Forever and a Day (25 page)

Xander shook his head no, “Johnny Stone messed up big time. I can’t say anything more. Halo sends her regards to the family, and matched Johnny’s contract.” Xander let her think on that for a moment before he came up to her and hugged her.

Evie pushed back from her husband and looked into his face, “Xan! We can pay off the house! We can send Athena to a better university!” Evie said happily.

“Yes Koukla mou, we will be able to do all that! First, I need to get my email and sign the contract. Freaking Eric is not answering his phone, so I have to get it to them fast.”

Evie pushed Xander away, “Go then! Go sign it!” She urged and watched her husband head off to his office with a big smile.

“You still hate the Skeela?” Yiayia asked smiling.

Athena’s mouth fell open at hearing what her grandmother said, insinuating that her mother at some point called Halo a bitch, she closed her mouth, kept quiet and looked on.

Evie glared at her mother, “I never said I hated her. I don’t like any of those actresses, all skinny and beautiful…”

Yiayia nodded, “What if our Athenoola becomes an actress, then what? She is beautiful and skinny.”

“Ok Manah, I get it.” Evie replied, “Fine, it was very nice of her to pay Xan so much. I still don’t trust her, or any other women around Xander. That’s just me, ok?”

“You don’t need to worry about your husband...” Yiayia said trailing off, leaving the whisper of a subtle reference up in the air.

Athena had an idea what Yiayia meant, but played dumb as her mother turned to look at her. She feigned a questioning look back.

“Athena, go get those plastic bags from the kitchen and bring them up to us.” Evie turned away and headed back upstairs.

Xander quickly scanned the contract, signed, scanned it and emailed it back. He also took a picture of the signed page with his cell phone and texted it to Eric with a note saying:
‘Thanks for nothing, you owe me asshole. Lol!’

Xander woke his laptop up and checked out Pago Pago. He remembered it was the least populated of the Samoan islands and was a territory or such of the United States, thus the name. He checked the weather there and summer like weather was the forecast. They were four hours behind the Pacific Time Zone he was in and it was still light there. He looked down at his laptop and wondered if he should bring it along. He picked it up and decided that it would be too bulky and heavy, besides he had his tablet.

He went to his office closet and started going through his electronics. He spied his iPhone solar charger and grabbed it, thankful he noticed it. He set it on his desk and went back. He dug around inside a plastic bin and found what he was looking for: his other battery backup/solar charger. He remembered that he was a big hit with it on an outdoor film set. The shoot started early and ran long, peoples phones were dying and he had his chargers with him. He made many friends that day, he thought with a wry smile.

His phone vibrated and he pulled it out from his pants pocket and read the text from JJ telling him thanks, and she was forwarding his flight details, “Wow, first class.” He said aloud, he had never flown first before; it would be a treat and he heard that Virgo Airlines had the best first class.

He opened his desk drawer and pulled out his book reader, it was nearly full but quite a few books were still unread. His most recent additions were on travel in Australia and the surrounding area. He put all his electronics in his carryon, opened another desk drawer and pulled out a plastic bag full of thumb drives. Each drive had a piece of tape on it with names of movies that had been saved on them. He quickly sorted through them and put the selected thumb drives in the carryon. Next were two pairs of headphones. One being the noise cancelling variety and the other simple ear buds he used for working out.

Athena came up, stood in his office doorway and knocked, “Dad, mom wants to know what the weather is like. I told her it was spring but she insists its cold.”

“It’s summer weather. Tell your mom to think warm and wet. Thanks! Oh, and I’ll be right there.” Xander said as Athena went back up to tell her mother.

Xander grabbed his carryon and headed upstairs. He walked into his bedroom and Evie was pulling clothes out of his suitcase. She turned to him, “You sure it’s warm?” She asked.

“Just checked. Eighties during the day and colder at night, maybe a rain shower here and there.” Xander replied setting his carryon next to his bag.

“How long are you going to be gone?” Evie asked as she began rearranging his clothes in his bag.

“Seven to ten days JJ said. The plane leaves here at eleven and lands in Brisbane, Australia. JJ or someone from the production will meet me then I guess we fly to Pago Pago. She said the shoot shouldn’t take more than a week, but Halo got hurt and they are waiting to see—“

Evie stopped arranging the clothes in the soft sided suitcase, “What happened?”

“Not really sure… something with Johnny. Uh, I’m not supposed to talk about it, but I think I can tell you this: Halo put Johnny in the hospital.” He watched the three women look at each other simultaneously; to him it almost looked like they were communicating telepathically. Then they all gave each other a knowing nod, “What? What was that?” Xander asked.

Yiayia smiled, “Just women things.” He got the hint and left it alone.

Xander went and stood next to Evie and gave Yiayia a glance. Yiayia gave him her sideways nod, took Athena’s hand and led her out of the bedroom.

“Evie, are you going to be ok?” He asked and gave her a gentle kiss on her neck.

The tickle of his lips made her flinch, “I will be fine. Will you be ok? You are the one going to be on a tropical island with Halo Raines.”

Xander was surprised. She actually said it as a joke without any sarcasm. He chuckled, “Ha! Have you seen who Halo’s boyfriend is?”

“No, and how do you know she has a boyfriend?”

“Athena showed me. You want to know?”

“Sure.” Evie said flatly.

“Robert Montclaire. I know you know who he is!” Xander smiled and gave her a wink.

“Yes I know who he is! He is dating her? Lucky girl.” Evie chortled, “As long as she likes her filet mignon and doesn’t want to try some top sirloin?”

Xander groaned at her sad attempt at a joke, but he got what she meant, “You are taking this awfully well. You sure you are ok?”

She shrugged, “I’m sad and a little worried.” She kissed him on his cheek and chuckled, “The money helps too.” She smiled with a raised eyebrow at Xander.

Xander was not sure how much of joke that last one was, he left that one alone also, “Hey we can Skype at night,” He pulled her tight against him, “and you know we can…” He raised his eyebrows up and down at her.

“Ew, no, no! You will just have to wait…” She ran her hand down and gave his manhood a pat through his pants.

“No fair!” Xander laughed. Evie then caught him off guard with a full on kiss to his lips.

She released him and wiped her lips with her fingertips, “When you get back…”

A knock sounded on their doorframe, “Oh, ew!” Athena said in a feigned disgusted voice, “Get a room!”

Xander turned to his daughter with a smile, “We did! And you are in it!”

Athena turned a cute shade of pink, “Oh… yeah. Uh, Yiayia wants to know if you want her to cook up something quick before we go?”

“I’m good…” He looked at Evie who stepped away.

“I better go downstairs, Manah will mess up my system. You finish up your packing, and don’t forget the plastic bags for your dirties.” Evie warned.

Athena moved out of the way, as her mother hurriedly passed her by the door. She then looked back to her father who was checking what her mother had packed, “Dad?”

“Yes?” Xander replied.

“Do you think it would be ok if I texted my friends that you got a big part in Halo’s movie with her?”

Xander stopped and looked at his daughter, he felt good that he warranted a mention to her friends, “Sure, I know you know this but keep the particulars quiet. Ok?”

“Sure dad. Thanks!” Athena replied and began to turn away then paused, turning back to her father, “Dad, I’m going to miss you. You know that, right?”

Xander put down a pair of his khakis, walked over to his daughter, and embraced her in his arms, “I’m going to miss you too. I love you, always have always will.”

Athena returned the squeeze, “I love you too dad.”

Xander’s heart fluttered warmly in his chest. He was so lucky to have a daughter like her; at least for now she was so level headed and grounded. She must have gotten that from Evie he decided, as his teen years were a little more robust, he liked to refer to it as.

“Hey, will you bring me up my favorite jacket? I think it warrants the weather conditions down there.” Xander asked.

“Be right back.”

Xander returned to his suitcase and checked off everything that he might need. He remembered his lucky pocketknife, retrieved it off his nightstand, and placed it deep in his suitcase. He also took out one of his solar chargers and buried it in the middle of his clothes for cushion. He double checked both bags and zipped them closed. Then the whole event of the evening hit him.

He looked down at his hands they were trembling slightly. He quickly made fists then shook them out. He was going to be on set with her… Jesus H, he thought. A fear crept up his neck like a little spider reminding him of something: what if she remembers him turning his back on her. Such a dick move, he scolded himself with a headshake.

Time to man up and put on the big boy pants, he thought. He would just have to deal with it when the time came and hope to hell if she did remember she would not judge him by it. Hell, if she knew the truth of it all, she might understand… “Ha!” He said quietly. Like hell he would ever tell what really was going on inside him that day, he thought. He quickly went into his closet and got out his passport from his little combination safe. He also took out some of the cash he stashed for extra spending money; maybe he could find something cool for Athena and Evie when he was down there.

He came back to his suitcase as Athena walked in with his favorite jacket. Xander accepted it from her and he folded it carefully and neatly, unzipped his suitcase and maneuvered it in and managed to zip it closed. He looked at his daughter, “Ready.”

Gathering up his bag, he went downstairs and found Evie and Yiayia talking together in the kitchen. They looked up at him and Yiayia grabbed a paper bag and handed it to him, “Food for you.” She patted him on his shoulder and left the kitchen to get her coat.

Evie came up to him, “You got everything? Phone charger? Xanax?”

“Oh shit.” Xander exclaimed and began to turn when Evie’s hand stopped him.

“Here, I knew you would forget it.” She handed him his prescription.