Don't Make Me Over

To make changes to something or someone in order to greatly alter or completely change its or their appearance or function.

New York

San had been fortunate enough to have had 25 good years in the music business, a loving wife that supported everything he did and two beautiful children who they doted on. He'd left his family in Granada, where they'd been just over a year spending some time with her sick parents and gone back to the studio in New York to finish his last song on his celebratory best of album and contrary to his usual landscapes covers, he was thinking of doing something different.

A conversation with his wife last night had brought back a guilty pleasure he'd had as a young man, he was rushing across town to the studio to have a conversation with Artie who he'd been his agent since day one, he was more like a trusted friend these days.

They lived in New York and had done since they'd gotten married, but once the children had gone off to college they'd found themselves spending more time away from the place, it was the place to be if you needed to live the fast life, and for a long while hey did. Nowadays they were financially secure, the children had finished studies and were branching out in their own fields and his wife's father wasn't in good health so they took every opportunity they could get to hop out.

"Artie" Sam huffed, out of breath for running from the car to the tenth floor office "I've got an idea" he smiled across the room, his hands resting on his knees as he bent to catch breath.

"Am I going to like this idea?" Artie looked at his friend, knowing the man pretty much had all the say when it came to his material, smiling at the fact that he'd always come at him with these really outlandish ideas sometimes, that Artie knew would do more harm than good, and most of the time he'd have to work hard to bring the man back to earth.

"You're going to love it, I think" he laughed, knowing himself.

"Let's hear it" Artie put his tablet down to give the man his full attention, watching him fall into the chair opposite his desk.

"I want to put myself on my album cover, maybe sitting with the family on a couch or at the dinner table or something".

"Sam" Artie looked at him, "You know you'll have to run that by the Mrs".

"She'll be cool, happy even that I want her in it".

"And she'll fly over?"

"That might be a bit harder" he frowned "But I'll settle for without the children if I have to".

"Get the go on that and I'll be sure to set it up".

"So, you think it's a go?"

"It could be, and it's something different after all these years of landscapes".

"Change is as good as a rest" he finally stood up having got that off his mind and on the table "I'll have that conversation and get back to you tomorrow maybe".

"Maybe" Artie smiled "There was many things he could get past that woman of his, he'd often said it was his smile, but trapsing the entire family home for a week to shoot a family scene with her having sick parents on the other side of the waters, Artie knew the man was dreaming, but he was going to have to find that out the hard way

Two Days Later

Sam stood in the doorway to Artie's office watching the man listening to yet another new song, they'd been through hell and high water together, faced a lot of things together but when it came to his wife, Artie always backed off, he smiled at the man already knowing what he was about to tell him. He pushed the door open further alerting Artie to the fact that he was stood there "I can tell by the way you walked in here it didn't go well" Artie dropped his pen in the desk looking up at Sam while leaning back in his chair.

"She didn't even entertain it, blew the fuck up when I mentioned the children, I should have known better really" he flung himself in the usual chair opposite Artie.

"So, we're looking for landscapes again?"

"I think she's alright with me doing it, as long as it's tasteful, age appropriate you know, all of that".

"She agreed to that?" Artie looked at him shocked, wondering if he was flavouring the truth.

"Yeah, so set it up"

"What's the rush?" Artie laughed still not willing to believe what he was hearing

"I want to get it over and done with before it starts divorce proceedings in our home".

"I'll sort it" Artie jumped up slamming his hand on the table, he really wasn't expecting him to get that past her, but now he had he was going to do everything in his power to make it work for him.

"As you know I've got this last song to get out, so a week or so might help, say early next month, give me some time".

"Time to talk her around?" Artie enquired

"She's warming to it" he laughed at being caught out

"Why do you want to do a photo shoot for this one?"

"It always been a guilty pleasure of mine you know, all that modelling stuff" he laughed "Back then it was about being pawed by women but since I got hitch I never had the urge again" he smiled "And… Don't get me wrong it's still not about that now, it's just something I've always wanted to do, she tells me enough I'm page three material" he flexed his muscles "I guess I want to prove her right" he got up to make his way out

"We better make it count then" Artie watched him walk out the office.

Three Weeks Later

Los Angeles

He'd left a cold house that morning to spend two days in Los Angeles, it had snowed for the first time since the beginning of the year, and he was sad for not being able to make snow angles with his wife last night. He was finally doing the photoshoot, with his wife's half blessing, they'd got one of the big gun photography company's involved, and he was excited about that, but his family had been on his mind all the journey, it had been nearly six weeks since he'd been away.

Now he was getting dressed for this session, the event had been taken over, he was just excited about the whole thing. "What's that?" he looked at this sixties bell bottom trouser suit they were holding up for him to wear

"Country" the man had the cheek to answer him

"Do I look like I dress like that?" he pointed at the suit

"Sir it's what wardrobe give us"

"Well get wardrobe to give you some proper clothes, I'm not wearing that" he slapped it out the way, rolling his eyes, he knew his wife was laughing at him before he took his phone out to complain to her

"We have three more choices Sir" the man came back with three hangers presenting suites, none of them his actual style

"Which one?" he held the phone up to the clothes asking his wife

"The blue or the orange" she laughed

"Thanks for nothing, I knew you'd get the last laugh" he smiled "I guess if I have to pick one" Sam looked at the choices again "It's that one" he pointed at the sky blue double breasted jacket finally agreeing to what he thought was the best of a bad set of choices, closing the call and putting it on before he made his way to the studio.

"Mr Evans, can I call you Sam?" the bright smile, small-framed woman beamed at him.

"Please" he smiled back, more at getting the attention of the entire room than this woman's question.

"Okay Sam, so we have this afternoon and tomorrow morning to get some really good shots and make a decision, do you have anything in mind?"

"I was told you guys had some ideas for me to choose from" he looked at her wondering if she was the person Artie had spoken to directly.

"Maybe if we could hear one of your songs" she smiled flirtatiously

"I can't do a new one, all to do with contracts and stuff, but I can maybe do a bar or two from an old cover or something" he looked around the room "Anyone got a guitar?" he smiled at some guy walking towards him with one as if the whole thing had been staged. "I sort of sang this one to my wife, a while ago, nearly 26 years ago to be honest, it got the ring on her finger anyway" he smiled strumming the guitar to find his note before he started singing his rendition of 'When I Need You' by Leo Sayer

When I need you, I just close my eyes and I'm with you, and all that I so want to give you, it's only a heartbeat away.

When I need love, I hold out my hands and I touch love, I never knew there was so much love, keeping me warm night and day.

Miles and miles of empty space in between us, a telephone can't take the place of your smile
But you know I won't be traveling forever, it's cold out, but hold out, and do like I do.

"That's as much as I've got" he laughed putting the guitar down, unsure why he'd chosen that song, it came from an emotional time in his private life and he hadn't known it until he'd started singing, that some of those emotions were still raw.

They'd been super happy, he was about to start on his music venture, and she was happy to start work in her first not for profit law firm, they had everything going for them, including the five year plan. "I'm pregnant" she dived at him giggling as he walked in the door, they were elated, it wasn't in the five year plan, but it was definitely in their life plan, and nothing was more important to them at that moment than their baby together. That was short lived when he came home one afternoon to find her laying in a pool of blood, hugging a lump of something in her hand, he couldn't look, refused to look and she needed him to, they'd gone in different directions after that, emotionally.

He'd sang that song one evening sitting by the fire, she was in the kitchen doing her own thing and at some point she came into the room, sat beside him, and cried, they both did, opening up the channels of communication, that conversation ended with a proposal, and acceptance and a life together

He blinked himself back, everyone was stood clapping their appreciation while he'd sat in his thoughts, the dulling of the sound bringing his mind back into the studio "I guess we've got some work to do" he got off the stool ready to start.

"We do, I'm Emma" the woman confirmed.

Throughout the afternoon she got him stood next to the vintage car, by a lamppost which wasn't too impressive, sat in the vintage car, done some outside shots which he didn't much like the windswept look of and finally ended up on the couch, missing his family. He'd so far discarded of his socks, hat, and shirt along the way, but so far everything was tasteful.

"That's great" Emma smiled at him, three hours later, now he was laying on the built for purpose black leather couch, in a lime green suit covering his bare chest and shoes with no socks on, the sun beating down enough for him to be going slightly red for being in full glare of it.

"It feels forced" he finally decided to have an input, "Do I?" he looked at her wondering if she wanted him sitting or half laying on the couch.

"We just maybe need…" she walked towards him pulling at his trouser belt.

"What?" he looked at her puzzled.

"Underwear" she smiled, walking back to the mounted camera.

Sam stood feeling uncomfortably vulnerable, trying to talk himself through this dilemma, it had always been his dream to be a model and when he got this chance of putting his face on his very own album cover instead of the usual landscapes, he felt like at his time in life something was going right for him. As far as any conversations he'd had with Artie up to this day the brief to the photographer said they wanted a mature, tasteful, homely feel on the cover, his wife had only just agreed to him doing this two days before, after reading the notes to make sure nothing had been compromised and now this.

He was sure he'd asked all the questions of the agent before leaving home for the shoot, but the one thing he hadn't thought to ask was about being naked, he'd have thought Artie would have informed them of his resistance in that area as standard. Now he was sat here in this compromising situation, feeling somewhat scared to tell this woman where the hell to get off.

Maybe at 20 this wouldn't have been such as ask, and no doubt back then, when he'd initially divulged his guilty pleasure to his wife, he was all up for that, but at 45 things were looking a bit different even from his point of view. It wasn't like he'd never cared about what he put into his body, he did, in most cases he had no choice, his food was weighed, portioned, and timed most days but this was still a big ask.

The funny thing about this situation was that he wasn't just thinking about how he looked, actually he was comfortable with his 45 year old self, but he knew that when his wife got wind of this half naked shoot thing, she'd go berserk, and right now he felt that would be with good reason. To add to that dressing down what would their 24 and 23 year olds think, all their friends knew what their dad did for a living, and for them to be subjected to jokes and comments about their dad would be another embarrassment he'd be subjecting them to.

"Sam?" Emma turned to look at him sat there not moving "Something wrong?"

"I don't think I'm one hundred percent comfortable with being half naked" he owned up to her, looking around the room.

"Come on Sam, it's what sells everything now a days a bit of skin" she teased.

"That might be right, but I'm still not sure if that's supposed to be my bits of skin" he frowned.

"I didn't think men had inhibitions?" she teased further.

"Well, this one does, plus…"

"I'm going to shop everything, anyway, I'll have you looking like a fresh 25 year old by the time I'm finished" she laughed.

"I thought this was my album cover, and you'd been briefed I wanted to go for the mature man look?"

"It is" she laughed, looking at her buzzing phone "Excuse me" she held it up before answering it and walking away from him.

Sam sat wondering how he felt about putting lies on his album cover, because that had been the main reason he'd always used landscapes to set the required scene, maybe this whole thing was a tat ambitious. "No" he told his inner self something different was going to have to happen, he looked around the studio again, everyone doing their own thing he couldn't shake this feeling of doubt off he grabbed hold of the guitar and sat on the stool just taking in the familiarity.

He smiled at the memory and the vision of his first ever guitar, his Madeira folk guitar, sitting on its stand in their home, like a trophy that had mapped out his whole life, it was all scuffed, with indented fingerprints from the years of practicing, pressing chords and picking notes now. He stroked the guitar in hand thinking about the one that helped him to get here, in contrast the madeira was shaped like an enormous pear obviously a lot more damaged, chipped and gouged, it wasn't a beautiful looking instrument now but it still allowed him to make music, and just like that he knew he was going to honour that old guitar and stay true to his word.

When I need you, I just close my eyes and I'm with you, and all that I so want to give you, babe, it's only a heartbeat away.

It's not easy when the road is your driver, honey, that's a heavy load that we bear
But you know I won't be traveling a lifetime, it's cold out, but hold out, and do like I do, oh, I need you.

"Something on your mind?" Emma came back into the room and into his mind, alerting him to the fact that he was singing out loud.

"I was thinking about my first guitar" he smiled at her face coming towards him.

"You want to do a cover with a guitar?" she asked laughing "I think I can confidently say I know what sells and pictures of guitars are not it".

"I disagree, if it's the right guitar, the sky's the limit" he laughed.

"I guess I'll give you that one" she waved at the preps to get things sorted "So have you come to terms with this concept?"

"Concept of?"

"Getting naked" she stopped to look at him.

"I have no intention of getting naked, I've already gone too far taking my shirt and socks off, we won't be using those by the way".

"Why don't we have dinner on it and come back refreshed in the morning?"

"Why don't we just cancel everything, this isn't what I signed up for, I don't think we're a good fit".

"You don't get your deposit back" she warned.

"That's fine, I don't like the way you work, I know Artie told you exactly what I wanted, but you choose to come at me with this bull shit" he stood up.

"We can work something out, I'm sure".

"It's fine I've worked it out" he put the guitar down and walked off towards the changing rooms "You're not the right company to cover this project" he turned to tell her, before walking through the door. Smiling at the revelation that he'd found the courage to actually say what he wanted to.

"Mr Evans" Emma was stood at the door shouting him "We can remodel if you want".

"It's fine Emma, I don't want to be made over".

"I wasn't…"

"It's fine, I've changed my mind anyway" he turned to tell her, as soon as he got to the changing room he was on the phone to Artie telling him about the shoot, the conversation ending with him telling him to book the regular guy.

He didn't bother to stay the extra night he grabbed his belongings from the hotel and checked out, catching the first flight back home to sort the side of his life that actually mattered out, smiling at hearing Leo singing that same song over the airways as he sat in the airport.

When I need love, I hold out my hands and I touch love, I never knew there was so much love, keeping me warm night and day.

When I need you, I just close my eyes, and you're right here by my side, keeping my warm night and day.

"Babe" he smiled at her voice coming back at him "What's going on?" he laughed asking of the music in the background

"Dad asked for some music" she laughed

"I wished I as there"

"Two more days" she frowned, turned the phone to focus on her dad's face, it was the happiest he'd seen the man in a while

"I'm on my way now actually"

"Babe" she stopped to look at him "I'm relieved, I miss you"

"I've got to stop by home and see Artie before I get the next plane out, but I should be there tomorrow night" he looked up at the announcement "Babe I've got to go, we'll talk when I get there" he smiled "Love you"

"It still gives me chills when you say that" she smiled at him "I love you too"

"My beating heart" he smiled at her giggling at him holding his chest, they blew their kisses and closed the call, he'd already decided he wasn't paying for that fiasco of a photo shoot, so they were about to have a fight on their hands for that.

New York

"So" Artie sat in his chair looking at a still angry Sam "What did she actually say, because I know I gave her our original script?"

"I was stripping from minute two, even threatened about payment, I refuse to pay for any of it by the way"

"Oh, we're not going to pay" Artie assured him "So what did she who must be heard say about all this?"

"She won't stop laughing at me for a long while to come, but I still want to have my picture on the cover"

"Yeah, I was thinking about that" Artie looked at him wondering how he was going to take the suggestion "I've seen a lot of photos in your albums over the years, and I thought maybe you could use a 25 year old photo to celebrate your 25 years of Evans album"

"That's a brilliant idea, she'd go for that" Sam jumped up "Make that happen"

"I need the pics" Artie called after him

He waved his hand in acknowledgement getting his phone out to have the conversation "Babe" the grin in his voice making her smile "Artie's come up with the best idea" he grabbed his bag on the way out

"Hit me"

He walked to the waiting car telling his wife the plan, talking about the pictures they could think about, ideas were just flying out all the way to the airport "I'm boarding now, I've got to go" he looked at his phone "I have 20 percent"

"Hey" she smiled at his enthusiasm "Best thing about it" she laughed "There'll be no make overs"

"I know a 20 year old Sam who's ready to make a comeback" he warned

"And I know a 19 year old Mercedes who'll be waiting" she laughed blowing him a kiss