5:55 pm
Car
Christ, finally a minute to breathe.
Headed for the plane, ready to hop over to Penn State for rehearsal. I've been going 100 mph all day. Gonna crash hard later.
Had a 9 am set call this morning. Thank God we were shooting indoors today--it's fucking COLD. All went pretty well, was a fun shoot, some easy scenes. Plus I got to flirt with Sofia. She's funny, sweet, and stunningly gorgeous. And that accent... Holy Christ, when she rolls her Rs it just curls my toes. No, it didn't suck to be me today, ha ha.
Finished up a little after 2 pm, had time to dash home and grab my bag then head over to Dorothea's. We were gonna go get a cup of coffee but since I was running late she just made a pot and we sat in her kitchen and talked.
It was weird, I was actually nervous. Have no idea why. If anything I should be pretty damned proud of myself. Look at me! I'm Parenting! And my kid thinks I'm a Cool Dad! Ha ha. But I actually had butterflies in my stomach when she opened the door and invited me in. Strange.
And of course I had all of 3 words out of my mouth when D figured out exactly what was up. Damn that Woman -- I swear she has SuperHero mind-reading powers. I kinda fidgeted around and hemmed and hawed and finally she just set down her coffee cup and looked me in the eye and said. "So, like Father, like Son?"
I actually blushed. BLUSHED! Jesus.
Dorothea just smirked at me and did that throaty little chuckle I know so well, the one that sounds half-evil. I told her yes and no -- he's definitely not innocent but he's nowhere near where I was at his age. She looked relieved and asked how I found out. I didn't want to lie to her, so I told her a half-truth. I just said Jesse and I had a long talk and he told me about losing his virginity.
She kinda looked me up and down, for a minute. She could tell there was something I was holding back, but she didn't press. I told her how I feel about keeping Jesse's confidence, that I want him to trust me and not be afraid I'm gonna report everything back to his Mom. And I pledged that whatever happens, I'm gonna be sure to handle it and to be there for Jess to talk to.
Dorothea was satisfied with that. I think she's actually relieved. She gave me a little smile and squeezed my arm and said "Well Johnny... Welcome to the Dark Side. There's no going back now." That made me laugh.
We just sat and smiled at each other for a minute, and I felt that pang of regret shoot through my heart again. It's times like that, when we're talking about the kids or facing some new hurdle together, that I really miss her. I miss us.
But at least we're still friends, still so close we can be honest, brutal if necessary. At least I still have that.
So we talked a little more about Jesse -- and about how he's gonna be easy compared to what the Chuckleheads have in store for us -- then I had to go. She hugged me and kissed my cheek at the door before sending me on my way. I held on to her for an extra second or two, just for old time's sake.
So, now here I sit in the back of another car headed for another plane to take me to another stage and yet another hotel room. And I'm lonely as Hell.
I miss my family already and I'm not even out of the City yet. I miss my wife -- I didn't even get a moment this morning to hold her and kiss her and tell her how much I love her. She was dressed and headed out the door when I woke up. In fact, her goodbye kiss was my wakeup call. Now I gotta wait until Thursday to steal a couple hours with her, to tell her about Jesse and hopefully talk about us.
And this ain't gonna slow down much until fall.
It's gonna be a long six months.
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