Best Thing In Town

The sound of a door slamming shut caught Billie Joe's attention, stirring him out of his daydream as he got up from his seat in the studio and poked his head out of the room and down the hall to see Audrey pushing the stroller filled with Lorelei. She had a diaper bag flung over her shoulder and her purse on the other, struggling to push the monstrocity that was the stroller through the narrow space. Billie Joe smiled and stepped out into the hallway.

"Hey there, pumpkin," he said, leaning forward and giving Lorelei a kiss on the forehead. "Come to see Uncle Billie?" He looked up at Audrey and gave her a wink.

"Actually, yeah. She can be all yours for as long as it takes for me to find Mike and tell him my good news."

Standing up straight, Billie Joe quirked and eyebrow. "Good news, huh? Can I know first?"

Audrey shook her head. "No. I wanna share it with Mike first." She was biting her bottom lip and trying to step beside the stroller which she set along the wall. Picking Lorelei up, she passed the 10 month old off to Billie Joe who took the little girl in his arms and knitted his brow suspiciously.

"Are you pregnant? Is that the good news?"

Audrey didn't reply, she just waved to Lorelei and walked into the studio where Rob Cavallo, the guys' producer friend was sitting at the console with Tre who was drumming two permanent markers on his knee caps. The two men looked up and smiled.

"Hey Aud," Tre greeted. "What's with the diaper bag? I mean, I've been potty trained for at least 10 years now."

She laughed and shook her head. "Oh, it's Lorelei's. Billie has--"

Audrey was cut off by the sound of Billie Joe making indeciperable baby voices as he walked into the studio with Lorelei situated on his hip as she giggled her cute little baby giggle.

"She loves her Uncle Billie," he announced happily. He reached out his hand and grabbed the diaper bag off Audrey's shoulder and then gestured with his head. "Hey Mike, look who's here."

Audrey turned to see her husband standing in the doorway, coming in from the room where the guys actually played while being recorded. He had his bass drapped over his chest and his hair newly dyed a medium brown and kinda hanging around his face like it once had five years earlier when they were on the Pop Disaster tour. He lips turned up at the corners, bringing a smile to his face. He immediately walked over to Billie Joe first to give Lorelei a kiss.

"Hey sweetie," he said in a loving, fatherly voice.

Billie Joe frowned. "What? No kiss for me?" he teased.

"I said later when the wife's not here," Mike teased right back, garnering a smack to his arm from Audrey. "I'm only kidding," he assured. "You know I'd involve you, too."

She grinned at his humor and when it didn't fade, Mike's curiosity peaked all the more, despite already wondering why she'd shown up with Lorelei.

"I got good news," she said. "Can we..."

"Uh, yeah." Mike took his bass off and set it gently onto the couch beside them and then placed his hand on the small of her back, leading her from the studio and out into the hallway. As soon as the door was shut, he gave her a kiss and then a questioning look. "What's up?"

"I'm finished."

"Huh?"

"I'm finished," she repeated. "Absolutely, 100 percent finished. I ran spell check and reread it a million and one times and there's nothing for me to fix or change or edit." The grin she wore was infectious and it spread to Mike as he realized what she was talking about.

"Oh! You finished your book!"

She bobbed her head vigorously with glee as she jumped a little in excitement. "I can't believe it. I've finished my very first novel and it's ready to be sent off to editors to get published and all that good stuff."

"Do you have a name for it yet?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "I was thinking to just call it after the title character, Heather. What do you think?"

"I think whatever you want, you should do," he replied. "Can I read it?"

"Of course. And I'm still wondering what exactly to say in the dedication page. Like, usually there's a foreward page, then the blank page that goes, 'For blahdy-blah.' And then the first chapter. I just gotta figure out if I wanna say something cute or just keep it plain and simple."

"When the time comes, you'll know."

Audrey narrowed her eyes with a bit of a smirk. "Don't go all Yoda on me now."

"I'll try not to," Mike replied, picking Audrey up in a hug and pressing his lips to hers. "I'm happy for you," he whispered against her mouth.

"I'm happy for me, too."

* * *

Estelle's birthday had come and passed. She'd just turned a whole two digits, ringing in the age of ten. Mike claimed he was old now and Billie Joe gave him a punch to the arm, telling him to wait two years when Estelle hits preteen mode, then talk to him about being old. Tre had to agree. Ramona had been 12 for a couple of months now. A preteen daughter, he claimed, wasn't always roses and kittens. Sometimes it was thorns and tigers.

The chaos Mike had brought up a month earlier was already beginning to filter into their lives. The guys' album was totally finished, and now they were scheduling photoshoots and meetings for the album's layout and design, along with deciding which single would be released first and preparing for upcoming promotional tours. The release date they had in mind was June 18, the day before Lorelei's first birthday. Which meant, this coming month, the video for the first single would have to be filmed. Time was of the essence.

As for Audrey, she'd found an editor who was more than happy to publish her book. She'd made the edits here and there her and her editor, Joan, had agreed on and it was now being sent to be published. Audrey had also decided on the dedication page but refused to reveal it until the book was out and on shelves. For her, it was more of a sit and wait. And, boy, was it nerve-wrecking.

She was swimming in the pool with Katarina who had on pink, plastic floaties on her arms as she doggie paddled over to her mom. Mike sat on the edge, holding Lorelei in his arms and dipping her into the refreshing water, only waist high. Lorelei would giggle and jerk her legs about, causing water to splash at her feet. When the sun began to reach its evening peak, they got out of the pool and headed inside to order out. While Lorelei was in her high chair on the back patio and Katarina was bobbing up and down in her seat, Audrey began to set out the paper plates and cups while Mike was in the front of the house, paying the delivery boy.

Audrey looked up momentarily as she tried to adjust the umbrella on the table when she felt a throbbing in the front of her head. The sunlight just seemed too bright. It hurt her eyes and caused her to squint, but it didn't explain the throbbing.

When Mike walked outside with the pizza and liter of Pepsi, he noticed Audrey's slow movements as she sat down with her back to the sunlight streaming down.

"You okay, babe?"

"Yeah. Just the sun. I think I looked right into it when I was fixing the umbrella."

"Oh, well, why you wanna go and do that for?" he teased.

She threw him a smile and shrugged. "I dunno. It was just so pretty," she laughed.

They both smiled and went about dishing out the food to the kids, cutting up a piece really small of only the soft dough for Lorelei who had two teeth already. They made such the adorable family, just sitting there together for dinner. Mike had rented a new Disney movie from Blockbuster so they were gonna have a nice Saturday night in.

Life was good.