The
Diner of Love
3503 Angel Square Court
Llanview, PA
"Nothin' Could Be Finer Than Some
Lovin' In the Diner"
"There ain't no lovin' like some diner lovin', hey ho"
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"Nothin' Could Be Finer Than Some
Lovin' In the Diner" |
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What can I get you?
Coffee's a dollar
I hope you like whip cream.
I just love the Voice of the Night. We have this special connection. |
The Next Act
CHAPTER THREE
“Okay, soldier, you’ll bunk with me on the weekends unless you have something you’d rather do.” “What about Rex?” “Well, I guess we’ll all need to work out a schedule. You don’t have to stay with me. It’s just that any weekend you want to come will be fine with me.” “I can’t come over during the week?” “Sure, of course you can. As long as it’s okay with your mom.” “Why do you have to be over there? Why don’t you just come back home? You can sleep in my room if you’re mad at mom.” “It’s not that Shane.” “Sure it is. You can come back if you want to. Right, mom?” “Shane, I think Brody has made his decision.” Shane jumped up from the table and pushed back his chair. “It’s not fair. We were supposed to be a family.” “Shane Morasco, you stop that right now.” “It was supposed to be Shane Lovett,” he yelled then ran out of the room and up the stairs. Gigi put her hand over her mouth and shook her head. “He is so mad at me. What am I going to do?” Brody stood up, gathered Shane’s plate and his and took them to the sink. “He’s upset but he’s not really mad at you,” he said then turned and faced her. “He’s just trying to find some stable ground. He’s a good kid. You know that. You’re the reason why. Give him a little time and space to vent. He’ll come around.” She nodded. “I hope so.” “Balsom is coming by this afternoon?” “Right.” “Maybe once they’ve talked Shane will really see that he hasn’t lost anything. He’s gained another connection.” She nodded then got up from the table. “I’ll take care of the dishes. You cooked. It was great by the way.” “It’s okay,” Brody said. “I’ll handle it.” She carried her plate to the sink. “I insist” she said and reached over to add her plate the pile of dishes in the sink. Her hand brushed Brody’s. He locked his gaze on her face for a second then pulled his hand away quickly. He moved back and walked across the room. “I tried to get all of my stuff but sometimes I overlook things. I can’t find that ratty, old blue t-shirt of mine. If you find it or anything else of mine put it in that box I left over by the window in the living room and I’ll pick it up when I come to get Shane next week.” Next week? She wasn’t going to see him again until next week? He walked closer to her and stretched out his hand. “And here’s a key to my place, just in case.” “Just in case?” “Well, if Shane is there and you need to get in or something.” “You’re planning on leaving him alone?” He exhaled in an exasperated huff. “Give me some credit, Gigi. But you know how life is. It’s better to be prepared and have the tools you need on hand.” She smiled and took the key. “So I guess if you have a girl in there you’ll hang a sock on the doorknob.” He nodded and cut his eye at her. “You’ll know because I’ll have the chain on the lock.” She looked away. He was kidding around but it still hurt. “Thank you for the key.” “Do you need anything?” “I’m fine.” “Look, don’t try to be all noble and stuff. You need me, you call me. I’ll always be there for you, just like I’ll be there for Shane.” She bit her lower lip and nodded her head. “Okay, I’m going upstairs and say goodbye to Shane, then I’m out of here. Still got a lot to do before the shop opens.” “That’s still on schedule?” “Doing okay.” “You need any help?” His eyes widened. “No. I’ve got it covered. But I hope you’ll come to the opening celebration. You know Shane is going to be front and center.” “I’ll see.” “Sure,” he said briskly then left the kitchen. She watched him go and ignored the lump in her throat. All she could think of to say was: Stay. And she couldn’t seem to say that.
Everything was finally in place. All he had to do now was to move on. He wasn’t going to look back. He took the stairs two at a time and walked quickly to Shane’s room. The door was closed, so he knocked. No answer. He waited then opened the door slowly. He peeked in and saw Shane curled up on his bed. He was fast asleep. That was a good sign. He wanted to go in and touch him once more. Just brush his hand across his forehead or touch his cheek but he didn’t. There was nothing to be gained by waking him up, so he left the room and closed the door quietly behind him. When he came down the stairs, Gigi was waiting at the bottom. “Is he okay?” she asked. It bothered him how suddenly unsure she seemed about her relationship with her son. Shane loved her and would get over whatever anger he might feel about the Rex lie. It’s not like Shane wasn’t mad at him, too. They’d weather the storm. “He’s fine. Asleep.” She nodded. “Maybe I should go check on him.” He shrugged. It really wasn’t his place anymore to even offer suggestions about how she should deal with her son, so he kept his mouth shut. “What do you think?” He didn’t have a handbook on how to handle a parental role once the truth comes out that you’re not the kid’s real father and that his mother never gave a damn about you. But when asked for advice, he suspected that giving an opinion was probably acceptable. “I think he’s okay, Gigi. He needs his sleep and he’ll come down when he’s ready to talk.” “How can you be so calm about this?” “What?” “Aren’t you worried at all?” For a moment, he was confused then it hit him like a ton of bricks. He thought he was so on top of everything but he hadn’t handled that. “I’m sorry. I know you’re worried about the money but I’m not trying to cut you out of your share of the shop’s income. Once I open we’ll settle things equitably. Damn I wasn’t thinking. I guess that’s why you asked about coming over there.” “That’s not what I meant. That’s your place. I don’t want to cut into anything.” “Don’t worry. I’m going to take care of you and Shane. Just like we agreed. Once the place is open, you can stop working at the diner and get a job doing whatever else you want to do.” “I like working at the diner and I can take care of myself. I did it for ten years without help from anyone.” He dipped his head. “Yeah, okay. I forget that sometimes.” She acted as if she'd heard the sarcasm in his voice but chose to ignore it. “What I meant was how can you walk away from us so easily?” “Easily? What do you want from me? I’m trying to be fair about all of this. I’m not trying to dump blame on you or anything. It just didn’t work out. We both knew we didn’t have a chance once—“ “Don’t speak for me,” she said forcefully. “Or tell me what I knew. I was here. I’m still here. You’re the one who moved out.” “There are rules to a marriage, Gigi. Even a marriage like ours.” “What do you mean?” “Have you slept with Rex Balsom since we got married?” “I… I…” “Rule number 1. You don’t get to sleep with your ex.” “It’s not what you think.” “Probably not, but I don’t want hear about it. I respect you and your feelings for him, but I don’t want to be part of this game anymore.”
“So you really are my dad? You’re not lying about that?” Gigi cringed but clamped her mouth shut. She couldn’t look at Rex so she scanned the living room of the Carriage House and looked for something to hold onto to balance her emotions. The box Brody left was still sitting under the table by the window. It was still empty. “Yup,” Rex said and smiled. “We are Dude and Little Dude. That’s cool right?” Shane smiled back. “Yup.” “We get to go to baseball games and play videogames and make comic books. Tons of stuff.” “We already do that.” Rex shrugged. “See. No problems.” "Can I come stay at your place sometimes?” “Well, sure, but not this weekend. I’m gonna be out of town this weekend.” “Where’re you going?” “That’s classified.” “That’s what my other dad can say. You can’t say that.” “Your other dad?” “Brody Lovett. He’s my other dad.” “I see, but I thought he and your mom were calling it quits.” “They are, but Dad…I mean Brody said he’ll always be my dad and in my life.” “I see. Well, we’ll see about that.” “I think I’m gonna keep calling you Rex and him Dad but I’ll tell everyone he’s my stepdad. Okay?” “Sure. Sure. If that’s the way you want it.” Gigi pulled at the threads in her skirt. This was painful. Almost from the second they met, Rex and Shane had a natural rapport, but now they both sounded awkward and unsure of each other and it was all her fault. “So Roxy is my grandmother?” “How’s that for a bonus prize?” “She’s pretty cool. But what about Natalie? Is she my aunt?” “Sure she is.” “But she’s not really your sister.” “Well, biologically speaking she’s not but I grew up thinking she was and so it doesn’t matter.” “Kind of like it doesn’t matter that Brody’s not really my biological dad.” Rex’s eyes flashed and Shane frowned. For a moment neither of them said anything, then Shane jumped up from the couch. “I got homework to do, okay, mom?” “Sure. Go.” Shane ran up the stairs and disappeared from sight. “Sorry about that,” Gigi said. Rex craned her neck around and studied her for a second. “No. No. He’s a smart kid and he obviously got the Roxy gene for bluntness.” “This is all new to him. And even though you’re the only innocent one in this mess I don’t think he can quite decide where to draw the line yet.” “Look, I get it okay?” She bit her lower lip. “Glad to see you got home safe and sound this morning. I started to call but I figured I’d have heard something if something happened.” A wisp of anger flashed but she forced it away. “That makes sense,” she said neutrally. “How did the big meeting go with Daddy Brody?” “As well as it could, I guess. Shane is really angry at all of us.” “Yup, Little Dude is going to hold our feet to the fire for a while. Listen, I’ll take him out somewhere when I get back. I should only be gone for a couple of days but it might stretch into a week or more. I’ve got to do some investigating and may have to follow wherever the trail leads me.” “Will you call Shane?” “Sure if I can. And about last night, well, we’ll talk about it when I get back.” “In a week or so?” “Yup. That seems about right.”
Gigi sighed. It had been a really long couple of days. She couldn’t believe that after all these years Rex finally knew the truth about Shane and that they had been together last night. Her head was spinning just trying to keep up with the seismic shifts in her life. She needed time to adjust and having to work the late shift at the diner hadn’t helped. But at least this long day was finally over and she was on her way home… She was on the way home to an empty house. That realization stuck in her throat. He wasn’t going to be there. Usually when she had to work late she could count on coming home to some treat from Shane and Brody—a rented movie, or homemade salsa and chips, or a game of Risk all primed and ready to go. One night she’d even come home to spa night where they had drawn a bath for her, gotten special rock salts and flowers then left her alone for an hour. The memory of that made her heart hurt. What happened? Her cell phone rang and glanced over at it on the seat beside her, but she couldn’t see who was calling. She reached for it without taking her eyes off the road and flipped it open. Shane and Brody were always getting on her about talking on the phone while she was driving. Guess it would just be Shane from now on. “Hey, girl.” Gigi smiled. It was Layla. “Where are you?” Layla asked. “I’m in the car heading home. I had the late shift.” “Perfect.” “Why?” “So is Shane with you?” “No. He’s staying at Viki’s tonight. They’re having some kind of movie and popcorn night.” “Ummmm. Perfect.” “What’s going on, Layla? Where are you?” “I’m at Rodi’s. You need to get down here. Now. Turn that car of yours around or in whatever direction you need to and get here.” “I’m not really in the mood to go out tonight. It’s been a tough day.” “I figured as much. I’m not alone, by the way. Your husband is here and he’s tying one on.” “Brody?” “That’s the one, girlfriend.” “Oh. I guess he has a right but that’s not like him ever since--” “Look, I don’t know what is going on between you two and to be quite frank I don’t think I want to know but I don’t like what I’m seeing.” “What do you mean?” “You weren’t there to see him when Dorian and I found him. I mean, he cleans up nice but believe me he can get down and dirty—fighting, drunk, hitting on women and stuff.” “That doesn’t sound like Brody.” Even in the past when Brody drank too much he usually got quiet and went off by himself as if he was shutting himself away to protect her and Shane. “Girl, please. It may not be the Brody he was before he thought your ungrateful, pregnant behind dumped him ten years ago but it sure was the Brody we found. And tonight he’s looking like that Brody way too much.” “Is he okay?” “I don’t know, Gigi. That’s why I’m calling. He was doing so great. I hate to see this.” “Layla, he’s beyond being a grown man.” “There are lots of grown men who are jerks, but he seemed to have really found his footing with you and Shane.” “What are you, now, Oprah or something?” “Stop stalling. You did something. I can hear it in your voice, but you need to get over yourself and get down here now because you got all sorts of problems.” “I don’t know.” “He’s got on that tank he wears sometimes and those guns are blazing. He may be drinking but he looks damn good doing it.” “Layla, please.” “What? I’m not saying he’s hitting on women but they’re sure hitting on him.” “Women?” “Well, Sarah in particular. She seems way too interested. I guess after Cris she developed a taste for manly-men.” “After Cris?” “Oh, they broke up. You haven’t heard? I thought being so close to Viki Davidson you’d know the details.” “Why would I—“ “Look, I need to get back over to the table. I’m going to probably need to pull out the big stick to keep Sarah in her cage. He may be mad at you for whatever reason but you need to get down here because he’s not listening to me. And, see, I think he’s on the bartender’s radar screen so he’s been cut off, but Sarah is buying drinks and passing them over to him.” “Damn. That doesn’t sound like Sarah.” “Girlfriend was totally messed up by that breakup. She’s not herself.” “Brody.” “Exactly,” Layla said. “First, Adriana goes over the cliff about Rex and watching that up close and personal was scary enough. Now, Sarah is losing it over Cris. And Brody may be next because he’s not paying close enough attention to the road because of whatever you did.” “Hey!” Layla cleared her throat. “I’m just saying, personally, I’m going to get out of Llanview and get a life. This picking up pieces of my friends off the sides of the road crap is getting kind of old.” An image of Brody hurt, crushed and abandoned on the side of the road stilled her soul. The visual backdrop was one of guns, machines, noise, and whirling dust but she knew that was not the real context. She told herself to breathe.
CHAPTER 4
The Back Deck Fan Fiction
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