Chapter Seventeen - "Where is She Now?"

Warning: I'm giving this chapter a PG-13 rating for suggestive material. Also, this chapter is longer than others and has a ton of pictures. Chapter Sixteen is missing from the main page so follow this link if you want to read it.

Soon after Jeff was born Honey gave birth to another girl Star Avery. I was excited that Jeff would have a future playmate, just like how Katie had become one to Bridgette and Charlie.  As they were getting older it seemed that she and Bridgette were closer friends than her and Charlie though. Probably just that age where boys and girls think each other are icky.

Bridgette had become quite a bookworm and I would usually find her sitting in a chair reading. One morning, after getting ready, I caught her sitting in one of our bedroom chairs trying to read a book about logic.

“I just wanted to know what it was Mommy.”

“Well then, why don’t you play some chess or look through a telescope. Get some practical experience instead.”

Charlie was always outside, just like his dad.  He was usually in the tree house pretending he was having a pirate fight. As he was getting older he was becoming more and more interested in spending time in the barn with Chuck.

Charlie, Bridge, and Katie still spent time together. I would often find the three of them sitting at the table doing homework together.  Sometimes when Katie was over, I would accidently call her Bridge since they looked so much alike.

Jeff was a good baby and a fun toddler. He picked up walking and talking quickly and enjoyed being read to. He reminded me a lot of Charlie when he was a toddler. They had the same eye and hair color and seemed to be a clone of Chuck.

As Bridgette and Charlie got closer to being teenagers, it was starting to become more evident where their interests were and possibly what future careers would interest them.  Charlie loved taking care of the horses and Bridgette had recently discovered painting. She also loved telling people what to do which often made Chuck and I wonder if she’d one day make a good art teacher.

Then the birthday came that made Chuck and I feel a little older. The twins were finally becoming teenagers and Jeff was becoming school age.  I couldn’t believe that Chuck and I were old enough to have teenagers, but somehow it had happened. Soon they would be asking to learn to drive.

Jefferson grew into a handsome young man and was always interested in playing king.  He wanted to rule over everyone and would wear his costume all over the house.

He and Star became good friends and they were constantly running between our house and Honey and John’s house to play. I often wondered about them dating when they got older since they seemed to get along so well. I didn’t really think that about Charlie and Katie dating though since they didn’t seem as close.

Several years passed and I received an unexpected phone call.  A popular magazine had contacted my agent about doing an article on me. Even though I had decided to give up composing, my agent would still contact me every once in a while with offers to write from other movie producers or book signings for books about the movies I had written music for.  I had never accepted an offer to write more music but sometimes I would do book signings.

The magazine wanted to do a “Where Are They Now” story on me. It was an article that they did each month in their magazine and someone had suggested that they ask me.

“What would it involve?” I asked my agent

“They would come to the house and take photos of the you and the family and conduct a sit down interview with you about composing music for the movies you were involved with and what you’ve been doing since.

“Is that it? They don’t want me to go anywhere?”

“Nope they just thought you’d be a neat person to do the article on.”

I was shocked. I got recognized every once in a while but I didn’t think that enough people knew who I was for a magazine to do a piece on me, let alone be able to sell many copies.

“I’ll have to talk to Chuck and the kids about it.  I’ll let you know something soon.”

I ended the call and turned around to see Chuck standing there.

“What’s up?” He asked.

“That was Artie and there’s a magazine that’s interested in doing
an article on me. He said it would be a “Where Are They Now” type article. They want to come here and take photos of us and ask me questions about writing music and what I’ve been doing since I stopped writing.  I can’t imagine that many people being interested. I mean it’s not like I’m hugely famous."

He looked at me with a baffled look. “You’re serious? The two movies you wrote music for were two of the top grossing movies of all time. You were nominated for an Oscar. You honestly don’t think people don’t know who you are?”

“Well, I mean it’s not like I stared in the movies or anything big like that. What do you think, should I tell them we’re not interested?”

He reached up and touched my face “Why don’t we ask the kids. I know I wouldn’t mind. Plus, it will give us a good reason to get some family photos made.”

 

The next night we sat the kids down and I told them about the magazine article.

“You mean someone is going to come here and do our hair and makeup?! Awesome!” Bridgette said excitedly

“I’m game if everyone else is.” Was Charlie’s response.

“You wrote music for movies? When did you do that Mom?” Apparently Jeff didn’t have any idea what I did before he was born.

I contacted my agent and told him we had all agreed to the article.  It was agreed by both sides to have the interview and photo shoot in two weeks.

When the day came for the magazine to come, everyone was nervous.  I had no idea what they were going to ask or what they were going to have us wear. They had asked ahead what everyone’s sizes were and for photos of each of us so they knew what our hair and faces looked like. For all I knew they were going to ask us to wear glow in the dark clothing.

My fears were quickly put to rest by the small crew that arrived. The interviewer sat down with me first and asked me general questions about writing music and working on movie soundtracks. She also asked questions about the ranch and our life in a small town.

Once the interview was over, they led us downstairs to a room that they had converted into a photo studio for the day.  I changed into a denim outfit they had picked out for me and walked to the spot they asked me to stand on.  They took a couple of test shots; I was so nervous that I hadn’t noticed Chuck standing behind the cameraman.

“Relax. You look so tense and serious.” He said to me.

“Easy for you to say; you’re not the one in front of the camera.” I stuck my tongue out at him.

“That’s it relax.” Said the camera man.

I took a couple more pictures alone and then they had Chuck join me. They took several of us together, in many different poses and told us that out of all of them, they would probably pick one for the article. We would be able to get copies of all the photos for ourselves.

We then changed into nicer outfits and took several photos with me lying on a couch and Chuck sitting on the floor.

Our next set of photos was with the kids. They wanted one of the kids and me. They then took several of just the kids by themselves.

We then all changed into casual outfits again and headed upstairs where they asked me to play the piano while the rest of the family stood around it watching.

When that was finished we were asked to change into the formal outfits they had provided for us. I got slightly confused since I appeared to have more than one dress. They instructed me to put on the red one and then someone came over to fix my hair.

I walked into the photo shooting room and everyone’s jaws hit the floor.

“MOM! You’re so beautiful!” Bridgette said in disbelief.

“Bridge, your mom is drop dead gorgeous and always has been. I thought so since the moment I met her.” I blushed while Bridgette and Charlie made sick noises.

We first took various places around a couch and then took pictures with all of us standing.

They asked me to once again change into one of the other dresses to take a couple more pictures of Chuck and me.

They then told Chuck he was done but that he could hang around and see the last batch of pictures. He chose to stay and tried several times to distract me. I took a couple more pictures in the teal dress before they asked me to change into the last gown.

From this last group one of the pictures was going to be used for the first page of the article.

 

After the photo crew left we all agreed that it had been a fun experience and I didn’t think much about it, until the actual article came out. My agent started calling me saying he was being bombarded by offers from other magazines, book publishers, and even movie offers. It never occurred to me that the article would cause this much of a stir.

One morning, after the kids were away at school, I got another call from my agent, Artie.

“Hey there Mandy! How’s it going?” I hated him calling me Mandy but I didn’t feel like correcting him for the millionth time.

“Good Artie, how are you?”

“Great! Just great! Look, we’ve had another offer come in and I know you’ve turned down all the other offers to work on movie soundtracks but you might want to actually look this one over.”

“Artie, we’ve been over this, I don’t want to write anymore."

“But Amanda, this time you’d be working  with the producer of from the other two movies you worked with.“ I was flattered that he wanted me to write another score for one of his movies but I needed to ask Chuck what he thought.

“Hello? Amanda? Are you still there?”

“Yea, Artie, I’m still here. Look, I’m going to have to think this over and I’m definitely going to have to talk this over with Chuck. I’ll call you back later when I’m not in such shock.”

“Gotcha! Talk it over with the hubs and let me know.”

I stood there for a moment with my head in my hands.  I didn’t know what to do. It had been so long since I had written any music and I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it.

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” Chuck had entered the family room.

“I just got off the phone with Artie and apparently the producer I worked with before is interested in making another movie.”

“Let me guess, they want you to write the music.” He said with a smile.

“Yes.” I sighed “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested but you know how time consuming it is and I’m just not sure if I can still do it. I mean, it’s been almost thirteen years since I last wrote a soundtrack.”

 

“Amanda, I may be kind of biased, but I think you’re one of the most talented composers I’ve ever heard. I have no doubt that if you really wanted to, you could write another soundtrack.”

“What about the time it would take though?”

“Well before we had little children running around. Wouldn’t it be a little easier this time since the kids are more grown?”

Once again, Chuck thought of something that had never occurred to me. “I guess that’s true.”

“Well, the decisions yours and you know I’ll be the cowboy standing right beside you no matter what.”

He gave me a kiss and squeezed my hand.

I sat back down at the piano and plucked at a couple of notes. Soon a few notes turned into a melody and then a harmony. I didn’t know exactly what I was writing but I knew that I had once again been bitten by the writing bug.

I called Artie back. “Okay, tell them that I’m interested in writing the score but that this is it. No more scores after this. I’m officially retiring.”

“You got it babe! Glad you’re back!”

“Only for this one last time.”

Chuck was right about the kids being older, I found it was much easier to write the music since there weren’t any  small children running around this time.

It only took me five months to write the music When I finished I was so excited to be done that I decided to surprise Chuck one night. He still carried around a walkie talkie with him around the ranch and I called him to tell him to come up to the room.

When he entered he looked surprised.

“What…”

“I’m finished writing the music and I thought we could celebrate.”

“I think that can be arranged.” He stood there still frozen where he was standing.

I got up off the bed and walked towards him. “I know you’ve been doing a lot to help out while I’ve been busy with the movie and I thought I could make it up to you.”

After that he pulled my legs up around his waist and walked over to the bed.

Credits:
Poses: WARNING - Some of these sites are not suitable for any one under 18.
12 Poses Sitting at a Table by Delight33
#3 Pose Pack: Street Fashion by Modern Lover
Aperille's Couple Poses by Forever Hailey
Roses for Beloved by Ms Adrienne
Smile Pose Pack by traelia
Only Boy by Maximum
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"Ti amo..." Love Pose Pack by skylar
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