One Year Later

A chill wind whipped around her ankles as Olivia walked down the street. The sun was shining high in the sky and trying it's best to beat a warm ray down upon the earth but she had lost some of her influence in the past few weeks. September had just begun but Dani had been claiming the leaves were changing since the beginning of August. It was only on that beautiful fall morning that Olivia started to believe her.

She climbed the steps to the studio, the old creaking door swinging slowly behind her and locking shut. Anton's voice floated down to meet her, along with the noises of the city that were floating through the wall of open windows.

"I'll tell her. I love you, too. Yeah, I'll be home around four. We've got a meeting-"

Anton looked over his shoulder and saluted good morning as Olivia dropped her bag down on the large leather sofa that stood in the middle of the room and moved to meet him where he stood leaning against the grand piano in the corner.

"Yeah. I'll make sure. Okay. Love you too."

Anton hung up and immediately yawned.

"Late night?"

Anton nodded, the yawn taking an extra minute to subside, and rubbed his eyes to try and disperse some of the sleep that was weighing them down.

"Jack's got an ear infection. Kelly only got him to settle down around four this morning. She's going to be working from home today."

"And how is my godson? Other than, you know, the whole ear infection."

Anton couldn't have stopped the beaming smile that broke upon his face, even if he had tried.

Olivia had played before crowds of thousands, received numerous awards, and yet the proudest moment of her life was when she had stood at the front of the sanctuary in her hometown church, her and Noah beside Kelly and Anton, accepting the responsibility of godparents for this new little human. Her heart still swelled every time she thought of those bright brown eyes looking up at her.

The sound of Dani stomping up the stairs interrupted Anton's newest slideshow of photos of his son.

"I have had it! Anton! Dude. You need to tell that wife of yours that just because some tabloid prints something about Oli, it doesn't mean we get to sue them for libel every. Single. Time."

Dani had burst through the door, torn off her suit jacket, and thrown that and her briefcase down on the floor. Somewhere in the mix, her hair had been let down and her shoes were off. Olivia had never seen her sister so mad.

"Oh! And while you're at it, could you please remind her, for the millionth time, that I am NOT YOUR LAWYER!"

"What did they print this time?" Olivia asked.

"Someone caught pictures of you and Noah walking down the street."

"So? We do that almost every day. What does it matter?"

"They finally spotted your wedding rings."

"Got it. Well, that's not technically libel. We are married. They're telling the truth."

"Try telling Kelly that for me, will ya?"

Dani was huffing, trying to catch her breath once she stopped talking. Olivia gave her a minute to collect herself before speaking.

"Dan, why are you home from work? What happened?"

"You know that strategy presentation I've been working on for the last two weeks? Our client decided to settle out of court."

Risking her wrath, Anton asked, "Isn't that good news?"

"They decided this last week. And no one told me! I know I'm the newbie. I get it. Hazing and what not. Fine. Whatever. But this is ridiculous! I've busted my butt working on that presentation."

Out of breath and out of energy Dani collapsed on the couch.

"I'm sorry, kid. That sucks."

Dani waved away Anton's attempt at comfort.

"What did you do?" Olivia asked.

"I quit."

Olivia's eyebrows shot up and she pressed her lips tight to keep from squealing with delight. Dani saw straight through her.

"Don't. Don't you dare celebrate over my pain. I know exactly what you are thinking, and the answer is no! Again! Stop asking!"

Dani jumped up from the couch, grabbed her things, and headed for the stairs that led up to her apartment upstairs. She had finally found her own place. But only once Olivia had asked her to move out so Noah could move in after their quiet wedding ceremony with only family present. With Dani gone, they had space for Walter to move in as well.

"Dani, just hear me out-"

"I said. No. No, I will not work for you. I want a real job. At a real law firm. But more than that I want my fiance home from tour so if you don't mind I'm going to-"

"Dan, if you worked for me, you could work from anywhere. Like, say, a tour bus."

"Or Australia," Anton added, catching Olivia's wave.

Dani froze in the doorway.

"Don't play with me, Oli."

Olivia held up her hands, innocent of any tricks.

"I'm not kidding, Dan."

"You drive a hard bargain."

Dani moved with less wrath as she headed up to her apartment above. It wasn't a yes, not yet, but it wasn't the hard no Olivia had been receiving since Dani had graduated law school.

"Speaking of Gage, how's he doing?"

Dani's drama resolved Olivia and Anton had work to do.

"Good. I talked to him early this morning before he headed to bed. Australia's going well. He misses everyone, by which he means Dani, but he sounds good. The shows are selling out."

"And the take over with the Wallflowers? Did Kelly give an update on where we are with that?"

Anton nodded.

"Alex is on top of it. They should be officially ours by the end of the week. Everything's signed and filed. We are good to go."

"Excellent. How are Bobbi and the boys taking the transition?"

"Like pros. Apparently, the stress has sent them all down into their basement studio. They haven't stopped writing for the last three weeks."

"Good. We can get a head start on that next album. Did Bobbi say anything about wanting to write together?"

"She thought it was a good idea but didn't have much else to say. I told her to call you and she said she would once the dust finally settles."

"I'll keep an ear out for that."

"And you? How's life at the brownstone?"

Olivia smiled. She had woken up smiling that morning. It might have helped that when she came downstairs Noah was in the kitchen making coffee and Walter was out on the patio watering his chrysanthemums.

"Perfect."

"How's Walt these days?"

"Good. Really good."

Walter had the basement apartment to himself, which he had insisted upon instead of one of the bedrooms upstairs. He appreciated that Olivia and Noah had invited him to come live with them after the wedding but wanted to give them their own space. He was moving around more than ever, the walk up three flights of stairs every day to check on his rooftop garden was helping his feel better. The treks had started slow, taking breaks with each floor but he was moving faster than Olivia had ever seen him and now only relied on his daily nurse for moral support.

"Okay. Carrie Daniels."

Anton slapped a file down on top of the black grand piano. Catch up time was over. They had a record label to run.

Olivia slid the file over and opened it, reading over the pages she had already read ten times.

"Nineteen years old turns twenty in December. Taught herself the ukulele when she was twelve. Plays what she likes to call jazz ukulele."

Olivia was reading aloud facts that both she and Anton had known by heart for weeks at that point. Hank had been the one to alert the two of them to her existence. She had been playing music nights at the cafe every week for the past six months and was gaining a following.

"She can wail on that uke. And her voice! It's so smooth and silky. The girl's got serious potential."

Olivia nodded her agreement.

"Is anyone else looking at her?"

Olivia didn't say his name but Anton knew who she was referencing. Monstar Music still had an office in the city.

"No. Not yet. But I wouldn't wait too long. She's starting to attract some serious attention."

Olivia looked down at her notes, at her own handwriting documenting everything Hank had told her about this girl. She had watched videos of her performing, had even sneaked into the Cafe one music night to hear her perform. She made sure to slip away before the set was done so no one saw her. Olivia had a good feeling about this girl but still needed to meet her in person.

"When is she arriving?"

Anton looked up at the analog clock on the wall.

"Hank told her to be here right about... now."

A buzzing came from the door downstairs just as the chapel down the street started ringing the bells to chime in the tenth hour of the morning.

Anton crossed the room to unlock the door and stood waiting while hesitant steps moved up the stairs. Olivia closed the file and tossed it onto Anton's desk, pausing to inspect nothing in particular while Anton opened the door, her back to their guest.

"Hi! You must be Carrie. Come in, come in."

"Oh my goodness. You're – wait. No. This can't be happening. Are you actually real?"

Anton's laugh was infectious and welcoming.

"I am real. Anton Kaufman, nice to meet you."

"Hank, at the cafe, told me, I'm not sure-"

"Don't worry. You're in the right place. Hank's an old friend of ours and keeps an eye out for up and coming talent for us."

"Us? Who's-"

Olivia heard her cue and turned around. The girl froze. Her bright blue eyes were as wide as could be, her soft round face turning redder by the second. Olivia was worried she would soon pass out if she didn't breathe. Olivia crossed the room to join the duo by the door.

"You're- You're- Oh my gosh. This isn't happening."

Olivia laughed and the girl seemed to regain some part of herself again. She was breathing normally and her eyes flitted between Anton and Olivia, back and forth.

"It's nice to meet you, Carrie. I'm a big fan."

"No. No, you're not. This isn't possible. What is even happening?"

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Olivia Reeve."

Olivia placed a gentle hand on Carrie's shoulder to usher her further into the studio.

"Welcome to Freedom Records."

A/N:

Chills. That last line. Chills. Every time.

Thank you for reading. I'm impressed you somehow made it this far.

How are your emotions? Tell me honestly, did you cry? Cuz I totally did. And again, I wrote the freaking book.

Fun fact: this book is to be read with the timelines running parallel.

HOWEVER! I edited the book in chronological order SO if you wanted to, you ca read the Olivia chapters first and they would lead right in the Reeve chapters.

That was very important to me: that the narrative not be compromised to fit the format.

Thank you again so much for reading. God bless!

PS: when I wrote this, I accidentally deleted it and cried for half an hour before figuring how to retrieve it.

This book was worth it but boy did it shorten my life span by a few years.