Finally Home

75. Tyler

Josh and I had come up with a brilliant idea for the new album. It was a very different sound to Trench, but still related to the lore of created with the Blurryface album. The aesthetic, the symbology, the sound. The lyrics, if you listen to them are much darker than the music lets on.

But we wanted to reach as many fans as we possibly could at one time. We wanted to perform for every single fan we could at one time. So we came up with a livestream concept that we'd do on the same night as the album release.

We'd been working so hard on it, as well as recording the album. I'd been busy but also trying to keep up with my family.

When I picked Samantha up from school her first day back after Christmas, she looked exhausted. But then she was rubbing her leg and I worried she wasn't healing as well as she should be.  I'd be keeping an eye on her in that regard.  I didn't want to miss something they might be easier to deal with sooner.

I'd gone to pick Sam up from school but as soon as she was in the kitchen, went down to my studio to work on some of the music and concepts. This was going to be so awesome.

I'm not sure how long I'd been working when Jenna called me up for dinner. Sam and Rosie were getting the table set - Sam carrying the plates and cutlery, Rosie putting them gently out on the table. Listening to my 16 year old talking with her two year old sister never failed to amaze me. Sam never talked down to Rosie. She never spoke above her, but always in age appropriate wording as they talked about anything and everything. It came so naturally to her.

We sat down to eat and we're chatting.

"Dad," Sam said.  "Mom said you and Uncle Josh have some new ideas?  What are they? Are they for the new album?"

I smiled. Sam was always so interested in my work.

"Yep. We're doing this livestream event next month. It's all related to the new album but we'll play some old stuff too. It'll be like a concert on multiple stages. It's going to be amazing. We're setting it all up in an arena so we'll move around the sets seamlessly."

"Can I watch?" She asked.

"We'll all go. Of course you can watch," I smiled.

Sam smiled back. She asked a bunch of questions about the album. We were filming our video for our single "Shy Away" next week so I thought I'd pull her out of school and she could come see that. She'd loved watching, and participating, in the Trench album videos, I thought she'd get a kick out of this one, too.

"Are you going to cut your hair?" She asked.

"You don't like my long hair?" I pretended to pout.

"Erm..." she said. "No?"

I laughed.

"I haven't decided yet. I like making pony tails with Rosie," he said.

Samantha snorted.

"I do Dada's hair," Rosie smiled.

"You did good," Sam said to her sister. Rosie beamed.

We finished dinner and Sam helped us clear up and clean up Rosie. I noticed Sam was being gentle on her right leg. Almost limping. I was worried something was happening to her leg that hadn't been caught yet.

She sighed as she sat on the couch.

"How're you doing?" I asked, sitting beside her. She frowned.

"My leg is really bugging me today. I don't know if it's because I'm tired or something else."

"Let me try something," I said, getting up and getting the heating pad out of the linen closet. I went back downstairs and plugged it in, wrapping it around Sam's thigh.

After a while, I massaged her leg.

"Better?" I asked as I looked over. Her eyes were closed and she smiled.

"Yeah, actually," she said.

"Maybe we'll start massage therapy after physio. That might help."

"Okay," she mumbled. She was relaxed, and it was nice when Sam could relax. When I next looked over, she was asleep, her jaw slack and the tiniest hint of a snore coming from her.

Jenna came downstairs from putting Rosie to bed and looked over at us. She smiled.

"She fell asleep?" Jenna said.

I nodded.

"We should consider massage therapy for her leg after physio. I just massaged her leg and she said it helped."

Jenna nodded.

"Sure. Nothing wrong with that. We'll talk to the physiotherapist. They probably do massage, too."

I nodded. That made sense.

I unplugged the heating pad and let it cool down some before taking it off Sam's leg. I loved watching her sleep. Unless she was having a nightmare, Sam's face was so soft and innocent looking. So relaxed. She lost her edge in sleep.

I carefully moved her leg and got up, picking her up and carrying her up to bed. She moaned just a bit and when I put her down, she rolled onto her side and was deeply asleep before I even pulled up her covers.

I went back downstairs and sat with Jenna, rubbing her growing belly.

"Just a few more months," she said.

"Yep," I smiled.

Josh texted me and my relaxation was interrupted with the demands of my job. But I loved it. I kissed my wife and went back downstairs to my studio and sat and talked with Josh about some of the sets and concepts. Mark, our manager, was on the other end as well and the three of us talked for a while.

Eventually, we decided we'd done what we could for tonight and we'd pick it up in the morning. Grateful for the break, I went upstairs, drank a glass of water and then went up to bed. Jenna was already asleep, so I carefully got into bed and wrapped my arms around my wife. She made a small noise of contentment and I fell into a deep and relaxing sleep.