Fingering my napkin, I slowly ask, “Does that mean you’re going back, too?”
He reaches across to rest his hand on the white table cloth near my fork. “Josh is doing better. He’s busy. And like I told you the other night, this has even renewed his interest in his own charity. Today he booked a speaking engagement.”
With all of the time we’ve spent together, I’ve heard so many stories, so I’m aware that Josh hasn’t booked one of those since Leah died. I offer a smile tainted by sadness. “That’s great.”
Nax turns over his hand, palm up. I slide mine onto it, staring at our connected skin as he explains, “The film I told you was on hold is going into preproduction.”
“So you have to get back to work.”
“I also want to be where Joe is, especially while these papers are getting signed, and Liz and I are dismantling the house. There are a lot of changes.”
A lump forms in my throat. I knew this was extremely complicated going in, and I’ve tried to remain detached, but this pain in my heart says I failed. Dropping my gaze I nod, “Mmhmm. I see.”
“I don’t think you do. Look at me. That’s better. I wanted to know if you’d like to make this official.”
My eyebrows twitch up. “Official?”
His sea-blue eyes glitter with hope. “Would you like to be exclusive? My girlfriend. Long distance.”
A sharp inhale of relief straightens my back, eyelashes fluttering as I take in what he’s offered. I was so close to calling it a night, so I could cry. Over the lump, I ask, “Um, do you think that could work?”
“I think anything can work if two people want it.” He intertwines our fingers. “I want it. Do you?”
A smile spreads through all of me. “Yes, I want it, too.”
He withdraws his hand, demeanor changing to fun. “Good! Because my film shoots in Manhattan so I’ll be here a lot.”
Blinking, I tilt my head and cry out, “What?” so loud it pauses other conversations.
Nax bursts out laughing, shoulders shaking as he drags a hand through his hair. “Man, your reaction!”
I smack his arm, which requires some reach. “You’re filming here?! So Joe will be coming with you and I can see you?!” He takes a long, slow sip from my cocktail to increase the suspense. “Nax!”
He almost spits it out from laughing. “Oh it’s better than that! This project wasn’t supposed to be green-lit for another year.” He sets down my cocktail. “But when I found out Liz’s movie was shooting in New York just a few hours away, she shared its schedule with me for Joe’s sake, including preproduction so I…”
Narrowing my eyes, I confess, “I’m trying to follow along, but I don’t speak filmmaker.”
Nax sets his elbows on the table, hands gesturing as he teaches me, “In order to make a movie you have to not only secure set locations like I told you Liz has been doing, but also housing for crew and cast. Catering for all of the meals. When you’re uprooting that many people from wherever it is they live, you’re in charge of feeding and housing them. Pre-production also includes mapping out every single shot you will need to string together the story. Not just a scene, but wide angle, medium shot, close-up, establishing shot. All of that has to be done with the actors’s schedules in mind, weather, location — how they overlap.” He blinks at me. “I’m overwhelming you.”
“Yep.”
Nax laughs, leaning back. “You were much better at explaining a Titanosaur.”
I wave my hand. “It’s a simpler beast.”
Nodding that he gets it, Nax gives me a summary. “Suffice to say, it’s a long process, and that’s even before filming. The actual shoot is between a month to two, sometimes three or longer depending on the movie. Theirs will be somewhere in between.” He leans forward again, that familiar hint of a secret shining in his eyes. “So guess what I did?”
“You just made me happy?”
He takes a sip. “Besides that! What I did, my gorgeous Zia Tuck, is I scheduled my film before hers. We start pre-production in two months.”
I blink, brain moving fast to keep up with this world he’s exposing me to. “You mean you’ll be here for two months, and then stay through hers?”
“Preproduction will be about two months, filming two more.”
My head tilts with a frown as I realize, “But will you want to be away from Joe for that long? Liz won’t need to be here until her movie starts.”
Nax nods, eyes losing a bit of their light. “Yes, but since I took Joe for a month she will have the opportunity of reclaiming that time. I will fly back for some weekends, and fly him out with me for part of it. I can also have it set up where he’s already here when she arrives. I think Liz will agree to that. We’re both determined to work together on custody and co-parenting.”
If I were with another man I might be worried about looking silly if I bounced in my chair, but since it’s Nax, I don’t have to think about such things. So I bounce away, grinning my ass off like a kid with cake. “This is so great! I can’t believe it!”
“So, you’re in?”
I stop bouncing, leaning forward with a confused, “In?”
“Exclusive. You and me. Nobody else while we wait to see each other again.”
This exhale I feel in my soul. “I’m in.”
He reaches across the table and I gladly give him my hand, smiling into his smile as he says a simple, perfectly satisfied, “Good!”
The food arrives, and not one cell in my body regrets it for a second that I didn’t order the Seafood Begendi I wanted. It’s just food, and Nax’s happy pride as I eat the seabass he thinks he correctly predicted, makes it taste so much better than anything else could have. He was right about the flatbread, though.
