Our Hearts' Desire (The Monkees Family Vol. 2)

Chapter 25

It was April and Micky still wasn't home. The movie shoot had actually been over and done with for about a month, but he decided to fly to Florida for what he called a "scouting trip" for entertainment gig opportunities. He and a companion went to Key West and drank themselves into a stupor, but quickly got into an argument and she departed in a huff. Left on his own, Micky wasted no time finding a replacement. This next young lady immediately recognized Micky as a member of the Monkees (though she pretended she didn't), and was sycophantically wild about hearing him share stories about his old glory days. He found her to be an avid listener, never tiring of yet one more tale over yet another drink. She also loved hearing about his life since the Monkees, and asked him all sorts of questions about his home life. She didn't even mind when he'd cry in his drinks and talk about his wife. She was such a good sport! Her favorite thing was to get all dolled up and have her picture taken with him at a club, or to lounge poolside or on the beach in a tiny bikini and have someone nearby snap a picture of the two in a drunken, friendly embrace.

One morning, he was waiting for her to show up to begin their day, but she didn't show. He figured she was sleeping off her hangover and just went about his day of drinking and lounging. By the time dinner time rolled around and she was nowhere to be found, he figured she had had to leave and wasn't able to find him before she left and he gave no more thought about it. He just started casting about for a new companion, who by the time he had had his second drink at the nightclub, he had spotted and successfully wooed.

Unfortunately, Micky's enthusiastic former companion was in reality a reporter for a national celebrity scandal publication and the next cover story was all about Micky's Key West jaunt. This time, no one had to break the news to Gabby. She was in line at the grocery store buying supplies for Peter and Dawn's house when she saw it herself. She purchased the gossip rag and waited until she got home and unloaded the groceries before sitting down in the living room to read it. She figured there was no reason to hide it from Peter and Dawn, who noticed the cover as they walked by and hovered over her shoulder as she read the article, flipping the pages slowly so that they could all read it together. What infuriated her the most were the mentions of her and his broken marriage. The article implied that she was frigid and demanding and that he had been forced to go outside the marriage to seek sexual gratification. It also implied that Gabby hadn't been willing to give him children, which had caused the ultimate breakdown of their marriage.

That night, after dinner, the phone rang and perhaps unsurprisingly, it was Mike. In his booming, agitated voice, he declared, rather than asking to be invited, that he was coming over to the house and was convening an emergency family meeting. Everyone else would be over shortly. Neither Peter, nor Dawn or Gabby needed to guess what the meeting was going to be about.

Mike and Wendy showed up before the kids went to bed, and they were delighted to finally meet the baby and see how big Charlotte had gotten. Peter asked Mike to help him get Charlotte ready for bed and they dueted on Splish Splash with a distinctly country twang.

The doorbell rang again and Lynda arrived with Robert. Davy showed up next. Surprisingly, Jan also presented herself and was ready to join in the discussion. This made Gabby's stomach flop. She could only imagine how Davy felt. She surmised that either Mike or Wendy had called her without realizing that she and Davy had split up, and Jan, out of a sense of duty and affection, had put aside her own personal feelings to be of whatever support she could. She greeted Davy civilly but didn't stand near him or vie for his attention.

After the kids were in bed, Mike called the meeting to order. He threw a copy of the tabloid on the coffee table with disgust and said "If y'all haven't seen this yet, go ahead and read it if you can stomach it, but you don't have to. I can give you the gist. Micky spent several days gettin' drunk and spillin' his guts to a sleazy scandal reporter down in Key West. For all I know, he doesn't even realize what he did. He might not even know about the first story from Kansas that came out. I hear he's stopped callin' you, Gabby, is that right?"