Chapter 5

I was up at 8:00 the next morning. Danny was already up watching a show on the Fox Family Channel. Instead of ordering room service or going down for breakfast, I took out two Snapples and two granola bars from the mini-bar. I was starting to get into the show Danny was watching, when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Così, ha ottenuto una certa notte scorsa?"

"No, Stacy, he didn’t get any. He didn’t even spend the night."

"You kicked him to the curb? What, are you crazy?"

"For your information, he had to work this morning."

"What’s that got to do with the price of tea in China?"

"Anyway, he’s meeting Danny and me for lunch."

"I don’t get you. You want play house but you’re keeping it PG."

"You know, he was checking you out last night," I laughed.

"Chiudere in su!"

"Don’t tell me to shut up, I’m serious."

"Look, I’d love to sit on the phone while you make fun of me, but I really gotta go," she said, giggling. "I only wanted to get the dirty details, and I must say I’m disappointed in you young lady."

"Arrivederci, inamorata," I teased.

"Bye homegirl." She hung up and then I did. I suddenly realized that Howie never told me when he was coming, so I called his cell phone. It was turned off, so I left a message.

"Hey Howie? This is Maggie. I just wanted to know when you’re coming by so Danny and I can get ready. Call me back at your earliest convenience." I looked over at Danny, who was still engrossed in Fox Family.

"Danny, you didn’t touch your granola bar."

"I’m full from all that pizza last night." I took the wrapped bar away from him and set it on the dresser.

"You can eat this later then, because I can’t put it back in the mini-bar, okay?"

"Okay," he said, without taking his eyes off the T.V.

"I’m going to take a shower now, okay?"

"Okay." I kissed the top of his head and then went into the bathroom to start my shower. I had just started on my hair when Danny ran into the bathroom.

"Mama, Papi’s on the phone!"

"Tell him I’ll call him back later, Boo. I’m busy." I heard him run back into the room. Then I heard him tell Howie in a loud voice that I was in the shower. I had just finished rinsing my hair when Danny pushed back the shower curtain.

"He says he’ll be here at eleven."

"Okay, Sweetie. But I wish you didn’t tell him I was in the shower."

"Sorry, Mama. Can I go back to my show now?"

"Yes, you may go back to your show," I said as I stepped out and dried off.

"Oh, and he says let’s eat here ‘cuz he’ll be wearing his workout clothes."

"Thank you for the info, Little Man," I laughed. I got out a navy spandex outfit and put it on. Then I pulled on my jogging pants and put on my socks and gym shoes. I took a pair of cargo shorts and a guayabera from the dresser for Danny. Without comment, he quickly got dressed. Then he walked over to the dresser and took back his granola bar. I gave him a pair of sandals to put on and handed him a plastic bag with his swimtrunks inside. He looked in the bag and smiled.

"We’re going swimming?"

"Pollyan- I mean Titi will take you. Maybe."

"Will that lady be there again?" It took me a while to figure out who he meant. Then I remembered the reporter.

"No, you’re going to the pool at Titi’s house and that lady doesn’t know where Titi lives."

Danny lost interest in the conversation and unwrapped his granola bar and ate it. His sandals were on the bed next to him. When he finished eating, he handed me the wrapper and his empty bottle so I could throw it away. We sat together watching T.V. and I nagged him to put on his sandals. After he finally put them on, I brushed his hair. Then I got a glimpse of my own hair in the dresser mirror. I went into the bathroom and managed to brush through and twist the heavy, wet, tangled mass into a decent French braid.

I must have dozed off because I was awakened by the phone. It was Howie calling from Pollyanna’s car on his cell phone. He said he would be at the hotel in about ten minutes.

"Did Dan give you my message?"

"Yes."

"You know, I really didn’t need to know that you were in the shower," he laughed.

"He took it upon himself to tell you."

"Well, I gotta call ol’ boy so and tell him it’s time to get to work. See you guys in a little bit."

"Bye." Danny looked away from the T.V.

"Was that Papi, Mama?"

"Yep. He and Titi are on their way."

"Am I coming to lunch with you or going to Titi’s?"

"Both. The four of us are having lunch, then you’ll go swimming at Titi’s while Howie and I go work out."

"Why do you need to work out? You’re skinny." God bless my beautiful little boy!

"I need to get in shape because something important is happening to me next Saturday."

"What?"

"Well, you know Mama used to be a dancer, right?"

"Yea, I saw the pictures."

"Well, that’s how Papi and I met. I was a dancer and he was, well is, a famous singer?"

"What does he sing again?"

"Do you remember the song on the radio that used to make me cry?"

"You mean the one about being lonely?"

"That’s the one! That’s one of many songs that your Papi sings with four of his friends."

"Wow! That’s him? He was on the Disney Channel!" He sat there looking pensive, holding his little chin in his hand and looking amazingly like his dad.

"Mama?"

"Yes, Sweetie."

"Are we going to live here?"

"No, baby, we’re not."

"Then will Papi come live in Chicago?"

"No, that’s not going to happen, either." I braced myself for the next question.

"So how will we live together if he’s here and we’re in Chicago?"

"We’re not going to live together, Boo. But we both love you very much…"

"So you’re not getting married?"

"No, we’re not."

"Don’t you like him anymore?"

"I like him very much, but we decided that we don’t need to be married in order to take care of you."

"Oh." Danny looked a little sad.

"But you’ll still get to visit him and he’ll come visit you."

"Will you ever get married."

"I don’t know if we ever will."

"It’s okay, I’ll wait." He crawled across the bed and gave me a big hug. Then the phone range. The front desk notified me that Howie was downstairs.

"Papi’s here, we can talk more during lunch."

"Okay," he said slowly.

Howie, Pollyanna and the bodyguard were waiting for us by the front desk when we got downstairs. Danny ran over to them, swinging his plastic bag.

"Papi, Titi, Papi, Titi!" he shouted. Pollyanna picked him up and kissed his cheek.

"Mama says you’re taking me swimming. I got my swimsuit, see?" he showed Pollyanna the bag. "She washed it."

"Well, that’s good," laughed Pollyanna. We all decided to eat lunch in the coffee shop since Howie and I weren’t dressed appropriately to go anywhere else. The sign in front said we could seat ourselves, so we took a big corner booth. The five of us slid around the table while the busboy poured water into our glasses.

"Papi, it’s okay that you don’t want to live in Chicago with us. I know that you still love me," Danny blurted out. Howie looked at me in disbelief.

"Well, you said he would ask, and he asked," I told him.

"It’s not that I don’t want to live with you, son. It’s just that…"

"I know, you and Mama don’t want to get married. That’s okay." Pollyanna took this time to try and engage the bodyguard in conversation.

"Nice weather we’re having here, isn’t it?" she asked him.

"Really? I hadn’t noticed. I mean, the weather here’s pretty much the same all the time…"

"Okay!" interjected Howie, "I see the waitress coming our way, let’s order shall we?" The waitress came to the table and took our order. We all sat in awkward silence and drank our water while we waited for our food.

When it finally came we all dug in as if we hadn’t eaten in days. Danny and I had our usual grilled cheese and French fries, Howie and Pollyanna had tuna sandwiches and the bodyguard had a double order of barbeque ribs. Danny looked at the ribs with disgust.

"Eww!" he said. The bodyguard ignored Danny and continued eating.

"Honey, just keep your eyes on your own plate," I told him.

After lunch Pollyanna took Danny out to her car. Howie, the bodyguard and I watched them leave and then went back into the hotel. Howie sat on one of the lobby sofas and patted the space next to him. I went and sat down while the bodyguard stood with his back to us, his arms folded across his chest. It was as if he dared anyone to come and interrupt our conversation.

"I’m glad you got a chance to talk to him," Howie said, "but I wish I could have been there, too."

"Danny’s a little kid, timing’s not his strong point."

"Well, I’m amazed at how well he’s taking this."

"Kids bounce back better than adults, I guess."

"Well," he said as he got up, "time is precious and we’re wasting it." He held out his hand and helped me up. The three of us took an elevator to the second floor. Howie looked at my bare stomach.

"I thought you had stretchmarks," he said.

"Cocoa butter works wonders, I guess," I replied. He smirked.

The workout went well except there was none of the playfulness from Monday’s workout. Howie was all business. He even snapped at me when I begged him to put more weight on the leg press.

"You wanna end up in the hospital with torn muscle tissue and torn ligaments?"

"Okay, you’re the boss, sorry." We continued the rest of the workout in silence. After two hours, we were ready to call it a day.

"I need to call my sister to tell her to bring Danny back," he said, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. I grabbed the cell phone from him.

"We still need to talk," I said, "I hate it when you get like this. Let’s work this out now."

"Fine," he said, taking back his phone, "your room? I want total privacy." He glanced at the bodyguard who was at the Gatorade machine contemplating his choices. Howie whistled and motioned for the bodyguard to come with us as we went out the door.

As soon as we got to the room, Howie took off his gym shoes, flopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. I sat in the chair by the window.

"Okay, out with it," I insisted.

"I really hate not knowing what’s going to become of us," he said, still looking at the ceiling.

"You’ll live in Orlando and Danny and I will live in Chicago. We’ll see each other a couple times a year."

"It sounds good to me and I’m glad Danny’s okay with it. But I can’t help thinking that it’s not supposed to be this way."

"I know, but we agreed that we shouldn’t get married unless we both felt it was right."

"Why don’t you want me anymore?"

"It’s not that I don’t want you anymore. It’s just that so much has changed. We’ve been through this before."

"You’re right. If we’re going to make this arrangement work, we have to focus on Danny, not on ourselves." He sighed and sat up on the bed.

"You know I saw you checking out Stacy last night," I hadn’t meant to sound bitchy, but I guess that’s how he thought I sounded because he glared at me.

"First you say we’re better off apart, now you’re playing jealous games?" he snapped.

"No, no, it’s just that you know Stacy’s always had a crush on you."

"I know she’s always had a crush on me. And for your information, I checked her out because she looked good. I’m a man after all."

"I’m not upset about it. I just figured if you wanted to take her out…"

"Now why would I do that?"

"Well, if you’re going to start a relationship with someone else, I’ll understand. And I’d rather it be with someone like Stacy."

"You’re weird," he said laughing.

"No, seriously. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t date or anything just because of Danny and me."

"It’s not supposed to be this way," he groaned.

"But that’s how things happen to be. Let’s deal with it." I walked over to the bed and sat down next to him. We gave each other a big hug.

"Are we done?" he asked.

"We’re done, for now," I said. He pulled out his cell phone and called his sister. He made arrangements for her to come and pick him up and drop off Danny. He put his shoes back on and we walked to the elevators.

Howie took a risk by going downstairs without his bodyguard. Two girls were already on the elevator when we got on. Instantly, they produced pads of paper and pens and asked Howie for an autograph. He politely obliged. While he signed, the girls eyed me suspiciously. When we got to the main floor, we hurried out the front entrance just in time for Pollyanna’s car to pull up.

She got out of the car and let Danny out. They walked over to us. Danny handed me the plastic bag containing his wet swim trunks.

"Did you have fun with Titi?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered. We waved to Pollyanna and Howie as they got into the car. When we got to the elevators, one was already open so we stepped on. I sensed some one behind us and turned around. It was Nicole. Didn’t that girl ever go home?

"Good evening," she said.

"Good evening," I replied.

We rode up to the second floor without saying a word to each other. The door opened and she paused before stepping out.

"He really is a cute little boy," she said, looking at Danny.

"Thanks," I said.

"Well, have a good one." She stepped off the elevator and the door closed. I guess she felt remorse for what she did on our first day in Orlando.

The phone was ringing off the hook when we got back to the room. I answered it while Danny turned on the T.V.

"Hello?"

"Entonces ¿como fue el almuerzo?

"Lunch was fine, Stacy," I said, laughing.

"So what else did you do?"

"Nosy!"

"I’m the best friend, it’s my job to be nosy."

"We worked out after lunch."

"Ooh, this is getting good."

"It wasn’t like that, Stacy. We had an argument afterward but we settled it."

"You know what your problem is? You spend too much time arguing when the time could be better spent doing…other things."

"He asked about you."

"He did?!" Man that girl was too easy.

"Well, not exactly. I noticed him checking you out last night and I called him on it."

"If he was checking me out, I did nothing to encourage him, I swear."

"Relax, I told him that if he wanted to take you out, he had my blessing."

"You’re gonna give him to me just like that? What’s the catch."

"No catch. I told him that he was free to date and I said you’d be perfect, that’s all."

"Uh, huh. You’re weird, Coletti."

"That’s what he said," I laughed, "See? You two have something in common already." Stacy and I bust out laughing. Then I remembered something.

"Damn! I forgot to ask Howie what time he was picking up Danny tomorrow."

"Okay, so call me back after you talk to him." I lightbulb went off in my head.

"I know! Why don’t you call him and ask him?"

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"Girl, you are too sneaky," she laughed, "later." I hung up the phone and settled down with Danny. He was watching some gross cartoon. I grabbed the remote and turned off the T.V.

"Hey!"

"Time for dinner."

"Anything but pizza," he groaned.

"Chinese?"

"Fried Rice!" We got dressed in some decent clothes and went out to the Chinese restaurant Howie took us too. The wait for a table was longer this time, probably because Howie wasn’t with us.

When we got back to the hotel, there was a message for me at the front desk. It was from Stacy and it said ‘Howie said 9:00 again. Call me!’ It turned out that Howie had asked her out. She apologized profusely and I assured her that I was cool with it. She told him she’d think about it. I told her that whatever she decided to do was okay with me.

When Howie came to get Danny the next day, he gave me this weird look.

"I like how you had Stacy call me last night," he said.

"Stacy called you?" I asked, trying to play innocent. He rolled his eyes and then walked out with Danny and the bodyguard. I waved to my son and then went back upstairs.

***

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