And famous?

I guess so.

She was no Pamela Des Barres. That woman knew what she was about, what she wanted, she went after it and didn’t give a fuck what anyone thought.

Cynthia was…

[Lengthy pause]

Not that.

Peters also married Josh Hardy.

Yeah. That’s probably why he’s still doin’ as much session work as he’s doin’.

Because they only lasted a coupla months.

But the asshole didn’t get a prenup.

Christmas

Jen, Amber and my sister Sonia were all with me, waiting at the gate when…

Lyla:

[Off tape]

At the gate?

[Lengthy pause]

How old are you?

Twenty-two.

[Quietly]

Yes, well, doll, 9/11 changed the world. You were young. But everyone used to be able to go to the gate in an airport. Meet their loved ones the minute they got off the plane.

I guess I knew that.

Lana’s boyfriend worked in the Twin Towers.

Oh no.

[Heavy voice]

Oh yes.

As if that family hadn’t lost enough.

[Takes deep breath]

He had an engagement ring at his apartment. They found it after.

It took her a while. Jesse worried. He thought she’d never recover.

But [smiles sadly] unlike Penny after her loss, eventually, she got there.

After the plane arrived, I was straining to see down the ramp and there he was, the first one off.

He caught sight of me and smiled.

I dashed around the people in front of me and hit him like a ton of bricks the minute he cleared the gate agent.

I actually jumped him, literally, and did not care.

I wrapped my legs around his hips, my arms around his shoulders, he caught my ass in his hands, and we went at it.

I was kissing Preacher again.

I hadn’t seen him in six weeks.

An eternity.

I felt his shoulder jerk when the strap of his bag fell off and that was the only reason I stopped kissing him.

I lifted my head, looked into his brown eyes and whispered, “Hi.”

He stared at me with this funny look on his face that was part happy, part amused, part something else, and he whispered back, “Hey, cher.”

Lyla:

He’d never had a welcome home.

He really had never had a home.

Those jackals who raised him…

[Pause]

You know, looking back, that moment at that gate in the Indianapolis airport was when I really won Preacher McCade.

When I well and truly bagged the most beautiful man on the planet.

And the rest of that Christmas break, that break from the tour…

My claim was staked.

They had limos.

Jesse, Dave and Tim had one that took them to Mooresville.

Preacher and Tommy had one that took us home.

To Brownsburg.

My grandfather was a World War II vet and a school principal in Indy. He was a Glenn Miller aficionado and felt an indication of a loose woman was that her ears were pierced.