“Don’t worry, baby. I’ve got it under control,” he responded.  “Ahh… here at last.  Took them long enough.”

“No, Eric.  I don’t think you should drive.  Let me…,” Tina was saying.

“Will you just get in, Tina?,” he cut in, impatiently.

Tina shook her head, and opened her purse to get her phone.“I’m calling a cab.”

Eric paused by the driver’s side door, looked across the broad hood of the big SUV at Tina.  She was already on the phone, talking to the cab company.  He shook his head, then got in.

He peeled away, tires screeching.

Five minutes later, the cab drove up, and she gave the driver directions to the production company office, where she’d left her car.  It was closer to the restaurant than her apartment, and she figured she could get some work in, then make a call to her contact in Paris.  She figured it would be a decent hour by in Paris by then.

As the cab pulled into the parking lot of the production company office, her phone rang.  She picked up the call impatiently, “Yeah, Eric.”

“Ma’am are you Tina?”

Tina paused by the reception desk where she was about to sign in to enter the building.

“Ah..yeah…who is this? Where’s Eric?”

“I’m Patrolman Hicks. Eric was in an accident,” the man said.

“Oh my gosh, is he alright?,” Tina exclaimed.

“Yes, he’s fine.  But he caused quite a traffic mess  out here…a  multi-car accident, and I just wanted to tell you that we’re taking him to the station after the medical people clear him.  He gave me your name to call.  He’s also asked for you to call his lawyer,”the patrolman answered.

“Where are you?,” Tina asked.

“By Studio City…on the 101,” he answered.  Then he gave her the name of the station they were taking Eric to.

She thanked him, and thumbed through her directory to find Steve’s number, Eric’s best friend and lawyer. She shook her head, telling herself she should have insisted on driving from the restaurant.

“Steve?  Tina here. Sorry to bother you. Eric’s been in an accident…no he’s alright.  But he was driving impaired, Steve.  And the patrolman who called me said he caused a multi-car accident by Studio City.”

After she told him where Eric would be taken to, she thought about what she should do.  Steve had advised her to just continue with what she’d been planning, and that he would take care of everything.  “I’ve gotten him out of stuff like this before, Tina. He just doesn’t have the best judgement, I’m afraid.  And, sometimes, he only thinks about what tickles his fancy, at the moment.”