Set after "What Kind of Day Has It Been?"~~ previous / next
The emotion in this damned song was too much tonight, and Dana started to cry before she could stop herself. She was not entirely sad. It was just that the day had taken so many violent ups and downs she could barely contain her frayed nerves and hurt pride.
The guilt she could contain, but still it sat in the back of her mind. Gordon. Hadn't she loved him? Hadn't she wanted to be his wife? And he loved her, too, didn't he? So why was it that this song, this blasted Stevie Nicks song was making her think not of Gordon but of mixed-up film and not entirely funny jokes?
Time to stop the CD and put down the bottle of merlot before this crying thing went too far. Dana hit stop and drained her glass just as the phone rang. For just a moment, she thought it might be Gordon.
"Hello?"
"Hey."
Relief. "Hey, Casey."
"Whatcha doin'?"
"Drinking."
Casey laughed. "Drinking?"
"Yup."
"Having fun?"
"Not really."
"What are you drinking?"
"Merlot."
"Blackberry?"
"How'd you know?"
Casey shrugged and she knew it. "You like blackberries."
"Yup."
"You like blackberries and you like honey."
"I like honey in my merlot?"
"I hope not."
"Then what --"
"The blackberry thing reminded me of the honey thing."
"The honey thing?"
"Yeah."
"Which honey thing?"
"The one at graduation."
"O-oh!" Dana laughed. "Gotcha."
They let a comfortable silence close around them before Dana said, "Hey."
"I thought we did this already."
"This isn't a hello hey, this is a Hey hey."
"Like horses eat?"
"Not that kind of hay. Not an A hay, an E hey." By this time Dana's tears had been replaced by a wine-and-Casey-induced case of the giggles.
"Hey what?" Casey asked.
"Well, I don't remember now, thank you."
"Any time."
Dana's smile lingered. "Hey," she finally repeated. "Why'd you call?"
"To see how you're feeling," he admitted.
"You mean because of Gordon?"
"Who cares about Gordon? I mean because your strobe exploded," Casey teased.
"Well, my strobe mourning has been drowned in this blackberry stuff, so don't worry."
"And your Gordon mourning?"
Dana's voice got very quiet as she admitted, "I'm not mourning Gordon."
"I'm glad," Casey said honestly.
"You're glad I have no heart?"
"You have a heart, Dana."
"I was gonna marry him, Casey."
"You have a heart."
"I was going to marry him."
"That doesn't mean you loved him."
"I did love him."
"I know."
"I thought I loved him."
"I know."
"He slept with Sally."
"So did I."
"I still love you."
"I love you too."
"So that's not it. Why didn't I love Gordon?"
Casey sighed. "Because you're you, and he is incredibly not," he told her.
"You're not me."
"I know you."
Dana smiled. "Yeah, you do."
"I know you like blackberries."
"And honey," she reminded him.
"You calling me honey?" he teased.
"And shrimp cocktails," Dana ignored him.
"And Zambonis," he said.
"And photography," she giggled.
"There it is," Casey said as if to himself.
"There's what?"
"Nothing."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Okay."
"Isaac looks good," he changed the subject.
Dana grinned. "Isaac could at this point be wearing a pink polyesther pantsuit and look good. The important thing is that he's here."
"He's at your apartment?"
"He's at the office."
"He's at the office at 3 a.m.?"
"Casey."
"Shutting up."
"The important thing is that he's back. He's back, and he's running the organization, and I can turn back to running the show and relax a little."
Now it was Casey who laughed aloud. "You're going to relax?"
"In a sense."
"In the sense that you're going to be more permanently glued to the control room?"
"That's the sense I meant."
"Aah."
"Casey?"
"Yeah."
"It's really okay?"
"What's really okay?"
"That I don't miss Gordon."
"It's more than okay, honey."
"Now you're calling me honey?"
"Yep."
"It is, really?"
"It's okay."
Dana bit her lip. "Thank you," she said at last.
This time he was serious when he told her, "Any time." She held the phone closer and wiped away the last dampness of tears. It was Casey who knew her, crystalline. Everything was going to be all right.
~Sary
12 April 2000