Impossible Depths (Silver Lake series Book 2)

  Impossible

  Depths

  Coral McCallum

  Copyright © 2015 Coral McCallum

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-13: 978-1519794345

  ISBN-10: 1519794347

  The characters, names, places, brands, media and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or deceased, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the various products referenced within this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorised, associated with or sponsored by these trademark owners.

  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Cover Design by Coral McCallum

  Cover image– © Artemfurman | Dreamstime.com - Sexy Man Photo

  Celtic Dragon Knot- created by Fiona Knox

  So, here I am, on the eve of the publication of “Book Baby 2” aka Impossible Depths…can’t quite believe it.

  The last year has been a roller coaster ride.

  To those of you returning to the Silver Lake fold, welcome back and huge thanks for all the love and support that you’ve shown me over the past few months. The response to Stronger Within, Book 1 in the Silver Lake series, has been incredible and I’m completely overwhelmed by how well it has been received.

  To those of you being introduced to Jake and Lori and all things Silver Lake for the first time, a warm welcome and I sincerely hope that you enjoy the journey through life with them.

  As before, Impossible Depths is largely set in the USA but has been written in UK English so I’ll offer my humble apologies now to the language purists among you. If the S’s instead of Z’s and the British terminology offends then I’m sorry.

  None of this would have been possible without the continuing love, support and words of encouragement from my “infamous five”. Seriously, I couldn’t have done this without you. Huge hugs and much love to each of you.

  And to “the cavalry”, my beta readers, who rocked up at the end. Thank you!

  To my writer “fairy godmother”, huge thanks for your technical assistance once again and for teaching me how to wave my “magic wand”.

  The birth of Impossible Depths has been another lengthy labour of love and I’d like to thank my long-suffering family for their patience and support.

  And, finally, a huge thank you to YOU for picking up this copy of “Book Baby 2”.

  Love and hugs to you all and happy reading!

  Coral McCallum 13 February 2016

  Gently the breeze blew in off the ocean as a family of dolphins made their leisurely way through the waves. Cresting and diving, they played in the ocean swell, oblivious to Lori watching them from the shore. Spring sunshine had warmed the day, but, as the afternoon drew to a close, a breeze from the ocean brought a chill with it, reminding her that it wasn’t summer for a while yet. Drawing her hoodie tight around her, Lori adjusted her grip on her cane and turned towards home. Being out on the beach in the sun had blown away the last remnants of the gloom of winter. The last three months had been more lows than highs and life had closely mirrored the ocean swell she adored. For Jake and the band, things had gone from strength to strength. The antipodean tour with Bodimead had been a sell-out success. A deluxe edition of their album had been released with an accompanying DVD - the footage shot by Scott during their UK tour- and was riding high in the rock chart. For Lori, her lows had again been health related, causing her to miss out on travelling to the southern hemisphere to support Jake and the rest of Silver Lake.

  When she had returned to visit her doctor, John Brent, during the first week in January the news hadn’t been good. As he had advised her when she saw him before Christmas, he had referred her x-rays to her original orthopaedic surgeon from New York, Ben Hartson, who had responded that he wanted to remove the broken screw from her surgically repaired femur. The second blow was that he had an opening in his schedule for later that week and was happy to operate on Lori in Delaware to save her the trip to New York. It had barely given her time to get her head round things before he had arrived in town and performed the surgery on 11th January. The surgery had gone smoothly- a small high – but had been more extensive than she had expected – another low. Apart from removing the broken screw, the surgeon had inserted two more small plates to strengthen the section of bone that had shown signs of stress. Following the surgery, when Dr Hartson had explained to her exactly what he had done and why, Lori had understood and reluctantly accepted that it had been her best option. After ten long days in the medical centre, she had returned home to start her recovery all over again. Jake had left for New Zealand less than two weeks later.

  During the four long weeks that Silver Lake were away, Lori had pushed herself to the limits. She had engaged the daily services of one of the physical therapists from the medical centre, Billy, and had worked with single-minded determination. It had taken every ounce of her physical and mental strength, but, by the time Jake strode back in the door, suntanned after the tour, the crutches were gone and she was back to walking with the aid of one cane around the house. Now, a further six weeks down the road, or the beach in this case, she was back where she had been the previous November, with high hopes for more improvement.

  Checking her phone for missed calls or messages, Lori took note of the time and realised she had been away from the house longer than she had intended. She had promised Paul, the band’s drummer, that she would take care of Maddy while Silver Lake were in New York for a few days. It had been such a beautiful afternoon though that Maddy had insisted she go for a walk, promising to call if she felt any labour pains. At almost thirty-seven weeks pregnant with twins, Maddy was not moving anywhere far from the house, but Lori had managed to convince her to sit outside on the lounger on the sun deck while she took a stroll along the sand. Jake had called over three hours before to say that was them leaving the city so Lori guessed she still had time to get back to her friend before the boys arrived home

  As she came up the path towards the house, she could hear Maddy talking on the phone. From her tone of voice, it was obviously a business call and Lori guessed, correctly, that it was from Jason from the band’s management company. Stamping the sand off her feet, Lori signalled to Maddy that she was going indoors to fetch them a drink. When she came back out onto the sun deck with two mugs of coffee, Maddy was finishing up her call.

  “Everything ok?” asked Lori, as she watched her friend lever herself into a sitting position.

  “Just Jason being Jason,” she muttered, gratefully accepting the mug of coffee.

  “I meant with you and the meatballs,” commented Lori, sitting at the table. Ever since Grey’s daughter, Becky, had joked about Maddy looking like she had swallowed a big meatball, the nickname for the unborn twins had stuck.

  “I’m fine,” retorted Maddy, her tone sharper than she intended. “As long as I don’t want to move or breathe.”

  “Only a few more days,” sympathised Lori, smiling at her friend.

  “Thank Christ for that!” Maddy sighed, rubbing her hugely pregnant belly.

  “Any word from the boys?” asked Lori, checking the time.

  “Yes,” replied her friend. “Paul called about half an hour ago to say they were passing Dover Downs. Grey’s mom called to say she would drop Becky off here at five. All of them should be here anytime.”

  “You’d better drink that coffee quick then,” giggled Lori. “I don’t want Paul giving me into trouble for feeding your caffeine habi
t.”

  Lori had just placed the two empty mugs in the dishwasher when she heard Jake’s truck pull into the driveway. Before she could call to Maddy that the boys were back, her friend came into the kitchen. The pale, strained look on her face concerned Lori but she said nothing. A few seconds later, the back door opened and Silver Lake came charging into the kitchen, all talking at once, continuing loudly with a debate that had been raging in the truck.

  “Hi, li’l lady,” said Jake, hugging Lori tight and kissing the nape of her neck. “Missed you.”

  “Missed you too, rock star,” she whispered almost shyly.

  Behind her, she could hear Paul fussing over Maddy, suggesting she should be sitting down.

  “You fucking well try sitting down comfortably with a belly like this,” she snapped as she waddled out of the kitchen towards the bathroom.

  “Go easy on her, Paul,” suggested Lori quietly. “She’s really struggling. She rested all afternoon. I promise.”

  “Hmph,” he muttered, wandering out of the kitchen towards the door down to the basement.

  “He’s struggling too,” commented Grey, watching the door close behind the drummer. “I’ll be glad when these babies arrive.”

  “Won’t we all,” sighed Jake as he filled the water reservoir for the coffee maker.

  Car tyres crunched outside announcing the arrival of Grey’s mother, Annie, and Becky. Excusing himself, the bass player darted back outside to collect his daughter. The band had only been away for three days, but it was clear from the speed that he shot out the door at that he had missed his little girl.

  “Is everyone staying for dinner?” asked Lori, silently praying that the answer was going to be no.

  “Paul said they were going straight home,” replied Rich, accepting a mug of coffee from Jake. “I’m meeting Linsey at her place so I’ll be out of here once I’ve drunk this.”

  “Grey’s staying,” added Jake. “We’ve a bit of work to finish off. Are you alright to watch Becky for an hour or so after dinner?”

  “Sure,” agreed Lori without hesitation. “So, that’s four for dinner?”

  “Not exactly,” said Jake. “Six.”

  “Six?”

  “Yeah. Gary detoured to collect Scott at the airport. They’ll be here in an hour or so.”

  “Why’s Scott back so soon?” she asked curiously.

  “Lord Jason wants him to film some of our recording sessions. Thinks he can use the footage as internet promo stuff,” explained Rich shaking his head. “More camera dodging for all of us.”

  “He’s a sweet kid,” laughed Lori, feeling the band’s pain at the thought of the over-enthusiastic film maker’s return.

  The back door flew open and a small blonde tornado of a little girl bowled in yelling, “Uncle Jake! Uncle Jake!”

  “Hi, princess,” said Jake as he scooped Becky up into his arms. “How’s my favourite girl?”

  “The tooth fairy came!” squealed Becky, pulling her bottom lip down. “Look!”

  “Wow, your first visit from the tooth fairy,” he laughed. “I hope she left you some cash for it.”

  “Five dollars,” said Becky proudly. “But I had to write her a letter to say sorry that I swallowed the tooth.”

  Her innocence made them all laugh.

  “What’s so funny?” asked Maddy as she re-entered the kitchen.

  “I lost a tooth, but I swallowed it,” announced Becky, showing the band’s manager the tiny gap in her mouth.

  “Oh, honey, have you been kissing boys?” teased Maddy, rubbing her aching back.

  Becky looked at her seriously, then shook her head.

  “Can I feel the meatballs kicking?” she asked hopefully.

  Jumping down from Jake’s arms, Becky scampered over towards the pregnant Goth.

  “Put your hand here,” instructed Maddy. She placed the little girl’s hand to one side of her enormous bump and, after a few seconds, one of the twins obligingly kicked hard. Becky giggled as Maddy screwed up her face in obvious discomfort.

  “You’ll get to meet them soon, Becky,” Maddy promised, as another sharp kick caught her breath. “I go to the hospital to have them on Monday.”

  “Three more sleeps!” counted the excited little girl jumping up and down.

  “What’s sleep?” muttered the worn out mother-to-be. “I’ve not slept properly for weeks.”

  Jake reached over to give her a hug. “It’ll be worth it in the end, Maddison.”

  “Hmmph,” she sighed. “I’m going out to the car. Tell Paul to move his ass. Thanks for everything, Lori.”

  “Do you need a hand, boss?” offered Jake, flashing her one of his special smiles.

  “You could be a sweetheart and grab my bag for me.”

  “No problem.”

  Gently Lori hugged her friend. “Let me know if you feel up to lunch on Sunday. If not, I’ll see you Monday or Tuesday.”

  “I’ll call,” promised Maddy. “The way I feel right now, though I don’t see me lasting till Sunday.”

  “Do you think you might be in labour?” whispered Lori, suddenly concerned.

  “I think it might be starting. I’m not sure. I’ve had a few runs of contractions for the last few hours but nothing regular. If these two arrive before Monday, I’ll not be complaining,” she replied, forcing a smile.

  “Call if you need me.”

  Sitting round the dinner table an hour or two later all thoughts of babies were long gone as Grey and Jake were deep in conversation with Gary about the upcoming recording sessions. There was loose agreement around the content of the next album, but the band had agreed to take their time and not to rush headlong into pre-production or recording sessions. From a management and a record company angle, Gary was pushing for sooner rather than later. At the far end of the table, Scott, the young British filmmaker, was falling asleep, jet lag catching up with him.

  “Does anyone want a coffee before I take Becky through to the sun room to watch a DVD?” asked Lori as she began to clear the dinner plates away.

  “I’m fine, li’l lady,” replied Jake, rising to help clear the table. “You go on through and we’ll tidy up here.”

  “I’ll not argue about that,” she declared with a smile. “Come on, Becky. Let’s leave the boys to work for a while.”

  “We’ll be done by eight thirty,” promised Grey. “Becky, behave for Lori.”

  “Yes. Daddy,” she replied, jumping down from her seat.

  “I’ll go with the girls,” yawned Scott. “Lori, can I sleep on your couch for a while?”

  “Of course,” she agreed. “Or the spare room is made up if you’d rather stay over?”

  “Couch is fine,” he said, stumbling up from his seat. “I was filming a show last night in London and only grabbed a couple of hours sleep before I left for the airport. I’m knackered.”

  With Scott stretched out on the larger couch, the two girls cuddled up together on the smaller one. Choosing a DVD had been easy. Becky wanted to watch Beauty and the Beast, her current all-time favourite. Within a few minutes of the film starting, Scott was sound asleep and snoring softly. Before the film was halfway through, Becky too had dozed off, with her head in Lori’s lap. Gently she ran her fingers through the little girl’s sunshine blonde hair. Since their first meeting, almost a year before, Becky had stolen part of Lori’s heart. It was impossible not to be captivated by her.

  Down in the basement, Gary was making himself useful by recording the new song that the two guitarists had been working on. Both of them had stayed up till the early hours of the morning working first on the riff and then on the melody. It was the first song that they had collaborated on and Jake, ever the teacher at heart, was keen to encourage Grey’s creative side. They played through a few variations of it until they were both happy with one. After a few more practice runs, they were ready to record the bare bones of the song so each of them could go away and work on the rest of it. Jake’s assignment for the weekend was to come
up with some lyrics. As they had driven back from New York, they had discussed several potential themes but they were still to reach a consensus.

  “I’m out of here,” declared Grey, realising it was almost nine. “I need to get Becky home.”

  “No rush,” said Jake, putting his guitar back on the stand. “It’s Friday night after all.”

  “I need to go, Jake,” said the bass player calmly. “Anyway, you and Lori need some space too.”

  “I’d better get Scott to the hotel,” added Gary. “Kid’s been up for like thirty hours plus.”

  “How long’s he here for?” asked Jake.

  “At least ten weeks,” answered the band’s tour manager. “Don’t panic. He’s got a couple of projects to pick up other than filming you guys.”

  “Thank Christ for that,” muttered Grey. He picked up his guitar case, then added, “Where are you staying this trip?”

  “At the hotel for now. I’ve finally got all the work permit paperwork in order so I’m here indefinitely.”

  The three of them headed up the narrow staircase that opened out into the house, between the dining room and lounge room. When they reached the top step, Jake turned round and said, “You could use my apartment, if you want. It’s empty. Rent and services are all paid up.”

  “Where is it?” asked Gary, instantly liking the idea of his own space.

  “Just off the boardwalk, near the centre of town. It’s not much, but it’s better than the hotel,” replied Jake. “Paul and I lived there for a while before he moved out. In fact, Rich was there too for a few months. You could share with Scott, if he’s ok to sleep on the couch.”

  Glancing into the sun room and spotting the film maker curled up sound asleep, Gary commented, “Looks like he might be ok with that.”

  “Have a think. If you want to see the place, give me a call and I’ll take you over there.”

  “Thanks,” said Gary, clapping Jake on the shoulder. “Appreciate it.”