Dempeo: The Whole Truth

Chapter 6: The Dog Park

- That Saturday -

*Ellen*
She had slept in until 8:00, they had the day off from filming after finishing the first episode. It was going really well, her and Sandra were instant best friends, they had been having so much fun filming their scenes. All of the cast were so nice, there was just a really fun atmosphere on set, the chemistry between her and Patrick had only grown. They had been flirting both on and off the camera, she still hadn't told him about Chris but didn't think it was big deal anyway. Her and Chris had only been dating for a few months, he was nice and it was going well and some harmless flirting wasn't going to change that after all.
She decided to go on a jog, she hadn't been on one that week and she used to go every day. There was a dog park really close to her house that she usually jogged around so she got ready and left the house.

*Patrick*
It was 7:30 and he'd already been up for a couple of hours with Tal, filming that week had gone well. Everyone seemed really nice although he wasn't too sure about Isaiah Washington (Dr Burke), he hadn't done anything but something about him seemed a little off. He had been flirting with Ellen all week, he had to say he was enjoying himself but he still hadn't told her about his wife and daughter. He promised himself that he was going to tell her on Monday, he had to.
Jill had just woken up and since neither of them had anything to do they decided to take the dogs on a walk as a family to the dog park near their house.

*Ellen*
She was jogging around the outside edge of the park when she heard a laugh she knew all to well. There he was walking through the gate to the right of her, she broke into a walk and went to go say hi, except he had a tall blonde woman next to him and he was a carrying small child. Her face visibly dropped, he spotted her and waved her over, he said 'Ellie! What are you doing here?', she had forgotten that he'd started calling her Ellie, she walked over and replied 'Paddy, I can't believe you're here! I like to jog here, I live near by', as she tried to plaster a smile on her face. The blonde woman next him cleared her throat and questioned 'Paddy?' giving him a confused look, since he had started calling her Ellie it was only fair for her to give him a nickname as well and by the look on the woman's face she clearly didn't know about it. He quickly said 'Oh right, Jillian this is Ellen, my costar, and Ellen this is my wife Jill and my daughter Talula', gesturing to the small girl in his arms. It was lucky she was an actor so she could easily hide the disappointment on her face as she said 'Hi, it's nice to meet you, so do you live near by?'. After a short conversation they realised that they were practically neighbours, it was a miracle they hadn't bumped into each other sooner. After an awkward pause in the conversation Ellen quickly excused herself saying 'I should get going, it was nice to see you Paddy', before jogging off. She was trying to figure out why he didn't tell her about his family, she thought they had gotten close that week, before realising that she had done the exact same thing by not telling him about Chris...

*Patrick*
They were just walking through the gate into the dog park when he saw her. There she was, beautiful albeit sweaty, he waved her over and said 'Ellie! What are you doing here?'. He could tell that something was off, her smile didn't reach her eyes like it usually did, she said 'Paddy, I can't believe you're here! I like to jog here, I live near by'. Jill cleared her throat and questioned 'Paddy?', he had completely forgotten that she was there, she had always called him Patrick and he never told her about the nickname or how well he and Ellen had been getting along. He quickly said 'Oh right, Jillian this is Ellen, my costar, and Ellen this is my wife Jill and my daughter Talula', when he said the word wife he could see her expression change, it wasn't noticeable but he had been watching her all week, learning the difference between her genuine expressions and her acting ones. He felt guilty that he hadn't told her about his family sooner, she said 'Hi, it's nice to meet you, so do you live near by?', and they had a short conversation resulting in them learning that she lived a couple of houses away from them. The whole time he tried to catch her eye, trying to make sure that they were ok. He didn't know why he was so worried, or why he was making it into such a big deal. The conversation stopped and there was an awkward silence before Ellen said 'I should get going, it was nice to see you Paddy' and jogged off. He watched her as she went, she really was perfect. Jill watched him watch her and said 'So, she seemed nice', he looked back to her and said 'Yeah she really is', she could tell he seemed off but didn't want to push it and only said 'Since when did people start calling you Paddy', with her eyebrows raised. He laughed a little before responding 'They don't, she's the only one that does', he looked back to see that Ellen was now nothing but a spec on the other side of the park.

"We hadn't met before the show, but oddly enough we're neighbors. And we met each other at the dog park."- Patrick Dempsey