She came to dinner without Chris, her husband at the time. She was mousy and didn’t talk much about her current life. It was that night that I realized what Mark had meant. The conversation, despite Cleo trying to include me as much as she could, always turned into the two of them sharing inside jokes and reliving memories from their time on the road. I thought if anything I would be offended by how Cleo acted around Mark, but it was actually the other way around.
When Mark, or any of the other guys, saw Cleo their eyes would light up and their energy around them would change. They all became kids again and I swear if she asked them to carry her room to room and feed her grapes while she sunbathed, they would. The good thing was that Cleo was such a kind soul, she never used their affection to her advantage. Cleo helped me get over my hang ups about Cleo.
She was there for them just as much as they were there for her. They all would drop everything for each other. When Cleo’s ex husband beat her to a pulp, Adrian called Mark and that night him and Derek took a red eye flight out. We were having dinner and he literally left me sitting at the table to finish eating alone.
But then when Chase and Derek’s accident happened, she was the first one in the car to the hospital. She was there for them every step of the way. She took Rocky when they needed it or ordered dinner for them if they were too tired to cook. When Derek was ready to leave the hospital, she was the one to go get him. Despite her tiny size, she helped get him in the car and put his wheelchair in the back. That was no easy feat considering both of Derek’s legs are in casts.
Our constantly growing group sat in the Andrews’ backyard having some drinks and talking about the days event’s. Cleo reached for Ethan’s hand. He looked over at her with such love in his eyes.
“I can’t believe we have a one year old. It feels like just yesterday I was going into labor with him,” she mused. He chuckled.
“You think that’s nuts. Try showing up one day and discovering you have two five-year-old twins,” he said in a joking tone, but Cleo immediately glared at him. He put his hands up and tried playing it off, but then apologized quickly. Despite it all working out in the end, I know Cleo would always feel guilty for hiding the truth about the twins from him for so long.
There was an uncomfortable pause before Mark slammed a hand on the glass table.
“Now that your paternity leave is up and Derek’s getting his casts off next week, when are we getting back to work?” Cleo pursed her lips in thought.
“Mmm. I guess I’m ready whenever you guys are. Sam said the shows went well, so I think he’s ready for us to get back in the game.”
They really were dedicated. Right before the accident they had scheduled a few shows to see the reception they’d get. Luckily, they were close enough to home that they could be home either that same night or the next day.
They talked about canceling the gigs at first. Adrian didn’t want to leave Chase alone with the baby, and Derek was in a wheelchair. Chase however, insisted that he could do it and Derek was more than happy to figure out how to play sitting down. I think it actually helped their reputation. Nothing was going to keep them down, and the fans saw it.
“Can I still sit down to play? I’ve grown accustomed to a certain way of life,” Derek joked. Everyone shot him dirty looks. Despite him having brownie points for saving Chase’s life, he was still annoying.
“Keep it up and I’m going to make you play with me singing on your shoulders the whole set,” Cleo teased. Derek raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to say something dirty but the death glare he got from Cleo’s husband made him shut it quickly.
The party ended when Blue fell asleep in his grandmother’s arms after eating his cake. Cleo and Ethan thanked everyone for coming and insisted they didn’t need anymore help cleaning up, so we took our leave.
On the way home Mark apologized to me for not saying anything.
“Mark, it’s fine. It can wait. It was a good day. We didn’t need to ruin it with our problems.”
“Don’t say it like that. You say problem like its this big, bad thing,” he grumbled.
“What would you call it?”
“I don’t know, issue? I don’t like to think of it as a negative thing. We have to think positive. It’s all going to work out.”
I didn’t say anything. He was too positive that this would pan out. We had to consider the fact that she might say no. It was a huge thing to ask and we couldn’t hold it against her if she didn’t want to do it. I didn’t bother telling him this though, he had heard it a thousand times over the last month. He was just refusing to believe that she would say no.
I took the dogs out and then headed to bed early. It had been a long day. Right when I was walking upstairs to our room, I heard the front door open and knew that Derek was probably here. Adrian must have dropped him off. I figured he wouldn’t be here tonight, but he was so erratic with his life that who really knew anymore what he was doing. That wheelchair didn’t slow him down one bit.
I heard him and Mark talking. As I reached the landing my husband shouted up.
“I’m gonna chill down here for awhile. Derek brought over Adrian’s console. We’re gonna play some games.” I paused and looked over the railing. My handsome husband was looking up at me with a half smile.
“Alright, but I’m starting that movie whether you’re in here or not.” He chuckled and blew me a quick kiss. I blew one back and followed the dogs into my bedroom.
That night I went to sleep exhausted, thinking about everything missing from my life. It was insane a little to think about. When I had first met Mark, I was still traveling with my theatre troupe. I wasn’t interested in marriage, kids, or staying in one place even. I was living the life I wanted and had nothing grounding me to one place.
Now, barely three years later I was a totally different person. Besides the Rocky Horror Picture Show, I hadn’t performed in years. I missed dressing up in costumes and wigs and going out on stage to play a goofy character for a few hours. I missed it, yet if I had the opportunity, I wouldn’t do it again.
I wasn’t a great actor. It was mostly for fun. I had never been in an arena like my husband had played. We never traveled on a fancy, luxury tour bus, or played sold out venues. There weren’t any strict rules or big executives and agents breathing down our backs to do this or that. We were free.
We did what we wanted, when we wanted. Most of our traveling happened in large, renovated vans. Our only contracts we signed were for no longer than a month’s time. We came and went and never looked back. Sure, we were poor, but we were happy. I tried explaining that to Mark once but he just simply didn’t understand. Money wasn’t everything.
I woke up the next morning to only Beau and Bonnie sharing my bed. I rolled my eyes, knowing that most likely I would go downstairs and find Mark and Derek slumped in recliners, dead asleep with controllers in their hands and headsets still on their heads. Sure enough, when I stepped into the den I was right.
