One Month Later

Dominic was not enjoying this shoot.  Not one bit.  Not only was going to be away from Lia during the holidays, but there was behind the scenes drama that was pushing back production.  The producers weren’t happy about the rough cuts.  They wanted to replace Damon Everly, the actor playing the heavy in the film because he didn’t have box office appeal.  Mike Anderson, the director fought for Everly.  The screenwriter wrote the part with him in mind.  And Damon really brought the character to life, but the producers and the studio didn’t like him and they were digging in their heels.  At this rate, he wasn’t going to be back in the States until after the new year.  Add to that, he was once again working with that insufferable shrew Diana Canaan.  If production wasn’t being held up by the studio and the producers, it was being held up by her diva antics.  She wanted the wardrobe mistress fired because she dared suggest that she needed to let out the seams in the gown she’d be wearing in a scene taking place at a formal party.  She refused to come out of her trailer until the woman was let go.  Wardrobe only wanted to let out the seam because Diana was going to have to be doing a lot of running in that dress and she’d need the dress to accommodate the movement.  The director had suggested it himself and when he told Diana so, she walked off the set, costing the studio hundreds of thousands of dollars because production was halted for the rest of the day.  Mike Anderson had requested that SHE be fired, but because she was a box office draw, they nixed the idea.  Adding to the on set drama was the fact that someone was leaking false stories insinuating that there was something going on between he and Diana.  He was sure that it was either her team, the studio or a combination of the two in order create a buzz about the movie.  Dominic wished he could pull out of this shit storm, but he’d be sued for breach of contract.  He was officially over the bullshit.

He was grateful that Lia understood how the Hollywood machine worked so she wasn’t concerned about the rumors, but she was concerned about Diana Canaan.  Diana had made a play for Dominic on the last film they’d all worked on together.  He’d quickly shot her down, but she’d still get handsy with him.  He and Lia weren’t together at the time, but it didn’t stop her from seeing red every time Diana would place her hand too far up Dominic’s thigh or “accidentally” brush her breasts against his arm.  “No” just didn’t seem to be in her vocabulary, and while Lia trusted Dominic she didn’t trust Diana Canaan as far as she could throw her.

The one thing keeping them both sane was their daily Skype sessions.  They both felt so much better when they were able to see and talk to each other.  Being wrapped around each other would have been a much more ideal situation, but they knew when they’d become official that they were going have to deal with being separated for extended periods of time.

A bright spot in all the fuckery was the fact that Lia found an amazing 3 bedroom, 3 bath apartment in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Manhattan.  It had large rooms, a great view of the city and incredible amenities and the building allowed for pets.  Lia had wanted to wait for Dominic to see it in person, but her realtor encouraged her to move on the apartment quickly because apartments in that neighborhood got snapped up quickly.  So Lia was going to have to organize the move into the new apartment without Dom. Because Mike was able to pack up and ship Dominic’s clothes and other items, Lia could concentrate on was renting out Dom’s Hollywood bungalow.  It was fortunate that a friend of Mike’s was looking for a place in the area so that turned out to be easier than expected. Her cousin Antony was a lawyer so he was able to draw up a standard rental agreement signed by both parties.  Once that was done, Lia handed over the keys of the furnished bungalow to Dominic’s new tenant.

Getting Seamus from California to New York was the last order of business to be taken care of on the west coast.  Mike wasn’t able to fly out with Seamus because he was stuntman on a film that was shooting in London.  Lia decided that she’d fly out to California and retrieve the dog herself.  It proved to be easier said than done because Seamus hated to fly and he HATED taking the tranquilizers that would make it easier for him to fly.  She tried hiding the pill in his food, but he always managed to eat around it.  She’d tried coating it in peanut butter, but he wasn’t having it.  She finally wrapped in about ten pieces of bacon and he finally ingested the pill.  No one can resist the lure of bacon.

And now the final few pieces of her furniture was moved in to the new apartment.  Because her previous apartment would comfortably fit INSIDE of the new one, once everything was moved in, the place still looked empty.  Thank heaven her sister-in-law Tira was one of the most sought after interior designer’s in New York.  She was able to arrange to have a fledgling designer, Bethany Daniels, recently hired on at Tira’s design firm handle the job.  Lia was impressed with Bethany’s portfolio, so she was more than happy to agree to working with her.  After meeting with Bethany so that she could come to the apartment and get a feel for the space, she presented Lia with her ideas.  Lia loved them and Bethany got to work immediately.  It took her two week to transform the blank slate apartment into a home filled with rich colors and sumptuous fabrics.  It looked stylish without feeling like a showroom.  It was home.  Lia couldn’t wait for Dominic to see it.

As it turned out, she didn’t have to wait too long.  One of the film’s backers’ company went belly up during filming so the studio pulled the plug on the whole production.  It sucked, but Dominic saw it as a blessing in disguise.  He still got a substantial payday and he’d be headed back to the States two days before Christmas.  He Skyped Lia to tell her the good news.

“Oh my GOD baby, that’s fantastic!  We’ll be able to spend our first Christmas in our new home!”

“I know.  I was afraid that we weren’t going to be able to celebrate the holidays until March”, Dominic said with a chuckle.

“Are you okay with the project being scrapped, though.  I know you really wanted to opportunity to work with Mike Anderson”.

“Babe, this whole production was a fiasco from start to finish.  You never want a project you’re working on to go tits up, but I’m just glad to be done with the whole thing.  Between the studio and Diana Canaan and HER bullshit, I’m over the whole damn thing”.

“I know, sweetheart.  Just hurry home so I can take care of you and make you feel all better”.

Dominic began to think of all the ways she could make him feel better and his cock began to swell.  Because Lia knew her man so well, she said, “Hey, get your mind out of the gutter!”

“Why, it’s so fun down there”, he said with a sly smile.  “Oh, yeah!  I forgot to ask; how are the “kids” getting along”.

Lia laughed and rolled her eyes.  “Well, Seamus tried to make friends, but Lolli wasn’t having it at first.  Shamey gave her her space and she came around.  And now they are the best of friends.  They groom each other and they even curl up together to sleep.  Our babies are so cute!”

Dominic laughed.  “Well there’s one less thing to worry about.  Ugh...I can’t wait to get home!”

“Two days, baby.  Two more days”, Lia reminded him.  “Listen I know it’s the wee hours there, so I’m gonna let you get your sleep, plus I have to walk Seamus. I love you, honey”.

“I love you, more”.

“Not possible”,  Lia blew Dom a kiss and disconnected the call.

**************************************

Lia was returned to the apartment with Seamus’ tethered to his leash in one hand and a grande house blend and two chocolate croissants from Starbuck’s.

“Good afternoon Miss Mariani!” said James, the building’s second shift doorman.  

“Hi James!” Lia said, returning the greeting.  Seamus sat down in front of the older gentleman as if to say “you may pet and admire me”.  James chuckled at the dog and gave him a good scratching behind the ear.

“He’s such a cuddle slut”, Lia said with a laugh.  “Take care, James”.

As Lia was making her way through the lobby of the building when she saw the elevator doors starting to close.  The the sole passenger on the elevator was a tall, blond man who held the door for her.  “Thank you”, Lia called out as she trotted towards the elevator with Seamus.  When they got close to the door, Seamus stopped and wouldn’t move any further.  “Come on, Shamey”, Lia coaxed.  The animal walked closer to Lia, looked at the man on the elevator and began to growl.  “Seamus, what is WRONG with you”.  She looked up at Elevator Man and apologized for the dog’s behavior.  Elevator Man moved so that his body was holding the elevator open, putting his body in closer proximity to Lia and Seamus lost his shit.  

“Ohmigod, Seamus stop”,  Lia looked over her shoulder at the gentleman and apologized again for her dog’s behavior.  

“It’s quite alright.  He’s just being protective of his very pretty mommy”.

Seamus was still a little growly after the elevator doors closed, but he soon returned to his sweet, goofy self when another tenant joined them in their wait for the elevator.  Lia had never seen the dog have such a negative reaction to someone; he loved people.  What was it about that man that set him off?

*******************************************

Dominic arrived at home on the 23rd of December at 3:45am.  Lia left his key with the front door man, so he didn’t have to wake her.  Unfortunately, when he walked in the door, Seamus welcomed him home by barking and whining.  

“Seamus please be qui-”  Lia said sleepily as she walked out into the great room.  She saw Dominic standing there, ran towards him and jumped into his arms.  She began kissing him all over his face.

“I missed you SO much, baby”,  she said, cupping his face in her hands.  

“You can’t believe how much a missed you, angel”.

“I know you’re exhausted now, but tomorrow I’m gonna need you to show me how much you missed me”.

Dominic grinned at her.  “I think I can manage that.”

******************************************************

Lia went out with Mimi to keep her company while she did some last minute Christmas shopping.

“I am NOT happy about this Meems.  Why do you ALWAYS wait ‘til the last minute to shop?  From January 1st on, you know that Christmas is coming, jeez”.

“I LIKE shopping at the last minute.  I enjoy the rush of it”.

“Fine, but why do you insist on dragging ME along with you?”

“Because you love me and want to keep me safe”.

Lia rolled her eyes at her friend.  “Let’s go, simple ass”.  She walked over to Dominic who was sitting at their desk, surfing the web.  “See you later, babe”, she said, kissing his cheek.

“Okay.  Be careful”.

When Lia left the apartment, Skyped his parents. William and Aileen, in Scotland.  It was not something he wanted to do, given the conversation that he’d had with them when he’d told them about his relationship with Lia.

“Aye Da!  How are ye?”

“Fine, boy-o, jus fine!  How are ye?”

“Lovely.  Where’s maw?’

“Right here, love.  How’s me boy?”

“Good, maw”.

“Any chance you met a young lady you can settle down with an’ give me more bairns to cuddle?”

“I think Donal’s given you quite a few already, but there is someone”.

“Well who is she, son? When to get to meet her?”

“You’ve met her already.  Lia Mariani.  You remember meeting her at the ‘Fellowship’ premiere”.

Both of his parents sat and stared in stunned silence.

“Aileen, why don’t you leave and let me talk to the boy a moment”.

“Yes...alright”, Aileen walked away from the computer.

“What are you doin’ boy-o?  A girl like tha’ ya cannae marry.  It’s one thing to bed her, have some fun, but you don’ bring ‘er home.”

Dominic look at his father, appalled.  “What do you mean by ‘a girl like that’ da?”

“You know wha’ I mean.  A...black.  It’s not righ’ Dominic”.

Dominic was truly stunned by his father’s words.  He’d never expressed any bigoted ideologies before.  He and his brother and sister were raised to believe that it wasn’t okay to discriminate against people who were different.  I guess that flew out of the window when it came to the prospect of marrying outside of his race and culture.  

“I don’t get where this is coming from, da.  You and maw didn’t raise us to think like that”.

“We raised ye to respect all people, but Dominic...you should still stick to your own.  Life will be hard for you two.  People won’t accept it”.

“I don’t care about “people”, da.  

“Well you SHOULD!”  said him mother, having joined in the conversation once again.  “What if you have children.  They’ll be discriminated against, all because you and her are selfish!”

“HER name is Lia, maw, and the world is a different place when you were younger.  Lia was RAISED by an italian family.  Her brother is married to a black woman and their kids seem pretty happy to me.  Mike is biracial, his life has been marred by that in ANY way.  Would like to hear more examples, maw?”

“NO!  I don’t accept it!  If are serious will tha’ girl, I donnae think I’ll EVER accept it”.

“Da…”  Dominic said, the despair in his voice.  “I’ll not give her up”.

William shook his head and disconnected the call.

He’d decided to call his parents to wish them a good holiday.  He didn’t agree with him, and if they were determined not to accept that he loved Lia and intended to spend the rest of his life with her, there’s was not much more he could say.  They were still his family, however, and he wanted to at least wish them a happy Christmas.

The previous day he’d sent his father an email stating that he wanted to Skype that 3pm, his father’s time.  He hadn’t received a response, but that wasn’t entirely unusual.  Sometimes his dad would forget to respond and just wait at the computer for Dominic to connect.  This time, his dad wasn’t waiting for him.  He waited for 15 minutes and emailed his father.  The response came quickly.

“We will miss you this holiday season, but if you are intent on marrying that girl, we do not wish to speak with you”.

Dominic slammed his laptop shut.