Tag: Cleaving

Six(ish) Sentence Sunday

Progress, perhaps.  Though as I wrote in that rules for writing meme, I feel like I keep writing more but don’t get closer to the end…I’m just asymptotiing out, and “to infinity and beyond” has somehow become the chapter length.  But anyway… CLEAVING.

They sat there a moment in the bank of cheerfully colored plastic chairs bordering the hospital hallway, Nathan slowly recovering on Zach’s lap.  They would need to leave soon.  Get on with their evening, distract themselves from the fact that their lives might be changing significantly over the next day or two, and they probably wouldn’t get any more input.  They’d made their decision.  They just had to wait for Leah to make hers.

“We could write a letter,” Chris said quietly, as if he could read Zach’s thoughts.  “People do it when they want a house; this is way more important.”

“Maybe,” Zach agreed.  “She thanked me for not pressuring her, though.”

“Right,” Chris said with a sigh.  Zach leaned over and kissed him on the temple.  Chris was usually the more patient of the two of them… trusting the universe to pay back his positive attitude and kindness.  It wasn’t like him to want to push things.

“So what should we do with the rest of the evening?” he asked, finally, wanting to pull his boys out of their brooding.  “It’s too late to make pizza, but we could go to Stella Barra on the way home.  What do you say, Nathan?  Sausage pizza and a side of crispy brussel sprouts?”

Nathan shook his head against Zach’s chest.  “Side of ‘tato chips,” came the muffled counteroffer.

Zach bit back a smile and looked at Chris.

“How about both?” Chris suggested, rubbing Nathan’s back.  “We need some veggies, I think, but it also seems like a house-made potato chip kind of night.”

Nathan nodded, his face still hidden against Zach’s chest.

Zach stood, still holding Nathan and expecting Chris to follow, but he startled and dug his phone out of his pocket.

“It’s Monica,” he said, reading a text.  “Wondering if we’ve left yet.”  He quickly texted something back and then looked up at Zach hopefully.  “She says to wait.”  

Few Words Wednesday

From Cleaving Chapter 10– Epilogue

“Daddy!”

Zach looked up from the script he was marking to see Chris approaching, carrying a squirmy Nathan who was squiggling like a fish to get down.

“Well if it isn’t my two favorite boys!” Zach said, waving to them from the edge of the set.  He turned to Tobias, the assistant director who was giving him the shoot sequence for next week.  “Anything else?”

“Nope.”  Tobias closed his script and retreated, saying, “Have a good weekend, Zach,” just as Nathan plowed into his legs.

“Hey, Little Man,” Zach said, bending down to scoop Nathan up.  “How long have you guys been here?  We ran a little late.”

“Not long,” Chris said, placing a hand on Zach’s waist and giving him a quick kiss.  “But we caught the last scene.  It’s looking good.  I didn’t think you were filming the argument until next week.”

“We’re ahead of schedule.  My scenes really clicked today,” he said, grinning at Chris because it felt so good to be acting again…Snowden had gone well, but the role was small. This was something Zach could really sink his teeth into.  And Chris seemed happy being a stay-at-home dad between his own projects. They were each doing one or two projects a year, traveling with each other as necessary to keep the family together.  Thankfully, Zach’s current project was filming primarily in LA, and they were enjoying a few months of routine.  “In fact, I’m getting Monday off because they’re shooting some scenes with just Emma.  So I get a long weekend.”

“Were you sad, Daddy?” Nathan asked.

“Nope.  My character was upset, but I’m happy.  I was just pretending for the camera.”

“‘Quiet on the set’,” Nathan mimicked, putting his finger over his lips.

Zach grinned and put his arm around Chris.  “Did you have to be quiet in the sound stage?” he asked Nathan, starting toward his dressing room.

“We were good, weren’t we, Babbo? No talking.”

“We were,” Chris agreed, shooting Zach an amused look.

“You’re a pro,” Zach said.  “I’ll just get out of my costume and makeup, and then we can head out.  Did you guys pick out a movie for tonight?  Is the pizza dough made for Nathan’s Home Pizzaria? You didn’t get dough on the ceiling again, did you?” he asked, nuzzling Nathan’s neck and making him giggle.  

“No pizza,” Nathan squealed, squirming away and hiding his neck.

“No pizza?  Change of plans?” he asked, turning back toward Chris, whom he now saw was dressed a bit more formally than movie night would typically require.

“Yeah.  Well, maybe,” he said, motioning to Zach’s dressing room.

Zach was immediately alert.  If Chris wanted privacy for this conversation…

Once the door was closed behind them, he asked,  “What’s up?” setting Nathan down so he could scamper over to the pile of children’s books on the small sofa in the corner of the room.

Chris rubbed the back of his neck.  “Well, if you’re up for it — not too tired — we should head over to Children’s Hospital.”

“Children’s Hos… what happened?  Is Luca okay?”

“Fine.  Everyone’s fine.  Well, not everyone, but I shouldn’t have led with that.”  He took a deep breath and pulled out his phone.   “I got a call this afternoon.  From the County.”

Oh.  Oh.