Chapter 25: Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?

Julianna hung up the phone, hands shaking. After putting the ziti casserole in the oven, and setting the timer, she dashed to the bathroom for a quick shower. She had to wash the city off of her.

Richie found he couldn’t wait a half hour. He had to see her now. He rushed through a shower, and within minutes was on his way out the door. Tico stopped him as he was halfway out the front door. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”

“Julianna’s back, and I’m going over for a late supper, and to hear about her trip,” Riche replied, impatient to be off.

“Sounds good, can we come?” Tico asked, laughing.

“Come where?” Dave asked, coming into the great room.

“To Julianna’s for a late dinner,” Richie said, “and no, you can’t.”

“Spoilsport,” Tico said, laughing harder.

Richie grinned and bolted before anyone else could waylay him. He all but sprinted to his truck. He wasn’t wasting any time; he could drive over there quicker than he could walk. He pulled in front of Julianna’s cottage, and went around back, going in through the kitchen. The heavenly aroma of fresh sauce and mozzarella cheese wafted over him. Richie called out, “Julianna, where are you?” Straining his ears, he could hear water running and faint singing.

Following the sounds, he found himself outside Julianna’s bathroom door. He hesitated, a hand on the doorknob. Deciding to let her set the pace, he knocked instead. “Hey, babe, I’m here,” he called through the door.

“Hey, there! You’re early! Dinner will be ready in a little while – go make yourself at home.” She hesitated for a moment. “I’m nearly done in here, and will be out soon.”

Richie smiled at the hesitation. So, she didn’t know how to play this either. This was going to be fun. “Hey, you want me to open some wine?”

“I have a Chablis open in the library; if you want something else,” she paused again, “just help yourself.”

“Gotcha. No problem.” He lingered with a hand on the door for a moment, then turned to survey Julianna’s private domain. The bedroom was done in similar colors to his own at the house, but the shades here were much softer, more feminine. Girly touches – filmy scarves, colorful perfume bottles, floral fabrics – dotted the room, painting a very pretty picture. Marquee posters from various Broadway shows lined her walls – some hers and some the standards: Phantom, Les Mis, Cats, and Rent, among others. He jumped when the water shut off, and he bolted from the room. Damn, she has me way to jumpy.

Striding into the kitchen, he helped himself to a beer from the fridge. Spying Julianna’s MP3 player in its dock on the counter, he decided to have a look. You could learn a lot about a person by what she listened to. The current song, played about halfway through, had a cryptic name: P1-S3-G2-X3-A1-V2. He looked at the rest of the play list. It was filled with tracks named with some of the same letter-number combinations. Huh, he thought. He checked out the name of the play list: “T&G”. Curiosity getting the better of him, he pressed play. Julianna’s music and voice filled the kitchen. She was singing the song he and Jon had written. The sound quality was excellent, and Julianna’s voice pure and strong.

While she was getting dressed, Julianna heard the music coming from the kitchen and froze. “Shit!” she said out loud, and hurriedly pulled on jeans and a tank top. She padded quietly toward the kitchen, winding her hair into a knot as she went. Peeking in, she could see Richie sitting at the table, facing the door, his eyes closed, and a slight smile on his lips. His beautiful face showed such happiness, that she had to choke back a sob. She blinked rapidly to clear the sheen of tears from her eyes, and coughed quietly to get Richie’s attention.

Richie opened his expressive brown eyes, and locked them onto hers. “Julianna, this is amazing. When did you do this? How?”

Julianna put her hands in her back pockets, and looked down at the floor. “When I read the music, I couldn’t help myself. I’m sorry – I had to hear it out loud like I did in my heart.” She looked up at him, embarrassed. “I know it’s not the way you guys intended it to sound, and I never meant for you to hear it. I just wanted to get a feel for it before we started rehearsing it. Wanted to be prepared, you know?”

Richie was just staring at her, wonder in his face. Encouraged that he didn’t look upset, she told him about recording the different tracks in her studio, and mixing them together. He watched her begin to pace, her face becoming more animated and alive as she talked about the different versions she recorded, and picking and choosing the different tracks for the final mix. When she got close enough to grab, Richie reached for her, pulled her onto his lap, and kissed her.

With a surprised squeak, Julianna melted into Richie’s embrace. She was so full of energy from the evening’s work, and just plain happy that he was there with her, she couldn’t contain herself. She shifted position so she was straddling his lap, and tunneled her fingers through his thick hair as she kissed him for all she was worth.

As a testament to their consistently lousy timing, the oven timer went off, making them jump. Chuckling, Julianna reluctantly disengaged herself. “I need to turn that off and get dinner out of the oven before it burns.”