"Two Minutes" He was upset. Ginger knew Jeff was upset by the way he held his breath, and the way his voice trembled when finally spoke to her when they were alone in the sound booth. "I agreed to wait to get married," he said, "but I never agreed to stay home while you stayed out all night gallivanting, and I never agreed that you could date other men for pete's sakes, and I definitely never agreed to see you on calendars in your underwear!" The last part stung horribly. She had let him get this out because she knew he had been holding it in for some time now, and perhaps she even deserved part of this upbraiding. But the last part was just too much. "I wasn't in my underwear!" She had meant it to sound defiant, but instead her voice came out in a desperate whisper, like that of a woman who already sensed what was about to happen. "Well it could pass for underwear!" He walked to a stool and sat down, taking in another breath before he looked back up at her. "I offered to give up baseball for you," he said. Ginger's head spun. Not this. How could he use this against her now? "And I didn't take you up on that offer," she said, managing to shore up her strength in the few words. "Even so I made the offer. And I'm waiting to hear the same from you." Not like this. Ginger loved him more than anything, but she was not going to let him pressure her into this. She folded her arms over her chest and looked away. Maybe Jeff would understand, she prayed. He had to. A voice spoke sounded out in the sound booth, "Two minutes, Miss Szabo." Finally, Jeff stirred. "All right, I don't agree anymore." She turned back to look at him. "I want you to quit this job now, tonight--and I want to get married right away. It doesn't have to be the stunt. We can tell Mr. Veeck that we can't do it on account of... religious reasons or something, but I want to go home now, and I want to get married as soon as Father Dreher can do it." Ginger walked over to him and leaned in close. Maybe, she thought, maybe if I can just explain this to him in the way he understands, he'll see why I can't walk away from this... And even as the thoughts ran through her head, something in her already told her that she may not be able to get him to see it her way this time around. "This is my shot at the big leagues," she said softly. "This is my at bat, with two outs and the winning run on base... How can I pass this up?" His voice was firm when he answered, bringing a chill to her bones. "You're going to have to pass this up if you want to marry me, Ginger." No. She was not about to let anyone--not even Jeff--take this away from her. "That's not fair-" "Blame the Lemo Tomato Juice Man!" "You knew!" she said. "You knew I wanted to be an actress!" "But I never thought-" From outside, the stage hand spoke into the mike, "One minute, Miss Szabo." Ginger barely absorbed his words because Jeff's were still slicing into her like a hot knife. And for the first time, the harsh realization dawned on her: maybe he had been humoring her all along, but he never really believed in her. "You never thought I'd make it," she managed to get out. "Well thank you very much." Jeff must have heard the pain in her voice too, because he tried to explain himself. "Oh no, I never thought it through, I admit... Because if you made it to your big leagues, you'd end up in Chicago, or Philadelphia, or New York--or Hollywood, where I'd never see you again!" His voice shook as he spoke, and as hurt as Ginger was, she couldn't help but see Jeff was hurting too. Slowly she walked over to where he stood. "When I come home, I want you to be home. I don't want to sit across the dining room table from a radio, Ginger... You can't kiss a radio good night... You can't..." She slid her arms around his neck and kissed him. God, this felt right--everything in her wished they could freeze this moment and not have to make the decisions they had to make when they had to let go. He held her so tightly. She knew that like her, he was dreading the moment they'd finally part. "Time, Miss Szabo, time..." When she eased her face away from his, she rested her cheek on his collarbone. She couldn't look him in the eyes now. But finally, she forced herself to. "Do you remember how to wish an actress good luck? I know you remember... Break a leg..." The look in Jeff's eyes tore at her, but she made herself go on. "Just tell me to break a leg, so we can..." He was shaking his head. What have I done? she thought. Please, he has to understand, he has to... Her vision began to blur with the hot tears that welled up in her eyes, and she swallowed hard to get the next word out. "Please...?" His back was to her at first, but then he finally turned around, and Ginger's heart leapt against her ribs. "Will you come home with me, Mrs. Metcalf?" She was all prepared to say no and walk away. But how could she resist now? This was it, and she knew it. If she said no again, Jeff was not going to wait around for her any more. She had to make her decision now. "Miss Szabo?" The stage hand had barged into the room, his knuckles white from clutching his clipboard. "We're about to go live--they need you out there now!" Ginger's eyes locked with Jeff's, and slowly she saw the light in his eyes begin to fade. She couldn't do this to him. Without ever breaking the gaze, she whispered, "I can't... I can't do this..." She thought the stage hand's eyes would shoot out of their sockets when she finally turned to him. "What?" he squeaked. "B-but this is live!! We're about to go on the air-" She pointed to her throat. "My voice," she mouthed. "I've lost my voice..." "Oh no, you too? Two singers losing their voice in one night, how am I ever going to explain this to Mr. Melon? What am I supposed to say?" "Tell him... Tell him-" "Tell him that Miss Szabo needs a few more minutes to warm up." Both Ginger and the stage hand turned to Jeff in shock. "But-" "Just tell him! Look, you're about to go live without a singer anyway, but if you give her two minutes--two minutes--she'll be ready... Won't you, honey?" Ginger nodded weakly. "Jeff-" "She'll be ready, don't worry." "All right, two minutes, Miss Szabo. I'll try to get them to stall, but you have to come out soon!" The stage hand shut the door behind him, leaving them all alone once again. "Jeff..." "I got my chance at making it to my big leagues," he said softly. "I... I can't keep you from getting yours too." "Jeff, you don't want to come home without me being there, well I don't want to come home without you there, and if doing this means-" "Go on," he said, giving her a smile that made her weak in the knees. "I'm not going anywhere..." For a moment, she wasn't sure if she heard him right. She came up to him again and took his hands. "You... you mean it? But what about Mr. Veeck-" "I'll find a way to explain it to him. Go on, they need you out there..." Ginger didn't know how to thank him. There were no right words, and so she stood on her toes and kissed him. "Jeff, I'll resign as the Lemo Girl, I will... After this song, I'm going to tell Mr. Melon and Mr. Lemo that I'm getting married and there's nothing they can do about it. I'll quit before they can fire me-" "Ginger, you don't have to do that." She smiled at him, remembering the moment she realized that he was a keeper, and she said the only thing she could think of. "You're more important than show business." He rewarded her with a smile of his own--yes, he understood. And softly he said, "Break a leg, Ginger." Home| Kyle| Tammy| History| Transcripts|Quotes|Milestones|Episodes| Pictures| Fanfic| Links| Email List