When Jessi stopped the car, Lori looked at her and smiled, "I'm almost getting used to this."
Jessi commented, "Your heart rate is almost normal, usually it's elevated."
Lori looked at her and sighed, then got out of the car and got her guitar out of the back. The rest of the family had followed in the family car. They parked nearby and joined the two of them as they walked toward the door of 'Pockets'. Jessi hung back and reached for Kyle's hand. As she took it she frowned and looked at him.
"I'm sorry," Kyle said. "I was just thinking."
"About Amanda."
Kyle looked sheepish, "I was." He looked at her and said, "I know it's hard."
"She isn't home yet," Jessi said with a hint of bitterness. Kyle squeezed her hand reassuringly.
Mark was waiting at the door as usual. He encompassed the group with the wave of an arm, "Lori Trager and her entourage."
Lori kissed him and they went in the door. Lori said, "It's not as crowded as last time. Am I chasing the customers away?"
Mark shook his head, smiling, "The semester ended yesterday, some of the students have already headed home for Christmas. This is a fine crowd for the season."
"If you say so," Lori said dubiously. They went to the table they usually sat at and found Gary Baker removing the 'reserved' sign.
Gary said, "I'm looking forward to your set tonight. I'll call you up to the stage at eight, if that's all right."
"I'll be ready," Lori said.
Stephen said, pointing, "We'll be over there." He and Nicole went to a smaller table a distance away.
The waiter came and took their drink orders.
Lori looked around and said, "It's strange, I am getting used to this."
Declan walked up to their table, "Hi guys."
Lori asked, "Where's Jackie?"
Declan said, "She had a red-eye last night back to Nebraska to spend Christmas with her family."
Lori said, "Would you like to sit with us?"
Declan glanced at Mark who said, "Yes, sit with us." Declan sat down next to Josh.
"Thanks for coming," Lori said.
"I wouldn't miss it," Declan assured her. "It's not every day you get to hear yourself roasted in public."
"There are only a couple of songs about you," Lori protested.
The waiter arrived with their sodas, noted Declan's order and left once more. After drinking some of her soda, Lori took a deep breath and announced, "It's about that time again."
Mark said, "Good luck." There were other murmurs of 'good luck' as she went to the stage area.
Lori came out on stage and was seated on tall stool with a microphone for her and another for her guitar. Gary Baker went to an extra microphone on the side and said, "And tonight we have a returning artist, Lori Trager." There was a warm applause and Lori strummed the A minor that opened the first song.
As she sang the audience quieted and listened. Jessi put her head on Kyle's shoulder and her hand on his upper arm. After a moment, he moved and put his arm around her and she looked at him with a small smile then leaned into him to listen.
As Lori moved into the next song in E, her voice brightened as she moved into a happier song, at least by Lori Trager's standards.
Declan turned to Mark and said, "She's really getting better, Mark. You seem to be really good for her."
Mark said, "It's all her work. I don't really do anything."
"She doesn't seem to be on the emotional roller coaster she was on when we were dating"
"I think she's still that way," Mark disagreed. "It just goes into her music now. She's putting it to use."
The next song was in D minor back to a sorrowful note. It was a song of betrayal and loss.
"I think that's you, there," Mark said to Declan.
"Thanks," Declan said.
The forty five minutes went smoothly and soon Lori finished her last song, one with fire and a bit of determination. She left the stage to strong applause and returned to the table breathing hard flushed.
"You were great," Mark said. "That was your best set yet."
Lori said, "That was still a long time up there." She drank deeply from her soda.
Gary Baker came back to the table leading a woman in her late twenties, he said. "Lori, I'd like you to meet Robin Benson. She works for an A&R/Artist Management agency. I gave her a call and suggested that she come tonight."
"Hi, Lori," Robin said holding out her hand which Lori automatically shook, "I'm glad I came. Gary has a good ear. I'd like to talk to you about your music."
Mark got up offering her his chair and she sat down. He got a chair from a neighboring table and pulled it up to the table on the other side from Lori for himself.
Robin said, "My agency, 'Music Seen', represents artists, singers, songwriters to the various labels. I specialize in songs from the woman's perspective and I like your work. We might be able to do something with it."
Lori frowned, "I am nowhere near ready to play professionally."
Robin smiled, "It's not your performance skills that attracted me – you're not bad, but you do still need seasoning. It's your words that I am interested in. You have a poetic style and you touch some basic truths. One of the things we do is place songs with recording artists. If one of your songs does well, the royalties can be impressive."
"Do you really think you could do that?" Lori asked, doubtfully.
"I think there's a good chance," Robin shrugged, "There are no guarantees, of course. Would you be interested in letting us try?"
"If you think you can," Lori said, clearly doubtful. "What do I have to do?"
"I would want to get a demo disk of some of your work that I can take to my agency," Robin explained. "If my boss likes it, and he usually listens to me, then we'll sign a representation agreement and try pushing it to labels that have artists who would fit with your message. If we place a song, we split the royalties. Do you have a demo disk?"
"No, I don't," Lori shook her head and then noticed Mark holding up a disk. Lori turned to him and said, "What! Did you know about this?"
Mark shrugged, "Gary told me that he had invited someone and I thought we should have it in case. I didn't want to make you nervous." He handed the disk to Lori.
"We are so going to talk about this." Lori glared at him for a moment longer and then turned to Robin. She handed her the disk and warned, "I should probably talk to my parents about this."
Robin looked dubious, "I'd like to get started as soon as possible."
Lori pointed to the table where Stephen and Nicole sat, "They're right over there. We can just go over now. It will be easier if you explain it than if I try to do it second hand."
"All right," Robin said. She, Lori and Mark got up and headed toward Stephen and Nicole.