“Wow,” I started. “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.”
“Nope, I always roll off the same side of the bed. Mine. Johnny has his side, and I have mine. Some nights, we meet in the middle for playtime, but we mostly stick to our sides of the bed like an invisible demilitarized zone between us.”
“Umm…okay. There’s so much to unpack there. I don’t know where to start.” I scrunched up my nose, shrugged, and gave him an award-winning smile. “But anyway, what has you grumpy today?”
“Just anxious. We had a reviewer fromTheTimesshow up yesterday at Evergreen Mirror. The executive chef was in a mood, and it rubbed off on me. I haven’t snapped out of it yet. Thankfully, I have the day off, so heading off to do a bit of retail therapy.”
“Ohh… Retail therapy is my favorite type of therapy.”
“Want to come along?” Amani offered.
“Nah, I need to make some phone calls. I was offered a role in a new Broadway musical opening this fall.”
“Whoa, you should totally have led with that,” Amani said before embracing me. “What can you tell me about it? Who’s the star? Is it you? When can you get Johnny and me tickets?”
“Slow down there, cowboy,” I said, holding out my hand and laying it gently on his chest. “Nice pec,” I said absently. He shot me a questioning look, so I removed my hand quickly. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to feel you up. Wow, that was completely inappropriate of me. I am so embarrassed.”
“Don’t be. Strange people want to reach out and touch me all the time…usually, they pay first, though,” he said with a wink.
“Eww…I so don’t need to know that.” I laughed.
“Just chalk it up to my innate Jordanian sexual appeal,” he said, adding an extra emphasis to his accent.
“But anyway, as for your questions, I don’t have many answers yet. I’m sort of a lead…I think. It’s all convoluted. I haven’t seen the script.”
“Wait, you accepted a role for a part you haven’t seen yet?”
“It happens more often than you realize. Sometimes the creative team waits until the first rehearsal to release the script and the score. It’s also quite possible that it’s not finished yet. When I worked onThe Faith Healer, about half the score was ready when we started rehearsals. Well, they had a full score. It’s just most of it changed during rehearsals and the out-of-town tryout in Boston.”
“Are you heading out of town with this show?”
“Nope. From what my agent said, they are mounting it right here in the city with only about six weeks of rehearsals, so it will be a whirlwind experience, I’m sure.”
“Well…congratulations, nonetheless. To celebrate, I’m going to make you dinner tonight.”
“Amani, I can’t let you do that.”
He waved his hand. “It’s already done…unless you have other plans.”
“No other plans. Unless you call me and a bottle of wine plans.”Didn’t I use the same joke last night with Kirk?
“I’ll be over at your place at six to cook. I might bring Johnny.”
I let out an exaggerated sigh. “If you have to bring my best friend, I guess I can put up with him for the evening.”
“I put up with him every day. You can keep him entertained while I cook. He always tries to volunteer, and it never ends well.”
“Johnny can’t cook?” I asked.
“He once asked me if boiling an egg for an hour was long enough.”
I barked out a laugh. In my mind’s eye, I could totally see Johnny asking that question with absolute sincerity. To say that Johnny wasn’t the domestic type was putting it mildly.
“Another time, we were in the grocery store. He asked the woman working in produce where the guacamoles were located. I wanted to find a counter and hide behind it.”
“Oh my,” was all I got out. “I’m not a cook, but even I know what avocados are.”
“Precisely,” Amani stood there shaking his head, clearly lost in his own memory. “Well, I’m off to buy myself something nice. And now, I have a reason to pick up a few things at the grocery store. What do you want for dinner?”
