by S. Tamanaha
“Remember Daniel Stevens?” Johnny asked as she walked up to hand him his drink.
She did. “Yes, of course, from the charity event. Nice to see you again. Thank you for coming.”
“Very nice to see you again. Thank you for inviting me,” he said. “I was just telling John that there are several people interested in that concept we discussed about the sex symbol actor turned attorney.”
“That’s wonderful,” she said, “I’m so glad you thought of it.”
“Thanks to you,” he said.
She smiled. “Well, if you’ll excuse me for a little while, I need to check on Angel, my dog. I think she’s a little upset because I’m keeping her isolated from the party. She loves people.”
“Why don’t you bring her out?” Johnny asked.
“Some people aren’t dog people, Johnny. I understand that.”
“No, go and get her,” Johnny insisted. “You know what? Why don’t you show everyone that dance routine you taught her?”
Daniel smiled. “You and your dog have a dance routine?”
“It’s just something that we do for exercise,” she said.
“It’s great,” Johnny said. “Wait ‘til you see it. Go and get her.”
She gave in. “Okay, but I’m going to have to change my clothes so that she knows we’ll be dancing. I hope that she’ll do it in front of a crowd.”
She left then and when she returned she was wearing an all black pants outfit and carrying her little Angel who was wagging her tail energetically, happy to have been released from isolation. Johnny had already informed the group what was going to happen so they were all gathered together facing an open area in the livingroom.
“This is going to be her first time doing it in front of a crowd,” Susan said. She put Angel on the floor and the little dog immediately ran from person to person saying hello.
“Angel, do you want to dance?” Susan asked, tapping her left thigh. “Dance baby.” Angel barked and ran to her and took her place beside Susan.
Susan began to sing, “First you put your two knees close up tight. Sway them to the left and sway them to the right.” As she and Angel did their version of Ballin’ the Jack, the crowd laughed and was clearly charmed by the routine. At the end they all applauded loudly.
“Everyone’s clapping for you Angel. Take a bow.” The little dog bowed sincerely and then jumped into Susan’s open arms and kissed her. “Good girl. I love you,” Susan said as she gave Angel her well deserved treat.
Isabel came rushing up to her, along with a group of other people.
“Oh my God, darling, that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. You two must come and perform at the abandoned animals fundraiser at my home a couple of weeks from now.”
“I don’t know about that. I’m not sure whether she’ll be able to do this if there are a lot of other dogs around. She might get distracted. We haven’t been doing this in competition or anything. It’s just our little routine.”
“Oh there won’t be any dogs there. Just their rich owners with their checkbooks,” Isabel said. “You’ll be the hit of the event. And she is just adorable.”
“She is that. I’m going to take her to get some water. Excuse us. We’ll be right back.”
She carried Angel to the kitchen and gave her a drink and another small treat. “Come on baby. Let’s take you out for a bit,” she said, picking Angel up in her arms.
Johnny walked through the door just then. “Where are you going?”
“I’m just taking her outside for a little while.”
He saw the look in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Hey ... this is me you’re talking to.”
She sighed. “I don’t mind having her do the routine at a small party like this, but now Isabel wants her to perform at a fundraiser and I don’t want her to be a show, you know, a spectacle. I’m not sure if she’s going to keep enjoying it if that happens.”
He was studying her. “She seems fine with all the attention. You’re talking about yourself, right?”
She wished sometimes that he couldn’t read her as well as he did these days.
Then he understood. “This is your special thing with her and you don’t want it to turn into something else.”
She nodded. “I’m sorry. Maybe it’s stupid to feel that way.”
“It’s not stupid.” He leaned down and kissed her. “And I’m sorry. I should never have suggested it without asking you first. Just tell Isabel no. You don’t have to do it.”
“She gave us this place for a reception and she’s been good to you. I can’t say no now.”
“Well then, tell her it’s just for this one time only, as a favor to her. so that she won’t try to get you more bookings.”
She nodded and hugged the little dog. Johnny smiled gently and kissed her again. “You two really were wonderful out there though,” he said, making her smile a little. “Why don’t you take her out and spend some time with her. Come back in when you’re ready.”
“We won’t be long. I promise.”
He watched her through the kitchen window as she walked and talked with Angel in the back garden. Only at that moment did he realize how uncaring of her needs he had been for such a long time. He had been so caught up in how his career was going in the right direction, primarily thanks to her, that he had failed to see what she was going through.
She used to live a life where she had the power to choose when to interact with people and which people she wanted to interact with. His life required that she frequently interact with people whose company she didn’t necessarily enjoy. She did it with grace and charm—they all liked her—but he saw at times how it drained her emotionally. She used to be able to sit on her patio and watch the water at night and spend private time playing that little “catch me if you can game” with Angel in the pool under the stars. There was no water to watch now or pool to play in. She used to have the Universe at her fingertips in her bedroom and a place where walls had not been built because she needed space. Now she was forced to live in a traditional house with many walls and no feeling of space. Everything that she loved she had given up for him. The only thing left, her private time with Angel, he had just taken away from her.
He went to look for Isabel. He would say no to her even if Susan couldn’t. He didn’t see her and began asking the different groups of people who were gathered in the living room and the side garden.
“I think she went to find Susan,” someone said.
Damn, he thought. He was headed back towards the kitchen when they walked in—Isabel with her arm around Susan who was carrying Angel.
“Everyone, I want you to know that Susan and Angel have agreed to perform at the Abandoned Animals Organization Fundraiser in two weeks at my home so please tell your friends and have them bring their checkbooks. It’s for a good cause.”
Everyone applauded and many of the ladies went up to talk to her, crowding her, petting Angel. She smiled graciously as usual, answering their questions, even letting them carry Angel for a while. Only Johnny saw the sadness in her eyes and he felt ill.
After the reception was over and the last guest had left, Susan began taking all of the dishes and glasses back to the kitchen. She seemed fine, just a little tired maybe, but Johnny knew that he wasn’t wrong about what he had seen in her eyes earlier. He carried a tray of cups and dessert plates to the kitchen. She was loading the dishes, glasses, and utensils into the dishwasher.
“I’ve never owned a dishwasher,” she said. “Do you think it’ll take off the lipstick from these cups or should I wash them first?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never owned one either,” he replied.
The tone of his voice made her look at him, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”
He leaned back against the counter. “I watched you walking outside with Angel today and I finally realized just how much you’ve given up for me. It wasn’t just family, friends, and your own place.
It’s what that place meant to you inside. It gave you your private moments—watching the water, looking up at the Universe from the pool and your bed, your time alone with Angel. The only thing that you had left was your private time with Angel dancing and I took it from you today. I’m sorry. I went to look for Isabel to tell her no for you, but she had already cornered you.”
“I knew what I was giving up Johnny,” she said quietly. “You were more important.”
“That’s the point. It’s been all about me. My needs, my career , even this reception turned out to be for my benefit. All you asked for was a small reception and I didn’t give it to you. All you had left of private time was that little dance routine with Angel and I took that from you.”
She went to him and slipped her arms around his waist. “Johnny, just the fact that you love me enough to care about those things makes me happy,” she said softly. “It wouldn’t have even crossed the minds of most men.”
He held her tightly. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice full of emotion. Then he kissed her, lovingly, tenderly. “Maybe we should move.”
“What?”
“To a better house. One that at least has a pool so that there’ll be water for you to watch.”
“Johnny, we’re not moving. You’re saving up so that you can do that right movie when it comes along. And I’m fine where we are.”
“Wouldn’t you rather have a place like this one? All this space?”
“This place has too much space. It takes five minutes to get from one end to the other. I don’t want to be spending all of my time cleaning the house.”
“None of these people clean their own houses. They have housekeepers to do it for them.”
“Now you’re starting to sound like those lawyers, remember? First the nice house, then the Mercedes, then golf and the country club then in debt for the rest of their lives. Johnny, one day when we have the money, we’ll move. Not to one of these places but to someplace that we’ll turn into a sanctuary for us. Then we’ll have one here and one back in Hawaii. How perfect would that be?”
He kissed her again. She could still see the troubled look in his eyes.
“What’s the matter?”
“I don’t ever want you to feel that you made a mistake by moving here to be with me. I don’t ever want you to feel as though your soul is dying because you’re with me. The way that you felt when you were married before.”
“I felt like my soul was dying because I was with the wrong person for the wrong reasons. You’re the right person and we’re together for the right reason, aren’t we?”
He kissed her again tenderly, lovingly. “Love,” he said. “The only good reason. I do love you, you know, so much.”
“I love you. Forever.”
He hugged her tightly and then pulled her away. “Come on,” he said. “Forget the dishes and grab Angel. Let’s go for a ride.”
“A ride? Where to?”
“We’re not that far from Venice and there’s still a lot of sunlight left. We’ll go down there, grab a couple of burgers or hot dogs, and then we’ll just sit and watch the ocean. Just you, me, Angel, and the water. Yes?”
She smiled. “Yes,” she answered happily and then kissed him. “Let me take her out first. Come on baby,” she said to Angel who was wagging her tail as though she knew that something exciting was going to happen. “We’re going for a ride to see the ocean.”
He watched her again through the kitchen window and his heart was filled with love for her. He knew that his ambition, his desire to succeed, often made him selfish and self-centered when it came to relationships. In the past, he had been forced to deal with complaints from women about his lack of consideration and understanding of their needs. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand. The truth was, their needs weren’t more important to him than the goals that he had set for himself, and the more that those women complained about his neglect and his selfishness, the less he wanted to be with them.
It was different with Susan. She never complained—not about the long hours that he spent at the studio or about the unexpected meetings that interfered with plans that they had made or about having to attend all of the Hollywood parties that were beneficial to him but that he knew she disliked so much. She never complained about not having anything to do while he was gone or about being lonely or missing Hawaii and her sanctuary even though he knew that she must often feel that way. She never made him feel that he had to choose between her and his career. He knew that she wanted him to get his dream and that she was willing to do whatever she could to help him move closer to that goal. And because he knew that, because he realized how completely unselfish she was, he found himself wanting more than ever to make sure that she was happy. Without him realizing it, her kind of love had transformed him ... into a better person.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Isabel Franklin’s home was located in Beverly Hills. It was the kind of large estate that one would expect to be occupied by a movie star and not a casting director. It turned out that Isabel was once married to a very wealthy banker who gave her the home as part of their divorce settlement. It was more house than she needed, but it kept her at an address that was advantageous to her business.
As Isabel promised, Angel was the only dog there. Susan kept her on a leash to keep her close and safe. When Isabel wanted to introduce them to some of the guests, she carried Angel in her arms so that they could pet her and talk to her. Angel loved all the attention and everyone adored her friendly and happy nature. After all the guests had been given the opportunity to fill their champagne and wine glasses and enjoy the catered appetizers, Isabel stepped up to the microphone to make her pitch.
“Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please. As you know, this is a fundraiser for the Abandoned Animals Organization, which rescues animals abandoned and left to die by their owners and puts them into a no-kill shelter where they are provided with medical treatment and lots of TLC while the Organization actively tries to find them a home. My featured guest today is Susan, John Hellstrom’s wife, and I did not know this at the time that I asked her to appear here, but the little dog, Angel, that many of you have already met is from a litter of a rescued abandoned animal. Now some of you who were at John and Susan’s wedding reception a couple of weeks ago saw a charming routine that Susan did with Angel. She’s agreed to repeat that performance here today and I’m hoping that when you see it, you will see that saving abandoned animals is a worthwhile effort because you can easily end up with one as adorable as little Angel here. So please gather round and do take out your checkbooks.”
Isabel had hired a small band to play some easy listening music and one of the band members attached a small wireless microphone to Susan’s blouse. She took off Angel’s leash and put her down and the little dog ran all around saying hello to everyone who smiled and petted her.
“Angel, do you want to dance? Come and dance baby,” Susan said.
The dog barked happily then ran to her and took her place at Susan’s side. Susan began to sing the Ballin’ the Jack song and as the little dog danced along with her, the audience laughed, completely captivated by her performance. When they were done, everyone cheered and applauded loudly.
“Do you hear everyone clapping for you?” Susan asked Angel.
Angel barked her reply.
“Okay, then, you’d better take a bow.” The little dog did, which made the audience applaud even harder. Then Angel jumped into Susan’s waiting arms, kissed her repeatedly, and accepted her usual treat.
Just then, Susan heard someone scream. She turned her head and saw it—a Doberman, at least waist-high to her, charging through the crowd and heading straight for them, and she could tell immediately that it was fixated on Angel. She was in an open area. There was no place safe where she could put Angel so she did the only thing that she could think of to protect her baby—she dropped to the ground in a crouching position and covered Angel with her body.
“Down Angel,” she
said as calmly as she could. “Stay down, baby. Don’t move. No matter what happens, don’t move.”
The people in the audience could still hear her on the microphone. Then the dog was on her. She felt it clawing at her, trying to get to Angel. All she could do was keep her head down and leave no space where the animal could get through. Angel, able to hear the Doberman’s growls, was frightened. Susan held her firmly.
“It’s okay, Angel, it’s okay baby,” she said.
She felt the dog’s sharp claws tearing through her blouse and ripping her skin. Then the dog bit into her shoulder. She winced aloud but didn’t move. She felt its teeth in her as it tried to drag her off of Angel. People were yelling and screaming and finally she heard some men shouting at the dog, throwing things at it, and the attack stopped. Someone touched her gently, telling her that it was all right, that the animal had taken off. She got up slowly, still holding a bewildered Angel in her arms.
“We need to get her inside,” she said, “just in case it comes back.” She realized that the microphone was still on and pulled it off of her blouse. People helped her into the house and sat her down in the breakfast nook of Isabel’s kitchen. She put Angel on the table and held her and kissed her. The dog was clearly shaken. “It’s okay, baby,” she kept saying. “It’s all right now.”