he think that I was trying to smother/mother him by setting out his phone, keys, and a pack of gum? Maybe I shouldn’t do that anymore.
Ten minutes ago I was blissfully happy and now I was a complete and utter mess inside. I curled up under my quilt on the couch and tried to
distract myself with television. It didn’t help; my mind raced and a few tears of uncertainty and insecurity dripped down onto the pillow.
Why do I hear music playing? I pondered in my dream. I suddenly woke, hearing my cell phone play in the kitchen. I was a little disoriented.
How long had I been sleeping? I looked at the clock on the DVD player – it was a few minutes before ten.
I tossed the quilt off my legs and plodded to the kitchen. My cell phone showed two missed calls – both from Ryan.
I called him back immediately.
“Are you okay?” he asked loudly.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I fell asleep on the couch. I’m sorry, I didn’t hear the phone ring.”
He breathed out a heavy sigh. “I got worried when you didn’t answer.”
“I’m fine,” I repeated, rubbing my eyes. “How’s your day going?”
“It’s tolerable. We just took a break. Hey, I was wondering if you could do me a favor? Remember the other day we talked about taking my mom
out for her birthday but we never looked up restaurants. Cal told me about a restaurant someplace outside of Providence called Sabatinis or
Salatinis, something like that. I tried to find it on the net but I can’t locate it.”
“Let me look.” I bumped the mouse on my computer to get the screen saver to clear. The cause of my mental breakdown earlier was still on the
screen. “I’m searching for Italian restaurants Providence,” I informed. I paged through the results.
“La Scalatini’s? Does that sound like it?” I asked. “It’s located in Wyndham which is outside the city.” I clicked on the link to their website.
“Cal, can you come…La Scalatini, was that it? Excellent! Honey, is there a phone number?” I read the number to him.
“Great! I’m going to make a reservation for Friday. What time do you think? Eight-thirty or nine?”
“What time are you getting off of set Friday?”
“Seven. What do you think?”
“Let’s shoot for nine, then we have extra time in case we need it,” I replied.
“Sounds good. Are you going out today?”
“No. I have things I want to do around here.” I thought about cleaning the apartment and finishing the laundry. “I have to wash our dirty bed
sheets,” I snickered.
“Yeah, you did make a mess of things last night!” he teased.
“I had help,” I giggled.
“I actually think I sprained my hip!”
“You? I’ve been limping around here all morning,” I admitted.
“Have you really? Huh, that’s too funny. And here I thought I was the only one hurting. Guess we put a hurting on each other!” he growled. “Cal
asked me why I was moving so slow.”
“You were asleep about five minutes afterwards… in the same position.” I laughed.
“You wore me out with all of that good loving. I have to stop thinking about it. I’m going to make those dinner reservations and I’ll see you around
seven. I love you.”
“I love you too!”
I smiled as I tore the sheets off our bed and carried the pile to the laundry room. I heard my phone ring again, but it wasn’t his ringtone.
“Hey Marie, what’s up?”
“Taryn?” I could tell by her voice that she had been crying.
“Marie, what’s wrong?” I panicked.
“Gary’s mom died this morning.”
“Oh my God, Marie. I’m so sorry.” An old memory of me calling Marie to tell her my mom had died flashed through my mind. “What happened?”
“She must have had a stroke in bed last night. Gary’s dad couldn’t wake her. And we just saw them a few weeks ago.”
“How’s Gary?”
“He’s a mess.” She sniffed. “First time I’ve ever seen him cry. He’s already called off work and well, it’s the other reason I’m calling. Please
don’t be mad…” she pleaded, “but he got us tickets to fly to Tampa tomorrow. He wants to be there – help make arrangements with his dad. We’re
flying out at eight twenty in the morning.”
“No, I completely understand. Don’t worry at all.”
“Tar, we’re going to be gone for a couple of days. I don’t think we’ll be back until Monday or Tuesday. I hate to do this to you.”
“Marie, don’t worry about it. Family is first, always first. Is there anything I can do? Do you need anything?”
“No. Just your understanding and love, that’s all we need. I really hate this. I know you wanted to spend the weekend with his family; I feel like I’m
sticking you. I feel horrible. I’m so sorry.”
“Marie! Please! It’s okay! I’ll figure something out. Just give Gary and his family our condolences.”
I turned the washing machine on and added the soap. Shit. What was I going to do now? I had just unloaded the dryer when my phone rang
again. All of a sudden I was popular.
“Hi Pete,” I answered glumly.
“You okay?” Pete asked.
“Yeah. No. I just got off the phone with Marie. Gary’s mom passed away this morning.”
After a few minutes of filling him in on what little information I had he got to the reason for his call. He had calculated the cost of the materials to
do the stairwell remodel. The steel door alone was several hundred combined with drywall and wood studs came to almost two thousand dollars.
That didn’t include his labor.
Pete figured once he got the work permit Thursday morning he could start later that day, but it would be loud with all the banging and he’d have
to cut through the brick wall to make the new outside door.
“I can start the demo of the drywall tonight and get that out of the way. Tammy is going to be busy making food for a luncheon she’s catering
tomorrow anyway. Oh, and before I forget to tell you, she booked a party for Saturday, so she can’t work Friday and Saturday nights,” he said.
That put the icing on my cake. I was hoping that Tammy would be able to lend a hand to manage the crowd but now that option was gone too.
I snapped my phone shut and sat for a while. I couldn’t handle the crowds on my own. I was already looking forward to a weekend off with Ryan
and his parents. Ryan had just made diner reservations for Friday. His parents already cancelled their hotel stay. Damn.
I let out a big sigh. I couldn’t cancel on Ryan nor jeopardize meeting his parents for the first time. I wandered around the apartment, trying to
figure out what to do.
I was leaning on the washing machine when I thought I heard someone scream, instantly grabbing my attention.
“No freaking way,” I groaned, looking out my front window. I could clearly see the line of girls forming on my sidewalk. They were waiting for me
to open, and it was obvious that they weren’t here to drink. The line was so long, there must have been forty or more of them.
I hurried down my steps to get a better look at the situation. I peeked through the blinds, shocked at what I saw. Girls were leaning on my walls;
some were sitting on the sidewalk. I looked in the other direction to confirm that the line started at my door. Un-freaking believable!
Right then I made my final decision. I walked to the kitchen to get a piece of cardboard. In my office, I grabbed a fat, black magic marker and
wrote in big letters:
I could hear the anger from the waiting crowd when I put the sign in my window. They certainly left me know how they felt about it, but I ignored
them and went back upstairs. I had phone calls to make and bands to cancel. There went my Halloween weekend income.
“I’m on my way,” Ryan said when he called from his car. “How’s the crowd? Everything all right there?”
“There is no crowd. Most of the girls left after I put the closed sign in the window, although a couple of them pounded on my door,” I sighed.