It’s Only Rock n’ Roll

“Hey baby, how was your day?” Hope asked as Kelley walked into the kitchen. She looked up from the stove and smiled at her wife, who was dressed up as usual in her sharp business suit and heels. After their reunion at Hope’s cabin, Kelley had decided that she wanted to start her own artist management company. Hope had offered to cosign for the small business loan that Kelley had needed. Kelley had originally resisted, saying she wanted to do it all on her own, but she couldn’t get the loan without a cosigner, so Hope had insisted. Within the first year Kelley had made enough money to pay back the loan. Now, almost nine years later, KOH Management had a stylish ten-room office building, employed six full-time artist managers, and boasted a stable roster of mid-level and even some lesser A-list acts. Carli worked out of the office as well, lending her PR talents to the company. For Kelley and Hope, Kelley owning her own company was the ideal situation. Kelley could make her own money and not live off of Hope. She could oversee the business and work in artist management, helping artists grow their careers, which she still loved, but she didn’t have to be on tour and away from her family for months at a time. Truth be told, Kelley still loved the energy of being on tour, and once in a while she would go out on the road for a week or two, but she wasn’t obligated to be out for long stretches of time anymore. And, when she was not on tour, her hours were nice enough that she was home in time for dinner most evenings.

“Good. Busy, but good”, Kelley said. She set her purse down on the kitchen counter and then gave her wife a kiss. “How was your day?” she asked with a smile.

“Good”, Hope said. “I spent most of the day out back.” After their engagement eight years ago, where Hope had proposed to Kelley at a local park after a game of one-on-one soccer, the couple had bought a house together, not too far from Hope’s old house. Kelley had offered to just move into Hope’s old house, but Hope had said that she wanted to look for and get a place together, so Kelley would feel that wherever they lived was as much hers as it was Hope's. They had spent almost four months looking at houses until they had found this one. It was a modern-style mid-century bungalow, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, living room, family room, dining room, eat-in kitchen, two-car garage, back patio, back yard and a swimming pool. There was a separate den area that Kelley sometimes used as a home office. The house was nice and spacious but not extravagant, and modest compared to a lot of the houses in the area, and definitely modest given what Hope and Kelley could have afforded. It was also close to the KOH office and a majority of the recording studios where Hope sometimes worked. Today, though, Hope had been working from home. In the back yard there had been a large shed when they had bought the house that Hope had converted into a small home studio. After the tour that Kelley had been on, Hope had slowed down her work pace, particularly the touring. Since then, she had been working only part-time on a per-project basis, and most of her work was studio work. Her current project was working on mixing songs for Ashlyn and Ali’s band. Hope had mixed the latest album for Megan and Syd’s band six months ago, and then Kelley had booked them a tour and sent them out with one of her managers.

“I’m making chicken pesto pasta for dinner. Here, taste”, Hope said, as she grabbed Kelley’s hand and pulled her over to the stove.

“Mmmmm… tastes awesome, babe”, Kelley said, as Hope gave her a taste off of the large cooking spoon. She gave Hope an appreciative kiss and then took her hair down from the bun that it had been in all day. The small TV in the kitchen was on for background noise, dialed in to ESPN. Hope moved over to the sink to start straining the pasta, and Kelley went to help stir the sauce, when the TV announcer’s voice caught their attention.

“And in Hawaii today, the Maui Pro surfing tournament kicked off in six-to-eight foot swells. Courtney Conlogue from southern California took the early lead with a 9.79 ride ending in a 360 backside aerial to put her out in front. Conlogue's wife, veteran soccer star and captain of the U.S. National Team, Christen Press was in the crowd to cheer her on”, the announcer said, as the camera cut from Courtney’s aerial to Christen cheering on the beach.

Kelley looked up at the TV at the name of Christen’s name. Then she looked at Hope and mock frowned.

“Kelley…” Hope said.

Kelley held her frown for a moment longer and then laughed. “I’m totally messing with you. C'mon, baby - it’s been nine years. You know I don't care.” She stirred the sauce for another moment and then said, “You never told me, though – did you ever talk with her?” Kelley asked, meaning Christen.

“I did”, Hope said. “I called her a couple weeks after you came to the cabin. She was really cool about everything, although she had been kinda confused by the fact that you had showed up to the cabin out of nowhere. Anyway, I don’t know if had I ever told you this, but I had told her about you.” Kelley looked up and over at Hope, so Hope clarified. “Not your name per se, but at my second dinner with Christen I had told her that my mind was on someone else. Which was you”, Hope said and smiled.

Kelley stared at Hope for a moment and then smiled back. “Well, it worked out for everybody. I mean, she married some star surfer, and I married a rock star.”

Hope continued to smile at Kelley, then put the strainer down in the sink and walked over to her wife. She wrapped her arms around Kelley from behind as Kelley continued to stir the pasta sauce and burrowed her face into the hair on the back of Kelley’s head. She inhaled the scent of Kelley’s shampoo and then peppered the back of Kelley’s neck and head with kisses. “Well”, she said, whispering into Kelley’s ear, “it worked out the best for me.”

Kelley smiled and stopped stirring the sauce, then turned around in Hope’s arms so she was facing Hope. She tilted her chin up and planted a kiss on Hope’s lips. “Seven years”, she said, referring to how long they had been married.

“Seven years, four months and twenty-two days", Hope said back.

Kelley laughed lightly and shook her head in amazement. “How do you always remember exactly how long we’ve been married?”

“Because it was the happiest, most amazing day of my life”, Hope said. She and Kelley had gotten married in Hawaii, on the beach behind Hope's bungalow. Hope looked into Kelley’s eyes and planted a kiss on her lips. She held it there for a moment, nibbling on Kelley's lower lip, and then Kelley sighed and returned the kiss.

“Mine too”, Kelley said. She looked into Hope's eyes. “Hi”, she breathed out.

“Hi”, Hope breathed back. She planted another kiss on her wife’s lips. “You looked…mmmmm…in your hot little suit”, she said, fingering the collar of Kelley’s shirt.

“You don’t look so bad yourself, in that sexy tank top and tight designer jeans”, Kelley replied. She slid her hands down Hope’s strong arms and then tugged at the belt loops on Hope’s jeans.

“Mama! Come hear this new song we wrote!” a girl’s voice screamed from around the corner, followed by little footsteps.

Hope closed her eyes and smiled at the interruption. Kelley giggled lightly at the bad timing, and the two of them exited the kitchen and followed the little footsteps down the hall and into the family room, which Hope had soundproofed and turned into a musical practice room for their kids. Jaden, their six-and-a-half-year-old son, was sitting behind a small drum kit. Emily, almost five, was on the keyboard.

“Hi mommy”, Jaden said, addressing Kelley. “Welcome home.”

“Thank you, JJ”, Kelley said to her son. “Do you and Emi have a new song for mama and me?”

“Yep”, Jaden said.

“I helped write it too!” Emily said and beamed.

“I bet you did, Emi”, Hope said sweetly, and Emily smiled and nodded her head proudly.

Jaden looked at Hope and Kelley and then said, “Okay, mama, mommy - ready?” Hope and Kelley smiled and nodded their heads, then Hope moved behind Kelley and wrapped her arms around her wife. Jaden counted to four, and then he and Emily launched into their song. For a six-and-a-half-year-old and an almost-five-year old, it was pretty darn good. They wouldn’t be signing to a major label and touring anytime soon, Hope mused, but there was potential. Most importantly, though, they enjoyed playing music.

“It’s so cute the way they work together”, Kelley said, watching their kids play, Jaden nodding with his head and shouting to Emily for the change cues. Jaden, tall and lean with brown hair, was the splitting image of Hope. He had a serious demeanor, piercing blue eyes, and a prominent jaw line. Kelley had carried Emily, who had reddish-brown hair and a smattering of freckles across her face. She was the fiery but silly one of the siblings, prone to the occasional emotional outburst but also to the much more frequent bout of random silliness.

“Mmmhmm”, Hope agreed, with a smile and a light condescending tone in her voice. “You see? Two people can work together, even if they have something other than a professional relationship", she said, nuzzling into Kelley’s neck.

“Shush”, Kelley chided lightly at the jab. She and Hope watched their kids play for another moment, and then Kelley asked, “Hey, did you decide if you’re playing KROQ’s Summer Bash concert this year?” KROQ was the largest rock music station in L.A. The promoter had reached out to Hope about a month ago. The concert was still five months away, but he wanted an answer soon.

Hope looked at Kelley. “I don’t know. I mean, we’ve been talking about going to Hawaii this summer, right?”

“Yeah, we have been”, Kelley said. “Unless some hot star soccer player is going to be there”, Kelley teased.

“Shut it, junior”, Hope said with a smile. “Anyway, I know the kids really want to go this summer.”

“I’m just teasing, and yes, the kids do want to go”, Kelley said. She tilted her head back and kissed Hope’s neck. “But seriously - you don’t play much these days, so I thought that maybe you’d want to play this one. We can go to Hawaii some other time.”

Hope looked at Kelley and then smiled. It was true – Hope didn’t perform much these days. In fact, she hadn’t performed much in the last five years. She had stopped touring heavily nine years ago. She had undertaken a two-month tour eight years ago, and then a one-month tour seven years ago. She had played just a handful of dates six years ago, and ever since then, she performed maybe once or twice a year, getting the original band - her, Megan, Ashlyn, Ali and Syd – together. The last time she had played was seven months ago at last year’s Summer Bash. It had been a wonderful time, and Hope always enjoyed the performances that she did do, but she didn’t miss the touring lifestyle. It was just too hard on her body for her to keep it up. These days she was fine just performing once or twice a year and then satisfying the rest of her musical yearnings working part-time in studios. “It’s fine, baby. Seriously. I can offer to play this year's Holiday Bash instead. I’d rather spend the time with you guys”, she said, smiling at Kelley, nodding towards Jaden and Emily, and then giving Kelley a squeeze.

“Are you sure?” Kelley asked, turning around in Hope’s arms. “I mean, the Summer Bash is a big show, and I know you loved playing it last year.”

“It is, and I did”, Hope agreed. She paused for a moment, and then smiled and kissed her wife. “But it’s only rock n’ roll.”