Chapter 40
The following weekend, Paul kept his promise and took the girls to the house show. Montana accompanying all of them. It was yet another tri-branded show, and Montana was excited about seeing the old gang again. She really hadn’t talked to anyone since leaving her job several weeks before, and there was no better time to catch up.
Paul had to go to a meeting with creative and the girls were with Mariah on an outing. Montana was alone in the room for awhile, using the opportunity to catch up with friends by phone and instant messenger. With the girls, she really had little time to herself anymore, and what time she did get, Montana took advantage of the opportunities.
Montana had spent the next few hours in solace between calls from both Paul and Shaun, asking if Brian had contacted her.
“No,” she replied to Shaun at one point, confused. “Should he have?”
“He was supposed to be here about two hours ago for a run through,” Shaun replied. “This isn’t like him either to be late or not show at all. Could you give me or Paul a buzz if he happens to show up there?”
“Of course.”
What the hell was going on? she thought.
Montana went back to what she was doing, only to have the phone ring fifteen minutes later. Annoyed by now, she vowed whoever was on the other end this time was about to ripped a new one.
“Look, I haven’t heard from anyone, I don’t know where he is—” she began before being cut off. “Oh, hi. What? You’re WHERE? How did that happen? Sure, sure, I’ll tell him. Just hang in there; he should be back in about ten minutes anyway.”
Montana hung up and sighed. “Why me?” she asked herself, looking at the ceiling.
If this wasn’t enough, Mariah was supposed to be back with the girls a half hour earlier and Montana wasn’t able to contact her on the phone. By the time Paul finally did return, Montana’s nerves were stretched to the limit.
“Anything exciting happen?” he asked.
“Normally, I would say no, but your blond midget finally called about forty five minutes ago.”
“Jesus! I’ve been covering for his ass all afternoon. Why didn’t you call me?”
“Try turning on your phone. I’ve been dialing for the past half hour. Anyway, he needs bail money.”
“WHAT?! Oquela. What the hell happened?”
“Something about a bonfire up at his hotel. I’ll let him explain it. And Mariah still isn’t back with the girls.”
“What do you mean she isn’t back?”
“Just what I said. It’s been quite a day and I really don’t need any more bullshit. Will you please get hold of the jail and figure out what to do about Brian before he shits himself down there?”
“Christ, of all days for him to get in trouble and Mimi to disappear with my kids. We got a show in four hours!”
Well, you’re not going to get anything accomplished standing here bitching like an old woman.”
“Fine, I guess it’s up to me to go bail out Spanky. Meanwhile, will you please call me when and if Mimi shows up with the girls? Maybe get them ready too before I get back.”
“Turn on your phone,” Montana nodded. “Anything else, Your Highness?”
Just then, a knock came on the door.
“Yes?” Montana asked before opening it.
“Montana, it’s Marylin. I have the kids.”
“Oh thank God!” she replied, opening the door. “Are you girls okay? Where’s Mariah?”
“Some policemen came and took her and Uncle Spanky away,” Mac explained, wide eyed. “Miss Marylin had to get us.”
“Okay,” Paul cut in. “What is going on here?”
“From what Mariah told me, your buddy thought it would be funny to teach the girls about ‘the fine art’ of lighting farts,” Marylin said sternly. “From there, both she and Brian got this idea to have a bonfire in the parking lot.”
“Oh God,” he groaned. “Not again.”
“Again?” Montana was confused.
“Yeah, he did this bonfire shit once before. He just went out to the parking lot of that hotel, no shirt on, cigarette in his god damn mouth, a can of lighter fluid, got a bunch of tree limbs, and started a bonfire. He burned his hand so fucking bad and singed his arm hair off.”
“What was he trying to do, get himself killed?”
“You never know about that weirdo. Anyway, the staff told him to put it out, so his way of doing that was hitting it with one of the hotel’s towels a bunch of times.”
“And apparently this time, the staff of the present hotel called the police,” Marylin explained. “I got a call from Mariah not long after to get the kids, that she and Brian were going downtown to be booked.”
“Both of them?” Paul asked. “Brian I can see, but Mimi?”
“She held the lighter fluid can. Not to mention she and your buddy were a little…..intoxicated.”
“Oh God. I told both of them about doing that drinking shit around the girls. Doesn’t anyone listen to me?”
“Look, maybe Marylin can go with you down there to straighten this all out,” Montana told Paul.
“Oh it will get straightened out all right, provided they don’t book my ass on two counts of murder. They’re lucky the girls didn’t get hurt.”
“We were in the room when the big fire happened, Papi,” Kira said.
“Well, at least they did something right. I’ll be having a talk with you two later about this fart lighting thing.”
“Are you mad at us?” Mac asked.
“No, baby, I’m not mad at you guys, just the two idiots who thought starting fires in a parking lot was fun and entertaining. Look, you stay here with Montana for a bit. I got two people to drag out of lockup before show time.”
|
