Episode 973: All I Wanna Do

“Miss you, Daddy,” Miranda murmured.

“I missed you, too, it’s been forever since I brought you here at lunch to spend the rest of the afternoon with Mommy.” With one more warm hug, he set Miranda on her feet and went to Adria, pressing a kiss to his wife’s temple as she shut her laptop.

“How did your meeting go?” Adria asked.

“Good, I think, the client seemed happy.”

“Awesome,” Adria said around a yawn. “Sorry, it’s not that you’re boring me.” She rubbed her eyes. “I’m just beat.”

“Rough time with the kiddo this afternoon?” He’d thought things had been going well lately as far as their work and time with their girl. And fortunately, Miranda was a pretty happy go lucky kid, good at entertaining herself and going with the flow. Usually.

“Sweetie has been the easiest part of my day. She even took a nap without much prodding. I just, I came up with an idea for the theater, I got all wrapped up in it only to a few minutes ago wonder what was I thinking. I guess it’s wiped me out, having that high of thinking, wow, that’s so great and then suddenly be like, no, Addie, that’s insanity.”

“What’s the idea?”

“To write a play. “

Ryley shrugged. “Why is that insane? You’re great at improv and writing.”

“I needed to mount an actual production, like, yesterday,” she explained. “I should choose a revival, something that can be put together quickly. The last couple months have all been bookings for comedians and musicians. I don’t want actual theater fans to start thinking that’s all we have to offer, to stop checking to see what’s playing before something actually is playing.”

“And no revival has been speaking to you creatively.” Creativity wasn’t a process Ryley understood all that well, but he tried, and he definitely listened when his wife spoke about it, knowing it was a driving force for her.

“Yeah, exactly,” she said. “And I mean, that was the whole point of buying this place and stressing our schedules to the max with Miranda. I’m supposed to be doing what I’m passionate about, that’s what I want to do, but I failed to consider that it’s also a business, which I guess is in my genes from my dad, but I don’t know how to access it, I don’t really think that way. I put so much thought into whether I could juggle my creative life and motherhood but I didn’t consider whether I’m qualified for the entire job. What if this all was a huge mistake?”

Episode 974: Promises Made