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That resulted in a ten-minute rant which prominently featured the words man-child, aggravating, irresponsible, and chickens. It concluded with, “He almost brought the chicken to the party tonight. He wanted to put her in a little tuxedo. It was all I could do to talk him out of it.”
Will slid his chair closer and put his arm around Phoenix’s shoulders as he said, “Hang in there, buddy. I plan to steal you away from him as soon as my next film gets going.”
Phoenix muttered, “Thank God.”
Will looked great. He’d cut his hair short and shaved once the role of Alex had wrapped, and he was dressed in a sharp, deep blue suit and a white shirt, which was open at the collar. His fiancé’s suit was in a complementary shade of blue, which made me think they secretly coordinated their outfits, even though they denied it. He told us, “I feel like I haven’t seen you guys in a year! How has it only been three weeks?” Then he turned to me and asked, “What’s new with you, Riley? Do you have your next job lined up?”
“As a matter of fact, I do. I just got hired by a special effects makeup company here in San Francisco, and I start Monday. It’s a job doing exactly what I’m interested in, and it’s even a step up from entry-level.” That was definitely because of the fantasy makeup photoshoots Gabriel and I had done together, which had really impressed them.
“So, you’re staying in San Francisco,” Phoenix said.
Gabriel nodded. “We decided this was the best place for us, since we have a lot of support here.”
“Plus, this is going to be the headquarters for Gabriel’s lingerie company,” I said with a smile. “He’s partnered with his friend Sawyer MacNeil, and they’re going to be launching an online retail site this summer.”
Phoenix asked, “The Sawyer MacNeil, as in the name on those awesome coffee houses?” When Gabriel nodded, he said, “I didn’t realize you had friends in such high places.”
Gabriel grinned and told him, “I’ve known him since we were both in low places.”
Lorenzo asked, “Isn’t that a country song? Something about friends in low places?”
“It is,” Will said, “and that reminds me. We were promised karaoke, and I want to get my Salt ‘n Pepa circa 1987 on.”
I said, “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. In fact, Lorenzo and I have a whole choreographed dance routine that goes with it.”
Will looked really proud of that, but Lorenzo colored slightly and muttered, “That’s like, something we do in private.”
I grinned and said, “Kinky,” which made Will chuckle.
The karaoke started a few minutes later. Everyone headed to the lounge, and Harper was the first to take the stage. He really did seem to crave the spotlight.
Gabriel whispered, “I need some fresh air for a minute,” and led me away from the crowd. The restaurant was built around a serene, meticulously landscaped courtyard, and we took a seat on an ornate red bench beside a small fountain. He put his head on my shoulder and said, “It’s been such a busy week. I feel like we’ve barely had a chance to catch our breath.”
In addition to working on getting his business off the ground with Sawyer, Gabriel and I had been attending a long-term recovery support group every Wednesday night, and he’d been meeting with a drug and alcohol counselor every Monday and Thursday. The counselor was one of Zachary and TJ’s friends, and Gabriel had nothing but good things to say about him.
At the same time, I’d just completed my last week of work on the movie. It was bittersweet. On one hand, I was totally ready for my next challenge. But after all those weeks together, the cast and crew had started to feel like a family, and it was always tough for me to say goodbye to people.
On top of that, Gabriel and I had been apartment hunting in the city, but that was pretty discouraging. He could use his savings now that he had an investor and wouldn’t need every penny for his start-up, but San Francisco was stunningly expensive.
Sawyer and Alastair had told us we were welcome to stay with them as long as we wanted to. We were grateful for that, but it wasn’t a long-term solution. I wanted enough space to keep working on my own makeup projects, even though I’d landed that job, and Gabriel needed a home office, as well as room to display his sketches and sew his samples. Most of all, we wanted a place we could call home, and we’d always feel like visitors in our friends’ apartment.
I’d given notice on my apartment in L.A., and that weekend we were going to pack up all my stuff and bring it and my car back to San Francisco. We were going to get Gabriel’s things from Seahorse Ranch at the same time, but almost all our stuff would have to go into a storage unit for now, since we didn’t have anyplace to put it.
