About two hours later, Midge was downstairs at the bar, working on her third drink and using her bartender as a sounding board for her new jokes, though he wasn't playing along as well as she'd like.
"Miguel, is this funny? This humidity in Florida is so unrelenting, even my mother thinks it should calm down."
Miguel looked at her for a few moments before replying, "No."
Really? Take your time." She sighed and held up her drink, "One more, and one for yourself, it'll seem funnier."
The bartender nodded and walked away. Midge put her attention back to her comedy notebook and focused, she always tried to get some new material specific to the town she was in, but right now all that kept coming to her mind was how hot and humid it was. Maybe she could recycle some of her heat jokes from California? No, there was a lot of dry humor in those jokes, pun intended, she thought with an inward giggle.
It wasn't long before a man walked up to the bar, much too close to her considering the rest of the bar was empty. He asked, "Good book?"
"Not yet."
"Can I buy you a drink?"
"Already got one coming."
"Put it on my tab."
Midge wondered why this man couldn't take a hint, she clearly wasn't interested. She even moved her left hand around much more than necessary trying to show that she was wearing a ring, "Oh, no thank you. That's really sweet but I'm working."
"Really?" He asked sounding surprised, "Working? Well this hotel certainly draws a higher class of working girls."
She sighed, exasperated at this point, "Yeah, look, Mom, I'm not a hooker. I'm working on my act and I can pay for my own drink."
"Okay, modern woman. Maybe I should just sit here and keep you company so no other man makes the same mistakes I just did."
I appreciate you wanting to be the savior of my reputation but I'm busy writing dick jokes, so if you don't mind…"
"Number three really paints a picture."
Midge would know that voice anywhere, she just had no idea why she'd be hearing that voice here. She turned to look at him with a smile on her face, "What on earth are you doing here?"
"I am living here."
"In Florida?"
"At some point, every Jew must live in Florida, it's in the Torah."
"You said you were going home."
"This is home, for now, leastways."
"I feel like I should know where my husband lives." She looked away for a moment thinking over something, "You know, it's weird, before the whole marriage thing I never pictured you living anywhere, you just exist."
"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I do live places, and right now, it's here. I got a key, I get mail, I wear an apron."
"Must go good with that tie."
"Plus, you've been to my mother's house, I'm not sure how much more 'seeing past the veil' down to earth you can get."
"Ahh, yes, but I try to block that out, I don't handle people not liking me well."
He smiled, "I heard Shy was in town, so I thought I'd stop by and say hello to my wife. Hello." He leaned over Midge to the man who was still sitting there, now just watching their back and forth. He made sure to have eye contact with him before continuing, "Goodbye."
He finally took the hint and walked away without another word. Midge motioned to the now vacated seat, "Wanna sit?"
He shrugged and moved over to sit eyeing her as he walked by, "Three in the afternoon, a pen, a notebook, and a drink in your hand, all you need is a social disease and you're officially a road comic."
"How long are you in town?"
"Two friz-filled weeks."
"Good. I am heading out of town for a couple of days to make some money."
"I just got here, which means you just got here, we left the same day. Wait, why didn't we just travel together? And why are you leaving so fast?"
He covered his smirk by taking a drag of his cigarette, "What about me makes you think I can afford to travel first class? When I got home I had a ton of messages from my manager threatening to chop my balls off and shove them up my— well, you get the point, if I didn't make it to these new gigs he set up. I might have been outta town longer than I told him I would be."
"No!" She said sounding sarcastically scandalized.
"Well, what was I supposed to do when a pretty broad wanted me around for company?"
"Ehh," she said waving her hand like his manager's anger was inconsequential, "I remember those extra days being worth any bullshit you might have gotten, believe me, Susie had a few things to bitch about too."
He smiled and kissed her, though they hadn't decided when or how they were going to go public, this place was dark and quiet enough that they could go unnoticed. "Oh, most certainly. Anyway, when I get back I'm hoping my wife will be able to set aside some time for me."
"I would love that."
"Good," He said as he rested his hand on top of hers for a few moments before going to stand up. She quickly turned her hand over and grabbed onto his so he couldn't leave yet.
"Wait, you're leaving now?"
He sat back down on the bar stool, "That's the schedule the boss man set up for me, he's real strict, you see. Granted, that's mostly my fault." He'd been late to shows enough times or even missed them completely when left to his own devices. Not always, usually just when he was partying too hard. Midge laughed but Lenny could see she was disappointed, "I could swing leaving early in the morning tomorrow and still make it on time."
Her smile grew, and this time it was more real. "Are you sure? You wouldn't be cutting it too close?"
"It'll be fine."
"Good," Midge said, squeezing the hand she was still holding onto. "And I don't want to be one of those nagging wives, but from here on out, I want to at least know what state you're in."
He laughed, "That's fair, considering the printed and color-coded itinerary you gave me, along with the phone numbers to each coinciding hotel." A little more serious he added, "I am going back to New York after this though, I'll be here a few more weeks, wrapping up previous engagements then heading back."
"Oh, good, it's probably a good idea for a husband and wife to live in the same state. Or at the very least, the same region of America."
Midge felt silly for missing Lenny like she did but it was what it was and she didn't try to fight it anymore. So she downed the rest of her cocktail as if it were a shot and stood up, "Wanna see how this hotel room compares to the last two?"
He smirked as he stood and held his hand out for her, "I thought you'd never ask." As Midge was closing and packing up her joke book he said, "I was serious about number three, The comparison to William Frawley is particularly inspired."
They went upstairs and spent the rest of the day and night enjoying each other and each other's bodies. When Midge woke up the next morning she was disappointed to see that Lenny had left. He told her he'd be gone early but she'd hoped to have breakfast together. Though they only had that solid week in Las Vegas and a few days in Los Angeles, they'd had a sort of morning ritual together that Midge was very fond of. She shook off her melancholia at the thoughts, it wasn't as if she didn't know what it'd be like for the next few months. Hell, she was the one that was on tour, it was just lucky that they'd been able to see each other so often.
Her days were normal, she'd started having dinner with Carol every other day just to spice things up. Traveling the world and living your dream could be a really lonely experience if you're not close to the people you do it with. She had a random fanciful thought of her and Lenny touring together, seeing so many new cities, in the day exploring, in the evening making people laugh, and at night fucking each other to the point that neither of them could manage to move to clean up after. She knew that wasn't something that would ever happen but she saved it in her mind as one of those dreams you take out when you need a pick me up.
"So, I see the husband came for a visit," Carol said just as they were both finishing up their meals.
"Huh? What makes you say that?"
"Well, I'd still know even if I didn't happen to see you two stumbling into your room, mouths glued together and hands in very inappropriate places. You've got that relaxed properly screwed posture going on."
"I do not! My posture is as perfect as always."
Carol shrugged, "Keep telling yourself that."
"Hey, let me ask you something."
"Hmm?"
"Would you say it's a bad sign in a marriage if you find out you didn't even know what state your husband lives in?"
"Probably. Definitely in most cases, though most cases aren't two people who are touring that got hitched while they were drunk."
"Apparently he lives in Miami, I mean how couldn't I have known that?"
"Again, I say, two drunks who got wed in the spur of the moment, while also both being on tour."
"Yeah, yeah, you're probably right, I have nothing to worry about, I'm just an overthinker. It'll all work out once we're back in New York and have the time to move in together. At least then when one of us has to leave, we'll have a home together to come back to."
Carol was almost positive Midge hadn't listened to a word she said but decided to nod her head anyway. She was not the person to talk to about marriage, she tried it once and she wouldn't do it again even if someone offered her a million dollars. "Sure. Oh shit, look at the time, we have to get going to the theater."
"Fuck! Okay, I'll see you there, I still have to get ready."
Carol looked Midge over dubiously, she looked absolutely perfect like she was a goddamn porcelain doll, she didn't know what else she had to do to herself to be ready. She liked Midge but she didn't always understand her, so she just nodded her head, grabbed what she needed to, and made her way to their show.
Midge really liked Miami, well, if it weren't for the humidity and consequently the friz. The town had been treating her right though, over the last three days her shows were probably the best they'd been since the tour started, something about her sense of humor just worked for the Floridians, apparently.
She was taking her third trip down the stairs to nowhere since she arrived, this was the first time she wore her black show dress because it was about time for her to leave to get to work. She looked at her watch when she made it to the bottom of the stairs and knew it was time to get going, so she walked quickly to the doors. As she was walking she saw something in her peripheral that looked familiar, she had all intentions to ignore it since she was in a rush but couldn't stop herself from doing a double take. When she did she stopped in her tracks. She walked around the pair sitting in the lobby looking sad and pathetic, sure it couldn't be who she thought it was. She stopped directly behind them and saw that it was, what the fuck were her parents doing here?
"Mama? Papa?"
"Oh thank god! This is the right hotel. I know you told us but I wasn't sure and your father wasn't listening."
"What are you doing here?"
"Well, I hate Moishe and Shirly," Abe said as if that explained it all.
"Yes, but did something specific happen?"
"Shirly was screaming in the street and then I started screaming in the street and then I called a man a putz." Her mom explained.
"I wasn't there for that part, I was on the subway because they won't let me have my friends over!"
"She made Zelda take off her uniform."
"And she is using stuffed cabbage in a very punitive manner."
"So the next thing I know I threw some things in a suitcase, I grabbed your father, and we got in a cab."
"Took the cab to the train station,"
"Got on the train,"
"Headed west. We hit Daton and thought 'cows'?,"
"So we headed south,"
"And thought of you,"
"So we headed east,"
"Then south again."
"And here we are, I'm sorry, we should have called we just didn't want to stop moving."
Abe looked a little frightened as he checked behind him, "In case they were coming after us."
Mirium was sure she'd have a crick in her neck the next morning because of how quickly her head swiveled from her mom to her dad and back again trying to look at who was talking while they volleyed one long sentence back and forth to each other.
"Well, I think it's great, you can stay here, we'll have a mini family vacation and you can finally see my show." And also get reintroduced to Lenny as my husband. She figured they couldn't get too angry if they were depending on her for a place to sleep.
"Oh," Rose said sounding heartbroken.
"It's comedy or cabbage!" Midge put her foot down.
"Rose…" Abe said her name with the desperation he felt to stay here and not go back to the Maisel's."
She looked distraught as she agreed. "Okay, but you better be funny."
"There you go!" Not caring about the unenthusiastic response.
She saw her watch again and quickly got them settled in her room before rushing to make her set on time. It wasn't until she was on her way there that she realized she didn't have anywhere to sleep tonight. Oh well, maybe Carol or one of the other girls would help her.
She made it to her set just in the nick of time, she wasn't even able to touch up her makeup before going on but a quick mirror check showed she was looking pretty good. About halfway through her set, she realized she'd been talking about her parents a lot, maybe too much but decided it was okay because the croud was loving her as much as they had been the last three nights, giving enthusiastic laughs and clapping, she felt on top of the world.
"So my parents are here to watch their divorced daughter stand on stage and tell jokes. About them." Midge paused for laughs.
"And I think the only reason they're agreeing to watch is because they know that will kill them, and I'll feel bad forever and then they'll finally have won!" She paused for laughter, and she laughed along with the crowd.
"And still, I think they'll take seeing me up here better than when I let it slip that I got married again, without my father's written approval on the man and my mother's on the venue, dress, caterers, shoes, rabbi, paid background dancers, wedding date, ring..." She paused for effect.
"And the sex positions we use on our wedding night—designed for the best chances of making a baby, but with the least amount of fun." She smiled at the uproar.
"Seriously, I'm not kidding, she has a list!" She waited for the laugh to calm down.
"Anyway, wish me luck, it's going to be a long few days. Thank you all, you've been the best audience but I'm sure you're tired of listening to me bitching about my parents. So let's get to the real reason you all came here tonight. Please give him a warm welcome, my friend, the one, the only, Shy Baldwin!" She exited the stage, applauding with the audience.
Though she'd seen his shows almost every night since the tour started she stayed right off stage and watched it again. She always liked Shy's music but it started to mean something different to her over the years. Listening to his songs, especially ones that were popular a few years ago reminded her of the time before she joined comedy, before her husband left her and blew up her whole entire world, simpler times. It wasn't even through the first show when a stagehand handed her a folded-up paper, she thanked him before reading it. Her smile widened when she saw what the note said and started walking back to her dressing room, this was a much better way to spend her night.
She smiled wider and quickened her pace when she saw him sitting at the bar, "I thought you were going to call when you got back."
"I opted for a sneak attack."
She leaned down and kissed him before taking the stool next to him, "There is a lot of that going around." When the bartender came she ordered, "Gin martini, up with olives. You should have seen my set."
"I saw your set."
"You did? How was I?"
"Wow, just like that. I suppose I should be thankful I at least got a kiss first but I usually start with some small talk, you know like 'How have you been?' Or 'whose got gout."
"Nope, life's too short, talk about me."
"Excuse me, Mr. Bruce?"
"Uh, Mr. Bruce is my mother," After a moment of thinking he pointed at Midge, "Her too, I suppose. Call me Lenny, please."
"Uh, could I get…?" The nervous guy asked, pointing to his pen and paper. Lenny took the pen and signed it.
"You want hers?" He asked pointing at Midge."
"Uh, that's okay."
Lenny ran his hand over his face to cover his smirk and then shrugged, "That's showbiz."
"Thank you!" The man said and walked away.
He took another drag of his cigarette and leaned in as if to tell Midge a secret, "I am very famous and important."
"Yes, but we were talking about me, remember?"
"Of course, how could I forget?" He moved his hands to say 'look at you, you're impossible to forget' She wasn't sure how she knew that was what those hand motions meant but she did. He cupped her cheek and she smiled at him.
"So we're just telling everyone we're married now," She joked, she didn't mind that Lenny told that random fan.
"Says the woman who just announced it to a whole room full of people."
"Oh yeah, I guess that's true." She deflated, she hated being one-upped in a conversation, but she pepped back up when she remembered, "But I didn't say your name, they don't know that Midge Maisel married Lenny Bruce."
"Well neither does that guy, he had no idea who you were, and didn't seem to care much, truthfully. I feel sorry for the guy, he's missing out."
She smiled again at the compliment and leaned closer to him. He took another drag of his cigarette before changing the subject, "I wanna take you out tonight, I've found a few hip joints in my time in this hell hole. You know, I'm still not convinced this isn't the first level of hell, it's hot enough."
"You don't like it here? I like it here. Although the humidity alone is enough for me to consider your hypothesis."
He smiled at her his crooked smile, his eyes soft with affection. "Come out with me tonight. I do have this quick work thing I gotta take care of but then I'm all yours. Deal?"
"Deal." she said and held out her hand to shake, He reached over, and right before their hands clasped, she pulled back, "With one stipulation."
"Oh yeah, and what might that be?" He asked intrigued.
"Duh, you have to tell me how you think my set went."
He wanted to roll his eyes but refrained. How could she not already know how amazing she was? Way better than he could ever hope to be. He didn't like when she asked him about how she did on sets. It wasn't as if he had a problem paying her well-earned compliments, it was more how she asked him. She sounded like his approval meant so much to her, like he was who she wanted to become in comedy. He wasn't anything to look up to and aspire to. He especially didn't want his wife of all people to idolize him, they were supposed to be equals, partners. Still though, if his girl needed her ego stroked he had no problem doing so and adding in strokings anywhere else she might enoy it for good measure.
Then again, he couldn't make things too easy on her so he made sure to never actually agree to her stipulation. "Are you ready to go?"
"I have to change, ten minutes, and then you'll tell me what you thought about my act."
"Depends on how good the outfit is."
She grabbed his hand and started leading him to her room, thinking maybe they could fit in some time to fool around depending on what time his work thing was. What could she say? She was a newlywed again and wanted to see him naked at almost every opportunity possible. It wasn't until they were on the elevator, they were kissing, and Lenny was using one of his hands to thoroughly massage her ass that she remembered.
She pulled back, "Fuck!"
"That was the plan."
"No! I mean yes, it was but now we can't. Hence the upset 'fuck' a few moments ago."
"Now I'm lost, oh, did Susie come back to town early or something?"
"Worse."
"Worse than Susie? Now I'm worried."
"My parents are in my room right now, they just showed up down here a few hours ago with nowhere to go because they're running away from my ex-in-laws."
"Fuck." He agreed, taking a step back from her to calm his libido down, he didn't want to walk into his second meeting with Midge's parents with a hard on, it might be a step up from the last time because that involved handcuffs and bail but it was only a small step, tiny, even.
"Uh, you can go and wait for me in the bar if you want, I don't want to stick you with my parents sooner than necessary, though I do think I want to tell them while we're here, I figure, how mad can they really stay if they're depending on me for a place to stay, right?"
He looked dubious but didn't say she was wrong, "Sure, it'll work out…" he trailed off thinking, "Then again, if we're going off of my luck and track record, there's a chance it might end in a murder/suicide." He shrugged, "It'll probably be fine, you seem pretty lucky from what I can tell."
She rolled her eyes, "Wow, thanks so much, I feel much better about this."
"Maybe try that again, I don't think you hit the sarcasm quite heavy enough." He volleyed back. Normally their banter put both of them in a good mood but Midge looked just as worried as before. Lenny sighed and wrapped his arms around her, Midge leaning her head on his chest. "It's cool, Midge. It's not like we gotta tell them we're married right now. We'll just go in there, I'll say hi, you'll get in one of your frilly dresses, and we'll leave. They'll see we're going out together so when we do tell them we're married, it won't be quite as shocking."
She thought that over for a few seconds before nodding, "Yeah, okay, that makes sense."
She smiled before standing on her tippy toes and kissing him. It didn't take long for the kiss to become more heated again, it seemed it was the only setting those two had, whether the kiss was sweet, affectionate, sexual, or lazy, the heat was still there. She moaned into his mouth when his teeth scratched over her bottom lip, he found that spot of hers on the first night they slept together.
They were both so lost in each other they didn't notice that the elevator doors opened, but they did notice the insistent throat clearing that became steadily louder. When Midge finally broke away to apologize her eyes opened wide when she saw her mom pointedly looking away as if she couldn't bear to see her daughter with this much lack of decorum, and her father with his arms crossed, foot tapping on the floor, and his angry face with his eyebrow quirked demanding an explanation.
"Mama, Papa! Hi! Fancy seeing you here, what are the chances?"
"In the lobby, of the floor, in the hotel, right in front of the room you gave up to us just mere hours ago? I'd say pretty high, if you'd give me a pen and paper I'd be able to get you an exact figure in just a moment."
"Thanks, Papa but no, that won't be necessary."
"I thought not." He turned his attention to Lenny, "Mr. Bruce, now I'd say the chances are significantly lower that we'd see you here, uh, canoodling with my daughter."
Midge was having a panic attack of her own because of this situation but she took a moment to appreciate Lenny, she'd never seen him look as nervous and uncomfortable as he did right then, he was looking everywhere but at her dad and kept fidgeting like a kid that just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Huh, she supposed they weren't too far off from that scenario. She rested her hand on his arm which had his hand that kept opening and shutting his cigarette box over and over again when she made contact with him, he stopped and looked at her with a small quirk of his lips before turning his attention back to Abe.
He nodded in greeting, "Abe, Mrs. Weisman, good to see you again."
"Leonard, I wish I could say the same."
Midge looked at her mom and then to Lenny and mouthed 'Leonard?' He waved her off, somehow she knew that meant he'd tell her later. "Rose, you wound me, I thought we were becoming friends."
"I don't make a habit of becoming friends with people who have records or have spent time in jail."
"That's how I met both your daughter and your husband."
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean."
Lenny laughed and Midge rolled her eyes, her mother could win an Olympic gold medal in denial. Midge took control of the conversation, "Anyway, Mama, Papa, go have fun don't forget to order room service and anything else you want. I'm just coming up here to change. Lenny and I have some work things to do."
"Hmm, yes, I'm sure. That elevator ride looked very professional." Her mom was fantastic at sarcasm as well, silver metal at least.
"Yep! Okay, good night guys! Have fun!" Midge said as she grabbed Lenny by the hand and dragged him to her hotel room.
"Wait!" Her Mama said stopping them two seconds before they were able to close the room door on them, damn, so close.
"Yes, Mama?"
"Where did you say you were going to be staying the night?" She asked while distrustfully eyeing Lenny, who was trying his best to look like a good little quire boy. She'd seen him use that look in his act before, unfortunately, her mom wasn't falling for it either.
"Don't worry about it Mama, Carol has an extra bed, there are other people who'd give me a bed too and if worst comes to worst, there's always the lawn chairs by the pool."
She went to shut the door again but her mother put her hand in the way stopping her, she eyed Lenny again, "I'm sure there are other people who'd offer you again, just be careful, okay?"
"Thanks, Mama, I will be."
"And you better not let her get hurt or arrested again while she's in your care."
"Of course," He said and everyone heard the sincerity in his voice. She eventually nodded and took her hand back letting them close the door.
Rose wasn't fond of this development, she looked over at Abe sure he'd agree with her but was surprised by the look on his face, she'd been married to him long enough to know what he was thinking before he said it and she could tell that he approved, or at the very least was willing to see where this went without intervening on his part. "Abe, no, you cannot be happy about this."
"Happy? No, willing to withhold judgment a little longer? Yes. You know the life she's chosen Rose, there aren't going to be many people who'd accept it and be willing to make a life with her. "Plus, I sort of like him, he reminds me of a younger version of me. And he isn't the hoodlum you think he is, his arrest record consists of him fighting for our freedom of speech, albeit in ways I don't necessarily condone.
Rose looked back to the door as if she was able to look through it and right to Lenny so that she could judge him. It was her superpower, along with many of the other Upper West Side women. "Huh," She eventually said as she turned back to her husband, "Yes he does kind of remind me of you but you were much more handsome."
Abe smiled while standing up a little straighter, he wrapped his arm around his wife and turned them to continue their walk to the elevator so that they could start their date.
Back in the room Midge was grabbing dress after dress, unable to decide what she wanted to wear, it might have been because her mind was preoccupied by the interaction they had just had with her parents, but she was brought out of her thoughts by Lenny's chuckle, "Christ, you're mother does not like me one bit."
She laughed, "She'd have reacted to finding me with anyone like that. Well, unless they were a doctor, she probably would have run back into the room to light some candles, open champagne, and put on some music for ambiance before wishing us a good night and locking us in the room."
He laughed again, "So I suppose she didn't handle the breakup with the doctor well, did she?"
"She went into her room and didn't come out for days, I finally was able to bring her back to life when I told her I'd make sure she'd get to see Shy live. Anyway, let's call it even, your mom's not too fond of me either."
"Oh, you think that's how she acts when she doesn't like you? That is how she is with everyone if she didn't like you there'd be a lot more yelling, death threats, and it'd possibly end up with one of you in jail."
"Huh," she eventually said after looking at Lenny to see if he was over-exaggerating. "Well that's good to know, it's always good to be properly informed when there's a possible threat of violence." She joked.
After Midge finally decided on an outfit (she wasn't planning to have a night on the town or she would have been more prepared), it only took her a few minutes before they were out of the door and hailing a cab. To say she was surprised when they pulled up to the studio that records 'Miami After Dark' would be an understatement. She was proud and happy for him because this show had become popular enough that it no longer only aired in Florida, she'd seen episodes all the way in New York so that meant he was going on national TV again. She felt a little bad though because even though she was happy for him, there was also a part of her that was so jealous she could scream. She knew she'd get to his level one day but was it so bad to wish it'd just get here already? Was she the worst wife ever? She smiled seeing him on set, in his element. This was the second time she'd gone with him to a TV shooting. So yeah, she might have been a little jealous but she was mostly happy.
Every day she became more and more sure staying with and making a life with Lenny was the right decision, she'd never been with anyone before that she could have such a good time with and feel so connected to. Also, she never had someone who pushed her and told her she could and would be more. Someone who'd be willing to do whatever they could to make it happen.
She learned Lenny would even do something crazy to help her, like pulling her on live TV. She was sitting on a director's chair, just finishing her second donut when he stood right up, in the middle of a conversation with the host, and walked over to take her by the hand, She tried to stop him in the beginning but eventually gave in and got into it. Her heart jumped when he called her his wife on national TV and truthfully was a little disappointed when he continued his bit but was soon ripping back at him and having so much fun she almost forgot she was on camera.
That was the first stop of probably the best date of her life, they went to a night club and the tension was so thick she decided that was the most turned-on she'd ever been in public. They had plans to go for a walk after but they skipped them and went straight back to his place. She rolled her eyes when she found out 'his place with a key, mail, and an apron' was actually just a motel but it didn't matter to her, she happily walked into that hotel room and proceeded to spend the rest of the night screwing him so hard he was the one that had to call it quits by the time the sky was lightening. Yeah, this was most certainly the best date she'd ever had. The only bad thing she could think about it was that throughout the night her mind kept going back to that amazing feeling she got the moment he pulled her on stage and called her his wife, and the intense disappointment she felt when he added the bit about her being his sister. That was why when right before she closed her eyes for the night, all snuggly wrapped in his arms she'd made a decision. First thing in the morning, they were going to walk right over to the hotel to tell her parents about their marriage, she was done hiding it. She wasn't embarrassed about it, she was proud and she was going to make sure Lenny knew it too.
First, though, she decided she was going to show her admiration in other ways, so she crawled down his body and gave him what he later named 'The best fucking wake-up call I ever received.' And Lenny was very good at returning the favor. Okay, with that little detour, it might not have been first thing in the morning that they went back to Midge's hotel but it was at least before noon so Midge considered that a win.