Chapter 5: The Calm Before The Storm

I woke up on Saturday a bit disoriented. I had gotten used to waking up with Lou, but when I opened my eyes and looked at my watch, I realized it was still pretty dark and it shouldn’t have been. The sun should have been streaming in my window! Where was I?

Then it hit me! I hadn’t gone home and I wasn’t at Lou’s. We were still in the studio and I had appointments today. I looked again at my watch and saw, if I really hustled, I could get home, get shaved and showered and still make my first appointment. But only if I really hustled!

I stumbled out of the bed and around to the door and flipped a switch. Of course, it was the wrong one and turned out to be the one that turned on the bright lights. Lou complained loudly and I quickly switched those lights off and flipped on the softer ones. Lou still complained, but quickly realized that we had to get moving. Lou was sweet and stripped the bed and told me she’d wash the sheets as my reward for treating her so well. Maybe I should treat her more often? That way she’d do all my laundry! Ha! We got dressed and made our way out of the studio and to our cars.

My day, thankfully, went as expected. I had two high school senior sessions. Those would soon dry up, as most senior pictures were done by mid-October and students were involved in school studies and activities. I had recently upgraded my cameras and the studio pictures were automatically uploaded to a computer in the camera room. Outdoor pictures still had to be manually uploaded, but it was still a lot easier and less time-consuming than when I had to upload everything.

That automatic uploading had been on when I was taking the calendar models’ pictures on Friday evening. At my lunch break I took the time to view those pictures and at the end of the day, I printed out the head shots and then labeled them with the model’s name and I stapled their application and release to each picture. Now, when I met with Topham and Willis on Monday, we would know who we were talking about.

I gathered the packets up and took them home with me. I expected Lou to come over for dinner and we could look them over and make some tentative decisions about what model would be photographed for what month. Of course, a couple of those were already decided: Ginger for December, Jane for October, Jordan for March, and Jamie for January.

Jenny met me at the door with Jake. Jenny let me know that her parents wanted me and Lou to come over after dinner. I wondered what they wanted. Maybe this would just be a social thing. We’d find out later, I guessed. Jenny opened my door for me, chattering as only a thirteen-year-old can chatter about almost anything. I found it amusing and, after putting my load down, I started rooting around for something to fix for dinner, Jenny never slowing her chatter. Oh, to be young and unconcerned again!

It being late September, I was kind of surprised that it wasn’t a lot cooler than it was. I decided that I should get the grill going and cook a small chicken breast for me. I might have preferred steaks, but Lou is a vegetarian, so I suppressed my desires. I looked in the refrigerator and found what I was looking for. Since Jenny was still there talking to me, I asked her to help me out a little and make a salad. A couple of small potatoes went into the microwave after getting washed, and my meal was ready to get cooking.

There was a knock on the back door, and Jenny’s mother, Angela Ciccorelli, came into the kitchen. “Have you kidnapped my daughter again?” she asked cheerfully. Jenny went over to her mother and gave her a hug.

“I told Jonny about you wanting to see him after dinner,” Jenny informed her mother.

“Jon,” said Angela, “it’s not a big deal. We just want to see you and Lou, if she’s going to be around. We have a special favor to ask you.”

“I don’t suppose you want to give me a preview, would you?” I asked.

“I could, but I don’t want to repeat myself because I need Lou’s answer, too,” she said.

“Hmm,” I said. “OK. Lou should be here soon. I’m cooking up some chicken and potatoes, so we shouldn’t be too late. Any particular time, and should I bring anything?”

Angela hesitated. “How about around 7, and you don’t bring anything, please. Giovanni wants to treat you two.”

“Hmm. Wants to butter me up, eh?”

“You got it in one, bright boy!” said Angela. She gathered her daughter and left me wondering what it was they wanted. Well, no sense in trying to see in the dark. The light would shine soon enough, I figured.

Lou came in the back door not more than two or three minutes after Angela left. She put the newly-cleaned sheets from the studio on a chair, then came up to me and gave me a very heart-felt kiss. My heart was beating much faster after that, believe me.

I told Lou to get washed up for dinner as we had an appointment next door with the Ciccorelli’s after dinner.

“I know,” said Lou. “I met Angela and Jenny as I was getting out of my car. Jenny was bouncing all over the place. Any idea of what’s going on with them?”

“None,” I said, “except they have a favor they want to ask both of us. Angela was being very secretive about it, and Jenny couldn’t stop talking. Don’t ask me what she said because she was absolutely manic!”

I then told Lou that I was going to grill some chicken and the potatoes were in the microwave ready to start cooking. I went out back, followed very closely by Jake, and fired up the grill. While it was warming up, I threw a tennis ball for Jake, which he eagerly chased and obediently returned for me to throw again. He was a pretty good dog, easy to care for, and I got the feeling that I was taking him for granted. It’s something we all do, you know: take for granted those who are around us every day.

In that moment, I made a vow to not take anyone in my life for granted any more. I’d start tonight, with Jake and Jenny, and especially Lou.

Jake came up to me, grinning his doggy grin, his tail wagging like it would come off his butt and I got down on his level and tried to hug him. Of course, he thought I was trying to wrestle with him and he tried to get on top of me. I wrestled him back and I’d like to think that he enjoyed it. I know I did.

Soon, the grill was heated up sufficiently to cook the chicken and I went in to get the chicken. Lou looked at me and said, “Wash your hands, buster! I saw you playing with that mutt!” She laughed as she said it, so I didn’t take any offense on Jake’s part.

“Yes, Mom,” I said and went to the sink and washed up. Then I took the chicken and started cooking it on the grill, turning the heat down a little for the cooking. I heard the ding of the microwave, but I knew it only meant that Lou would take the potatoes out, turn them over and then put them back in the microwave for a few more minutes of cooking. In fact, popcorn and potatoes are about the only “raw” food I feel can be cooked properly in a microwave!

I checked the chicken breast, turned it over, and played some more with Jake. Surprisingly, he seemed to be running out of steam. I guess Jenny had been running him earlier. He still came up smiling and wagging, but he was running a lot slower than when we had started. Finally, he just took his ball and just lay down, licking his paws. Oh, well; it was time to turn the chicken again.

When the chicken was done, I took it in and found that Lou had the table set and was bringing the potatoes out. The salad Jenny had tossed for us was ready, and we set to eating. That small a meal didn’t take too long and by the time we had finished and cleaned up it was nearly 7:00. We put things away and went next door. I really hoped it wouldn’t take too long; I was getting tired.

I knocked on the door and while we were waiting, I gave Lou a long kiss. I guess it was maybe a bit too long because Jenny answered the door and said, “Get in here, young lady! We don’t make out on the front porch under the lights around here!” She was trying to be gruff and sound like a parent, but was failing miserably because she was laughing so hard!

“Come in, come in,” I heard Angela say. “Jenny, just get out of their way!” She was giggling, too. The two of them led the way towards the back of the house. “Gio is out back getting a fire started in the fire pit. White wine, OK?”

“Can I have some, too?” whined Jenny.

“A little,” said Angela, “just half-a-glass, OK?” Jenny nodded her acceptance with a big smile.

We both assented and we shortly found ourselves seated around a good-sized fire with some really good wine. Giovanni and I spoke together, as did Lou and Angela. Looking over at Jenny, I noticed that the little bit of wine she had had was making her sleepy. At least, she seemed sleepy because she kept yawning. If I watched her, I would start yawning and Gio made a comment about my yawn and I turned my attention back to him so I wouldn’t do it again.

Presently, I heard Angela use a butter knife against her glass in the universal signal for attention. Gio stepped over to her and put his arm around her in an unusual gesture of intimacy. It seemed unusual to me, at least, because I had never seen that in him before. He even nuzzled her neck a little before Angela poked him with the knife. He straightened up but did not take his arm from around his wife.

Lou came over to me when Gio went to Angela and we put our arms around each other. “Here it comes,” said Lou in a not-so-quiet whisper.

“Yes,” said Angela, “here it comes. Jonny, we’ve known you for how long, now? Seven years?”

“Something like that,” I said. “You’re not going to move, are you? Please tell me this isn’t goodbye!” I was actually feeling anxious about that. I’d come to really like their family, especially the youngest member. She was almost like she was my own daughter.

“No, no,” Gio said, putting up his hands in a placating gesture. “Nothing like that. We’re here for a long time to come, we hope. But...” Here, his voice trailed off, but Angela picked up for him.

“Gio’s gotten a big promotion, and as part of the bonus package his boss gave him, he’s got a free cruise to the Bahamas!” she said almost bouncing like her daughter had earlier. It did some interesting things to the front of her dress as her breasts bounced right along with her.

“They want to take a honeymoon cruise!” piped up Jenny. She’d snuck up between the four of us. “They want to take a lovey-dovey honeymoon cruise. Yuck!”

We laughed, but I looked at Angela. “This true?” I asked.

“Well, yes,” said Gio. “We never got a honeymoon when we got married, so we’d like to get ourselves some alone time together. Part of the cruise, however, is for us to go there and see if the company could or should open a branch down there. We’ll be gone about a month.”

“And,” said Lou, “this is where Jon comes in. You want him to watch Jenny while you’re gone, right?”

Angela groaned. “We’re pretty transparent, aren’t we?” We all laughed in response. “But,” she continued, “I don’t think it would work very well for Jenny to be at Jonny’s all the time. It wouldn’t look very good. What we were wondering is, could you take Jenny some of the time?”

“Me?” squeaked Lou. “I don’t know about that. I mean, well...”

She didn’t get any further. Jenny interrupted, saying, “Please, Lou! I promise to be real good and I won’t make any trouble, I promise! Please!”

Lou looked at her with real affection. She then looked at Gio and Angela. “When is the cruise?” she asked.

Angela had the good graces to look a little abashed. “The week after New Year’s. We’d be gone until around Valentine’s Day. We thought we’d ask you now so that if you said ‘no,’ we’d have time to make other arrangements.”

I asked, “What might those arrangements be? If I recall, neither of you have parents still alive.”

“True,” said Gio. “I’ve got a brother out in Montana, and Angela has a much older sister in Florida. Montana in winter, Meko tells me, is brutal. And Angela’s sister lives in a retirement community that doesn’t allow children. If we send her to either place, she’d lose a month of school, too. Please, help us out here!”

I said, “Hmmm. Mind if Lou and I go into the house and discuss this?”

Angela jumped in and said, “Please. Take your time. Sleep on it if you want to; we don’t need to have a decision tonight. But we need it soon, so we can make the other arrangements if we have to.”

“We’ll be right back,” said Lou. She took my elbow and steered me into the kitchen just inside the door. She took a long swallow of the wine as she sat at the table. “What do you think?”

“What I think is that I kinda like the idea of having that little imp around 24 hours a day for a couple of weeks. But, like Angela said, it might not look so good to the rest of the world.”

“I know,” said Lou. “But it’d be like being a mom. I’m no disciplinarian! What if she got hurt while I was watching her? What if she gets in trouble at school? What...”

I put my finger on her lips, effectively stopping her ‘what if’s.’ “A lot could happen tomorrow, Lou,” I said. “But Jenny’s a bright, intelligent child and is pretty self-sufficient. She’s rarely in trouble anywhere, and we know enough to handle any emergency. We’re not stupid, you know. Besides, you want children of your own so this will give you a little advanced practice!”

“Do you really think it’ll be OK?” she said, still with a worried look on her face. “Can we really be mom and dad to her, at least for a few weeks?” Her worried look now changed to one that expressed hopefulness.

“I think you will be a great mother!” I said with as much sincerity as I could.