Ten Days of Perfect (November Blue #1)

“Holy shit, are you serious?” I turned and looked at him wide-eyed.

“Yeah, they saw the proofs, but never these. This was the best one; Rae and I each have one in our rooms.”

“Rae?”

“Yea, Rachel’s nickname.”

“Cute.” I smiled.

“Want a tour of the rest of the place?”

“You bet your ass I do.” I slapped his butt and headed for the door. He tugged my arm and pulled me in for a deep, soft kiss.

“Well, up here is just bedrooms; Rae’s is across the hall and all the way at the end is my parents’ room. It just stays . . . well…”

“I get it.” I squeezed his hand in reassurance as he led me back down the large staircase.

Bo took me through the foyer and showed me the living room, expansive gourmet kitchen, office, and den before opening a door leading downstairs.

“Want to see the studio?” He asked with an impish grin.

“Yes!” I squealed like a little girl before I pushed past him and flew down the stairs to the full-height basement.

Bo opened the door at the bottom of the stairs and flicked on the light. Just like in the movies, there was a window looking into the expansive room. I could see the studio space itself and to the back was the control room, also with a large window. This was no DIY project; this was some state-of-the-art recording shit. I reminded myself to close my mouth as I walked in, lest I look the fool.

“Rae and Ash would love this.” I stated out loud.

“What?” Bo asked, thoroughly confused.

“Ha. Sorry. My mom’s nickname is also Rae, it’s short for Raven. My dad’s name is Ashby, but I call him Ash most of the time. ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ were out of the question for them when I was growing up.” I shrugged as I entered the control room, grazing my fingers across all of the slides and dials.

“Wait a minute.” Bo said, entering the control room behind me.

“I know, I know, it’s weird to call your parents by their first names - it’s just what it is.” I smiled.

“No, that I get.” He chuckled, “Your parents are Raven and Ashby Harris?” He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me square in the face.

“Yes, my name is November, their names are Ashby and Raven, and we all share the same last name,” I swallowed hard, thinking it was impossible that he was going where I hoped he wasn’t.

“Cute, Ember. Let’s try it this way; are your parents the Raven and Ashby Harris?”

I stood in shocked silence as he reached to a shelf of albums above my head, thumbing through them. When I realized what he was doing, I finally spoke.

“Shit. Are you fucking kidding me?” I whispered. My eyes widened as blood raced to my face.

Bo pulled out a straight-up old school vinyl record. The cover read, “Earth Mama by The San Diego Six” and graced the pictures of my parents and four of their closest friends. I made no facial expression as he held the record up next to his face and smiled.

“How the fuck . . . you know what? Never mind. I can’t believe this.” I said all at once as I plunked in the chair behind me, burying my face in my hands.

“How could you not tell me that your parents are, or were, in one of the most popular indie folk bands from San Diego in the eighties and early nineties?” He grabbed my shoulders again and shook them playfully, like he was breaking the news to me.

“Um, how about because my parents were in one of the most popular indie folk bands from San Diego in the eighties and early nineties, and exactly no one our age knows about that? This is un-fucking-believable!” I broke into hysterical laughter, “Where did you even get that?”

“My parents had it in a huge collection of albums. I was sorting through their stuff after they died and found this gem. So, November Blue Harris, how is it that you’ve never been inside a recording studio?” He suggested I was lying.

“Well, Officer, maybe I did go in one when I was younger, but they were mainly touring. I think they only recorded one new album after I was born and I don’t really remember that. So, it’s possible that I crawled around a studio once or twice. I swear to you right now, do not say anything to Monica, Josh, or Adrian - none of them know.” I snapped the record from his hand and looked at it, feeling a knot tighten in my stomach.

“What’s the deal? They’re awesome,” he said a little less playfully.

I feigned indifference, “It’s just . . .” I rolled my eyes and huffed, “It’s just kind of a long story. It’s not important.” My eyes shot to the floor.

“Hey,” he lifted my chin as he sat in the chair across from me, “what is it?” He spoke softly.

I looked to the left and the right, trying to find a topic of discussion to get us out of this Ashby and Raven vortex, but I couldn’t; we were in a recording studio after all. I yielded a sigh and slowly brought my eyes to his.

“Fine. Look. Remember the first night we met and I told you about how my parents are hippies, and later I told you how I finally got them to agree to settle in one place long enough for me to attend high school?”