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Jo slapped a hand on the table and cut him off. “Did you or did you not promise me that you would retire once MDash was doing well?”
Even Jake knew better than to argue with that tone of voice when logic was on her side.
Dom clearly hadn’t learned that lesson, despite their lengthy marriage. “I did, but…”
“Ma, I’m the one who pushed for the show.” Frankie jumped into the fray. “Dad was going to pass, but I wanted a chance to prove to him that I can run the business. If I can pull this off, he’s agreed to step back and let me run things day to day with Adrian. Isn’t that right, Dad?”
Jake had not heard any of this from Dom. He had to assume Frankie was taking advantage of the situation to get Dom on record with her plan. She had him over a barrel, and he knew it.
“Um, uh, that’s right. I’m not really involved in the new show.”
“Then what's the holdup? When are you retiring?” Jo pressed.
“After the kids’ weddings. I want to be able to cover for them for their baby leaves and honeymoons, but then I’ll be done. I’ll walk away.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Jo huffed. “You all heard him. When you get back from your honeymoons, he is done." She turned a steely glare first on Sofia and Adrian, then Natalie and Enzo, and finally Jake and Frankie. Everyone nodded dutifully. "I’m holding you to it this time.” She jabbed her finger at Dom again, who hunched his shoulders as if she’d actually made contact.
The rest of dinner passed innocuously enough. The tense moment was quickly subsumed beneath the updates from Daisy’s school and the tale of the skinny hallway from the vineyard. Family stories, inside jokes, and shop talk flowed around the table as people cleared their plates without missing a beat.
Jake just marveled, completely entertained. He couldn’t turn off his analytical eye, and an intricate web of connecting relationships and conflicts mapped in his brain. This was why families were compelling. Million-Dollar Starter Home wasn’t a hit because of Sofia’s designs, or Adrian’s biceps, or Enzo’s lawns, or Frankie’s pratfalls, or any of the behind-the-scenes work Natalie did. It was the genuine love and humor they held for each other that made them sparkle on-screen.
By the end of Hudson House, Jake had developed that kind of vibe with his TV family. The other actors had genuinely cared for each other, and after eight years on the set together, they’d known each other inside and out. When the show had been canceled, he’d lost much more than an income. He lost the only family who had ever given a damn about him. Just in time for puberty to put him through the wringer.
At the wrap party, they’d all promised to keep in touch. Martin Milton, who had played his on-screen father and often off-screen as well, had spun him a story about barbeques and pool parties. As a twelve-year-old, Jake had believed him. He hadn’t understood that it was what everyone said at the end of a project, but that it very rarely came to pass. Another reason he refused the reunion events was that he didn’t have anything worth saying to them anymore. They’d abandoned him when he’d needed them most and made him question whether the connection they’d shared had simply been good acting.
He’d gone back home to his mother who had immediately booked him into the first role he was offered, a particularly bad tween remake ofMuch Ado About Nothing, without even asking him. A series of teen movies with truly awful plot lines and even worse directors followed as he grew out of the awkward phase and into his cheekbones.
But the day he turned eighteen, he’d fired her as his manager, paid off the house she was living in, moved out, and quit acting. He couldn’t do anything about the residuals, but he wasn’t going to earn her one dime more than he was legally obligated to pay.
Jo pulled him from his deep thoughts with a hand on his arm.
“It’s a nice night,” she said. “Come sit on the porch with me while everyone else cleans up. Bring your wine.”
Following her out the back door, he sat down next to her on the stairs leading down to the garden and sipped his Montepulciano. Jo had great taste in wine.
The backyard stoked Jake's admiration of the Valenti childhood even higher. The tree house in the corner must have been the envy of every child in the neighborhood. Even now he was barely resisting the urge to check it out. Combined with the sandbox, the raised garden beds, and the fairy empire, and he could picture the Valenti kids, past and present, having the time of their lives.
“You must think I’m crazy.”
Her non sequitur pulled him from his jealous thoughts. Jo stared down at her hands and fiddled with her wedding ring, her wine forgotten on the stairs.
“Why do you say that?” Jake turned to lean against the newel post so he could look her in the eye.
“Here you’ve gone and made my family famous. You’ve made us a household name and business is booming, and all I want is for Dom to walk away from it.”
“That’s not crazy.”
“It’s just… Look, I devoted my adult life to making sure the kids were raised right, and Dom had what he needed, and the business stayed afloat. And I did it out of love. We built a good life, and we always planned to slow down and enjoy it all later." She gestured to the yard and the house, but clearly meant the memories and the people contained within. "We aren’t guaranteed a tomorrow, and I want to enjoy whatever days I may have left with the man I love, instead of watching him work himself into an early grave.”
“I get it. When I left acting, it was against the advice of every adult in my life. But just like you said, life is short, and I’d already missed out on most of my childhood. I couldn’t lose the rest of my life as well. I truly think Dom is nearly there.”
Jo took a long sip of her wine. “This vineyard project…how involved is he, really?”
“He’s very hands-off on the build. Honestly, it’s practically an honorary role. He’s done some short explanations of what’s going on, but Frankie is running the build.”
“Then where the hell does he go everyday?" Jo's frustration leaked into her voice. Jake shrugged and she waved him off. "Not your job to be his babysitter. But this has to be the end of it for him. No more shows."
Jake felt her words land heavily on his shoulders, but what could he say?
