Dear Valentina [The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel]

☆ Chapter Twenty-Five: Suffering Feels Religious

"Suffering feels religious if you do it right."
— Tonight I'm Someone Else: Essays, Chelsea Hodson

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE.     SUFFERING FEELS RELIGIOUS

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      "Aren't you suppose to be in the mountains?"

      "I needed a vacation from my vacation."

      David offered her a wry grin as he dropped his pile of music sheets onto the coffee table, followed by his set of keys. He walked close to where Valerie was sprawled out ― sitting cross-leg on the floor of their living room, a hazardous display of paperwork surrounding her, a cracked mug of steaming tea off to the side ― and instead of swooping down for a hug (which would have made her jolt away), he teasingly pulled her ponytail. Instantly, the blonde swatted him away.

      "Understandable." He remarked from the kitchen, the fridge door whipping open with a squish. "Though I was enjoying having the apartment all to myself." 

      Valerie skeptically rose her eyebrows, "Oh, really?"

      The musician sarcastically drew out, "Totally! It gave me all the space I needed to bring home my many girlfriends, my lovers, my paramours..."

      "Paramours? Who uses that word anymore?" scoffed Valerie. "We're not living in a Jane Austen novel. Besides, I honestly doubt you've turned into a total party animal since I've been gone." 

      He opened his mouth, ready to either continue the joke or brew some dramatic and overly masculine defense, but very quickly, he faltered. "You're absolutely right, unfortunately. It's frankly very pathetic. The most I've done is pick up more hours at The Pyramid Scheme. Other than that, my days have included takeout Chinese from that place on Willoughby and Love of Life on syndication." 

      Valerie quietly snorted as she scribbled something in the margins of a piece of paper. Love of Life was a soap opera on CBS that she had quickly realized after moving in with David that he shamefully liked. At first, he just brushed it off as having a bit of a thing for Bonnie Bartlett ― the actress playing the resident 'good girl' of Barrowsville, Vanessa Dale ― but then she caught him fuming at the television set one day, in complete shock that attorney Paul Raven had been killed in a plane crash while pursing his evil sister-in-law's husband. It was hard for him to deny he was just breezily watching the show for the hot actress and the Chef Boy-Ar-Dee commercials after that.