Among The Roses

Chapter 9: Breakfast Talk

"Won't it be ace to have a proper music room, finally?" Drew enthused.

"Yeah," Ned agreed, looking around the den. "It's the perfect size and all. And you know, if you'd a mind to, you could add on back here, make this into a mixing booth, you'd be set up with a real studio, like."

Drew followed him outside, to where the bins were kept.

Ned was right. The bins could easily be moved to the kitchen garden, then there'd be plenty of room for a booth here, it would just be a matter of soundproofing the den.

"Neddy, you're a genius," he declared.

"All I ask is that you acknowledge it," Ned quipped with a grin.

"I'm getting Lance out here today if I can to get going on this," Drew continued, pulling out his phone. "Maybe we could even do a little recording out here next summer, if it's finished in time."

"You want me to contact the other two?" Ned asked.

Drew nodded, his mind already focused on what he wanted to discuss with Lance, the technical advisor who was in charge of recording their last album. He'd know who to contact about remodeling and permits and all that.

"Gary and Luke can be here by week's end," Ned told Drew when he got off the phone. "Gars is in Los Angeles, and Luke is in New York, but both are just playing, so no worries."

Drew nodded. "Gary get that mess in Chicago all worked out?" he asked.

Ned shrugged. "Dunno. I asked him about it, but all he did was laugh."

Drew shook his head. "It's nothing to laugh about. Gary spends his money fastest of all of us, and that woman? What's her name?

"LeeAnne," Ned supplied. "LeeAnne Marcum."

"Right," Drew agreed. "She's asking for a lot."

"What do you mean? How much upkeep does one little baby need?"

They headed back to the kitchen to make tea and start breakfast as they talked. Drew knew that his mother would smell the tea and food and wake up and take over preparations, so he didn't really hurry.

"It's not about how much a baby needs, Ned, it's about how much it's entitled to or whatever." Drew filled the kettle and plugged it in. "If Gars didn't have much money, she wouldn't be asking for much, but even with how much he spends, he's loaded compared to your average bloke, so any child of his is entitled to live like the child of a wealthy person, see? And that's on top of her wanting all of her medical bills paid for and all."

"Well, what about her, doesn't she have to take responsibility for some of the financial burden?" Ned's green eyes were wide and questioning as he took sausages out of the fridge and lit the flame on the stove.

Drew gave him a look. "She's a what do you call it, one of those people who does people's nails--"

"A manicurist?"

"Yeah, a manicurist, so how much money do you think she makes?"

Ned made a face. "God, this is going to end up costing Gars a fortune, innit?"

Ellie entered the kitchen with her typical quick footsteps, looking like she'd already been up for hours. "Poor Gary," she commiserated. "Becoming a father should be a happy occasion, not some kind of legal contract with financial considerations and arbitration and lawyers and all this nonsense." She shook her head and motioned for Ned to hand her the spatula.

"I hope you boys have learnt your lesson from this," she admonished, her expression serious.

"No worries, mum," Ned assured her with a grin. "We always wrap our willies, don't we, Drew?"