CHAPTER 30 #2
“Babe, she’s happy for us,” Paige said. “It’s just a lot to take in. We kind of dropped it on her all at once.”
“All the stuff she’s been asking us about for years now,” Lainey argued.
“Well, I think it’s great,” Samara said and snuggled into Dana’s side. “It sounds like you’re finally getting all the things you’ve wanted for a while.”
“Well, I’ve wanted food for a while, but you all ordered without me, so now I can’t get a waiter over here to save my damn life,” Paige noted.
◆◆◆
“So, hotel or your place?” Samara asked an hour later, when they were walking to Dana’s car.
“Sorry?” she asked.
“Do you want to stay at the hotel or your place? I think I have clothes at your place. Did I leave that T-shirt there? Do you remember?”
“Actually, do you mind if I drop you off at the hotel and head home?” Dana asked.
“I knew it,” Samara stated.
“Knew what?” Dana asked and stopped walking, which forced Samara to stop as well because they were holding hands.
“That you were freaking out in there.”
“I’m not freaking out,” she argued.
“Yes, you are. Your sister just announced, like, five big life changes, and you froze.”
“I did not freeze. I just didn’t expect her to tell me that she’d picked a wedding date that’s only four months away.”
“And that it’s basically planned already, so she doesn’t need your help; you just get to show up and celebrate with her.”
“Yes, that. I also didn’t know that my parents had found a place. I have been a little distracted recently, with you and work. My mom called a couple of times, and I called her back and left a message, but we haven’t connected in– Well, since you and I started connecting.”
Samara smiled before she looked around the relatively empty sidewalk and turned to her.
“I know it’s a lot, babe. But it does mean a few things.”
“Like what?”
“Well, you’ve been sticking around here because of your parents and Lainey’s wedding, but you don’t have to anymore. Lainey is getting married in April, your parents are moving right after, and you’ve already said you don’t plan to follow. We’re filming here through mid-January.”
“I know.”
“Then, I’m going to Vancouver, but I’ll be done filming by mid-April or close to it. I can – I mean, if we’re still dating – I could… come back… for the wedding.”
“Oh,” Dana said.
“Be your date.”
“You can’t, Samara.”
“Oh,” Samara said as well, sounding disappointed.
“Not because I don’t want you to. I do. But there will be pictures and stuff.
I’m sure someone would see us dancing or something, and I can’t guarantee they would keep any of that to themselves.
Lainey and Paige will probably invite kids from their past teams, and they’d recognize you in or out of a wig. ”
“Right,” Samara replied. “Well, we’ll come back to that later, but the rest is still true. You could consider LA again.”
“Do you know that I’ve never even been there?”
“No, you didn’t tell me that.”
“It’s true. I was going to crash on that friend’s couch, but that would’ve been my first time there.”
“We can fix that easily. Come home with me,” Samara suggested.
“When?”
“For the holiday break,” Samara replied. “We have two weeks off. You can stay for the whole time, if you want, or at least a few days just to check out the city and see if you like it.”
“You want me to go home with you?”
“Yeah. Why not? You can see my place. We can swim naked in my pool and make love in my very nice king bed.”
Dana smiled but said, “I can’t go, Samara.”
“You have plans already?”
“We always do something on Christmas Day, but not specifically, no. This is all really new, though. What if you and I get there and we fight or don’t like each other as much as we thought we did, and you kick me out?”
“I wouldn’t kick you out, Dana.” Samara cupped her cheek. “And I highly doubt that a location change does anything to what I feel for you.”
“Maybe not,” she said. “But I don’t know.
I just found out that my parents are moving.
I need to talk to them. I also know there’s something Lainey isn’t thinking about with this wedding thing, and she has not exactly been the woman who wanted kids her whole life, despite what she just said in there, so I want to find out what’s going on. ”
“Yeah, okay,” Samara said.
“You’re mad, aren’t you?”
Samara shook her head and replied, “No. I just thought it would be nice to have a few days away from here together, but it’s okay.”
“Can I give you a maybe?”
“Yes, but I’m packing tomorrow, Dana. I leave the day after that, so unless you want to join me later, you’ll need to figure it out soon.”
“Yeah…” Dana let the word dangle there, offering no commitments.
It wasn’t Samara she was really worried about, or even LA.
It was the fact that her whole life appeared to be changing, and all at once, when she had only recently been catering film sets and talking to her sister about how she and Paige would get married when they would get married, so everyone should just mind their own business.
Now, her parents were moving away, and she couldn’t make sure her mom went to her doctor’s appointments as easily.
Her sister had a wedding date, a new house, and plans to adopt a kid.
It was all just happening so fast… On top of it, Dana was dating one of the biggest celebrities on the planet, who also happened to be in the closet and lived miles away.
“Babe?” Samara said.
“Yeah?”
“Are you ready?”
Dana knew Samara was asking about driving her back to her hotel, but it felt like such a loaded question that she just nodded to avoid answering it.