March 31st 2021

Chapter 90
Our Summer of Stages

The album was not done yet, wouldn't be done and ready to be put out into the world until nearer to the end of the summer, but that didn't stop TXNY from working in consideration of that end result. What other choice did they have? The band was a part of their lives, and it would continue to be. It wasn't as though they were expecting it to be easy, juggling all those other aspects of their lives now alongside the album, potential shows, interviews, all of it. For all that, they were very much aware of how summer was going to be the best opportunity they'd have to dive into an actual series of performances. Right now, Maya wasn't working, and neither was Morgan, not the way they would when fall came around, and Cara was off from school, which made things easier as well. Rosa worked, yes, but her schedule was flexible any time of the year. Then there was Nadine, and the hospital, but they were able to work toward booking shows without clashing with the demands of her job. They fully expected an emergency to pull her away one of these days, but it hadn't happened yet.

Things were working in their favor right now, but once September rolled around, barring a very exceptional situation, they probably wouldn't do more than one or two shows a month if that. There was no way to get the album done before then. More to the point, they could put out an album before then, sure, but it would be rushed, and it would not be something any of them felt confident about putting in the world as something that represented them. It would come out when it was ready, but until then… Well, there was nothing to stop them from releasing a couple of the new songs before the whole album, was there? They could do them in these shows they had gone and booked through the end of July and the start of August. As a bonus, it would get people's attention ahead of the album's release.

"Weren't you in the attic earlier?"

The night before the band's first of several shows, Lucas stepped into the Hex to find Maya sitting in the booth, occupying the seat before the keyboard, and playing at what was either a song in the making or just a whole lot of random nothing. After climbing up the attic steps in search of his wife, Lucas had found no sight of her, and a quick process of elimination in search of her had finally brought him out the kitchen door and to the studio once he noticed that the lights were on.

"I was, yeah, but that wasn't working out, so I came here," Maya explained as he came over to join her. She looked up at him, her eyes informing him that she hadn't had much luck here either.

"They're going to call," Lucas assured her.

"No, I know, it's just that…"

"You hate this part," he rightly guessed.

"So much…" she breathed out and bowed her head. Lucas chuckled, moving to take his own guitar from where it lay. He sat on another of the benches and started to strum at the strings, a small melody she'd recognize. She lifted her head again when she heard it. With a laugh, she set her hands to the keys and started to play with him. It was the kind of unexpected pleasure she'd gained from his now playing the instrument. They got to have one of these sessions every so often, and it was really so wonderful. They didn't have to say a word, not when the music spoke all by itself.

They'd been playing for all of two minutes when Maya's phone rang. She started and looked over to her phone where she'd set it down nearby. The caller ID told her it was just what she'd been waiting on and she looked to Lucas. He dipped a rapid nod at her to answer it, so she did.

"Hello?"

"Hi, I'm not catching you at a bad time, am I?" Neil Tolliver asked, sounding like he might have been checking a clock. He and the rest of the Marvelers were presently in Ireland, in the midst of a quick tour in the area. If her time zone math was right, it would have to be in the middle of the night out there and seeing as they would have been on stage just a few hours ago, it presented this image like the Marvelers were still up and about in post-show mode.

"No, not at all," Maya told him. Lucas was signing at her, asking if she wanted him to step out while she was on her call, but she shook her head. "I wasn't sure if I'd be hearing from you today, or tomorrow, or…"

"We heard the demo had come in earlier, but we didn't get to listen before we had to go on," Neil explained. Maya could hear just enough of music in the background to realize that the demo – or one of them at least, the group version – was playing wherever he was. She could also hear voices, possibly the rest of the band. "Then once we got back to the hotel, we finally had a listen."

That was what she'd been waiting on, all day. Some might not think that she'd still get nervous over something like this, after the success she'd had already, but she really did. That was normal, wasn't it? One of these days, someone would come back at her and say whatever she'd sent them was horrible, terrible. She'd been fortunate up to now, with the most resistance she'd met being someone – very reasonably – expressing how they weren't sure about some part of a song or another. That would be fine, and Maya would be more than happy to work with them and adjust. She'd never had anyone outright unsatisfied with her compositions, and there would be expectations in her for that to change. She could tell herself it was inevitable, but she still dreaded the moment where it would actually happen.

As well as she could play it off, the way Lucas' face seemed to echo what she was thinking… He'd offered to leave, but he'd clearly been just as concerned for her and he wouldn't have gone far.

"Yeah?" Maya asked, trying not to sound so like she was holding her breath.

"Everyone is looking forward to getting into the studio," Neil reported, and the optimistic lift in his voice left her with a rise of air capacity in her lungs. Maya heard someone speaking in the background, and barely certain that they'd asked if it was her, it was confirmed when Neil said yes. A moment later, Maya had to pull her phone from her ear as there were a number of cheers, bridging the distance from Ireland to Texas in the space of the call. It made her laugh, and it got a smile out of Lucas. She smiled back at him, moved to stand in front of him until he could wrap his arms around her waist.

"That's great, let me know if you need anything, okay? Uh, just not tomorrow night, we have a show out in Houston," she quickly specified, just in case.

"Not a problem," Neil replied with clear understanding, singer to singer. "One off?"

"Three each in Houston and Dallas, and six back in Austin in between," Maya replied. Dallas had not been part of the initial plan, but then her parents were coming for a visit and were looking to spend some time there, with Katy's grandmother. Maya had put the idea to the others, and they were on board. It had all worked out better than expected, and so they'd be out there at the same time.

"Going back full force, huh?" Neil sounded impressed.

"Giving as much as we can before school calls for teachers and students alike," Maya explained.

"Right, makes sense. Tell you what, we are coming back States side in a couple weeks. We'll try and make it to one of those dates if we can, maybe get to show you what we've got by then."

It would be a great sort of motivator in the next few weeks, as TXNY went along its summer three-city tour. Not to suggest that they weren't looking forward to the shows on their own, without the prospect of having the Marvelers as part of their audience. To this day, there was something magical about show days for them, the anticipation bubbling in them, the spark of the electricity created by all those people who came to see them and listen to their music… Doing all those shows in all of three weeks was not something they did often if at all, except for Maya the previous summer with Ree, but even that had not been the same. A TXNY show was a lot more demanding than her singing along when Ree would bring her out.

They loved all of it, and the exhaustion was welcomed. Especially for how they had not played together for so long, the Texas tour felt like a reunion. It wasn't the same, not exactly, when Maya had not shared the stage with Cara or Morgan until that first show back and Riley was currently on hiatus. But the band was the band, and that dozen performances was a well of memories they would take with them, from the first to the last, where they would count the Marvelers in their audience.

It had all demanded a lot more out of them as far as accounting for both jobs and families. Especially on those days when they travelled out to Dallas, they had to think about Marianne and Mia. Lucas and Zay were able to travel out with them, so they were also able to bring the girls, but they couldn't take them to the shows. Much as the visiting Katy and Shawn would see no problem with babysitting the both of them, it didn't seem fair to the parents in question. Plus, they should get the chance to attend one of the shows, right? So, they compromised. Three shows, three babysitters. Lucas did one night, Zay did another, and Shawn and Katy did the last, allowing the others to go.

In Houston, there was more of this, but then they had friends on hand. Chiara was so very close to giving birth, too much for her to go, and so she stayed home, kept company by Sophie, Lucas, or Zay, as they looked over Marianne, Mia, and Giulia. According to each night's sitters, it was like a baby version of a sleepover, and everyone had a great time.

"Are they going to be in disguise?" Morgan wondered, the night of the final show, peering through the curtains. The others tried to find an opening somewhere, anywhere, so they might see for themselves whether they could spot the Marvelers. When they pulled back and realized this, they laughed. Here they were, most of them on the tail end of their twenties, and they could still have been a bunch of giddy teenagers.

"We'll know they're out there somewhere, and that's all that will matter," Maya decided, and they all nodded their agreement.

They weren't going to seek them out, no, but Maya definitely spotted them, in the middle of the fourth song. She was happy with herself for not stumbling or bringing attention to this in any way. She did all she could not to turn too obviously in their direction, even if her eyes were aiming to misbehave. She would catch the odd glimpse of them as the night went on, not exactly in disguise but still in their own corner of the venue. She got to see them as just a part of the audience, and if she weren't already caught up in the energy of the performance, she might have been turned giddy for seeing them, seeing how they were clearly and genuinely having a great time. It was the perfect capping off of these last weeks, all those nights feeling the music as integral to her as the blood in her veins… If she ever needed some reaffirmation that her passion thrived, for teaching and for this, too, well now she had it, and it meant everything to her.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners