Chapter 26

"Did Caleb talk to you?" Sarah asked that same night when they were getting ready for bed.
"About playing guitar?" Richie asked to be sure he was thinking of the same subject as his wife was. "Yeah, he asked when we could play again. We played a little after dinner but Saturday, I'll devote the whole day to it."
"Really?" Sarah asked, pulling back the sheets of the bed to get in.
"Yeah." Richie sighed, doing the same actions as Sarah to get in bed. "It's all been about Daniel so Saturday I'll really make time for Caleb and next week Ava or Noah too and the week after."
"That's a nice idea." Sarah agreed. "Personally, I think I should go shopping with Ava, that way we can really catch up." She moved closer to him in the bed and smiled up at him as she wrapped her arms around him, putting her head on his shoulder to cuddle.
"Yeah right." Richie chuckled. "You just want to go shopping but yeah, it's a good idea."
"We could have our own girl's day. Sunday? So you can be home with Daniel."
Richie nodded. "Sounds good." He agreed, after all, someone did have to stay with Daniel. "What should I do with Noah though? I still can't get through to him that much."
Sarah cuddled closer, thinking of something too. "Take him to the bookstore but be sure it's one that has Starbucks so you can have some coffee, he can stay occupied for hours in a bookstore."
Again Richie nodded and smiled, having known that would be a good idea. "Right, instead of spending my money on clothes for Ava, books for Noah."
"He'll love it." Sarah cuddled into her husband with a smile on her face. "Let's get some sleep." She suggested.
"Good night." He reached in to kiss her gently.



Next Saturday, Richie stuck to his promise, after breakfast he took Caleb to his office upstairs where some of his favorite guitars were. The rests of his guitars were all safely put away in another room.

Caleb didn't nearly have as much guitars but his favorite to play now was the red one he got from Richie. It played much better than his old one and sounded ten times as good.

"So what do you want to play?" Richie asked as he picked up one of his guitars and strummed a few notes to check if it needed tuning.
"Doesn't matter." Caleb shrugged and placed his guitar over his lap as he sat on the comfortable couch. "We can just jam."
"And go from there." Richie suggested.

Caleb started playing.

Richie was too amazed too start playing his own guitar, Caleb's playing was sounding amazing. It had been weeks since they played together but he didn't remember Caleb being this good.

It took him a few minutes to recover from the amazement and to catch up with Caleb's tune.

"That's really good." Richie complimented him after they ended their jam session.
"You think so?" Caleb asked, not sure if it really was that good.
"Yeah, I wouldn't lie."
Caleb wanted to ask something but hesitated a few seconds before doing so. "So would you listen to a song I'm working on and give an honest opinion?"
"You're working on a song?" Richie said excited. Caleb had always wanted to play other songs, he hadn't written any of his own yet. "Of course I do."

The teenage boy pulled a piece of paper from his jeans pocket and flattened it on the couch next to him so he could read as he played. There weren't much words on the paper, mostly chords and notes that he was trying to go somewhere with.

He picked up his guitar and started at the top.

Richie listened to the first chord, how it smoothed into the next and the next. The melodies flowed into each other like a perfect harmony.

He leaned back in his seat as he listened to it, fully enjoying what he was hearing and very amazed that Caleb had writen it all by himself. The boy sure had improved, how had he missed this?

He did exactly what Caleb had asked him and gave a very honest opinion of the song and encouraging Caleb to continue to work on it. It was a rough version but with some work, it would become a diamond.

Richie knew his youngest son needed a lot of attention but he was going to make sure Caleb was going to get enough help with the song as he needed. In September he was off to a college to study music and a song like this would be a very good head start.

September was right around the corner, now was the time to spend as much time with Caleb as he could. All too soon, Noah and Ava would follow him off to college too.