The Sweetest Gift (The Gift) (12 page)

Several minutes later, Justin pulled off the road down a
long dirt driveway that ran through the woods. After a few minutes, they
emerged into a sunny clearing with a house and an outbuilding at one end.

“O.k. kids, we’re here,” said Justin as they parked in
the driveway next to several other cars in front of a contemporary house made
of redwood clapboards. The kids opened the car doors and got out just as
Justin’s friend Ray opened the front door of the house. He walked down to the
car and hugged Justin.

“Hey man, good to see you. And this must be Maggie,” Ray
said smiling.

“Yes, and this is Gabe, Belle and Jake.” Justin smiled
as he introduced the children.

“Well, come inside and meet everyone. We’re just getting
some snacks together in the kitchen.”

They followed Ray inside the house which was bright and
spacious with its cathedral ceilings, skylights, and floor to ceiling windows.
There was a group of about ten people congregated in the kitchen, several women
were putting out various cheeses, fruit and crackers on large platters.

“This is my old lady Denise, and our three children
Stella, Cassady and Hunter.”

Denise was about thirty-five years old with curly dark
hair cascading down to her waist. The three children were approximately the
same ages as Maggie’s children.

“Want to go see our pony?” the children asked, and then
all the kids ran out the sliding back door towards the barn in the back
clearing.

Maggie watched them and laughed.

“It certainly doesn’t take long to make friends at that
age,” she said.

The other women smiled.

“So is the little boy Jake, your son?” Denise asked
Justin.

“Yes,” he answered.

“He’s adorable and he certainly looks like you, Justin.”

The women started carrying the platters out the back
door to the deck. Maggie and Justin followed them. Maggie was impressed by the
immature redwoods on the property and the magnificent view of Mt. Tamalpais. A couple of attractive women in their twenties were lounging in the hot tub,
they said hi and smiled. Maggie noticed that one of them looked at Justin for a
long time, but he didn’t say anything to her, instead he sat down in a redwood
chair next to Maggie.

“We thought that you and Maggie could take the guest
bedroom and the kids could sleep in sleeping bags in the playroom with our
kids,” Denise said to Justin.

Justin reached for Maggie’s hand and held it in his.

“Thanks Denise, that would be fine.”

Ray walked over and sat down next to Justin and Maggie.

“We’re planning on doing some playing later, would you
like to join us Maggie?”

“I’d like that Ray,” Maggie said. She started feeling
more comfortable, happy to be included in their group.

A few more guests arrived, bringing food and beverages.
It reminded Maggie of the parties that she and Zak used to have in Louisiana when they were first married. Most of the guests were young and attractive and
Maggie remembered a comment that Justin had made a while ago about how there
were a lot of beautiful women in California. She had to admit that he was right
about that.

Denise called out the back door to tell the children
that dinner was ready. They instantly showed up on the deck and she told them
to go into the kitchen to wash up. They looked like they were having fun and
appeared to have become instantaneous best friends.

After everyone had eaten, the members of Justin’s band
all walked over to the recording studio that was in the outbuilding that they
had seen when they had first arrived. Justin and Maggie went to the car to get
her new mandolin and they joined the other musicians in the studio. Everyone
got beers and a few joints were passed around as the musicians tuned their
instruments.

Justin pulled his Alembic bass out of its case and
showed it to Maggie. It had a gorgeous quilted maple top with a medallion of a
skull with a lightning bolt inlaid below the bridge. He plugged the guitar into
the amplifier and Maggie noticed that there were blue LED fret markers along
the side of the neck.

“I can see why you said this was your favorite bass
Justin, it’s absolutely incredible,” she said.

He smiled at her.

“I’d love an electric mandolin with LED fret markers,”
she said and they both laughed.

He struck a string with his pick and the sound boomed
out loud and resonant. Then he played a series of complicated bass runs. Maggie
was impressed.

“I’ve been listening a lot to Jaco Pastorius’ bass
playing lately,” Justin explained. “I think he might have been the best bass
player that ever lived. It was such a shame that he died so young.”

Maggie agreed with him. Just then the children ran into
the studio and Jake stood in front of Justin completely entranced by his bass. Ray
finished tuning his Stratocaster and Dave, the rhythm guitarist, played some
riffs on his Les Paul. Ray turned towards Maggie and said, “Why don’t you use
this mic, Maggie.”

She stepped up to the mic, feeling a little intimidated
at the thought of singing with this famous rock band. Justin smiled broadly at
her, and suddenly her nervousness evaporated.

“How about if you choose the first song Maggie, since
you’re the guest,” Ray said.

“O.k…. I’ve been thinking about Janis all afternoon ever
since we stopped at Muir Beach, so I’d like to do a song in her honor. How
about ‘Piece of My Heart’?”

 The band started playing the song and Maggie grabbed
the mic, putting every bit of her soul into the song. Everyone was shocked by
the raw, bluesy sound of her voice.

“Oh come on, come on, come on, come on.

Didn’t I make you feel

like you were my only man.

Yeah, and didn’t I give you

nearly everything

that a woman possibly can.

Honey, you know I did
.”

She sang looking directly at Justin. He felt a thrill
course through his body. When she was done, he said, “God, Maggie, that was
incredible. You sounded like you were channeling Janis.”

“Mom, we didn’t know you could sing like that,” Gabe
said.

“Your mom started off singing rock and roll and she used
to sing with the Bayou Blasters, Gabe. But I guess you were too young to
remember.”

“How about another Janis tune, Maggie?” Ray asked. “Do
you know ‘Ball and Chain’?”

“I think so,” she said and she looked over at Justin and
Ray indicating that they should kick off the song.

Maggie screamed and moaned her way through the tune
sending shivers up everyone’s spines. When she was finished, Dave the rhythm
guitarist said, “Yeah, that’s the way that song should be done. Maggie, your
country stuff is good, but you need to start singing rock again.”

Justin leaned over to kiss her and whispered in her ear,
“See, that’s what I’ve been telling you.”

The rest of the rehearsal was spent playing some of the
band’s classic hits, covers of Dylan songs and obscure blues tunes. Maggie
mostly sang harmony, but occasionally they would come up with a song that she
could sing lead on, like “Me and Bobby McGee”. The studio gradually filled with
onlookers until Maggie started feeling a little claustrophobic. She gave Justin
a look and said “I guess I’m done for the night.”

“Yeah, Maggie and I are tired, it’s been a long day,”
Justin said.

They gathered up the children and headed over to the
house to get them ready for bed. After they settled them in their sleeping bags
in the playroom, Maggie and Justin went out on the deck to look at the stars.
Ray and Dave came up the back stairs and sat down with them. Ray lit a joint
and passed it over to Justin, who then passed it to Dave.

“Maggie, you sounded great tonight. We’re supposed to
play at the Oakland Coliseum next weekend. We were wondering if you might like
to sit in with us.”

“Wow Ray, thanks. That’s an incredible offer. We were
supposed to fly home on Wednesday, but maybe we could stay a couple extra days.
What do you think, Justin?” Maggie asked.

“I think that would be cool,” he said smiling.

Maggie suddenly shivered.

“I guess I should have brought my jacket out here, it
gets awfully cold at night.”

“It’s probably the fog settling in,” Ray said. “Why
don’t you get into the hot tub for a while, Maggie? That should warm you up.”

Maggie noticed there were already a couple young women
relaxing in the hot tub. Justin looked at her and smiled.

“C’mon Maggie, let’s get in the hot tub.”

He walked over and sat down on a bench and started
disrobing. Ray took Maggie’s hand and led her over to the bench where Justin
laughingly started to take her clothes off.

“I don’t know, Justin.”

Maggie looked at the beautiful young women and thought
that no one would want to see her naked after having been pregnant with three
kids. Ray took his clothes off too and then took Maggie’s hand and helped her
step into the tub. Justin jumped in after her. They found some seats and sat
down and looked up at the stars. It was an incredible evening. Justin leaned
over to kiss her.

“I love you Maggie,” he murmured in her ear. “You are so
incredibly beautiful.”

She put her arms around his neck and whispered back, “I
love you too, Justin.”

After an hour in the tub, Maggie and Justin started
feeling ultimately relaxed and sleepy. They made their excuses and went into
the house to sleep in the guest bedroom. Several hours later, they were
awakened by a soft voice outside their door.

“Mommy, Daddy, can I come in?” It was Jake. “I was
having a bad dream, I dreamed there was an earthquake. Can I come sleep with
you?”

“Sure, son,” Justin said and Jake came into the bedroom
and crawled into bed in between Maggie and Justin. Justin put his arm around
him and they all fell sound asleep.

.

Chapter 16

The next morning, Justin woke up early. Jake was
still sleeping peacefully beside him, but Maggie was gone. Justin got up to use
the bathroom and then he went to the kitchen to see if Maggie was there.

He looked out the glass sliding doors and saw her
sitting out on the deck. She was bundled up in a sweatshirt and jacket as the
morning was cold and foggy. Maggie was holding a pen and was writing in a
notebook with a look of intense concentration on her face. Justin slid the door
open, startling her for a moment.

“What are you doing, Maggie?”

“I had an idea for a song,” she said.

“Can I see it?” he asked.

“O.k., but it’s not finished yet.”
Justin laughed to himself because according to Maggie her songs were never
finished. He took the notebook out of her hands and started reading.

No Forwarding Address

You volunteered to live

Everyone’s fantasies

Living on the beach

In the lap of luxury

No mortgage, no phone,

No responsibilities

Living coast–to-coast

In the land of the free

Touring in the east

Surfing out west

You’re a man of the world

With no forwarding address

You moved forward,

Left your friends behind

They’re cutting their lawns,

You’re cutting out lines

You can’t stop,

You can’t even see the signs

Living on the edge in LA,

Has never been a crime

LA gets too hot,

New York
seems too cold

The girls keep getting younger,

Or maybe you’re getting old

All the stories you’ve been telling,

Have already been told

All the dreams you’ve been selling,

Have already been sold

“Is this about me, Maggie?” Justin asked.

“Well, not really. It kind of started out about you and
then I think there is a part in there that’s about Zak. It’s just fiction, all
jumbled up, based on my experiences.”

“This doesn’t sound like a bluegrass or country song,”
he said.

“I know, it’s definitely a rock song. I think I want to
start singing in a rock band again, Justin. I had so much fun last night.”

“I think that might be a good idea. Do you want me to
come up with some music for your lyrics?”

“Yes please, Justin. I’m sure you could come up with
something great.”

“O.k., I’ll give it a shot later if I have some time
alone in the studio.”

They went back inside the house to find that the
children had emerged from the basement and were rummaging around in the kitchen
trying to find something to eat for breakfast. Justin got some milk and orange
juice out of the refrigerator as the older kids poured cereal in bowls for
everyone. Justin poured the juice into glasses for the kids and then proceeded
to start some coffee. Denise came out of her bedroom wrapped up in a long terry
cloth bathrobe. She smiled at Justin and Maggie.

“It looks like you have everything under control. We
should have a couple hours of relative peace and quiet before everyone starts
arriving for the barbeque. It should be a pretty big crowd.”

Maggie turned to Justin and said, “If you think we might
want to stay a few extra days, maybe I should call Tucker now.”

“O.k. Maggie, that might be a good idea.”

“There’s a phone in the master bedroom Maggie, if you
would like some privacy.” Denise led Maggie to the bedroom and showed her the
phone. Justin poured himself a cup of coffee and went outside to sit on the
deck. After a couple of minutes, Ray joined him.