Chapter 7 Dinner in Connecticut

Hi: It's a long chapter to make up for the delay of posting. I hope you enjoy it. Comments as usual are welcome.  - Teri

Chapter 7

Teri went back into the theatre after her conversation with Richie. She pulled Al aside and laid it on the line for him.  They walked to the back of the house and took a couple of seats. Away from the chaos but, close enough if needed.

“I got a huge problem, Al.”

Without taking his eyes off the stage, he answered.

“Yup. If those damn dancers don’t move fast enough, they’ll get whacked in the head by the second Audrey as she grows.”

“HA! Wish it were that easy to fix. I have a dinner thing Wednesday night, and a tech rehearsal here. What the hell am I gonna do? I need to be at both at the same time.”

“Well, technically, it’s a tech rehearsal right?”

“Yup.”

“So, it’s my rehearsal. I called tech in at noon, to see if we can iron some stuff out. Just flip it. Full tech at noon, and then you can blow outta here by three or in your case, four, or five. Then get ready for your date with Richie. I’ll keep tech crew, and we will run cue to cue at night instead. If people have to work, and can’t stay they are of course, excused as it’s a last minute schedule change. I know most of the cast took the next few days off from their day gig to be here for tech, and to take the next as a full day off from life. They will stay.”

“Oh. That’s a great idea! I lo…” Teri’s sentence died. “How did you know about Richie?”

Al grinned.

“I have ears Ter. Just cuz I’m male, doesn’t mean I’m immune to girl talk, gossip shit. I heard ya talking to Richie about the date when I went to look for you. Easy enough to put two and two together.”

Teri grinned, and sunk further in her seat. She put her legs over the row in front of her, and relaxed. As much as she hated to be away for the cue-to-cue tech part of the show, it DID belong to the stage manager.

Things worked out great all around. As usual, Susan showed up at Teri’s Wednesday morning. She does every morning of hell week so the girls can get their game plan set.

 Susan wakes up Teri with the smell of coffee that she either brought with her, or made in Teri’s kitchen. By the time, she hit Teri’s bedroom the smell had her director waking up.

On this particular day however, it seemed that the first task was to find something for Teri to wear for her date with Richie. Susan discovered her in the closet. As she looked at all her clothes, she dismissed each piece as she came across it on their hanger.  There was stuff all over the bed, discarded shoes on the floor, and Teri in her panties, and an oversized t-shirt hair rumpled from sleep and a frustrated look on her face.

“Here take this.” She said to Susan without a hello.

Susan juggled the two coffees she held, and grabbed a bunch of hangers from Teri

“These are the possible pile of tops. I got the jeans but, can’t decide on shoes until we figure out a top, and accessories.”

After a frustrating twenty minutes of trying on tops, Teri gave up.

“Fuck it, let’s go shopping. I don’t like anything. I’m gonna hit the shower. Ready to roll in like half an hour. We got a busy morning, and I can’t take too much time but, damn it, I gotta look good tonight.”

True to her word, they were in the car in half an hour, and on their way to a couple of Teri’s favorite stores. Susan drove so Teri could hopefully make a few calls and relax a bit.

The first store was a disaster. Nothing was good enough. The second store was better, but still no luck. Teri finally looked around the mall and headed toward Nordstrom.

“Come on, let’s hit one more store. Then we gotta roll. Rehearsal’s called for noon due to my date tonight. I can’t be late.”

Susan fully agreed. They took off toward Nordstrom. With a silent prayer from both they entered.

“BINGO! This is the one!”

Teri wasn’t ten feet into the store, when she saw her top on a mannequin. Of course, none were

 in her size, but she talked the sales woman into selling her the one on display. It was perfect. This is an amazing Caribbean blue; it’ll make my eyes pop! A tank top, with very thin straps. Hmmmm I can pair it with a pair of my light colored jeans. Oh, and those damn cork sandals Glor made me buy that I never wore this season.  Yup, sandals in the fall.  I just can’t tell her she was right… again. She thought as the outfit began to take shape in her mind. It was perfect. A jean jacket, or, her thin leather jacket to dress it down and she was ready to go.

Cue to cue tech rehearsals are boring at best. The cast stands in their spot on stage. The director, lighting director, costume, props, and stage manager all analyze the stage and move to the next cue It’s the tweaking with the department heads that takes a lot of time. By 2 p.m. they were pretty much done. The cast was told to relax and leave for a few hours. The band was dismissed for the night.  The rest stayed and sat around a table on stage with lunch and notes to discuss what did and didn’t work.  An email on the changes is sent to cast and band just like most director’s notes.

Teri was so engrossed in the process she never saw the time. By union rules, they had to have breaks at specific intervals. Al called dinner. Teri looked up from her notes that she was going over with the house manager, and realized she waited too long. It was going on 6 o’clock. She had no one to blame but herself. Susan left half an hour ago to run some errands, and wasn’t expected back for the rest of the night.

“Fuck! Gotta fly everyone. Al, I’m turning over rehearsal to you. I’ll see very one tomorrow. Enjoy yourselves.”

Teri ran out of the theatre, hopped into her car and was on her way home with minutes to spare. She had to stop and say hello to Cheryl who was hanging out at Teri’s little slice of beach. She was one of the neighborhood kids Teri knew. She liked Cheryl; but now wasn’t the time to have to entertain her.

Cheryl followed Teri into the house.

“Ter, when are you going to be around? Debbie and I want to come over. “

“Sorry honey, you know what it’s like when I am in production for a show. Opening night is coming up fast.”

“What are you doing tonight?” Cheryl asked.

She followed Teri upstairs, sat on her bed as Teri went into the closet, and got the outfit that she and Susan put together. Thank God, Susan was able to get back to the house, hang up my new purchase, and put away all their rejected clothes and shoes, Teri thought. No wrinkles. She wondered if Susan ironed it too…. Nah, even the best of PC’s won’t iron even with being asked. Teri chuckled to herself over that as she started toward the shower.

“I have a date tonight.”

“TONIGHT? You never date during this week.”

Teri turned to her young friend.

“He’s kinda special. I know you know who Bon Jovi is. I play their stuff enough around the house. I have a date with Richie Sambora.”

“OH, he’s sooo cute! I love him. Will he talk to me too? Can I come with you? I promise to behave. I want to date Richie too! Where did you meet him? You never told me.”

Teri smiled. She happened to glance at the bedside clock.

“If you go downstairs and let him in, you can meet him now. I haven’t told you cuz I’m in hell week, and haven’t even seen you since I got back from New York. I won’t be long. Tell him that I ran late and to make himself at home,” Teri said.

“Sure Ter, I’ll let Richie in.”

She ran downstairs as Teri hit her en-suite for a quick shower.

Cheryl was so excited to see and meet Richie. She decided to sit outside on the front steps and wait for him. She expected to see a black stretch limo and driver dressed in black with a hat. Cheryl’s mom always teased her that she got her imagination from Teri.

A car pulled up and into the driveway. It was a black 1997 BMW convertible. Richie stepped out of the driver side and rounded the front of the car. He didn’t notice Cheryl until he was almost to the stairs. She jumped up.

“Richie, Richie. Hi, I’m Cheryl come on in. Teri’s in the shower she ran late at rehearsal. Not like that’s unusual.  She’s always the last one to leave. My mom said it’s her second home. But, I don’t believe that.”

She chattered nonstop as she opened the front door and let Richie into the house.

Richie took off his sunglasses and looked at the child in front of him. She couldn’t have been more than seven years old. Damn, David was right! They are getting younger. The fans now span generations.  He followed Cheryl into the house.

Cheryl made sure Richie was comfortable in the living room and gave him a soda to drink.

“So, you’re going out with Teri, how cool. She’s so excited. She is up in her room now dressing.”

“You’re friends with Teri?”

“Oh yeah, for years.”

Richie smiled at the child for her “years” comment.

“Teri always lets me come over when she’s not busy with her work stuff. She says I distract her too much. We laugh a lot. And, we go shopping, even for boring stuff like food. And, we go to the beach, but her beach is really small, so, sometimes we go to Watch Hill, cuz Teri says those are real waves, not the small stuff we got here. And, we even went to Florida last year together. Mom and Dad wanted to go, and so did Teri, so we all went together, it was a blast! We swam and body surfed in the ocean, and went shopping, and we all flew to Grand Bahamas where Teri says the best Dolphin stuff was. We stayed overnight right across the street. It was so cool. We got to swim with them in their lagoon. Teri knows them, the people who run it. Not the dolphins. But, she does know them too. So, we got to go early, and stay late, and a boat took us over, and there is one dolphin which Teri always swims with her name is Ruballa and…”

“And, I’m sure Richie has heard enough of your chatter child. I heard you all the way up stairs talking a mile a minute. “

“But, I wanted to tell Richie about your bikini…”

“Oh, please continue.” Richie said with a wink at Teri.

He got up when Ter came in, and went over to give her a hug and kiss hello.

Cheryl watched her eyes wide at their kiss.

Richie handed her a bouquet of roses, which he picked up on his way in. Teri buried her face in the flowers and inhaled deep.

“Thank you so much. They are beautiful. I’ll just take a second to put them in water and we can go.”

Richie said, “We should go. My PA told Frank we’d be in around 7.”

“Considering it’s 7:15, yeah, I would say let’s go.” Teri replied.

Cheryl dragged her feet, but left with them, and watched Teri lock the front door.

“Well, I guess I’ll see ya tomorrow.”

“Probably not, Cheryl, remember its hell week.”

Chery nodded. She watched them walk to the car. Richie opened Teri’s door, and helped her in, then walked around the front to the driver side.  He gave Cheryl a wave.

Happy, she waved back and watched them drive away. When she went home for dinner, Cheryl told her parents all about meeting Richie. They were extremely happy for her, and impressed. Teri deserved a little fun in her life.

Richie and Teri drove to the restaurant. Teri gave directions and Richie drove the very luxurious car.

When they arrived, the couple made their way through the crowd who were waiting in line at the popular restaurant. Richie posed for pictures and signed some autographs. He was genuinely glad to do this, so Teri stepped to the side and watched with a smile on her face. Richie Sambora…. Dinner…. Him and me… Life is good.

Once inside, the hostess immediately sat them at Frank’s reserved table in the back.

“If you want, when you are ready to leave, we can get you out the back door. I’ll have someone bring your car around for you.”

“No worries. I don’t mind a few fans. Let’s see how it goes.” Richie replied.

He knew that word would get out quick. Many people will think that Jon was with him too. They usually do.

At that moment, Frank Pepe descended on their table.  Richie stood and hugged the older man. He then introduced him to his date.

“Frank, this is Teri.”

Frank leaned over and gave Teri a kiss on the cheek.

“She looks familiar. You’ve been here before, right?”

“Many times,” Teri said with a smile. “Normally take out though. The wait here is always super long.”

“No more. Now, you call Frank, and get a table. Anytime.  A friend of Richie Sambora’s is a friend of mine.”

Teri smiled and thanked Frank for his kindness.

“Now, I bring you antipasto, and some bread. I keep the good wine for my friends. You will enjoy that too.”

Before either could say a word, Frank was on his way back to the kitchen and the wood stove ovens that were signature to some amazing pizza.

“Pays to know people in high places,” Teri said as the wine was placed in front of them. “No more wait at Pepe’s! My friends are going to think I’m royalty or somethin’...”

Their dinner progressed nice and easy. They talked and laughed their way through the meal.  Frank had stopped by again and insisted on picking up their tab. After a few pictures taken with the two and Frank, they were free to go. Richie left a very generous tip, and they couple walked out the front door to their car. Teri suspected the large tip was done on purpose, as Frank picked up the meal, it was the least Richie could do as a thank you to sign a few autographs for staff and patrons waiting outside for a table.

Back at the house, Teri and Richie made themselves comfortable on the couch.  Teri talked about her show and Richie about the album and tour they had coming up. After a while Teri got them a snack and a glass of wine each.

“It may not be as good as Franks but I like it,” she said as she put the glass in front of Richie.

When they started to kiss more than talk Teri suggested it was bedtime. She got up turned off the lights and put their glasses and snack plates in the dishwasher. When she got back to the family room Richie had turned off the stereo and was waiting. Teri grabbed his hand and they climbed the stairs to bed.