Slow Love

Chapter 29-Part 2

MONDAY-Turks & Caicos House

We arrive and the staff is there to get our luggage and I head straight for the office. He follows me and sets up the laptop. He shows me the article. I read it and it really wasn't as bad as I had thought it was going to be. I see who wrote it and I know that one. We go back as far as I do with Jon Bream. OH,this one is going to be easy. I may have two calls to make. I told him to make himself scarce. He looked at me and said, "Oh Baby, I want to see you work. It is such a turn on for me." I look at him say, "And what the hell do you think you are going to do with that turn on when you get it?" He leaves the office  OK here we go. I call AP and the receptionist is a gal I know. I tell her to get me Ray on the line.  She puts the call through. Next thing I hear is, "Gigi, so good to hear from you. Girl, what have you gotten yourself into now?" I said, "Ray, you of all people. I am disappointed in you. You are a better journalist than that. What the hell were you thinking?" He quickly apologized and wanted to know more. I know he saw Bream's article and knows about the memoirs. I said, "I know you saw Jon Bream's article about the memoirs and it is nothing more than that. Are you out of your mind thinking that it is? You are out of line doing this to me. I thought you respected me. I am shadowing him to do this book. You will do a retraction and you will do it right or he is going to come at you like a heard of wild elephants, do you hear me?" He said, "Yeah, I know. It is difficult to do battle him with all his fame and money. I would be on the loosing end of it for sure.  You are right, I should have known better." I said," Furthermore, you will now police what is running thru AP and if I see anything else, I will release that herd of elephants. Got it?"He said, "So do you have anything for me?" I said, "Ray, Yes I will. I'll come see you in Chicago. We can talk more then. OK?"  He agreed. I said, "Ray, we were friends. I know you will do me right on this. I need you to have my back, OK?" He apologized profusely.  He then said, "Gigi, you were one to the top journalist and no tjust in my mind, all the journalist. You are respected to this day. I made a mistake and I am sorry. Please forgive me?" I did. He further said, "All the old-timers will have your back, I'll see to it. You know what you have to worry about. But don't worry about us and have a good time doing this book. You are absolutely the best to do this for him. It is going to be a fabulous book. Enjoy the ride!"I said, "Ray, I'm going on tour with him to see how he ticks. So you will see a bunch of stuff. When we announce the book deal, you will be on the ground floor. I just don't need any hassle to get this job done. So, squelch anything you see, have the good ole boys do the same and we will be OK." Ray agrees and I give him my cell and email. Mission accomplished!!!  Whew, that was an easy one. That was easier than the meeting with Bream.  

OK, now I have to find my man.  Where can he be. There he is talking to Kirk. OK, get yourself down there.  I get to the terrace and he is all smiles. Good. He welcomes me with open arms and pulls me in close and says, "So, how did it go?" Kirk excuses himself and we go over and sit down.  I tell him it has been taken care of and a retraction will be on the wire by end of business today. He jumped up and was so happy to hear that. He was relieved. He sat back down and said to me, "G, you are awesome! How did you do that? I should have you on payroll." I said, "Well, I am sorta. I told you it is better to have a pocket journalist than a renegade one. I'm your very own pocket journalist!" He was just gushing with joy. He sits down and says, "How did you do that? I have to know." I said, "Do you really?" He was like a puppy sitting there with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. I said, "OK,sit back and I'll tell you. This is a long story so get comfortable.  "He is beyond enthused. I say, "Well,  Remember when you asked for me to do that interview back in '84? He says 'yes, of course I do.'  I said, "Well that was early in my career. I knew you picked me for some reason and I was so excited about that. He sat back and said, "You had done a couple of high profile artists and I liked your style. That is why I picked you."I said, "That article catapulted me into the stratosphere of journalism. I got interview after interview because of you. I had so many, I was handing them off to people like Jon Bream. Those people I handed them off to owe me and they owe me big time. Those articles they got from me lifted their careers.  Do you know I am documented? I know you read a lot but do you know I was written about, and still am, as much as you?  He said, "No, I had no idea."  Do you know my nickname in the journalist world? He said, "No, tell me.' I said,  "Brace yourself, I was well know as the 'Prince reporter' and anyone taking journalism from the late 80 on knows who I am around the world. The reason is my style. Everyone taking journalism learns  all about me, my ethics, my style, it is lectured on it and some universities have a credited course specifically on me.   I am very well documented because of you, my love. You gave me the career of a lifetime and I thank you for it." I look at him and he is totally  awestruck. Yeah, He's looking at me like millions look at him. Yep, Just like that. I wish I had a camera right now. My poor little man had no idea. I said, "So, if there is a publicity problem, I can handle it and I have it covered with ease. Even the tabloids. There is very little I can't take care of. The sources and rags that not respected is nothing for us to worry about. OK sweetheart?" He is SPEACHLESS!   He is still awestruck!  I said, "Are you there?" He is just stuck in time. He is out there. I need to get him back to earth. He finally comes back from where ever he was. I think I just shot him over the moon and back without sex involved. LOL!   He says, "I need to hold you Baby since I can't do anything else. Oh my! I had no idea about all that. That is awesome, you are awesome! I do have a my very own pocket journalist. I knew there was a reason why I love you the way I do. You are a genius." I say, "Well, thank you Sweetheart, takes one to know one. I love you too." That wore me out! I need some food, and I need to rest.  He is just babbling on and on about me. I need to get his attention. I say, "Sweetheart, I need to eat and rest, OK." He picks up a house phone and gives instructions to the staff for lunch. WOW!  I'm impressed. He looks at me with those come hither eyes and I say, "Just stop that. I have to eat and sleep."  He says, "Baby, you are making this difficult for me. That was such a turn on,but I know." I said,  "I have to tell you, It is my ethics on reporting that was the big deal.  Mainly because I never responded to book request for interviews, and I never published anything you or any artist did not authorize. I knew back then, you were my best friend and you gave me so much. I could never betray that trust." He said, "Why did you leave it and change career paths? I'm curious about that." I said,"Basically, I just got bored with it. I felt that I did all I could do and I needed something else to do. It was just not enjoyable and fun anymore. I knew if I ever wanted to do it again, that door was still open, but I never did." Our food has arrived and I need to eat. They wheeled it out on the veranda and this is just wonderful.  We eat and talk some more.   I could feel I was fading fast.  He got me to bed and crawled in with me.  I told him he could do whatever he wanted to do but he insisted on staying with me.  I wakeup and he's gone. Good. I need to take a shower and reapply the scar gel to those incisions. I also need to just check out that damn belly scar. It is a monster cut and hurts like hell. Get my pain meds and get into the shower. Water feels good on it and I get all the surgery crud off. I get out and look it over. It all looks awful but I know what the other surgery looked like and this is pretty good. I still cannot get my arms up to adequately do my hair, so I'm just going to go curly like him. I really need to get my hair done, permed and styled.  Let me check, still no gray in this light brown hair. I'm dressed and all. I go out to the balcony and look out to see if I can find him. Nope, he must be in the house somewhere and at 10,000 square feet, I'll never find him. I'll just sit here on this lounge and wait for him to appear. I know he will be back soon. It is just beautiful looking out from this balcony. So peaceful and serene. I could just get lost in my thoughts. I think, what a life. I could have never in all my wildest dreams thought this up.  So you work hard, play hard and relax like this. I think this'll work.  I could see today he was on the verge of a hissy fit.  But he contained it.  He did a really good job on it. That article was really nothing. It was just a picture of us together when we were here last time having lunch in town. That little commentary that Ray did tho was uncalled for. He knows better. See that's what happens when you overstay in that career. You make mistakes.  He is basically a good guy and he'll make it up to me.  But damn, we were friends.  I ripped him a new one and he knew he deserved it. He owes me too. He will not let it happen again. Knowing Ray, he will go above and beyond to protect me and have my back. I have nothing to worry about. I have to laugh. My little man was awestruck.  Can you believe it?  Him of all people. He was so funny, God love him.  Yes, he has exploited his talent to provide him this lifestyle. But he has no idea how people and the world really view him. He is just doing his job and what he does best,  make music.  This has been his lifestyle since Purple Rain and he doesn't know any different.  He thinks he is normal but all of us know there is nothing normal about him. I know I'm being hard on him not taking him without questions.  He has always got what he wanted instantly.  But I am new and different for him. He is doing fairly well with tho in spite of himself.