Chapter 38
The morning sunshine came in through the windows. Today she woke relaxed and unhurried unlike all the mornings in the hotel rooms. She snuggled closer to Johnny, lavishing in the warmth and comfort of his bed. It was a nice one, his one extravagance in his humble apartment. She didn’t mind the sun streaming in or the birds chirping at all; it was like the storm had gone and left a beautiful summer day in its wake. It was so refreshing. She loved the morning after the storm almost as much as she loved the storms themselves. Everything felt vibrant and renewed. That’s exactly how she felt right now. It was the perfect start to a perfect day!
Looking over at the clock she realized that it was after eight. It seemed too early to wake up on a vacation, but they had gone to bed pretty early. So, they weren’t exactly sleeping, but it was close enough, she thought. She wondered what he would be doing today. It seemed a bit odd that he didn’t have to be somewhere this morning. In almost every city they visited, they did some kind of radio station appearance…and here in Buffalo, she figured they’d saturate the market- radio, TV, personal appearances, the whole shebang! But as she looked at him sleeping peacefully, she guessed maybe he was taking it easy this time around.
Being kind of thirsty, she stealthily slid out from under the sheets and tiptoed to the bathroom to grab that frilly yellow robe, the air was still a bit nippy. She put on her glasses and snuck out to the kitchen. There wasn’t much in the fridge, but he had thought to buy some juice for her on his trip to the store, so she helped herself to a glass. As she was going over to the couch to check out the news on TV, she heard a peculiar sound but she couldn’t place what it was or where it was coming from. She snooped around in the kitchen till she isolated the noise. It was his mobile phone and it was hiding in the pocket of his jean jacket. She dug it out and debated whether or not to answer. Deciding that it could be important, she opted to pick up.
“Um, hello…John’s phone.” She didn’t know what to say.
“Gennie? Hi, how’s it goin’? It’s Robby! How do ya like Buffalo?”
“It’s…nice. Haven’t seen much though.” She spoke with a quiet voice, not wanting to wake John.
“You’ve still got time. Hey, I take it by the way you’re talking that the man’s still sleeping.”
“Yeah. Is there a problem?”
“Well, not now. We were supposed to be somewhere, but the guy was cool, so it was just Mike and me. I didn’t want to, um, disturb you guys.”
She giggled, “Gee, thanks, Rob.”
He returned the laugh, “Hey, no problem. But listen, I do need you to make sure he meets us at ten, Ok? There’s some last minute stuff we need to go over. He really needs to be there for that.”
“I’ll take care of it, Robby.”
“Thanks, Gen. See you later.”
Instead of watching TV, she crept back to the bedroom and found him sitting up in bed, stretching and yawning. His hair was going every which way and stubble covered his chin, but as she sat down beside him she thought to herself, ‘God, what a beautiful man!’.
“Who were you just talking to?” he asked. “Don’t tell me my sisters are calling already.”
“No,” she smiled and caught his contagious yawn, “It was Robby.”
“Oh shit!” he spun around and squinted to check out the clock. “What time is it? I was supposed to do a radio thing! Oh fuck….like an hour ago!”
“No, it’s OK. They did it without you. He said the guy was cool with that. Rob didn’t wanna ‘disturb’ us,” she giggled. “But you do have to meet him at ten, he said.” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “So you’d better get going.”
He got up and padded into the bathroom, closing the door. She heard the shower start up. A minute later he opened the door and stuck his head out. “Take that stupid ugly robe off and get in here,” he grinned. She happily obliged him.
Since he really didn’t have much time, it was mostly a bathing experience, with only a few diversions. As they got out and were drying each other off, the phone in the bedroom rang. “That would be my sister, I’m guessing Katie…no, Gladdy.” He shook his head and chuckled, “She was always one to ruin a good time.” He wrapped up in a towel and went to answer the phone.
“Yeah, whaddaya want?” he whined into the receiver.
“Hey, Glad,” he rolled his eyes and nodded his head. Gennie giggled at his perceptiveness.
“Yeah, I know I was supposed to be there….Yeah, but I missed it…..S-Sorry…..Well, I had, um, better things to do, y’know.” He smiled as he grabbed Gennie from behind and kissed her. “What?…Oh, yeah, she’s here, hold on.” He held the receiver to his stomach, “Gen, she doesn’t want to talk to me. You’re the one she’s callin’ for.” He handed her the receiver.
Gen had a slightly panicked look as she took it from him. She was comfortable with Kate, she was his youngest sister, but Glad was the other end of the spectrum. She knew that Johnny really looked up to her and the prospect of meeting her for the first time over the phone made her a little nervous.
“Don’t worry she won’t bite,” he whispered.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Genevieve, I’m Glad, Johnny’s oldest sister. How’re you doin?”
She sounded nice enough. “I’m doing good, thanks. And call me Gennie.”
“Hey, I was talkin’ to Katie and she said you were up for hangin’ out with us girls today.”
“Yeah, sounds like fun. I wanna meet y’all.” Gen rolled her eyes as soon as she’d said it.
“Y’all, isn’t that cute! You’re from Oklahoma?”
“Uh huh. I don’t talk like that though, just so you know.”
“Whatever, I think it’s kinda cute,” she laughed. “Anyway, I’m going over to Kate’s house in a little while, I was thinking I could swing by and pick you up. Would that work for you?”
“Sure, I don’t see why not. Johnny’s leaving soon, so I’ll be lookin’ for something to do today.”
“Great, I’ll be by around ten, sound good?”
“Ok. See you at ten.”
At nine thirty, John gave Gen a kiss, “Bye, darlin’. I’ll see you tonight. Gladdy’ll have my number if you need to reach me.” Then he smiled, “And don’t believe a word they tell you….remember they’re the ones who femmed up my place. They don’t have my best interests in mind,” he winked at her and walked out the door on his way to meet with Robby and Mike.
Glad showed up not long after John left. When Gen answered the door, she was greeted by another huge hug. “Gennie! It’s so nice to meet you!”
“Same here. I’ve been wanting to meet you too. John has such nice things to say about all his sisters, but I think he really admires you.”
She chuckled, “Yeah, that’s what beating up on your baby brother for all those years does- he’s afraid to say anything bad about us cause he knows we’ll come kick his ass!”
“Whatever works, right?” Gennie laughed. She could tell that, besides the dimpled chin, Glad also had the same sarcastic sense of humor that John had.
“He’s been telling us so much about you. I’m glad you’re finally here in person. We’ve all been dying to meet the girl he’s so smitten with.”
Gennie blushed. She didn’t know what to say, so she changed the subject. “Um, what are we doing today?”
“Well, after we get Kate, we’re meeting my other sisters for lunch. Then we can decide from there. Do you like shopping?”
“Do I like shopping?” she shook her head, “I love shopping!”
They both giggled as they headed out the door. Gen knew she would be adding Glad to her list of friends. She was really going to enjoy her day out with the sisters.