"Ok, so you guys are ready to start recording now huh?" Taylor asked.
"Yep," Mike affirmed.
"So, I guess the next question is where would you like to record?"
"LA," Sam said.
The other agreed and Xavier added:
"I wanna catch some waves."
Isaac smiled.
"Well, in that case, you'll be staying with your Uncle Zac," he said.
"Don't we always?" Adam asked.
"Neither Isaac nor I will be coming with you," Taylor informed them. "Isaac won't for obvious reasons -"
"Are they obvious?" Xavier grinned.
"And Rita doesn't want to leave Tulsa right now. I want to stay with Rita, but if you want me to come with you, I will."
"No, that's fine Dad," Mike assured him. "We'll be fine with Uncle Zac."
"Yeah, Uncle Zac's cool," Adam smiled.
Isaac and Taylor looked at each other.
"I'm worried already," Isaac commented with a grin.
Taylor smiled back and went on:
"We suspected you guys would want to go to LA, so we've already talked to Zac. He's fine with it. It's a good thing Zoe's going on tour now, because with her out of the house, there's two spare rooms now, instead of one."
The boys nodded.
The following day, Isaac took the boys, Morgan, Esme and Carmen down to Oklahoma City. It was mainly to check out Monkey Business, as Isaac had found out when their next gig was. It was for a charity show.
When Monkey Business came on stage and started playing, his mouth hung open.
"Is that the same song?" he asked himself.
"Yep," Carmen whispered back.
Later, when discussing the trip with Taylor he told them that Monkey Business were very, very strong live. He said that there was something in this performance that had been completely lacking from the demos that had been sent.
Isaac spoke the Monkey Business at the show. Dylan, the lead guitarist and singer, had admitted to Isaac that they didn't think anything would come of their demos - they didn't have a lot of money to spend making them, and they had all felt the sheer lack of studio time had compromised the quality. Isaac refrained from mentioning that it had been for Carmen's sake they had even bothered to investigate further, although he really wanted to. But Isaac felt the band may not appreciate knowing that. And he was certain Carmen was perfectly happy to be a quiet achiever.
"I tell you what Taylor, after seeing them perform, I am more behind Carmen than ever."
Taylor nodded.
"Cool, so we're signing them then."
"Yes. Definitely."
"Ok. I'll let you handle them."
"Cool."
Isaac left then, but he had a feeling Taylor and Zac were not so much humouring Carmen, as they were humouring him!