The High Notes: A Novel(61)

The judge set his stamp on their papers, which gave them permission to officially be Jimmy’s foster parents, unless anything changed in the future, which no one could predict.

Jimmy wanted to see his old house. It was empty now, and there was a FOR RENT sign out front. Jimmy looked sad when he saw it. They visited Mrs. Maybeck for a few minutes, and he told her about his new home in New York. And then they went back to the airport, and flew back to New York. The pilot let Jimmy sit in the cockpit, with his seatbelt on so he couldn’t wander around, and he showed him how he flew the plane. Jimmy thought just about everything about his life with Iris and Clay was cool. He said his mom would have loved it too.



* * *



—

With the memorial concert behind them, and the decision to foster Jimmy, Iris got to work in earnest rehearsing and writing for a new album. Boy was working on one too.

It was released after Jimmy was settled in his new school. They had gotten him a place in the private school near them. Clay was working on a new tour he was thinking of organizing to Boston, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, Dallas, and Atlanta this time, all the cities they hadn’t done last time, and maybe the U.K. and Japan and Hong Kong in the next year or two. It was an ongoing rotation. He was always thinking about what would be good for her career, and that of his other major clients. He had just finished organizing tours for two of his other big stars. He was sure Iris was going to be nominated for a Grammy, and thought Boy might be too. She thought Clay was crazy when he said it. She was hitting the high notes better than ever. But she didn’t expect to win any awards. She was just grateful for everything that had happened, and all that Clay had done for her. And Jimmy was an unexpected blessing.

He got to work on her tour a few weeks later, and was scheduling it to start just after the release of her next album. He needed to find her a new opening act. Boy was too big for that now, as Clay knew he would be. It was their last chance for that on the previous tour.

He wanted to start the tour in December and be home for Christmas. The timing was perfect. They would start right after Thanksgiving and be home before Christmas, to spend it with Jimmy. He was part of their life now. Once he’d been with them for six months, they could adopt him whenever they wanted. Ms. Paley had told them that, but Iris said they weren’t ready to make that decision and there was no rush. She was twenty-eight years old, and she had time to do lots of things. None of it was pressing, except her next album.

Jimmy loved visiting her at the sound studio when she was working. He’d listen to her quietly for a while, visit Boy, and then he’d help Joanne in Clay’s office. He called him Dad now, which Clay liked. He still called her Aunt Iris, which she preferred out of respect for Pattie, who would always be his mother. Iris had explained to him that she and Clay weren’t married, even though they felt like they were.

“Why do some people get married and some don’t?” he asked her.

“That’s a good question, I don’t know. Maybe they haven’t met the right person.”

“Isn’t Clay the right person for you?” He looked puzzled. “My mom said she never met the right person either, so we didn’t have a dad. Clay is a good dad.”

“He sure is the right person,” she corrected him. “He’s the only man I’ve ever loved.”

“So why don’t you get married?” he asked, with the logic of children, and she was stumped. Clay walked into the room when he asked her, and stopped to hear what she said.

“He may have a point,” Clay said, smiling at her. “I’ve wondered about that myself,” he said, and she smiled. She knew he was in no rush to get married. He’d had two disasters and didn’t want another one, but Iris was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Two weeks later, he came home with a mischievous look. He had a lump in his jacket pocket, which she didn’t notice. She was writing lyrics on their bed. Rosie was asleep next to her, and Jimmy was out with Zoe. Clay got down on his knees next to her, and she ignored him while she was finishing the lyric, and when she looked at him, his face was next to hers.

“Iris Cooper, will you marry me?”

“What? Are you serious? Why now?” She was stunned.

“I think Jimmy has a point. If we’re not getting married, we should at least get engaged, we have a twelve-year-old son after all. What do you think?”

“I think you’re crazy and I love you,” she said, and kissed him. He had done it so casually, she hadn’t suspected what was coming.

“Is that a yes?” She nodded, feeling shy for a minute, and he took the box out of his pocket, opened it, and put a staggeringly beautiful diamond ring on her finger. She stared at it, awestruck. She forgot who he was sometimes, and what he was able to do.

“My God, that’s gorgeous. Clay, it’s huge.” She smiled at him.

“You deserve it. You deserve even bigger.” It was a fifteen-carat solitaire, which was more than big enough, but Clay never did things on a small scale.

Jimmy noticed it on her hand as soon as he came home from the park with Zoe. He stared at it for a minute and asked her what it was.

“It’s a diamond. Clay and I just got engaged.”

“Does that mean you’re getting married?” He looked hopeful, and she wondered why it mattered to him so much.