Page 17 of Everything's Better With You
“Marti, you guys don’t have to come get me, I can Uber.”
She laughed. “No, you really can’t, darling. And it’s fine. We’re getting our last load out of storage while we’re down there. We’ll see you when you land.”
“Thank you,” Joe said, but he was already typing out a text to Leslie, his trembling fingers barely making any coherent words come together.
Please tell me you’re alright. I just saw the news.
Joe gripped the phone tightly with both hands and couldn’t tear his eyes away from the bouncing three dots on the screen.
We’re fine. Just helping Brother Barry assess the damage. Everyone is okay. You finish packing?
Just like Leslie to turn the focus around to Joe. As vain as Joe was at times, he hated that Leslie would often avoid talking about himself and focus on Joe instead.
I can fly out tonight if you—
Joe deleted that text. He wasn’t normally the jump-in-for-the-save kind of guy, but with Leslie it felt like the natural thing to do. He wanted to do it.
That gave him pause. God, he was really doing this. Moving across country to Tornado Alley because Leslie thought he’d make a great coach.Unbelievable.
Let me see if I can get an earlier flight so I can help—
“What, Joe?” he asked himself out loud, pacing across his tiny living room. “Like you’re gonna swing a hammer? Take some measurements and shit?”
I’m sorry I can’t pick you up at the airport, and I swear we’ll have housing arranged for you by tomorrow night. I’m sorry your place got hit. I was so excited for you to—
Joe’s sinuses burned and his pulse pounded in his ears. He couldn’t finish the text.
Housing? WTF?
Be safe. I’ll see you soon.
Joe had to turn off the TV or he’d go into full panic.
He didn’t even try to sleep. He finished packing up his apartment and had the eight or ten remaining boxes next to the door that he’d take to storage along with his car in the morning. Movers had already taken his furniture to storage, so his place was empty except for the flat-screen, which was dated and would be left behind. He had four suitcases and two duffel bags he’d be flying with. That was it. Anything else he needed he’d have shipped. He’d already seen his place and it was fully kitted out.
Or it had been.
Several times, Joe had picked up his phone to have his agent call the whole thing off, but no. He knew he needed to go, for Leslie and for himself. But atornado? Was he really ready for all this?
He could back out and no one would blame him if he had no house to live in.
But he owed it to Leslie to be better. He wanted to be better.
Part of this job was Joe’s desire to see what life could be like offstage. He’d been performing for so long…could he actually do anything else? Knowing Leslie would be there to support him had been the final piece falling into place. He might not be ready for love and marriage and a baby carriage, but he and Leslie had provided moral support for each other above and beyond their attraction. He wanted to be more than a performer, wanted to believe Leslie when he said Joe could do anything. Wanted to prove to Leslie that he was right all along.
So he would go. He would put on his big-boy G-string and face whatever was waiting for him in Iowa. He just hoped he was strong enough.
Marti and Terrence picked him up at baggage claim in Kansas City, thank goodness, because he’d had a hell of a time lugging his shit to the skycap at LAX by himself.
“How bad is it?” he asked as he shook Terrence’s hand.
“We’ve got space at our place.”
Joe sighed. “Thanks, but Leslie texted me five times this morning to let me know they have something worked out temporarily until it’s repaired.”
“Uh-huh,” Terrence said with a half-smile. “I’m just sayin’.”
“And I appreciate you both.”
