Our Love is Torn (A Bruno Mars Fan Fiction)

Chapter 23

 Phil and Bruno drove back from their favorite street vendor with bags full of tacos for the guys. They'd spent their first afternoon of rehearsals going over the basics. The band was glad to be working but too soon remembered how hard it was to put on the perfect show. It blocked some of their enthusiasm. Actually, they felt it mostly because Bruno was more anxious than usual. He had too much on his plate all at once; something was going to slide off.

"Bruno, it's gotta be tough right now with the triplets. How you handling that?" Phil knew Bruno wasn't dealing with the stress well because he'd treated the band like amateurs all morning. It wasn't like Bruno to be so hard on them this soon. Usually, he was patient with his explanations of what and how he wanted his music to sound. Defining for his crew how the delivery of the dance moves affected the audience's interpretation of the music. It was coordinated, choreographed, planned, and strategic: all mapped out for his audience to take a ride on the Bruno train.

"It's impossible. There're three of them. Liz's mom was only baking two at a time and Liz is the only one of the six who made it. I'm hoping to see a semblance of a nursery in the making when I leave for tour, but Liz put the kibosh on that." Bruno looked out the SUV's window while Philip drove. "The other day, I watched her shut and lock the babies' room. She noticed me staring at her and just walked right on by after she did it. I unlocked it and she got pissed. Screw her." Bruno looked out onto house after house of dusty, single story, stucco houses. His elbow rested on the windowsill holding the hand holding up his head. He needed a cigarette.

"She has to be scared."

"She's' a bitch. She ain't scared. She locked that door like it was a crime scene - to keep everybody out. If there's nothing going on in there the kids have no place to come home to."

"You are both acting like stubborn jackasses. It's your trademark as a couple. And you're a chump if you think she's not scared."

"Thanks for the support."

Phil tried a new strategy to help Bruno calm down. "So any thoughts on how you want the babies' room?"

Bruno took a breath remembering how it looked when he'd dropped by the house the other day. They'd taken possession of the property and had a couple more weeks to complete some basic decorating before they moved in. "There's nothing in it, the blue and red stripes are still on the wall from the previous owners. I looked around in there again. There are two big windows letting in the sun from the North. I've got three yellow rubber ducky's for the kids in the car. I wanted to grab a few other things I liked too before we leave. Damn, I'm feeling cheesy."

"What man, tell me. I got kids. I know where you're coming from. It's exciting to get them little things."

"Seems to me, if I pick out some toys or a picture and leave it in that room, then maybe while I'm gone . . ." Phil waited. Bruno shook his head in embarrassment and lack of hope for his family. "Maybe the kids would feel a part of my heart was in there waiting for them. I want the kids to know I want them there."

"Yeah man, I know what you mean. Why don't you tell them then? Go right up to Liz's, uh, tummy and tell those babes you want them to come home to you."

"It's a thought. Maybe I'll do it. I've got to get past Liz though. She always thinks I'm trying to manipulate her. Like, when I do this, she'll probably think I'm trying to make her feel guilty."

"Well, think about it, man. You are a committed husband and they are your kids too." Phil turned his vehicle into their parking lot. "And I think Liz is scared, really scared. Be nice to her. It might help."