteered to assist with talent wrangling to ensure the musicians were where they needed to be when they needed to be there. She also acted as the photographer capturing portraits of each participating artist as well as informal, candid shots for the album art. Her infectious smile and upbeat personality ensured even the most temperamental musicians smiled and had a good time.