Chapter 21: Irreconcilable Differences

Oceano, California

January 17^th, 2004

The KVA Records’ meeting regarding the fourth quarter of 2003 was taking place at Kingsley Manor instead of Pauline’s house. This was because the guest of honor, Jill Yamashito-Luc, had traveled by private aircraft instead of first class commercial. She, her husband, Jae Luc, and their child Zachary, who was now nearly three years old, had landed at Oceano Airport just an hour before. The three of them had been picked up by Celia in Laura’s minivan while Jake had flown to Whiteman to pick up Pauline and Tabby.

It was the first time that Jill had met Cap in the flesh and she got her fix of holding a baby in, though Cap was now a full six months old and they did not tend to think of him as a baby any longer. He had not quite spoken his first word yet, but he was experimenting with syllables quite well. He was now entirely off of breast milk and living on formula, baby food, rice cereal, and was starting to experiment with simple finger foods like pieces of fruit or Cheerios. He was edging his way toward learning to crawl along the floor though he was not quite there yet.

At 11:30 the meeting come to order, such as order was at a KVA meeting. They were at the dining room table, all four of the partners: Jake, Nerdly, Celia, and Pauline. Jill sat at the head of the table, her signature stack of neatly stapled reports full of figures and graphs before her. All of them were drinking non-alcoholic beverages, as was customary (though occasionally disregarded) during such gatherings.

“All in all,” Jill told them after passing out her reports, “you did very well considering that it was the third straight quarter without anyone touring. Touring, as you know, is your greatest source of revenue.”

“We’re hoping to get V-tach out on the road early in the next quarter,” Jake told her.

“You’ve come to terms with one of the record companies for the MD&P of their latest CD then?” Jill asked.

“We just signed the papers last week,” Jake confirmed. “National Records gave us the best deal so we went with them.”

“Wasn’t Aristocrat upset about that?” Jill asked. Aristocrat Records had been the manufacturing, distribution, and promotion go-to for the past several KVA CDs.

“Probably,” Jake said with a shrug. “Who cares? If they wanted the CD they should have offered a lower bid.”

“There are no friends or loyalty in this business,” Pauline added. “Other than with each other, of course.”

Jill nodded thoughtfully. “Makes sense,” she said. “It is a rather ruthless business compared to what our firm primarily deals with.”

“I would rather deal with Satan himself than those recording industry fucks,” Jake said with sincerity.

“Well put,” Jill said dryly. “Tell me about the deal with National so I will know what to expect.”

“We signed for manufacturing and distribution at ten percent above cost,” Pauline replied. “That will be eighty thousand dollars per one million CDs produced. Promotion will be twenty percent royalties on wholesale.”

Jill was surprised. “National offered that?” It was quite a bit lower than their typical bid.

“They did,” Pauline said, “but it came with a catch. They get the opportunity to match the lowest bid for touring. If they do so, they are awarded the bid.”

“Ahhh,” Jill said. “I see.”

Jake shrugged again. “It seemed reasonable enough to us.”

“Especially if we let the other bigs know that the clause exists,” Celia said. “It encourages them to bid lower.”

“That sounds like a sound business strategy,” Jill said, impressed. “I look forward to seeing what you come up with in that endeavor. Now, let’s go over the quarterly income. As I said, you all did pretty well considering no tour in progress. Sales of Never Say Never are still quite robust. It is, by far, the best-selling KVA CD of all time at this point.”

“We just passed seven million copies sold,” Pauline said proudly.

“It’s still in the thirties on the Billboard album charts,” said Jake.

“That’s right,” Jill said. “During the fourth quarter of 2003, Never Say Never alone sold seven hundred and eighteen thousand copies. In addition, the popularity of the CD seems to have driven an upsurge in sales of previous Jake Kingsley solo CDs, previous Matt Tisdale solo CDs, and previous Intemperance CDs. This uptick, combined with sales of previous Celia Valdez, Brainwash, and V-tach CDs during the quarter added another six hundred and eighty-two thousand CDs.”

“Nice,” Jake said, liking the numbers. Like always, he was not looking at Jill’s papers that sat before him, just listening to her.

“Nice indeed,” said Nerdly, who was looking at the papers.

“Wholesale rate for CDs was consistently eleven dollars per unit during the fourth quarter of 2003,” Jill said. “That means that KVA brought in a total of fifteen point four million dollars in CD revenue for the quarter. When the royalties owed are subtracted—and all of this is detailed by individual CD and calculated down to the penny on page four of your reports—total CD sales revenue for the fourth quarter of 2003 comes out to just a bit over six point nine million dollars. That is, of course, before state and federal taxes are accounted for.”

“Of course,” Jake said, smiling. That was a considerable chunk of change for a quarter in which none of the acts toured and no new CDs had been released.

“I will go over the estimated tax burden after I finish outlining other sources of KVA revenue and operating expenses for the quarter,” Jill said. “I am pleased to report that the wine production aspect of KVA’s operations has finally begun operating in the black.”

“I told you it would,” Jake said proudly.

“You did,” Jill agreed. “For quarter three, KVA’s expenses for vineyard and winery operations and production were four hundred and twenty thousand dollars, of which Andre Heliodorus paid half as per contract. However, also this quarter, bottles of the 2002 KVA chardonnay were released for sale at a wholesale rate of fifty-eight dollars per bottle.”

“It’s pretty good shit,” Jake said. “Have you tried it?”

“Actually, I have,” Jill said. “And it is, as you say, some ‘pretty good shit’. KVA has sold sixteen thousand of the eighteen thousand bottles of 2002 chardonnay released during the fourth quarter of 2003. That is nine hundred and thirty thousand dollars in revenue, half of which goes to Heliodorus, leaving KVA with four hundred and sixty-four thousand dollars in actual profit from the venture. Not bad. It is technically in the black for the quarter, of course, but it is nowhere near covering the previous expenses laid out for operation of the vineyard.”

“True,” Jake said, “but the truly profitable part is yet to happen. The 2002 merlot has not been released yet as red wine requires more aging in the barrel before bottling. It will be released in April of this year and wholesale for sixty-five dollars a bottle. And we have considerably more bottles of merlot to sell as two thirds of the vineyards are dedicated to merlot grapes. We’re talking twenty-eight thousand bottles produced from the 2002 merlot grapes.”

“That is a discussion for another quarter,” Jill said. “Hopefully it will sell as well as you predict. For now, however, I’m just giving you facts and figures on the fourth quarter of 2003.”

“Understood,” Jake said.

Jill then went over the rest of the facts and figures regarding quarter four of 2003. The bottom line was that after all revenue was considered and all operating expenses, royalties, and incidental expenses were subtracted, KVA had pulled in $6.7 million for the quarter. Seven hundred thousand of this would be left in KVA’s accounts to help pay for ongoing operational expenses (there was already more than three million dollars in there from previous quarters) leaving that six million to be evenly distributed among the four owners. That was $1.5 million apiece, though fully forty percent of that would go toward individual state and federal income taxes. Not their best quarter ever, but decent considering there was no touring going on and there was the ongoing expense of a recording session in progress.

After the meeting, Jake went to work on an early dinner. Everyone except himself, Jae, and Jill hit the bar for a little alcoholic refreshment. Pauline, whisky sour in hand, sat on the couch next to Laura, who was sipping a glass of white wine and holding Cap in her lap. He was happy, his face smiling as Laura bounced him up and down on her knees. Across the room, Tabby, Caydee, and Kelvin were playing with Zachery under Jill’s watchful, slightly overprotective eyes.

“How did the funeral go?” Pauline asked her. A morbid question this would have been for most people, but she knew that Teach would understand what she was talking about.

“It was tasteful and well done,” Laura replied. “It was a nice day for it. The family was all reasonably well behaved.” She shrugged. “About the best I could hope for.”

“Joey and his wife are back home now?”

“Yes,” she said. “Jake flew them home on Tuesday. He burned a day at the studio to do it. Joey wanted to spend the rest of his bereavement leave at home instead of in LA.”

“I can understand that,” Pauline said. “What happens moving forward? Are you going to stay in contact with your family in LA now that you’ve reconnected with them?”

“To some degree,” she said. “I gave my mother and my siblings the home number here as well as my cell phone number. They all gave me their numbers too—well, except for Hannah who doesn’t have a cell phone because she believes they are a tool of the devil to lead us into idleness and sloth.”

“No shit?” Pauline asked.

“No shit,” Laura confirmed. “She tried to talk me into giving mine up.”

“That’s whacked,” Pauline said.

Laura did not disagree. Her family was pretty whacked by any definition of the term. “In any case,” she said, “I’m hoping my relationship with them going forward stays confined to phone calls once a month or so and maybe a yearly visit to my Mom’s house. On Pioneer Day maybe. That’s in July.”

“You won’t be inviting them here?”

“Not unless I have to,” she said. “They would get quite an eyeful and earful if they came here. Especially if they spent the night.”

“That’s the truth,” Pauline agreed, wondering how they would react to the revelation that Jake, Laura, and Celia all slept in the same bed together. “They’re still not warming up to Jake, huh?”

“No,” she said. “They still think he’s an abusive thug who is somehow keeping me captive here since the divorce. After all, the media made a big deal at the time about how there was no prenuptial agreement. Somehow they took that to mean Jake has a financial hold on me.”

“That doesn’t make any sense at all,” Pauline said. “The lack of a prenup would benefit you, not Jake.”

“I know,” she said tiredly. “That didn’t keep my mom and Elizabeth from both offering to take me and Caydee in if I needed to get out of here. I finally just told them to stop talking about it.”

“Did they?”

“Except for a few backhanded references, yes,” she said.

“Maybe you should have them meet Jake,” Pauline suggested.

“Yeah, right,” she said. “And maybe I should have matter meet antimatter while I’m at it.”

“That’s a very Nerdly-like analogy,” Pauline told her.

“I thought so,” Laura said. “Seriously though, my family, except for Joey and his peeps, thinks Jake is the epitome of all evil. They think he abuses me and that he worships Satan. And Jake thinks—quite correctly, I might add—that they’re all a bunch of overly judgmental religious fanatics who believe everything they hear in the media reports about him.”

“Isn’t that what your brother Joey used to think about him too?” asked Pauline.

“Well ... yeah, kind of,” she said.

“And Joey likes Jake now, doesn’t he?”

She nodded. “He does.”

“And what facilitated that change in attitude on Joey’s part?” Pauline asked.

“Joey met him and got to know him,” Laura said. “Once that happened ... okay, I see what you’re saying here. I’m not sure it would be as easy with my mom and my sisters though.”

“Worth a shot though, isn’t it?”

Laura thought it over for a moment or two. “Maybe,” she said, “although I have a hard time envisioning Jake or my mom and siblings embracing the thought. Maybe after C and Jake are ... you know ... broken up and he and I are publicly back together.”

Pauline nodded thoughtfully. “When is that going to be?” she asked quietly.

“Hopefully that project will begin soon,” Laura said. “We haven’t actually talked much about it.”

“It is kind of a strange thing to talk about,” Pauline said. “Planning out a divorce that was already pre-planned to occur before the marriage itself was even legal. I can see how it would be a touchy subject to bring up.”

“You have no idea,” Laura said. “I keep hoping that C herself will bring it up, but, so far...” She shook her head.

“You don’t think she’s ... well ... planning anything, do you?” Pauline asked hesitantly.

Laura simply shook her head. “Celia is not like that,” she said firmly. “I know her as well as I know any human being on Earth. She gave her word and she won’t go back on it. And even if she did, what good would it do her? She doesn’t have to consent for Jake to divorce her. All that road would lead to would be acrimony and hard feelings and possibly the end of the relationship. She won’t go there. I think she’s just savoring it as long as she can, waiting for someone else to bring it up.”

Pauline nodded. “It would be quite out of character for her to go back on her word,” she agreed. “Hmmph. Who would’ve thought my annoying little brother who always wanted to just play his guitar and was so shy he couldn’t even talk to a female would have two women willing to fight for him?”

“Who would’ve thought?” Laura replied.

Monday morning dawned as a typical weekday in the Kingsley household. Celia was the first out of bed at 6:30 AM. Cap would be awakening in the next ten minutes or so (you could almost set a clock by him as he always came to morning life between 6:40 and 6:45) and she wanted a few minutes to get herself in order. Not that she was terribly out of order. By unspoken mutual agreement, there had been no sexual activity between the threesome the night before. Nobody pondered it or worried about it or attached any dark, hidden meaning to it, it was just something that happened from time to time as they got older. She was still dressed in her royal blue silk pajamas as she padded into the throne room on bare feet (with toenails that were in need of a pedicure and some pampering) to relieve her bladder. After finishing her business, she washed her hands and brushed her teeth. She then made her way out of the bedroom to the kitchen to get some coffee.

“Good morning,” Westin greeted her cheerfully—way too cheerfully for a Monday morning in Celia’s opinion. He was working on breakfast, which appeared to be some kind of elaborate scramble. It smelled quite good.

“Good morning,” she returned, pouring herself a cup. She passed a few words with him and then carried her mug into the entertainment room and sat down on the largest of the couches there. The sun was not up yet so she kept the blinds closed for now. She managed to get half of her coffee down and was starting to wake up a bit when she heard the familiar wakeup noises of Cap from his bedroom next to Caydee’s. She looked up at the clock on the wall. 6:43 AM. Right on schedule.

He was sitting up in his crib when she entered the room, a skill he had come by in the last few weeks or so but something he could only do if he had something to grasp to assist him, something like the bars of the crib. He was wearing pale blue footie pajamas and had his pacifier in his left hand. His dark hair was a fuzz atop his head, his dark brown eyes awake and full of life. He smiled his new teeth grin when he saw her and grunted out a few syllables that she liked to think were ‘Mama’.

”¿Cómo estás, mi hijo, she greeted, reaching in to pick him up from under his arms. “Buenos dias.”

He articulated a few more syllables back at her and then put his little arms around her neck when she held him close to her. She felt a wave of powerful maternal love wash over her as she felt his warm body against hers. She gave him kisses on his face and hugged him back. She then caught the familiar odor of urine coming off of him.

She stripped off his wet diaper, cleaned him with a few disposable baby wipes, and then put the jammies back on him. There was no point in getting him dressed until after breakfast as he tended to wear a good portion of his meals on his clothing. She then hefted him into the crook of her right arm and carried him from the room. Just as she cleared the doorway, Caydee’s door opened and she came out into the hallway. She was already dressed for school, her hair neatly brushed. She had been doing such things on her own ever since starting kindergarten, but she still needed a responsible adult—generally Celia or Jake, not Teach—to lay out her clothes for her the night before. She would also need Teach or Celia or Jake (or even Sean, who could sub in in a pinch) to put her hair in either pigtails, a braid, or a ponytail, depending on time and motivation.

“Good morning, big sister,” Celia greeted.

“Morning, See-Ya,” Caydee grunted. She, like her mother and father, was not much of a morning person. She brightened when her gaze cast upon Cap, however. “Good morning, brother!” she greeted. Celia lowered him down so Caydee could give him a hug and kisses. Cap giggled when she did so. He really loved his big sister. “He doesn’t smell like poop.” Caydee informed her.

“Nope,” Celia agreed. “He’s all clean.”

The three of them made their way into the dining room. Jake and Laura entered a moment later, Jake wearing sweatpants and a tattered t-shirt, Laura still wearing her long t-shirt, her legs bare, her breasts unencumbered. Both had mugs of coffee in possession. Both greeted, hugged, and kissed Caydee and Cap good morning before sitting down at the table.

“Are you coming in today?” Jake asked Laura, enquiring if she was going to come to the Campus after dropping Caydee off at school and help them with production of the Brainwash tracks. She typically showed up a few times a week, lending her trained musical ear to the cause (and giving her something to do while Caydee was in school).

“Are you still working on Steph’s guitar tracks for Endless?” she asked.

“We are,” Jake confirmed. “We might be able to wrap it up today and move onto Jim’s tracks.” He shrugged. “It depends on how anal the Nerdlys feel like being for this session.”

“On a Monday, while they’re fresh from the weekend?” Laura replied. “They’ll be plenty anal. I think I’ll stay home for this one. Drop D distorted tracks are not my specialty.”

“Fair enough,” Jake said, taking a sip from his coffee.

Sean and Westin came in a few minutes later, Westin carrying the serving bowls and platters, Sean carrying the pitchers of orange juice and apple juice. The table had already been set with plates, silverware, glasses, and linen napkins. They set everything down and everyone dug in, including the two servants. Celia strapped Cap into his high chair and then she, Laura, and Jake took turns feeding him pureed carrots, pureed beef, and a pureed mixture of bananas and strawberries. He ate happily, emptying all three jars and then, after having his face cleaned, began to suck on a bottle of formula. He had recently mastered the skill of holding his own bottle and it was a definite game changer as far as the adults eating their meals warm went.

After breakfast, while Westin began working on cleaning the kitchen and doing the dishes and Sean cleaned up the dining room, Jake went back to the master suite to shave, shower, and put on clean clothes. Laura followed him there long enough to pull on a pair of sweat pants and her socks and shoes. She tied her hair into a ponytail and then made sure Caydee had everything she needed for school. Caydee hugged and kissed everyone goodbye and they left for the short drive to Nicholas Elementary school.

Celia took Cap back to his bedroom. She stripped off his jammies, checked his diaper (it was dry and unsoiled) and then dressed him in a pair of denim stretch jeans, a pullover short sleeve shirt, and a pair of blue socks. He immediately began tugging at the socks and she had to dissuade him from removing them. Like his sister at that age, he was not a fan of having his feet covered.

She took him back into the entertainment room and set him down on his play blanket. He had a variety of toys scattered about and he immediately rolled over onto his tummy and infantry crawled to the nearest. Celia sat down on the floor with him and helped him play, speaking to him often in the high singsong voice that mommies used when talking to babies. Cap responded to her, smiling, laughing, regaling her with baby babble. Jake came in, now clean and fresh smelling. He sat down next to her and helped her play with their son as well.

Celia watched Jake as they played, feeling a strong tug of love for him and a strong sense of melancholy. Soon, she would have to do what needed to be done. And while it would not change her relationship with Jake, with Laura, with Caydee, and especially not with Cap, it was not an act she looked forward to. Yes, it was only a legality that really, in the great scheme of love and relationships, was meaningless—at least that was the argument—but she enjoyed having that legality belong to her. She did not want it to go away. Still, she had promised and she kept her promises. She had delayed things long enough.

Laura returned home just past eight o’clock. She replaced Jake in the play circle as it was almost time for him to head to the Campus. When he stood up, both of his knees popped loudly enough for the ladies to hear.

“You’re getting old, sweetie,” Laura told him with a smile.

“Wait ‘til you’re in your forties,” Jake told her.

“I still have a year and half before that happens,” she said.

“You have less than fourteen months,” Celia pointed out. “That is hardly a year and a half.”

“I don’t question your math,” Laura said with a faux pout.

Jake kissed the two of them and Cap goodbye. He then disappeared into the kitchen on his way to the garage door.

“I’m going to go take a shower,” Celia said to Laura.

“Go for it,” Laura said, making faces at Cap and causing him to giggle.

Celia returned to the master suite and closed the main doors that led out into the hallway. The bed was now neatly made and the laundry hamper was empty, indicating that Sean had already made his way through. The man was nothing if not efficient at what he did. The master bathroom was also clean and shiny, the smell of Lysol disinfectant still in the air. She brushed her teeth, flossed, and then stripped off her pajamas and panties, leaving them in a bundle on the floor. She then turned on the shower and gathered a washcloth, two towels, and her shaving supplies as she waited for the hot water to arrive from the commercial sized water heater in the garage.

She washed her hair and then her body, working her way from the face down to her big feet. She looked again at the chipped and faded polish on her fingers and toes and made a mental note to at least have Teach put a layer on the nails of both tonight after Caydee and Cap had gone to bed. It would be the following weekend before she could get into the San Luis Obispo salon where she and Teach both had their nails done up (sometimes Caydee went with them too—it was a treat for her). She then ran a hand over her calves and armpits, wincing a little at the stubble that had formed there. It had been three nights since she had last shaved.

She lathered up her armpits first, then worked on her lower legs. After that, it was time for the intimate areas. As she lathered up down there and swiped the razor from place to place, her fingers touching her parts began to arouse her. She began to regret not initiating anything with Jake and Teach the night before. Waste not, want not. Isn’t that what they said? She felt the urge to paddle her pink canoe just a bit under the warm spray, just long enough to squeak out a little tiny orgasm, but she resisted the impulse. Perhaps it would be best to savor her licentious feelings for a bit and take care of them in a more interactive way later. She decided this was a good plan.

She dried off, combed and blow dried her hair, and then put on a matching red bra and pair of panties, a pair of Levi’s jeans, and a red cashmere sweater. She left her hair down and applied a thin layer of lip gloss. She then pulled on a pair of warm socks but did not don her shoes for the time being. She would put them on right before she left to go pick up the Scanlon kids at 2:30.

She and Teach sat next to each other on the couch, watching mindless daytime television while taking turns entertaining Cap by holding him, playing with him, encouraging him into a standing position, and bouncing him on legs. He had a large bowel movement just before 9:30 and Laura volunteered to change him but Celia took the duty instead. She brought him back out of his room and put him back down on his play blanket. He was content for perhaps twenty minutes and then he began to fuss and display various other negative behaviors and vocalizations that both mothers were quite familiar with.

“Someone needs his nap,” Laura said lightly.

“Si,” Celia agreed. She looked up at the clock. “Right on schedule.” Cap took naps at around 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM and again at 3:30 to 5:00 or so. It was as predictable as the tides.

“I’ll put him down,” Laura said. She was the one currently holding him.

“Thanks, Teach.”

“Anytime, love,” Laura told her, rising. “Come on, Mr. Cranky Pants,” she said to the bundle in her arms. “Let’s get you some good REM sleep.”

He fussed back at her, blurting out some angry sounding syllables as she carried him down the hall. Celia watched them until they disappeared and then stood up. Slowly, she followed their path, coming to Cap’s room just after Laura had put him down in his crib on his back and gave him his binky. He was suckling on it frantically, trying to defy the sleep that wanted to overtake him, but he could not defy it for long. Soon, his sucks became slower and slower, his grunts faded away, and he drifted off into slumber. By this point, Celia was standing just behind Laura.

“I wish I could fall asleep that fast,” Laura said, shaking her head in wonder.

“You can,” Celia told her. “You just have to strap into a plane first.”

Laura giggled a little and turned around to face her. “You do have a point there,” she said.

Celia put her arms around her co-wife and pulled her into a hug. Laura did not protest. Their bodies came together and Celia relished the softness, the femininity of the redhead, the push of her braless breasts against her upper belly. She craned her head down and lifted Laura’s face up to hers. She then kissed her softly, sensuously on the lips. Her tongue probed out just a bit and licked the underside of Laura’s upper lip. She tasted of toothpaste with just a hint of coffee.

“Mmm,” Laura sighed when the kiss broke. “What was that for?”

“I’m trying to get you into bed with me,” Celia whispered, letting her hands slide down to Laura’s buttocks. She pulled her tighter against her, feeling more softness pressing into her.

“I haven’t taken a shower yet,” Laura said. “Just brushed my teeth is all.”

“That’s okay,” Celia told her, squeezing her butt cheeks now. “You took one yesterday. I watched you do it.”

“Pervert,” Laura said with a smile. It was clear she was getting into the mood.

“Guilty as charged,” Celia said. “Come on. Let’s go get naked together.”

“You talked me into it,” Laura told her, her face now flushed a bit.

They went to the bedroom. Celia closed and locked the door. They got naked together, Laura whipping off her long shirt and then pushing down her sweats and panties in one quick motion. She kept her socks on. Celia pulled off her sweater and then turned around so Laura could unsnap her bra. Once it was on the floor, she pushed her pants and panties down and stepped out of them. She kept her socks on as well.

Celia put her arms back around Laura, pulling her close once again, this time naked flesh to naked flesh. She could smell the aroma of feminine, girlish body odor radiating off of her lover, stronger than usual but by no means unpleasant or overpowering in any way. In fact, it was kicking her libido into high gear. She slid her hands up and down Laura’s body, feeling the silky flesh of her bare back, her bare buttocks. Their mouths came together once more and they shared a long, deep kiss with a considerable amount of tongue play. The flush on both bodies increased and the smell of fresh female lust began to rise around them.

“Lay down on the bed,” Celia told her. “I want to put my mouth and my hands all over you.”