“Underhanded assholes like Tanner can accomplish a lot in six weeks. I don’t like leaving you alone with him.”
“I won’tbealone with him.” He laid his hand on Colin’s arm. “Look. David will be here every other weekend, and when he’s not here, I’ll be in Charlottesville.” Colin scowled down at the floor. “Ursula is a good person. She won’t let Tanner have authority over me. I have a strong support system at home,” Nate continued. “And it’s only six weeks. I’ll be OK. That asshole won’t beat me!” He shook Colin’s arm. “Hey! I’m a champion, remember?”
Colin gazed at him momentarily, then smiled and shook his head. “Well, you’re that for sure. Just remember to call Matt they try any legal shenanigans. That’s what he’s there for.”
Nate nodded. “Now I know how a mother bear feels trying to protect her cub.”
“So, you’re done with Broadway?”
“Almost Broadway,” Nate corrected, then rose and tugged on Colin’s arm. “Come on. Rejoin the party. And, yeah. I amsodone!” He pointed to the enormous window beyond which the brilliant lights of Manhattan rose against the night sky. “Those arenotour mountains.”
Colin coughed out a breath as he got to his feet. “Jesus, buddy, you can saythatagain!”
“And you just remember that once I’m back in my classroom, you owe me a huge apology!”
Colin nodded as they rejoined the group. “I’m sure I can count on you to remind me.”
* * *
Autumn’s Pride’sunexpectedsuccess extended its off-Broadway run for two weeks beyond the anticipated six-week time limit, and the bonus check Ursula Rugby offered Nate was large enough that he chose to extend his stay. At the same time, however, he made it clear thatnoamount of money would entice him to stay even one day longer.
His final weeks in New York were plagued by constant conflict. Ross Tanner, realizing that he had lost any chance of partnering with Nate and motivated by a spiteful desire to make Nate’s off-Broadway experience as miserable as possible, challenged Nate’s decisions at every opportunity. His venom even extended to Kory Holder, the young actor Nate had handpicked to portray Blair Edwards. Ross battered the young actor with caustic and unnecessary criticism, ignored his ideas, and responded to his every acting decision with withering condemnation until finally, Nate reached his limit and stormed onto the stage.
“Tanner, leave him the fuckalone,” Nate raged. “He doesn’t need your direction or your goddamn criticism!”
“I’m the director here! I decide who does or doesn’t need criticism. So you stay the hell out of it! You’re just the playwright!! You have no authority here!”
“We’ll just see about that,” Nate hissed.
An extended and turbulent conversation with Ursula concluded with Tanner being instructed to confine his directorial comments to stage direction, with all other director’s duties to be handled by Nate. The young cast greeted this arrangement with relief, but Ursula’s decision also meant that Nate was saddled with playwrightanddirector duties for the remainder of the play’s run.
Even with the additional responsibilities, Nate was glad he had stood up for his actors. But by the timeAutumn’s Prideclosed, he was wavering on the thin edge of exhaustion and twitchy with anxiety-related stress.
CHAPTERELEVEN
SIDE EFFECTS
The week after their return from New York, Joshua was scheduled for a CT Scan, a baseline concussion test, and a conference with Doctor Adam Casey. The purpose of these routine tests was to evaluate his progress after having suffered a massive concussion only four months previous.
“How are you feeling now that you’re back working full-time? Are you handling it OK?” Adam asked as he laid his stethoscope on a table.
Joshua glanced to his left to where Colin was leaning back in a chair and peering through an otoscope.
“Colin!” Casey snapped. “Stop playing with my instruments!” He reached behind him. “Here!” He tossed Colin a lollipop. “Play withthat!”
Joshua lowered his head and snickered, then looked up at his doctor. “I’m doing fine with it, Adam.”
“How many hours a week are you putting in?”
“About forty, not counting—”
“That’s not true!” Colin interrupted. He pointed the lollipop at Joshua. “Heneverworks a forty-hour week. He’s always staying late for some damned reason, and then there’s group therapy on Thursday.”
“It’s only an hour,” Joshua said to his husband.
“No, Josh. It’ssupposedto be an hour, but it never is. Someone alwayswants to talk with you afterward, and of course, you never refuse them.”
Joshua slumped. “They’re my patients, Colin.”
