Forever and a Day Read online

“Alright already, let’s get out of the laundry room.” Evie replied and extricated herself from her husband’s embrace, “Let me get your dirties out of your bag, you did put them in the bags I gave you, nea?”

  “Sure thing.” He replied, left Evie to her self-appointed task and headed into the kitchen. He went to the stove, took the lid off the pot, and took in the deep, rich and sweet aroma of Evie’s Giouvesti.

  Her style of Giouvesti was the best: it consisted of braised chunks of lamb added to a light tomato broth seasoned with cinnamon, allspice, cloves, dried orange peel and tarragon. When the sauce was ready, Evie would remove the lamb, drop in Orzo pasta, and cook it until tender. It was a savory, sweet extravaganza and Xander’s most favorite dish Evie made. It was better than his own was, and Evie was not one to let him forget it.

  Xander looked up as Evie came up to the sink and washed her hands, “Evie, if I ever had one last meal in my life, I would ask for your Giouvesti! Thank you for making this.”

  She dried her hands and gave Xander a proud look, “Go put your electronic toys away in your office and wash up for dinner.” She ordered and shooed him away from the simmering pot.

  Xander tried to steal a kiss and she poked him with the wooden spoon then shook it at him, “I’m trying to finish dinner, now go!” She encouraged his exit with a prod at his chest with the spoon.

  “Ok!” Xander smiled. He turned to leave then quickly spun around and tried to grab her waist, but she was ready and gave his hand a smack with her spoon. Damn that was fast he thought as he grabbed his hand as it stung from the hit.

  “Ha, ha! That is my Greek karate, don’t mess with a woman in her own kitchen!” She shook her spoon at him again, “Out!” She turned away, disinterested at Xander’s feigned look of dejection. He frowned and turned to leave.

  “Ouch!” Xander yelped grabbing his bum from Evie’s spoon against his backside.

  “Hurry! And tell Athena to come set the table!” Evie smirked and pointed the spoon menacingly towards the kitchen exit.

  “I’m going!” Xander said holding up his hands and backed away from Evie and her spoon. He gave her his own devilish smile, “Payback…” He laughed and quickly headed to his office.

  Evie returned to finishing dinner and reminded herself of what her mother had told her when she was a little girl: ‘The road back home is always good cooking.’ That Skeela, Halo Raines, probably scorches water when she tries to cook. Try to buy my family? She seethed at the thought of Halo Raines and her check as she stirred the pot, wishing she could smack the pretty off that Halo Raines and all the other skinny actresses with her spoon.

  “Evie, I think that was one of your best, it was wonderful!” Xander smiled happily at his wife from across the kitchen table and pushed his plate away.

  “Yeah Ma, that was really good.” Athena added.

  “Efaresto.” Evie nodded in thanks and cracked a small smile at the compliments, “Xan, more Retsina wine?”

  “Ah, no thanks, it’s starting to hit me.” He rolled his eyes and grimaced. He pulled out Halo Raines letter and held it up, “Here is Halo’s letter. Want me to read it to you?”

  Athena jumped out of her chair, went and stood next to her father as he pulled out the letter from the envelope. He could not help but notice Evie’s indifferent look.

  “Read it already.” Evie replied tersely.

  He handed Evie the check then with a sidelong look at her, he read the letter to them both.

  “Dad! She thought your performance was impressive! You really must have nailed it!” Athena patted her father’s shoulder with enthusiasm, “You should frame that!” Athena said pointing at the letter.

  Xander saw Evie shoot Athena a look, and Athena went quiet, “Nah…” Xander smiled and gave Athena a quick surreptitious wink. He turned to his wife, “Evie, how about you take Athena shopping and get both of yourselves something nice.”

  “Ma!” Athena exclaimed with a hopeful smile, “There is a big fall sale going on a Macy’s! Let’s go tomorrow!”

  “Maybe, we’ll see how much your father spent first.” She replied with a dose of sarcasm.

  “Evie, there is more than enough leftover, trust me! Get yourself and Athena something nice, please?”

  Evie rolled her eyes upward looking at the white paint on the ceiling shaking her head. That Skeela is trying to interfere, she grumbled to herself.

  “Come on Ma! It’ll be fun!” Athena prodded.

  Evie held her hands up in surrender, “Fine! We’ll go tomorrow after work, happy now?”

  “You bet!” Athena replied cheerfully, went over and gave her mother a big hug and then one to her father, “I’ll be in my room, I have some homework to finish up.”

  “Take the plates to the sink.” Evie charged. Athena nodded and grabbed the dishes then quickly left her parents alone.

  “Gee, Evie. I wish I could make you happy like that.” Xander said quietly.

  “I am not a little girl, Xan.”

  “Hey, I just want you two to go have some fun together.” He met Evie’s dark brown eyes and held her gaze, “Evie, do you want to talk about yesterday morning?”

  “No.”

  Xander leaned towards his wife and set his hands together on the table, “What can I do to make you happy? If you want me to just listen, I will.”

  Evie sighed and rubbed her forehead with both palms of her hands, “Endaxi! Ok!” She took a deep breath and looked down at her dinner plate, “If you get the part you will be gone far away with a superstar actress, ok? Like I told you, I am trying to deal with it. Mom is trying to help, but I dunno…” Evie shrugged and continued, “I want to blame someone for how I feel, and since “She” might hire you and take you away from us, I want to be mad at her. I can’t help it, but I’d rather be mad at her than you.” Evie reached out and patted his hand.

  “I get it, Evie. I’m sorry I am causing you grief.” He leaned forward, brought his wife’s hand to his lips, and gave it a soft kiss.

  She smiled at him and quickly got up, “Let’s go. We have Saturday’s business to finish.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of his chair.

  “Oh!” Xander replied a little dazed at the idea of some attention as he thought he would have to wait until the following Saturday.

  Evie held onto his hand as she pulled him up the stairs to their bedroom. Once there she shut the door behind them, locked it and pulled Xander over to the bed. Drawing the curtains, she began to undress in the nearly pitch black room.

  Xander stripped off his clothes and knew better than to come up to her until she was ready. He felt her body heat as she edged shyly close to him. He reached out to her and found her hand, pulling her tenderly close, he came in for a kiss. Normally she would turn away, as she did not care much for kissing, but to his surprise, she met him with her lips to his. He kissed her lightly, ran his hands slowly and gently down her arms and felt her quiver under his touch.

  “Xan, how do you want to?”

  “Shh, let’s just see where this business leads, Koukla.” He whispered softly into his wife’s ear.

  Xander opened one eye and saw his wife standing over him next to the bed, “Xan, wake up. I let you sleep in a little. Xan! Are you awake?” Evie repeated, shaking his shoulder.

  Xander rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes, “I’m up.” He answered groggily.

  “Good, I made some breakfast for you. It’s downstairs. Nola is expecting you after ten this morning, so you have plenty of time.”

  “Breakfast?” Xander said sleepily and yawned, “Thank you, Koukla.”

  “I’ll take Athena to school, so get up and go eat.” Evie pulled the covers off him and saw he was naked and she quickly pulled the sheet back over him enough to cover his privates.

  Xander smiled and chuckled, “You know better than to do that in the morning.”

  Evie shook her head at him with a sour look, “Breakfast! Get up!” She commanded and leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on his fo
rehead, “S’agapo.”

  “Love you too.” Xander waited to get up until Evie left the bedroom and closed the door behind her. He headed to the bathroom in a hurry. When he came out, he was wearing his faded Star Wars T-shirt, black running shorts, his running shoes and was carrying his gym bag. He quickly made the bed and cursed at the multitude of decorative pillows Evie required as he set them up the way she insisted.

  He headed downstairs and found his breakfast on the kitchen table covered with plastic wrap. He downed his breakfast and hurriedly cleaned up his dishes. Grabbing his keys, phone, and ear buds, he hurried out to the garage.

  The sister vehicle to Evie’s gray Dodge Grand Caravan waited for him. This one was different from Evie’s as there were no middle seats. His van was equipped with a motorized ramp and room for two wheelchairs. On cue and with a shake of his head he said to no one, “God damn tin can…” and stabbed at the garage door opener button. When the door was up, he started up the van and pulled out onto the street, “Woo hoo… soccer dad is on the move, watch out world.” He grumbled aloud as he steered the van towards the gym in the nearby city of Tualatin.

  Xander pulled into the nearly empty parking lot in front of the gym. Grabbing his gear he got out and swiped his keycard and went in, “Oh shit.” He breathed as he saw Brooke staffing the desk.

  Brooke was the epitome of the over-excited personal trainer, she was fit and attractive as well. He had wondered if she even topped five percent body fat. He joked to himself that if she never worked out again, her mouth would burn enough calories to keep her lithe forever. Hoping she would not notice him, he ducked his head and picked up his pace towards the men’s locker room.

  “Good morning Xander!” Brooke called out excitedly to him, “You gonna hit the weights like a beast this morning?”

  Dammit, he muttered to himself and turned to her, “You bet!” He said with a wave and began to turn away when she called back to him.

  “Hey, what muscle groups you working on? I can help…“ Her desk phone rang and Xander saw her look down at it then back up to him and pointed at it and whispered loudly, “Phone, I’ll talk with you later.”

  Xander smiled and waved as Brooke picked up the phone and happily greeted the caller. Saved by the phone Xander thought as he opened the door to the empty men’s locker room. He sat down on a bench by the lockers and pulled out his armband and phone. He slipped the band around his arm and woke up his phone by depressing the home button, “Damn, telemarketers.” He muttered when he saw the call from yesterday was anonymous. He wished they would stop pestering him, someone always trying to sell him something for the business.

  He stood up and put his ear buds in and stowed his bag in a locker then pressed the message icon on his phone. Greeting him was a sweet feminine voice and he immediately froze in place, his head began to spin and his heart raced in his chest at whose voice he was hearing: ‘Oh! Hello Xander. I, um this is Halo Raines calling…’

  He quickly hit the pause icon and sat down hard on the bench. “Oh my God.” He muttered. His breathing was coming quick and it felt like he just did his thirty minutes of cardio. He fanned himself with one hand as he stared at his phone in the other.

  He took a deep breath then another. A thought rang out in his scattered mind; she is calling to tell him that they will not need him after all. His excitement traveled to the opposite spectrum to disappointment as he stared at his phone. He felt the nervousness of the situation in his belly… he was never one to panic, but this was such an odd feeling.

  For some strange reason he remembered an incident when he was eight… he smelled smoke in his home, he ran into the kitchen and found the stove was engulfed in flames. The angry fire was beginning to consume the cabinets above the stove. He saw it all again in his mind: he had quickly grabbed the kitchen phone, pulling the cord to its limit away from the flames. He remembered the phone was an ugly avocado green. It seemed like forever as the rotary dial rotated back agonizingly slow with each number dialed to the local fire department. After the call, he ran downstairs into the garage to get his mother who was busy folding laundry, oblivious to the emergency.

  Then at another intense time, there was Evie almost having Athena in the hospital parking lot then there were two client having heart attacks and emergencies galore. He always remained calm and collected and did whatever the situation called for.

  Hearing Halo Raines on his phone had sent him into a near panic and his heart was still pounding away. He was at a loss on what to feel: dread or elation. He reminded himself to stay cool, “Relax, dammit.” He took several deep slow breaths and let the last one out slowly.

  Xander watched his finger tremble as he began the playback from the beginning, “Here goes nothing.” He whispered and he hit play.

  Halo’s sweet melodic voice filled his ears like a beautiful love song, his belly decided on butterflies as its choice for the moment and it felt like they were having an all-out Rave concert in his guts as he listened on.

  “Oh! Hello Xander. I, um this is Halo Raines calling… I know this is unexpected and I hope you don’t feel my calling you is inappropriate. Uh, that said… I uh, want to thank you again for coming all the way down on such short notice Saturday. Your performance at the audition was awesome! Our director, Deacon James, thought so too…” He heard her pause and try and gather her words. When she said ‘awesome’ she sounded excited…

  “Xander, I am not sure how to word this properly—well?” She chuckled. Halo seemed to catch herself by cutting it off and cleared her throat, “I am just going to have to trust you! Please, please be discreet on this Xander.” He heard her sigh, “Johnny Stone is going to be walking a very fine line on this production. I sincerely doubt that he will be able to toe the line, so to speak.” He picked up some agitation in her beautiful voice; he remembered that she was also an accomplished singer.

  He heard her clear her throat softly again, “So what I am getting at is this: since your performance was the best out of all the actors, I um, am really going to need—ah count on you for this picture. Trust me on this, if I could I would cast you in some minor part and have you down there and ready. Unfortunately, the politics going on here preclude me from doing that. Woo! Sorry this is going on so long. Ok… I am going to give you—um my office’s private cell number. Ari trusts you with his so I will with mine. Please keep this number only to yourself, it goes directly to JJ, then rings to me if she doesn’t answer. JJ mentioned that you were more than willing to help me out, so if you feel that you cannot do that, from one professional to another, please text or call and let us know. Um,” Xander heard her laugh and his heart felt warm, “ok, I think I took up too much of your time already,” she laughed again, “I hope we get to meet soon, I am really looking forward to working with you, thank you again Xander. Um... bye!”

  The message ended and her adorable voice ceased its melodious song in his ears. Wow, he thought. A personal call from Halo Raines… she sounded a bit nervous herself he realized and smiled. Probably not used to calling Noobie actors like himself he gauged. She must have called during his flight…

  Damn! He loved how she said his name! The ‘a’ was softly spoken and not a hard like everyone else said it. She made it sound like, ‘Zahnder.’ A chill tingled up his back and he shivered. Help her? No doubt about that!

  He stood up with a little jump in his step, “Time to go chase these Raving butterflies away with some weights!” He mumbled happily, as he selected his workout mix on his phone and headed blissfully into the gym.

  Business as Usual

  Monday morning found Halo at her office finalizing details for the film project. The location manager in Brisbane, Australia reported that they were ready as soon as the first and second film units arrived along with their equipment.

  Next on the list was the location manager’s report in American Samoa, Halo felt a jump of excitement at getting the chance to bring much needed work there. She read over the emailed report, craft se
rvices were booked, security, and lodging was booked. First aid and transportation were all set as well. Following her plan, she fired off an email to the location manager in Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa, requesting two personal security people for her own detail.

  Halo closed her emails and looked at the envelope from Joel that awaited her this morning. It was Johnny’s contract and she made a little snorting sound, Joel must really be eager for her to sign it and be done with it she thought. She opened it up and began reading the contract. She made notes on a pad while she read it through. When she looked at the pad, she saw that all her stipulations were addressed. She turned back to the last page and saw that Joel and Johnny both had signed it yesterday. She read it once more and when she was satisfied, she signed it and placed it back in the envelope.

  Halo pressed a button on her desk phone, “JJ?” Halo queried.

  “Yes boss?”

  “Stoner’s contract is signed. Could you arrange for a courier to take it to Joel, please?”