Chapter 44

Saturday, Nov 21, 2020

We’d checked into the Grand Hyatt the evening before, the Casita Suite, all paid for by Artistre Pictures. We wanted to bring Jodi and Jon, our two kids, but it was just the two of us, as the movie’s premiere this night was for the crew, spouses, and the studio’s special invitees only, primarily the media.

They took Dani away right after breakfast, and I was told she’d be busy until that evening, right before the showing. She was spending her day being pampered; hair, skin, massage, nails, virtually everything about her was being prepped for her big ‘coming-out’, her official entrance into a world that before a few months ago, we hadn’t even imagined, her introduction to her, other than those introductory appearances a couple weeks ago, unsuspecting public.

The studio had wanted to have a gown designed just for her, but she’d declined, insisting she already knew what she was wearing. I had no idea what it was as she hadn’t brought anything like that with her, only her normal clothes, as far as I knew. Although, to be honest, Dani’s ‘normal’, was a far cry from what it had been a year ago, before my accident. It now consisted of leather, silk, satin ... not that I was complaining, not by a long ways!

Except at home or on the farm, that is. There, Dani was the same Dani I’d married twenty-nine years ago. Almost, anyway, the big difference was our sex lives. I think I’ve already chronicled those little (maybe not so ‘little’) changes so won’t do so here again. Today’s story is about the movie’s premiere, not a rehash of the last months.

We’ve both been growing more anxious over the last several days, Dani with no knowledge of which scenes have been included, cut, or how they’ll be presented, other than the opening that we’d seen snippets of – her race and their engagement; The ONLY thing she’s said to me about any of the rest has been, ‘Be prepared’, strongly implying that they are steamy, the reason this movie has the ‘R’ rating.

But she doesn’t know anything about any of the final scenes either, other than what was originally filmed. Virtually everyone at the studio has been excited, claiming that this may be the best work they’ve ever produced. And by all accounts, from Janet, Amanda, her agent, and so many others, Daniella Shore is the major impetus of that claim.

That’s been the environment leading up to this moment. I was ready, wearing a brand-new set of clothes. The studio had wanted me in a tuxedo, but I politely declined, saying quite simply that, ‘it just ain’t gonna happen, not now, not ever’. They’d compromised with an Armani suit. I’d compromised with a new pair of slacks, shirt, and shoes, MY choice. Guess which I was wearing.

I’d put them on, slathered a little after-shave, something I never wear, took a deep breath, and was ready to meet my bride. She was in the Grand Presidential Suite, along with Janet, April, Amanda, and I don’t know who else, all day, getting ready for her entrance to an entirely new world.

I had a catered dinner, served in my room at five-thirty, and the showing was scheduled at nine in the hotel’s theater. I’m meeting Dani at the Suite at seven-thirty to go downstairs to a ballroom for her formal introduction. I wondered if this would be like those debutante balls with royalty you read about, if Dani would have a ‘grand entrance’. I suspected that at seven-thirty, our rather simple existence as just more faces in the crowd would be coming to an end. Of course, in truth, it already had, months ago—when I awoke from that coma.

Alan Ryder, one of Dani’s costars, her main ‘lover’ in the movie (and, most noticeably, the ‘star’ of my dreams with Dani) spent much of the day with me, just ‘kickin’ back’. I could see why Dani’s been so taken with him (maybe that’s an understatement?), he seemed like a down-to-earth, good guy, despite his successes. Maybe that’s one of the big reasons for many of those successes. He’s not as big a man as I’d expected, probably somewhere near two hundred pounds; fit, muscular, just a damned good-looking guy. It’s no wonder, too, that they picked him for this movie, I could see women all over the country throwing themselves at his feet.

He’d asked me what I was wearing tonight. I told him just the slacks and shirt. “I’m jealous,” he said, “they have me in a monkey suit.” I laughed, telling him of my ‘negotiations’ with them. He laughed as well, saying, “Next time, I’ll tell them you’re my costume coordinator.”

At the moment, though, I was alone in our room, pretty much a bit player, just an extra, in a much bigger production. I checked my watch: seven-eighteen, twelve minutes until I was supposed to be with Dani. I expected they probably had every minute choreographed for Dani from the time she left that suite.

My palms were getting sweaty, this was going to be an experience so outside my realm of comfort that it might as well be a space flight to Mars. Even those television appearances and New York Post interview paled in comparison.

I wondered if just a few minutes early would be a problem. I didn’t see why it would. Hell, this wasn’t a damned wedding with the bride hiding from the groom until the actual ceremony.

I strode out into the hall, down to the elevator, and up to the tenth floor, the top. A few seconds later, I was softly knocking on room 1001. Seven-twenty-two, eight minutes early. The door opened, and I was ushered in. I recognized Amanda, Dani’s agent; Janet, the studio’s publicist; a couple other faces that I couldn’t put a name to, and no one else of the fifteen or so people in the room. Dani was nowhere in sight.

Janet came over to greet me, giving me a quick hug and introducing her husband, Jason, a nice-looking guy looking maybe a little older than Janet’s thirty-two, as I’d learned. Janet and I had become close friends over the last months, my days-long interview with her, all the subsequent updates, and finally the interviews two weeks earlier, telling my ‘coma’ story, or at least parts of it, and explaining how Dani came to be in the movie. Janet’s the only one I’ve been totally open with about the details of my dreams, other than Dani. Not even Jenny or Alan Ryder knew, ESPECIALLY not Alan Ryder! Janet had been there to direct the interviews, to step in and take over before things could get out of hand, even if she hadn’t always succeeded.

I couldn’t help but notice Janet. It was the first time I’d seen her dressed up, really dressed up. She was wearing a long dress, slit up one side, her hair down around her shoulders instead of the bun she’s always worn it in. She reminded me of my dream, Betty, my store’s bookkeeper, at the party the night I awoke, her always dowdy clothing at work, and how she’d looked so pretty that night. Janet has never dressed ‘dowdy’, but not like tonight. I’d never seen her with the kind of makeup she was wearing tonight, either. She was a damned nice-looking woman.

“Just a few touchups,” she said, and then, with a smile, “you’re going to be so amazed.”

I already was, at Janet.

I had a hint of how Dani was going to look at least, I remembered a photo that I’d received from Dani in one of my dreams, the very first weekend she spent alone with Alan Ryder. I’d let her stay after that first night with him. They’d gone to a mall, clothing shopping, stopping at a beauty parlor, except it was so much more. She told me later she’d been there two-and-a-half hours, a complete make-over. The picture she’d sent me afterward, new clothes, the makeover, it was just holy-shit-hot! She’d looked more like a girl in her twenties or early thirties, a very beautiful twenties-thirties girl.

Granted, that was a dream in my coma, but I’ve learned since that what was in those dreams was nearly as good as real, sooner or later, it would be.

I also knew that April had the skills to transform Dani into a twenty-one-year-old, from what we’d seen in Calgary. I was sure, though, that that wouldn’t be the intent tonight, they’d want the real Daniella for her public ‘anointing’.

April. She’d been an enigma, one of the very few people who’d been a central figure of my dreams that simply hadn’t materialized as a significant figure in real life. She’s there, same name, same position—studio makeup artist. But in my dream, she’d been a close friend of Alan, the one who’d first introduced Dani to the studio, a major extra-curricular lover. None of it, except her name, position, appearance, had materialized, she hardly knew I existed, in fact, not much more than I’m Dani’s husband.

Speaking of April, she peeked out from an adjoining room in the suite, probably the bedroom. “You all ready?” she asked no one in particular, looking around.

Janet took my hand, leading me to just outside the door, my heart pounding a hole in my chest. The door opened and there stood Dani − unbelievably beautiful! I could hardly breathe, looking at my wife. What would those high school kids think of this woman as their teacher?

Her long, auburn hair, shiny and soft, her ... hell, her fucking everything! No way this woman could ever say again that she wasn’t as pretty as Jenny, which had been a ‘given’, at least in Dani’s mind ever since they were friends in high school.

She was wearing the gold dress, the one I’d bought her before our trip to Reno, the one she was wearing that night when ‘Mark’, a guy she’d just met danced with her, holding her tight, making me so fucking jealous.

The dress ... I’d blindfolded her that night, didn’t think she’d wear it if she could see it, see how it showed off her body, how the ultra-thin gold material showed the soft curves of her breasts. Every. Tiny. Detail; the deep ‘V’, between her breasts, nearly to her navel; backless, just thin, gold straps; so short, only to her upper thighs the heart-shaped cutouts up her thighs...

She was wearing it now, knowing full well she’d be photographed, shown everywhere in style and celebrity magazines, television, the internet...

When I bought that dress, I never dreamed...!

And her perfume, something new, different, so sensual.

The conversation in the suite ended, it was eerily quiet, every eye on one person, probably foretelling the events of the coming night.

That picture in my dream hadn’t even come close. I was guessing too, that the gold and diamond jewelry she was wearing, the beautiful earrings, necklace, the bracelet weren’t of the ‘costume’ variety, either. How many tens of thousands...?

And me in slacks and a shirt, what a friggin’ dolt! Except that this was her night to shine, not mine. My clothes were perfect.

Dani stepped forward, through the door, to me, that smile on her face, kissing me briefly on the lips, “Your dress, the one you bought for me.”

“I know, I remember,” I told her. I also remembered how we’d fucked later that night in Reno. I was guessing she did, too. “You’re ... beautiful...” I stammered. It seemed so inadequate. Sexy, so fucking sexy!

“Thank you, you know ... you’re the only one who matters.”

I smiled, we hugged, knowing that after tonight, I’d be sharing her with the world.

Janet took over, I was sure she was the ‘choreographer’ of the night. I hoped so, this was for the publicity, after all. I trusted her, we both trusted her. “Shall we go?” she asked, except it wasn’t a question.

Dani took my hand, squeezing it tightly, took a deep breath, and said, “Let’s go.”

We were not used to leading an entourage, Janet, Amanda, April, and a dozen others following.

There were several people downstairs between the elevator and ballroom, all stopping to stare at the woman walking past, no doubt wondering ... In another week, they’ll know.

Just like in the suite, conversation stopped when Dani entered the ballroom. Flashes began going off almost instantly, one after another. Janet led us around, she and Dani introducing me to so many. I’ll never remember all the names; Tony, the director; Julie, Dani’s acting coach, Le’ah, her riding instructor; and on and on, several of the other actors, too. Oh yeah, Josh Brolin, he was there with his wife, shook my hand, complimented me on my beautiful wife, told us there was no doubt, that she was going to be a star. Alan Ryder was there, we’d already met.

And the posing for pictures; Dani, Alan (I had to chuckle, thinking of our earlier conversation about his ‘monkey suit’), Dani and Alan together, Dani and Josh ... It was obvious that she was the star, even with Josh Brolin there. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Neither could her co-star, Alan Ryder. The chemistry between them was so obvious! Even I was in some of the pictures with her.

At five-til-nine, the announcement came, the theater was right next door to the ballroom. We were led in and seated, Dani and me directly in the center, Alan on the other side of her, and Josh Brolin and his wife in front of us. The others filed in, filling the relatively small theater.

It was small, maybe a couple hundred seats, totally filled. But also, lavish, unlike any theater we’d been in. If it was bigger, dozens of times bigger, it’d be another Radio City. Well, maybe not quite, but still...

The way Dani was squeezing my hand, it was obvious how nervous she was. I was, too, probably not close to Dani’s.

‘Second Chances’, the movie’s name flashed across the screen, maybe thirty-feet wide, shortly followed by ‘Introducing Daniella Shore and Alan Ryder’, Josh Brolin’s name right after.

I never imagined what it would be like to see my wife’s name on the big screen. Not only just ‘on’ it, but the whole friggin’ screen, the star!

The opening scene after the credits, no prelude, was of the barrel race at the Calgary Stampede, Dani, no ‘stunt rider’. It couldn’t have been more real, Lynn, Dani’s character racing tight around the barrels, standing in the stirrups, the grit on her twenty-one-year-old face, spurring her horse, whipping the reins back and forth on that last run, the grass and dirt flying under the hooves. Those seventeen seconds had been among the most exciting of my life, and Dani’s – God, she’d been on a high! Those seventeen seconds alone were worth the trip to Calgary but seeing it on that big screen, the excitement of the announcer, hooves flying, the closeups ... Gawd!

I remember that day so clearly, the rodeo announcer amazed that if Dani’d been competing for real, she’d have come in third. THIRD against world-class racers, the best of the best! Friggin’ THIRD!

Of course, for the movie, she’d won, which put her character in first place in the world standings.

Her greeting by a ‘young’ Josh Brolin, her boyfriend, ‘Todd’, was as expected, jumping into his arms, their kiss long, hard, and seemingly so real. The real Dani’s excitement that night had mirrored her characters, floating sky-high.

Watching those scenes again, this time on the big theater screen instead of the little TV at her interviews, the race, kissing Josh Brolin as she had, appeared to have Dani transfixed, her hand crushing mine as it all transpired. I was every bit as pumped, hardly believing that was actually my wife, my Daniella, high school science teacher.

Josh Brolin’s character was a steer wrestler, the guy who jumps off a horse at full gallop onto a full-grown steer, wrestling him to the ground by his horns. Of course, unlike Dani, his ‘ride’ was by a stunt double, a professional steer wrestler.

‘Lynn’ was at the dance that night with Todd, her boyfriend, still twenty-one, dressed like you’d expect a gorgeous, excited young girl to dress - short, short skirt, half-transparent blouse, sexy bra. It was all there, so compressed in just a few minutes of the movie.

Seeing it in the movie brought it all back, how Dani and I had ... later that night in the hotel room ... after the ten weeks we’d been apart!

The next series of scenes were on the ranch, they were a married couple in their forties owning a cattle ranch in Montana, several scenes of cattle ranching, the scenic beauty of Montana, developers trying to buy the ranch. The scenery – spectacular! This was the paradise where Dani had called home those ten weeks.

When the first bedroom scene began, Dani’s fingers intertwined with mine, squeezing tight. They were in bed, Lynn and Todd, an obviously loving couple, bodies hidden under the covers, a long, passionate kiss ... him rolling over on top of her, and ... cut.

I glanced at Dani, breathing hard beside me, her fingers squeezing mine so tight, her nipples distended under her dress. I realized something, Josh Brolin was only on the movie set the last couple weeks of filming. Dani would have been at least eight weeks into her abstinence, naked, passionate ... with a famous celebrity she’d lusted after for years!

I had no doubt she was reliving the emotions she’d felt in that scene in her head.

The next scene was the next morning, ‘Lynn’ in bed, the covers pulled up covering her breasts, her ‘husband’ under the covers ‘playing’. Dani’s emotions went from giggling laughter to shock to lust, and everything in-between. She’d kept insisting they had a round-up, they had to get up, the cowboys crew would be waiting, “Todd, no, we have to...” giggle, “stop that!” clearly not meaning it, her eyes going wide, “Ooh, ooh,” as his body was outlined under the covers between her legs, and the covers being ‘inadvertently’ pulled down offering tantalizing glimpses of bare breasts. My heart was pounding, I couldn’t even imagine Dani...

She jumped out of bed, confirming that she was, in fact, naked, giggling like a schoolgirl, heading to the bathroom, a just as naked ‘Todd’ right behind her.

The bathroom door was opened just enough to show them stepping in the shower together, Lynn turning around through the frosted glass, the water running down her breasts as she pressed her body to her husband’s. He kissed her, the view scrambled through the glass but clear enough to show what was happening.

Dani’s hands were on his back, pulling him to her, his head slowly working down her body, stopping momentarily at a naked breast, the water pouring over them. In a way, the glass obscuring the vision was only making the scene hotter.

Dani was squeezing my hand, hard. I glanced away from the big screen to her, sitting beside me, wide-eyed at what was happening on the screen, her legs squeezed tightly together. Maybe it was only ‘acting’, but that was my wife, my Dani, naked, in the shower with an also naked Josh Brolin.

Back to the movie, Todd was kissing down her stomach, a brief hesitation at her navel, then ... lower, the camera zooming in on Lynn’s head thrown back, her mouth gaped open. Then ... Lynn, fully dressed in leather, mounted on her horse, in full blush mode, the cattle wranglers taunting her mercilessly about the fifteen-minute delay as they waited.

All of this with fucking Josh Brolin!

I remembered Dani telling her mom that this wasn’t going to be a ‘Hallmark’ movie. No fucking shit!

The next several scenes were of ranching; Dani cooking, horseback with her husband, the looks and touches, a picnic in a lush meadow, playfully rolling around in the grass together, laughing, kissing, a dance at the local ‘watering hole’, Dani’s character in a short, romantic skirt and blouse...

In short, they were a loving, hard-working couple, not afraid of having fun.

And then ... tragedy ... the sheriff knocking on Lynn’s door with the news that her husband’s horse had stepped in a badger hole at full gallop, breaking its leg, throwing her husband then falling on him, crushing him, killing him instantly.

‘Lynn’s’ face fell, the tears, her face turned white almost instantly, legs collapsing, the sheriff rushing to catch her ... how the hell had Dani done that? So friggin’ real! I think it was one of the most gut-wrenching scenes I’d ever seen in a movie.

Then the funeral, Lynn’s sobs, real tears down her face, another heartrending scene.

I looked at Dani, her cheeks wet with tears, like she was feeling Lynn’s pain all over again.

Now the developers moved in, the bank threatening to call their loans. Their excuse—the loans for expansion had been with Todd, not her; scheming with the much more lucrative developers, threatening—even one late payment...

She proved them wrong though, with the help of her black, longtime foreman, Jacob, aka Alan Ryder.

Their struggles, working together making the ranch profitable over the months, a year, the looks beginning to develop between them. Until one warm, beautiful day, the two were out riding together, rounding up strays, stopped, still horseback, the look of lust between them. They leaned together and kissed, their passion exploding.

They dismounted ... Dani was gripping my hand even harder than earlier ... their characters standing in a lush meadow an arm’s length apart, just staring at each other. The scene was from a distance, showing the two alone. ‘Jacob’ reached up, his hand on her blouse, undoing a button, Lynn looking down watching him as he slowly unbuttoned and removed it, then her bra, the scene not hiding her nakedness, the camera, wherever it was, circling, showing her breasts, showing her pushing her pants down ... then her panties, fully naked...