Episode 908: The Entertainer

Adria wasn’t one of those detractors. She loved the place. She truly did. The space had character, exactly as the home of theatricals should.

It would be misery to see the theater fall into the wrong, careless hands. She and Dustin wanted to preserve and polish everything that made the theater so grand and unique, but someone else? They’d likely choose to gut it.

Wiggling in Adria’s arms, Miranda reached out and ran a tiny finger along an interesting design feature on the wall.

“Pretty,” the little girl said, or at least something close to that.

“It is pretty,” Adria agreed with her daughter. “Your daddy is surprisingly cool with all this.”

“Coo,” Miranda sort of echoed.

“He’s not just cool with it, he’s majorly encouraging me to take charge of this place.”

“Do it then.”

Adria knew the voice before she even turned to face him. “I just thought I’d give myself a little tour of the place,” she explained. “I just… I wanted to look around… I thought you were holed up in your office. I’ll go.”

“Stay. Tour the place as long as you want, I won’t bother you. Stay as long as it takes to convince you that you belong here, in charge. Because you do. Your husband knows it and so do I.” Dustin stated to walk away.

“Are you quitting directing?” Adria asked.

He shook his head. “I hope not. I mean, the way things are blowing up with the business right now, maybe the way I mishandled things with you will end everything for me, but I hope not. I’m hoping for a fresh start. I’ve thought a lot about my actions, Adria and I’m sorry, I mean, I hope you don’t feel like I did anything as bad as these guys in the news, but I do wish I had acted differently with my attraction to you. I guess, with our talents being so complimentary I was convinced that you belonged with me. It was stupid and ignorant, I came on too strong, I know, and totally dismissive of your marriage. I wish I had taken a step back and seen how difficult I was making it for you to work with me, I wasn’t enticing you to make a life with me, I was repelling you. I regret how I made you and your husband feel. I regret that you’ll never want to work with me after how I behaved. There’s no excuse, but at least maybe I can make this one thing right, sell you this theater so you can get back to creating, to being the entertainer you should be.”

Episode 909: Make Me Cry