Jamming.

"The most important thing," Joel says, "is the music."

I'm shoveling out the cat litter box, which may have affected my tonality accordingly when I replied, "Oh really? Just recently the most important thing was serving everyone little tiny bits of lamb shop and beef tartar on a silver plate." I wrinkle my nose and tie up the bag, "We are not feeding your five hundred drunken party friends caviar."

"Oh, yeah, I totally agree that was not a good idea."

I toss the bag in the garbage. "Fantastic."

"I was thinking, there are a lot of awesome people that will be coming who are musicians- we could just set up a stage and people could take turns jamming through the night."

"Um, no."

"What? That's what we do at the Steinhower's."

"Yes, and it works perfectly there. But you are not going to have jam fest with your friends all night and leave me awkwardly left to entertain everyone else. If you do that, I'll get cornered some place stuck making small talk with your dad or our neighbors or someone- and you will be forever branded the horrible husband that ditched his wife on their wedding night."

"I wouldn't ditch you!"

"Honey," I put my arms around his waist, "I know I'm not your only girl." My eyes dart suggestively to the mountain of guitar gear in the corner.

"You'll be playing bass by then."

I step back and glare.

"All right, all right. I was just trying to save money." I think he knows his excuse is feeble.

"Joel, this is not the last party we will ever have at Milton. It may not even be the only party we have this summer. If you want to throw a jamfest, there will be other opportunities. Besides, if we hire a band, you and I will get to have fun together."

"I suppose you're right." He looks out the window and perks up, "Hey, yeah- if we hire a band, we'll get to hang out more. And, we wont have to worry about any awkward pauses or anything."

"This is true."

"Yeah, I'm sure we can get a kick ass band down here. Maybe The Station. Or...or maybe 56 Hope Road. Or The Right Now! Or...or...maybe we could get them all down here. Julia would just die!"

"Budget." I say.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I have an idea." He smile arouses an immense amount of suspicion. With anyone else, I'd say that such awesome music on a budget would be near impossible. But with Joel The Golden Boy...we'll just have to see.