Be Brave on Broadway

Chapter 7

"Fritter! Let go or else we're canceling going to see Grandmeow and Grandpaw this weekend for New Years!", I practically yelled as I tried to pull my skirt out of his mouth.

Fritter had been acting up these last few days, I didn't know why as I had tried nearly everything to get him to behave but he just wouldn't.

"How are your parents?", Julia asked, trying to herd her 2 and 6-year-old out of the kitchen.

"They're fine. Dad has been working on mom's nerves, renovating a part of the house again. By himself no less", I said, giving my skirt a little tug.

"His probably bored. He just retired 2 years ago and doesn't know what to do with himself. I'm sure he had plans to do all of that with your brother once he retired", Charles said, folding the last of the napkins and placing them on the dining room table.

Both Charles and Julia knew about what had happened to Brian as we had met days before it had happened. They were interns, handling their first big event as the organizers for the show I was the star of. All I remembered from that day was my mom calling me about an hour before the showed started.

Julia had been in the dressing room with me at the time and Charles had just run out for coffee. He had come back to me in such a state both he and Julia had no idea what to do at that point and had decided it was best for them to take me home and have my understudy, a more experienced performer, take my place.

The show was a success and I was heartbroken.

"Probably but he can hire a contractor to take out the wall in the garage instead of struggling to do it by himself and nearly crushing himself with the roof instead", I said, pulling on my skirt a few more times but Fritter just huffed.

"Damn, that old man needs to chill before he takes the whole house down", Julia said, her husband adjusting her apron as the strap came loose.

"Yeah, no shit", I said, letting my skirt go and began to walk around but Fritter still wouldn't let go. I thought about just letting him hold onto my skirt but I needed to set the table and I would very much trip over him.

"I can set the rest of the table", Charles said as he began to load the food onto the table.

"Thanks", I said, moving out of the dining room area and into the living room. I sighed as placed my hands on my hips staring down at Fritter as he didn't keep the tension on my skirt but still kept it in his mouth.

"What's gotten into him?", Charles asked, placing the last of our dinner onto my dining room table.

"I have no idea. He's been like this for the past few days", I said, finally getting my skirt free from his mouth as Julia waved a bag of treats from the other side of the kitchen.

"Is he still mad about being left at the kennel?", Julia asked, her husband Eric moving past her as he made our drinks.

"That was a while ago and he was perfectly fine when I picked him up and at daycare. It's just been these past few days", I said, straightening my skirt out.

Christmas was my favorite time of the year, the weather was perfect, I could wear all the winter capes I wanted to and life had finally started to give me a break. Work had slowed down as we fell into the our normal routine of Halloween-themed advertisements, marketing, and events before we had started to plan for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. Everything was going well and no surprises were getting thrown at me.

Well, besides Fritter's.

"Did you maybe start bringing someone over? He could be jealous and just wants your attention", Eric said, handing me to my Rock Shandy.