didn’t want to go through all that trouble to slug him once. “Fuck you. I need to stay in one place long enough to even get to ‘I love you’.”
“Oh darn.” Sam started to warble “Strangers in the Night.”
“Shut up.” That was in stereo—Marcie didn’t like his singing, and I didn’t like his song.
“Staying in one place is not an option. We need to catch the train for the airport shortly.” Marcie zipped up her suitcase. “Are you going to change or go like that?”
“I’m staying like this.” Clean clothes would be nice, but I was wearing the cleanest I had already.
“Then you won’t mess up my not-so-careful packing. You could have done your own, if you’d been here. ” I’d heard the nasty edge in her voice before. “You can zip the case yourself.”
“I mean, I’m staying. ” Tommy could direct me to a laundry.
“You can’t stay; we have post-production for the episodes we just filmed,” Marcie pointed out.
“And we need to storyboard out the next trip.” Sam pushed the box of camera equipment forward. “Come on; give me a hand with this.” He’s a strong guy, but the camera case was awkward, and the hotel didn’t have an elevator. Wheeling the camera case out the door, Sam headed to the stairs. Thumping down two floors—tell me again why I think this is the third floor but it’s referred to as the second?—wasn’t good for the equipment, so I followed, grabbing the handle on the back for the journey down.
A black cab stopped for Sam’s outstretched hand. We loaded the case in the back, and when I turned to go inside, planning to negotiate another night in the room, Marcie blocked the door.
“Load this.” She swung a case at me. “You could have been in a world of hurt if your clothes had beaten you to the airport. Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“Because I didn’t want to have this discussion while I was having a more important discussion,” I snarled and didn’t grab the case.
Sam did, shoving it into the trunk and smacking my back from behind, not so much a blow as a reminder. “Talk nice to Marcie and get in the cab. We need to catch the Heathrow Express out of Paddington.” He steered me to the rear door and guarded it until Marcie came back out. With three of us and the luggage, it was a tight fit. Marcie had to lean over Sam for shoulder room.
“The Central American trip is a done deal, but after that, we don’t have plans.” I found enough breath to make a sideways assault on my guardians. “We can do pub food. Good, bad, gastro, you name it. I have a guide, I think, maybe….” Tommy had to know the best places to get any sort of dish, and if he didn’t want to be involved, he’d know someone who would. I shouldn’t make assumptions about what he’d be willing to do. I wasn’t even sure he’d talk to me.
“We can talk about it, sure.” Sam gave Marcie a hand out of the cab and gave me the beady eye until I got out too. “On the train. Give me a hand with the camera case.”
The express train to Heathrow wouldn’t take more than twenty minutes, and damn Marcie for not booking us on a train that stopped along the way. Unable to simply escape, I renewed my pitch.
“Pub food isn’t going to run more than a couple of episodes, Jude,” Marcie pointed out.
“That’s hardly the only kind of cuisine available.” Why did she have to fight me on this? “There’s Indian and Pakistani food. We can talk about how it’s changed from its roots, and besides, I love Indian food. Or the great restaurants. I have some friends here on the high end of the business.” Oops, wrong tack: Sam and Marcie delighted in putting me in some humiliating position, choking down things to make the home audience wince. Pitching anything that would make me happy from the start wouldn’t appeal to them. “Or the chain restaurants. There are a few that are legendary for awfulness even here. That should be suitably horrible. Really, the series
“Oh darn.” Sam started to warble “Strangers in the Night.”
“Shut up.” That was in stereo—Marcie didn’t like his singing, and I didn’t like his song.
“Staying in one place is not an option. We need to catch the train for the airport shortly.” Marcie zipped up her suitcase. “Are you going to change or go like that?”
“I’m staying like this.” Clean clothes would be nice, but I was wearing the cleanest I had already.
“Then you won’t mess up my not-so-careful packing. You could have done your own, if you’d been here. ” I’d heard the nasty edge in her voice before. “You can zip the case yourself.”
“I mean, I’m staying. ” Tommy could direct me to a laundry.
“You can’t stay; we have post-production for the episodes we just filmed,” Marcie pointed out.
“And we need to storyboard out the next trip.” Sam pushed the box of camera equipment forward. “Come on; give me a hand with this.” He’s a strong guy, but the camera case was awkward, and the hotel didn’t have an elevator. Wheeling the camera case out the door, Sam headed to the stairs. Thumping down two floors—tell me again why I think this is the third floor but it’s referred to as the second?—wasn’t good for the equipment, so I followed, grabbing the handle on the back for the journey down.
A black cab stopped for Sam’s outstretched hand. We loaded the case in the back, and when I turned to go inside, planning to negotiate another night in the room, Marcie blocked the door.
“Load this.” She swung a case at me. “You could have been in a world of hurt if your clothes had beaten you to the airport. Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“Because I didn’t want to have this discussion while I was having a more important discussion,” I snarled and didn’t grab the case.
Sam did, shoving it into the trunk and smacking my back from behind, not so much a blow as a reminder. “Talk nice to Marcie and get in the cab. We need to catch the Heathrow Express out of Paddington.” He steered me to the rear door and guarded it until Marcie came back out. With three of us and the luggage, it was a tight fit. Marcie had to lean over Sam for shoulder room.
“The Central American trip is a done deal, but after that, we don’t have plans.” I found enough breath to make a sideways assault on my guardians. “We can do pub food. Good, bad, gastro, you name it. I have a guide, I think, maybe….” Tommy had to know the best places to get any sort of dish, and if he didn’t want to be involved, he’d know someone who would. I shouldn’t make assumptions about what he’d be willing to do. I wasn’t even sure he’d talk to me.
“We can talk about it, sure.” Sam gave Marcie a hand out of the cab and gave me the beady eye until I got out too. “On the train. Give me a hand with the camera case.”
The express train to Heathrow wouldn’t take more than twenty minutes, and damn Marcie for not booking us on a train that stopped along the way. Unable to simply escape, I renewed my pitch.
“Pub food isn’t going to run more than a couple of episodes, Jude,” Marcie pointed out.
“That’s hardly the only kind of cuisine available.” Why did she have to fight me on this? “There’s Indian and Pakistani food. We can talk about how it’s changed from its roots, and besides, I love Indian food. Or the great restaurants. I have some friends here on the high end of the business.” Oops, wrong tack: Sam and Marcie delighted in putting me in some humiliating position, choking down things to make the home audience wince. Pitching anything that would make me happy from the start wouldn’t appeal to them. “Or the chain restaurants. There are a few that are legendary for awfulness even here. That should be suitably horrible. Really, the series
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