I'm so glad that you guys like it! It made my day a little brighter. This one is a little transition chapter, there will be more between Cori and Ryan tomorrow. And Cori's song isn't mine, it's by an amazing artist named Nadine Zahr. I'm just borrowing it.
An hour and a half later a large SUV pulled up in front of the house where Cori was waiting. She had a cooler, a picnic basket, a soft sided bag, and her guitar case piled up on the front porch. George was driving and Ryan and Keith jumped out of the car to help her load everything in the back. She laughed when she saw the other three guitar cases in the back. “You’d think we were going to a concert, not for a ride in the country.”
Keith was sitting up front and she forced Paul and Ryan to sit together. “Nuh uh, I get the window seat,” she exclaimed before climbing into the car.
“Now children,” George teased before heading out onto the road. As he drove she smiled to herself, this was the same route that she had taken with Damian this morning.
“Where are we going?”
“There’s a beach not far from here with a great cove,” said Keith. “But it’s too rough to surf,” he added with an audible pout.
“Where’s Damian and Neil?” Cori asked after realizing that they were missing a few people.
“Damian had an exam today and Neil had plans already.”
Cori nodded then leaned forward slightly. “So George, did Damian ever stop talking?”
The older Scotsman groaned and rolled his eyes. “No, he was talking a mile a minute until we shut the door on him. I feel bad for his poor tutor.”
“Yeah, what was he rambling on about?” asked Paul.“I gave him a ride on my motorcycle this morning.”
Ryan’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “You own a motorcycle?”
Cori laughed and nodded. “Yes I do but it’s still in the States. I rented a little Yamaha out here.” Pulling out her phone she found the picture that she had showed Damian earlier that morning. “This is my baby.”
She passed the picture around, enjoying the looks of surprise, shock, and envy that played over their faces. “I promised I’d give Damian a ride someday. If you think he’s going on and on now, just wait. There’s nothing like a Harley.”
The rest of the ride was spent in a comfortable silence and soon they were turning onto a lovely beach. George was careful not to park too close to the water and soon they were unloading the car and heading towards the cove.
What Keith had said earlier was true. The beach was beautiful but was much too rough to enjoy the water. The surf constantly slammed against shore and the crags of the nearby cliffs, giving the air the sharp tang of saltwater. The wind was strong as well, it blew Keith’s blonde locks in every direction and threatened to pull Cori’s hair out of the two French braids that lay against her back.
It didn’t take long for them to reach the cove and Cori was surprised to see the logs that were set up around an empty fire pit. The wind didn’t enter the cove and they could actually talk without yelling at each other. The area was bathed in sunlight and soon they had all shed their coats, basking in the warm sun.
“Guys, this place is beautiful. Thank you for bringing me here.” Cori commented without opening her eyes.
“You’re welcome,” came the four sleepy replies.
Cori yawned then laughed before standing and walking over to the shaded corner where they had placed the coolers and the guitars. She opened the cooler and dug around for a bottle of water.
“So what did you bring?” asked George while sitting up. “A little bit of everything. Water, soda, juice, beer, chips, fruit, and enough sandwich ingredients to feed an army.”
“Food?” said Keith while raising his head.
“Hungry?”
“Yeah, mind if I get something?”
“Not at all, help yourself.”
Soon they each had assembled a plate and were digging in. The hangovers were finally fading and the guys were starved. Cori sat on a log with George and watched as the other three helped themselves to seconds and seriously contemplated thirds.
“Do they always eat like this?” she asked.
“More or less, yes. I feel bad for the people in craft services sometimes.”
“Well, at least nothing goes to waste.”
She tossed the core of the apple she was eating into the empty fire pit and stood. “Anyone feel like exploring?”
George rolled his eyes when the three younger lads practically jumped up. He knew they all had taken a liking to the young woman, he absolutely adored her, but it seemed like that admiration went deeper than he initially believed. “I’ll stay here and watch everything, you kids have fun,” he teased, laughing when Cori stuck out her tongue at him.
Cori grabbed her jacket and slipped her camera into the pocket before following the others out of the cove. “Let’s go this way,” suggested Ryan leading them to the right and towards the cliffs.
The four took their time, stopping now and then to snap a picture or to run and see what was in the tide pools before the surf came rushing back in. They slowly made their way to a small rise, careful not to slip on the wet rocks.
Standing at the top Cori felt her breath catch. She could watch as the waves broke against the cliffs and she could nearly see the entire beach from her vantage point.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Ryan’s soft voice made Cori jump and he steadied her with a hand on her shoulder. “Careful.”
She smiled somewhat sheepishly and took out her camera, not noticing the set of ice blue eyes that were watching her as she attempted to capture the landscape. Finally she found a dry patch of ground and sat down, smiling happily at the others. “Do you guys come here a lot?”
“Whenever we’re getting ready for a tour this is where we always stay and we all tend to gravitate to the beach,” said Keith. “Even though I can’t surf out here I still like it because it’s peaceful, it’s a good place to clear your head.”
“Sharon tends to give us a hard time, saying that the air isn’t good for our throats but we don’t listen to her,” said Paul with a laugh.
“Well, my voice is supposed to be rough so I suppose I should come here more often,” said Ryan while giving her a grin.
“My teachers used to say the same thing, especially when I was in Texas and we’d sneak off to the beach every weekend. But so far so good,” added Cori.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” started Paul while resting his elbows on his knees. “What part do you sing?”
“Mezzo soprano,” Cori replied. “I can sing down to an second alto and up to a high soprano if I feel inspired enough but I’m a natural mezzo. Actually, Paul, I believe you know a very good friend of mine.”
“Really? Who?”“Kelly Egging.”
The tenor’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “You know, Kelly? From where?”
“Our dorms were next to each other in college. She was a year behind me. That girl was a riot, she’d murder me if I told you about the wild times we had together.”
Paul laughed and shook his head in wonder. Kelly Egging was a sensational young soprano who had come out of no where to take the world by storm. Paul had met her after one of her concerts and had been shocked when she asked him to perform with her. It had been one of the highlights of his career.
“Wild times, eh?” he asked while cocking an eyebrow. “Like what?”
Cori just laughed and stood, brushing herself off. “Nice try. I’ll leave it up to Kelly to tell you those stories. Let’s just say that most of them involved a lot of beer.”
When the four returned to the cove they saw George working on getting a fire started. “There you are, I thought you all had been smashed against the rocks!”
“Sorry, we lost track of time. We didn’t mean to be gone this long.”
George just shook his head and smiled in triumph when the flames started licking at the kindling he had piled. Soon a nice blaze was going and Cori held her hands up to warm them.
Keith and George had already retrieved their guitars and she smiled when Ryan came back carrying both his case and hers. The dark haired singer sat down next to her and she glanced over at Paul as she slid the strap over her head and raised an eyebrow.
“Can you play, Paul?” she asked wondering if the talented musician was going to join them.
“I still have my training wheels on, so to speak. I can play a bit but not like this lot.”
Nodding her head in understanding she began to tune her guitar, looking up slowly when she felt four sets of eyes on her.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Play us a song, Cori,” Keith urged.
“Okay, sure,” said the young woman. She sat for a moment before starting to strum the strings.
“Staring out onto a new morning,” she sang, closing her eyes and letting the words pour out of her. She sang of losing a love and being blinded by the loss.
“Well I buried the moon in you, I buried the moon in you and now I cannot find my way. I buried the moon, I buried the moon,” she sang with intensity, her voice dropping into a slight growl as the words left her lips.
She finished the song and opened her eyes to applause. Blushing she busied herself with her guitar, suddenly shy after the song.
“That was brilliant!” exclaimed Keith. “You wrote that?” At Cori’s nod he shook his head. “Why aren’t you doing this professionally?”
“I’m not that good,” she started but was interrupted by Ryan.
“Yes you are, you could get a contract tomorrow if you wanted to.”
Cori shrugged and sat back onto her hands. “It’s nothing I ever considered. I just write music and sing for fun, dancing is how I bring home the bacon so to speak.”
“Lass, that’s how it was for us. We all just performed for fun and look at where we are now,” said George.
Cori took a moment to consider it. He was right but she had so much on her plate that she couldn’t imagine adding something else. “I’ll think about it,” she said at last. “Now come on, there has to be a song that we all know.”