Chapter 69
It was a lazy Sunday morning. The golden California sun shone brightly, warming the surprisingly clear LA air on this March day. It wasn’t terribly like him to feel alert so early, but for some reason, today, John felt like getting up early. He felt better than he had in weeks. He was unusually optimistic, like only good things could happen today. After rolling out of bed and pulling on a pair of faded jeans and an old Sabres t-shirt, he leaned over and kissed Gen softly on the cheek.
“I’m goin’ to get a paper. You want anything?”
She stirred, stretching her arms wide as she yawned. “You’re up early. What time is it?”
“Eight thirty.”
“Oh.” A curious expression shown on her face as she sat up in bed and contemplated starting her day so early. “I can’t think of anything I want right now.”
“Ok, cool. Be right back!”
He jumped in the car and cruised a couple of miles to a newsstand that he’d discovered completely by accident earlier in the week. He’d been in a meeting in an office building near here and one of the people he was with stopped at this little newsagent to buy an evening paper. While John stood mulling over the goods, he noticed a few papers from other cities, cities far from here. This had piqued his interest. He inquired of the man behind the counter if they sold Sunday issues of the Buffalo News. They did. He said he’d be back. And now he was, and the same elderly gentleman was behind the counter.
“Hey, you’re the young fella who wanted the Buffalo paper, aren’tcha?”
John smiled, impressed that he remembered. “Yeah, ya got one?”
“Sure do! Hold on.” The gray haired man dug through piles and piles of papers, not all of which he’d gotten a chance to display yet. He pulled from the stack a crisp copy of The Buffalo News Sunday Edition. “Here ya go, my man.” He nodded toward John’s chest, noticing his shirt. “I take it that Buffalo is home, yeah?”
“Yup, sure is,” he smiled proudly.
“You miss it?”
“Everyday!”
“Even today? How cold is it back there today, do you think?”
“Pretty damn cold,” John chuckled, maybe he didn’t miss everything.
“Makes you appreciate sunny California, don’t it?”
“The good weather ain’t enough. It’s still not home though, y’know.”
“I hear ya, I hear ya. I’m from Chicago, myself. And I miss it, but not today!”
“Well, today’s the exception. It’s beautiful today!” John glanced out the window, glad that this little chat made him appreciate his day that much more. “Say, do you also have a Tulsa paper?”
“Tulsa? You mean Oklahoma?” The man shook his head. “Don’t get that one. Probably oughta. I’ve been asked before, prolly ‘bout a hunnert times, to tell the truth. What’s your connection there?”
“My girlfriend. I thought I’d get one for her if I could.”
“Sorry, pal, can’t help ya there. I’ll look into that though, for next time.”
“Cool. Well, then, how about a St Louis paper?”
“Now that I can do for you!” The old guy chuckled, “Another girlfriend?”
John blushed. “No, same one. That’s her hometown. She’s just a transplant to LA by way of Oklahoma.”
A fresh St. Louis Post-Dispatch plopped down on the counter next to the Buffalo News. “There ya go. It’s a heavy one. Must be filled with good news!” The old man cocked his head toward the television in the corner, which was tuned to ESPN, “I hear those Cardinals are burnin’ it up at spring training! Doesn’t bode well for my Cubbies,” he said with genuine regret.
“That’s too bad, man, but Gennie’ll be thrilled!” He threw a few dollars down on the counter and snatched up his papers. “Thanks, man!”
He tossed the papers in the back and headed home. He hoped that Gennie was up and out of the shower by now. He was getting hungry. He couldn’t believe that on a lovely day like this that so many people were sleeping in. The streets were all but deserted. This would be the perfect opportunity for them to go grab a bite to eat. It was something they didn’t do very often. Sunday mornings were usually so crowded at his favorite breakfast restaurant and he was loath to stand around on the sidewalk out front, waiting to get a seat in the tiny diner.
“Gen!” he called when he walked in the kitchen door.
“What?”
She walked in wearing old faded khakis and one of his shirts as she pulled her wet hair into a damp ponytail. He noticed that her hair was getting really long. It was amazing to him how he never tired of her presence. In fact, the anticipation of seeing her always made their short driveway seem impossibly long. She wore no makeup, old clothes, and hadn’t done anything with her hair, short of pulling it back, but he couldn’t have envisioned her in anything that made her look prettier. He couldn’t place his finger on it, but there was just something about her that made him love her all the more.
“Gen, honey, I was thinkin’ we could go grab a bite. Sound good?”
“Where? Ed’s?”
“Yeah.”
“There’s no wait? This is Sunday, remember.”
“Yeah, drove by a minute ago. There’s no wait.”
“Cool, let’s go!” She grabbed her purse off the kitchen table and headed for the door. “I don’t need a jacket, do I?”
“Nah, it’s gorgeous out there today!”
They drove the short
couple of blocks to Ed’s, John’s favorite diner. It wasn’t the healthiest,
but it was a worthy indulgence. Once there, they were thankfully seated right
away. They had a nice big booth, big enough to spread both their papers out. And
after placing their orders, they both dug into their respective newspapers and
continued to read even after their food had arrived.
John looked away from his paper and took another bite of his eggs. He looked over at an old couple seated at the counter, they were holding hands and looked incredibly happy for people who appeared to have spent lifetimes together. “Gen, do you think we’ll ever get married?”
“I suppose so,” she shrugged, never taking her eyes from her paper. She picked up a crispy piece of bacon and munched casually. “Looks like the Cards are really doing well this year! You think they’ll make the Series?”
He rolled his eyes; she wasn’t paying any attention to him. “I don’t know,” he remarked absently. “I know it doesn’t look good for the Cubs.”
“Does it ever?”
Now he knew she wasn’t paying attention! Where did she think he was pulling this information from? He wasn’t a big sports fan and she'd have clued in if she was listening. “Do you like living in California?” He thought he’d give it another try, seeing as she’d put the paper down for a bite of hash browns.
“Eh, it’s not where I would chose, but it’s not too bad.”
He knew she was just being nice. She hated it here. So did he. “Hmm… well I miss home, y’know.”
She got that soft sparkle in her eye that said she understood. “I know, sweetie, I know.”
“So what does your schedule look like this week?”
“You’re thinking about a trip home?”
“Maybe. Will it work for you?”
“Well, I have a doctors appointment tomorrow. And a haircut on Tuesday. But other than that, there’s nothing I can’t get out of.”
“A doctor’s appointment? Are you sick?”
“No,” she groaned. “Annual exam. It’s a woman thing.”
“Oh.”
“Believe me, I’d love to get out of it, but it takes months to get in, so I can’t very well cancel now, y’know. The haircut’s the same way.”
“Yeah, I know how it is.” He sighed. “But you’re free on Wednesday? You wanna go to Buffalo?”
“Sure, why not?” It was then that she noticed he was reading the Real Estate section of the paper. “Why the sudden interest in going home?” she asked, as if it weren’t apparent.
He noticed her eyes looking at the paper in his hand. He looked from her face to the paper and back again a couple of times before he finally spoke. “I was thinking we’d buy a house. I think I wanna move back home, y’know. I’m really not happy here. This isn’t where I wanna raise my family.”
She wasn’t exactly shocked. She figured he’d do this sooner or later, because it was so obvious to her that he was increasingly unhappy in LA. But it really didn’t seem practical. She smiled patiently. “Johnny, first of all, we don’t have a family. It’s just you and me. So we’ve got time there. And secondly, your work is here. You can’t really live three thousand miles away from it!”
“I know I don’t
have a family yet. But I will someday. And my work is right here.” He clasped
his hands to his chest. “It goes where I go. Things are quiet right now.
We’re not touring anymore, we’ve still got stuff on the charts, and we
haven’t even started to think about the next album yet. Time is on my side
here. I don’t need to live in LA right now. I can go home. We can get our own
place; some place that’s ours.”