Page 43 of Born To Be My Baby

Jami chuckled. "That sounds good and maybe the work distraction is just what you need. And I'm here for you, buddy. I don't have anything going on tomorrow, anyway. I've just been lying low since we got home."

"Okay, well, that sounds great. I'll be by around nine. I'll get Gloria settled and, oh wait, Mina's coming home tomorrow. Oh, so okay. How about if we say noon? I'll be at the Barn at noon. I'll have gotten Mina and Gloria back to my place. They can take naps, and then we can do some jamming. See if we can put these words to music."

Jami replied, "That sounds good and if things work out that you need to stay with them tomorrow, obviously that's not a problem. But I understand what you mean. When a song is pounding in your head, you’ve got to get it out. And to be honest with you, I'm selfish about this. I just want to make sure you're okay. And I'd like to meet those women in your life."

Sean closed his eyes, leaned his elbow on his knee and ran his left hand down his face. "Man, Jami, I'll tell you what a clusterfuck. I loved her so much back in the day.”

"I know you did. Man, I remember you talking about her nonstop after you broke it off with her and worrying if it was the right thing or not, I remember."

"Yeah. And part of me, those feelings are still in existence. And then at the same time, I'm so fucking mad at her. So fucking mad. Twenty-plus years, I had a daughter, Jami, and I didn't know she existed."

He heard Jami sigh on the other end. "Man, I don't even know what to tell you about that. Never experienced anything like it and I don't have the proper words for you. And I know it's got to be fucking with your head big time."

Sean sighed deeply. "You have no idea how it's fucking with my head. And Mina wants to chat now and I'm sure she's just looking for some reassurance that I'm still going to be in her life. And I'll tell you this. Nothing in the world could keep me away from her at this point. We've got years that we haven't been together and years to make up for."

Jami was quiet for a moment and then he said, "I completely understand that, man, and I can have Tony come over with a new schedule or email me one or something if he's busy, and we can look it over. If some changes need to be made, we can talk about them and see what he can do."

Sean stood, pulled his shoulders back slightly and said, "I don't want to change anything just yet. I'll tell you, Gloria's job is on the line right now. The network wants to speak with her on Monday, and I don't know if she's going to get sacked or not. She's not sure either. She’s worried about it and I don't know, things are up in the air. So tomorrow let's focus on music and only that. The rest of it will take care of itself when it does."

Jami said, "That sounds like a great plan. I'll see you tomorrow. Call me if you need to change anything. I'm fine. We'll deal."

"Thanks, bud. I know I don't say this often enough, Jami, but I sure do love you, man."

Jami chuckled, "I love you too, bud. We've got this. We're all your family here. We're all with you, whatever you need."

"I appreciate that, bud."

Jami said, "See you tomorrow." And then the line went dead. He hesitated a moment, pocketed his phone, picked up his tray and continued on back to the room.

33

Gloria stood and paced the room slowly.

Sean had heard every word.

"Mom, it's going to be alright. I mean, would I love for you and Dad to get back together and for us to, even though we have things to work through, make new memories as a family? You know that's all I've ever wanted. I've always wanted a family, a dad, my dad. But I'm also practical. That's something that you taught me. And I also know that life isn't always so easy and easily manipulated. So while I say that I would love for you to get back together, please know that if you just can't do it, I'm not going to hold it against you."

Gloria sighed heavily and rubbed her hands together. She approached the bed slowly.

"I appreciate that, honey. I do."

"Okay, good. I just wanted to get that out there. I'll tell Dad the same thing. We'll have many discussions over time, I'm sure. But we're all reasonable adults. And you and I, as I've already said, are both practical. So if we can remove our feelings just a little bit and look at this from a practical standpoint, we might be able to slowly move into our feelings and go from there."

Gloria shook her head slowly. "When did you get so smart?"

Mina chuckled. "Remember that year and a half or two years that I dated that psychology student?"

Gloria laughed and then held her hand over her stomach as her muscles tightened. "Oh, my God, that's right. Mr. Condescending. I always felt like he was psychoanalyzing me."

Mina laughed. "He was. He psychoanalyzed everybody."

"God, where is he now? We could use a psychologist."

Mina shook her head. "We don't need him. I’m sure anybody we find will be better than him."

Gloria cocked her head. "Is he working in the business? Do you know anything about him anymore?"

"I don't know. I didn't try to keep up with him. After we broke up, I realized what a relief it was to not have him in my life constantly making comments about every little thing that I did. So, good riddance to bad rubbish, I guess. Hopefully somebody else really enjoys being psychoanalyzed on a daily basis."

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