2020-04-25 - Dinner with Mom

Things are a little tense around the production. The filming in Seattle had started off without any problems. Justin's first scenes had been shot and had gone pretty well. However, the first night of filming in Gray Harbor had been a disaster. At least one actress had walked off the project and the crew was scrambling to replace her and re-shoot after the strange events at the rented house in town. Regardless of that, Justin's mother was in good spirits. Her own scenes hadn't started yet, but she was settled in her hotel in Seattle and had invited the pair to come to dinner with her at an ecclectic little place called the Bizzaro Cafe, owned by former Circus Performers and decorated with all kinds of strange paraphernalia hanging from the ceiling and walls.

They had acquired a small table in the corner that was semi-private with flickering candles on top and Justin had slid into the corner with Dahlia next to him and his mother across from them. There were paparazzi outside who had snapped photos of them on their way in, and there were diners that watched them curiously, but the staff had been pleasant and polite and mostly left them be to settle in and look over the menus.

Sure, Dahlia had known Justin's mom since she was scrawny kid that didn't eat enough and looked like she perpetually needed to take a bath because of all the outside playing they did. But she was still slightly intimidated by her. They weren't super close, and she definitely didn't want to give her any bad impressions. It would be nice to catch up though and the choice of eatery was interesting to say the least. Dahlia would have to take some pictures to show Declan later.

She'd heard about the filming disaster and was sure it was only the first of many but, Dahlia would keep her negativity to a minimum tonight. "This place is pretty neat, Stealla. How did you find out about it?" She looks up from her menu and over towards the older woman. Dahlia has brought her nicer clothes out of retirement, a pair of black dress slacks and a sleeveless, navy blue silk button down. Her hair pulled back in a neat pony tail.

Stella Winstead was in her mid-fifties, poised, elegant, but with a little bit of mischief in grey eyes that her son clearly inherited from her. Her dark hair was upswept in a loose chignon and she was dressed in a suit that was all cream and earth tones with understated gold jewelry. She looked just as one might expect an Oscar-winning actress to look. Her demeanor was warm, friendly, and she'd always expressed an interest in Dahlia -- how she was doing, what she was up to, how her mother was -- all the sorts of things that she'd ask about her son's closest friends, the ones he mentioned by name with any frequency.

She smiles at Dahlia and looks around, "Someone mentioned it the last time I was in Seattle so I looked it up and found it. I thought it was cute, and the food was excellent, so I figured this would be a good place to come back to." She doesn't even open the menu, clearly already knowing what she intends to get. "This is so much fun, getting to do a project with the both of you! I know things in Gray Harbor went.. awry, but.. I'm sure they'll get it back on track." Unsinkable confidence.

Justin smiles at his mother and chuckles, "I guess we'll see. That place is.. strange, mom. They might really want to consider another location. Maybe Hoquiam?" But he's not in charge of the project, so he doesn't push much more than that. He's dressed in a pair of jeans with polished black shoes, a white button down, a grey tie, and grey blazer, clean-shaven and hair cut short for his police detective character.

Dahlia looked over the menu a moment longer and then set it down, apparently picking somthing as well. "I've definitely never been in a restaurant quite like it before." She mused. A touch of concern fleeted over her features when she mentioned Gray Harbor and then nodded in agreement with Justin. "I have to agree, the town is notorious for having bad luck you know." Maybe not quite bad luck but...close enough right?

"There's a couple neighboring towns they might consider if something happens again." Dahlia looked around a moment, a brief glance to one of the big bay windows near the front where she could glimpse a few paparazzi still hanging around. It was a weird feeling for sure. Being back in the spotlight. Focusing back on Stella, she gives a bright smile. "Nonetheless, I'm really thankful for this opportunity. I've missed acting, and I've always wanted to be on a project with Justin. You bring a part of it too does make it all even better. You know I've sort of looked up to you, so it's a honor to be able to work with you."

Justin isn't about to tell his mother about the real reason that the whole Gray Harbor thing was a bad idea. He'd already tried to convince her more than once that the ''small town'' scenes should be filmed somewhere else versus the Seattle stuff, but to no avail. He was pretty sure that this was going to have to fail spectacularly before it changed. Justin grins over at Dahlia though, and gives her a little nudge with his shoulder, his eyes glinting with mischief, when she says that she's always wanted to do a project with him. But he refrains from cracking a joke in front of his mother.

Stella smiles and reaches across the table to rest a hand on Dahlia's and says, "Oh, sweetheart. That's sweet of you. But, honor's for stuffy people. Tell me it will be fun to work with me, instead." She gives her a little wink, and then settles back into her seat. "We're going to have a great time." She is far more relaxed than her character, a serious woman, a psychologist, with a troubled marriage and past, and far more light-hearted. "Joss," Justin's father, "Should be up in a couple of weeks once he's done with this latest release he's working on. Until then, the two of you are going to have to keep me company."

"We can probably manage that," Justin says as he finishes looking through the menu and sets it aside. "Is there anything in particular that you want to do while you're in town?"

Dahlia gives Justin a playful sort of side eye, nudging him in return. She'll have to tell him later what he was going to say. Because she knows full well what he was thinking with that nudge. She chuckles at Stealla's words. "It'll be loads of fun to work with you." Flashing her another easy smile.

"It'll be good to see him! I can't even remember the last time I had a chance to talk to him." Dahlia said of Justin's father. "I haven't seen too much of Seattle or anything myself so I'm sure we'll be able to find plenty. I know some people in Gray Harbor who're from Seattle. They might have some suggestions." She shifts a bit, ever so slightly leaning against Justin since there's no cameras around to misconstrue anything.

"Because he's a hopeless workaholic," Stella says to Dahlia with a chuckle. "That's why I'm making him come up here for a couple of weeks after this project, so that I can actually see him for a while." Despite her teasing, Stella and Joss have always had a very easy and stable relationship. They met when they were fairly young and married shortly after Justin was born. The three of them have always had a close relationship. Then she tells Justin, "I want to see your house. We didn't make it up this Summer." Somehow, despite coming up for the Summer every year, Stella and Joss managed to always avoid the strange of Gray Harbor. But then, neither of them Glimmered at all. So perhaps they were just lucky, on all counts. "And I was thinking that we might go up to Vancouver at least once."

Justin nods and says, "Sure. Though, I'm redoing the house. Hyacinth is going to help me redecorate entirely, so things are kind of in flux and half taken-down while we get ready to do that. And I wouldn't mind going up to Vancouver." Since learning about Gray Harbor and his own Glimmer, the idea of his folks coming back to their familiar getaway has him a little more on edge than before.

Stella nods to Dahlia and says, "We've done a ew things over the years, but mostly we just relaxed at the house." The old house that they'd rented every year before Justin decided to move back permanently. "It would be nice to do some things in the city since we're staying here this time. So, tell me, Dahlia, what's new with you? What have you been doing? Justin tells me that you've moved in with someone?"

Dahlia chuckles, "my boyfriend Declan is like that. He works so hard and he's working to build his contracting business up. Now that the weathers getting better the jobs are picking up." She explained. "That's who I moved in with. Justin was so great, letting me stay with him after my mom passed and it was fun, the a 24/7 sleep over." She flashes a grin toward Justin and then looked back to stella. "But when Declan asked me to move in with him it seemed like the right next step."

"I'm sure you'll want to see the house after it's done. Hyacinth is great, I'm looking forward to see her work too." Backing Justin up some like a good bestie does. "What's Vancouver like? Is there lots pretty scenery?" Her culmination of places she's really seen are the Harbor, LA, and some of Seattle.

"I'm so happy for you," Stella says, her smile warm and genuine. "Justin told me how much he enjoyed having your company at the house. And he's only had nice things to say about Declan, too. I'm glad to hear that things are going well." Then she looks over at Justin and asks, "So are you and Hyacinth?" One brow raises just a little bit. She's more than well aware of her son's on-again-off-again with the Addington.

Justin shakes his head negatively and says, "No. We're not dating. But she is helping with the house, and I'm helping her a little bit with having just taken over the sawmill. Mutual moral support, as it were." He smiles.

His mother nods, and then says to Dahlia, "Vancouver is lovely, but I've only been there once. I'm sure there's lots to see that I missed. And perhaps Victoria, as well."

Justin smiles as the server returns to take their orders, and lets his mother and Dahlia go first before he puts in his own. Stella orders a bottle of wine for the table, and then they are once more left to their own devices.

Dahlia also looks a bit curious to hear the question Stella poses to Justin. Admittedly, she's been running herself ragged with working again and so hasn't been able to bother Justin as much as she had been. But she's working on re-balancing herself as far as that goes. "How's she doing?" Hyacinth that is. "I haven't gotten to see her recently." Dahlia asks.

"Sounds like it might be a good place to visit then. I'm always a fan of exploring new things though." Dahlia mused. Like, of course Vancouver was better than same old same Gray Harbor. "And you're going to be seeing so much of Gray Harbor with the filming. Not that much has changed." And then switches gears to giving her order to the server, something she'd probably never order normally. Well, then again, she'd likely not come to a place like this on her own accord either.

Anyway. Dahlia realizes she didn't really talk about what she'd been up to. Only mentioned Declan, so she switches gears back to that. "As for what I've been up to - I'm working as a bartender at Firefly, though Erin Addington suggested I should maybe put together a sample of my sewing work when I mentioned to her I used to make some of my own clothes and stuff. Suggested Fashion Design might be something to look in to. I'm thinking about it. I was out of commission for a good chunk earlier this year when we had a bad case of the flu roll through town and a few other things were going on. So I've been slow to get back into everything." No need to mention she also does the part time stripping.

"She's been dealing with a lot, but I think that's kind of par for the course for being an Addington. That family is a lot of a lot," Justin says with a little tic of a smile. "And then she went to Europe with Vyv, I believe, for a while. I'm not even sure if she's back yet or not. But she could just be busy. We're going to talk about house things soonish," Justin says to Dahlia, lifting the glass of water in front of him and taking a sip.

"I know," Stella says with a laugh. "Call me silly, but I love that strange little town. So many good memories of summers spent there as Justin grew up." Probably why it was chosen for the non-city filming location -- nostalgia, more than anything else. "Though we probably won't rent the house anymore. We'll just descend on Justin whenever we want to visit." She gives her son a flash of a smile, so reminiscent of one of his own. Then she turns back to Dahlia. "I heard about that flu. That sounded awful. I'm glad you made it through it okay. Fashion design is fascinating. I have no head for fashion at all. I just point at things I like until my assistant's brow stops making that little furrow in the middle, and I know I've chosen something acceptable." She's probably not that bad. "You'll have to make something for me if you decide to get into it."

Justin lets the two of them talk for the moment, seeming content to sip his water and just enjoy the company.

"I'll have to try and snag her soon if she is back. For lunch or something." Dahlia nodded after Justin gave the run down on Hya. She smiled to Stella, wishing that she too still had no idea about just how strange things were in Gray Harbor. "There were a lot of great summers." She agreed, relaxing back in her seat. "It was lucky for me that you guys chose Gray Harbor out of all the small towns in the PNW. Else I wouldn't have met this one." Giving Justin a gentle little nudge again. "Yeah the flu was awful. Justin and Declan nursed me back to health and as soon as I was better, Declan got sick." She laughed. "So I got to repay the favor and play nurse for him."

Dahlia grinned a bit again as Stella talked fashion. "I don't really know that I have an eye for it either? I mean I know what colors go good together but I don't know about making a whole clothing line you know? I'll have to see. You'll be the first person I call if I decide to go forward with it." Dahlia promised. "We'll make sure your assistant even gives their stamp of approval." She takes a sip of her unsweet tea and gives a contented sigh. So far so good!

"Ohh," Her head turned a bit as she caught movement and saw the server coming their way with food. "That looks great." All of it, shifting a couple things to assist as the server started setting plates down and then retreated again.

"I think she'd like that. Hya likes you," Justin says with a little grin. That's high praise, considering that Hyacinth mostly tolerates people. For her to actively like someone is less likely. He takes a sip from his glass of wine and then chuckles at the little nudge, glancing sidelong at Dahlia and nodding. "That'd have been a shame." Though when she mentions the flu, he nods, "That was pretty bad. I'm glad that I managed not to catch it."

Stella smiles in approval regarding the fashion decision, but then looks up when the food arrives. "Oh, that looks fantaastic," she exclaims and then allows everyone some time just to enjoy their meals. She reaches over at one point with her fork and snags a bit of Justin's pasta to try it, and he laughs, shaking his head at her. She smiles and says "What? You have good taste. I wanted to try."

"You could have /asked/," Justin points out with a chuckle.

"What's the fun in that?" Stella asks, giving Dahlia a little wink.

The rest of the meal is relatively quiet and as they wrap up their food, the place has begun to clear out a little bit, a few groups lingering over wine and conversation.

"Next time you do end up getting sick I'll have to baby you as repaymeny." Dahlia laughed. She grins at the food stealing betweent mother and son and, well, Justin should see it coming when she steals a bite off his plate too. But will offer her own up in exchange. It was good to catch up and the chatter was easy when they weren't busy eating.

She looks around at the now mostly cleared out restaurant and aims a smile back at Stealla. "This was delicious. I'm so glad you suggested it." She finishes off the last couple sips of her wine. She sneaks a peek at her phone to check the time and send off a quick text before refocusing. "Are you heading back to your hotel after this?"

"I'm going to hold you to that," Justin says to Dahlia with an amused smile. There's a little smirk when she, too, decides to nab a bite off of his plate. This, of course, starts a chain reaction, where he steals bites from both of them in return. Truth is, everything that they've ordered is delicious.

Stella smiles as they settle in to finish their drinks and nods to Dahlia, "Yes. I have to make a few phone calls and check in on Joss. Then I think it's going to be an early night for me. Lots to do tomorrow. It was good to catch up with you both, though, and I'm sure we'll be seeing each other a lot in the next several months."

Once the meal is over, Stella gets up and gives Justin a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek, then the same to Dahlia before she tells him "Drive safe." Then, she slips outside first, to let the majority of the attention fall on her, allowing Justin and Dahlia a little bit more peace when they both make their way out and back to his car.

"Thanks for coming out tonight," Justin tells her with a smile. "It was a nice."

"Yes we will. It'll be fun." Echoing Stella a bit from earlier with them all working together. "Have a great evening Stella." The hug and cheek kiss returned easily and with as much warmth.

"I sort of forgot how laid back your mom is." Dahlia laughed as they neared the car. She flashes a bright smile up to Justin, "It was really nice. Any time - you know I love hanging out with you. I'm sorry I've been so busy lately." She looks around a moment, "You know, the nights still young technically. And it's been a while since I've been up here. Maybe we can walk around some? Or find a better place to park and walk around? If you want. The weather's finally getting nicer and all. "

Justin grins over at Dahlia and nods, "Both of them are. I think you kind of have to be, to deal with that much activity and stress and still be able to cope. I'm pretty lucky." He strolls along over toward the car and opens up the door for her to get in before going around to his side to slide into the driver's seat. "And you've got nothing to apologize for. You've been busy. I've been busy. That's just how it goes, sometimes. At least we're not going years between hanging out now." He pulls away from the curb and says, "We don't need to go back. There's a great park with a nice view just up the road if you want to just wander a bit and look at the water."

"It'll be good to see him again." Dahlia agreed as she settled in to the passenger seat. "That's true. It's just more like weeks or a month or something which is way better comparatively." She offered. "The park sounds great. I do like a nice water view. I need to start taking advantage of yours again." She mused, a little bit of teasing in her tone. "So how is the house coming along, really? What sort of updates are you making?"

"You've still got a key," Justin reminds her when she mentions needing to take advantage of his view again. He'd never asked for it back after she'd moved in with Declan, just letting her keep it if she ever wanted to come over and use the house. When she agrees to the park, he turns onto the road and heads in that direction. The majority of the cameras stay with his mother. She's the Oscar winner, after all. But there are a few pictures snapped of them as they drive off.

When they arrive at the park, Justin leads the way through the small gated entrance and down the path that takes them over a gently rolling hil and along a long trail with benches along it that faces out over the water, affording a view of the city's lights and the light shining off of the water in the distance below. "We haven't really started anytihng, yet. I've mostly been taking down all the stuff that was there when I mvoed in -- the art, and whatnot, and just packing it up to be sold or donated. We'll actually start work in a few weeks, I figure."

"That's true. I do. I just need to remind myself of that and that I can still just take advantage of things. Feels weird to think about it like that." She muses . "Like. I know I'm welcome over whenever but feels weird to drop in if you're not around. I know, I'm weird." Dahlia laughed, pushing a hand through her hair. She follows him through the park and falls in step beside him, gaze flitting around the few. "Beautiful." She murmured, head tilted ever so slightly so she could listen to him as her eyes wandered.

"Fair enough. You know if you need any help, you can always ask too. Whether it's moving stuff or painting or whatever. I'll have to make you a pair of pillows for the living room! Maybe I can have a pillow making business too...I'm getting some supplies together to make pillows for this guyJack that owns the body shop in town." Dahlia laughed, looking back up at him. "Are you going to be changing the color scheme?"

"No, it's not that weird. But Dahl, my home's always open to you, whenever you want to come by. Just text me and let me know you're coming," Justin tells her with a little grina nd gives her a little bump with his shoulder. "Then I can tell you if I'm home, and you won't have to worry about turning up when I'm not there." He lets his own gaze drift out to the view, the reflection of the lights on the water, the slow movement of boats across the surface, and the traffic below them. There are a few other people walking, a jogger or two that pass them, but it's relatively peaceful. "You can make me pillows if you want," Justin grins over at her. "One we figure out what the colors are going to be, I'll let you know."

The bump is returned with another soft chuckle. "Yeah I'll do that." Dahlia promises. She comes to a stop at one of the railings, leaning against it to just stop and enjoy the view for awhile. "It's all so pretty, innit? When you really just stop and take it in. A little noisier but still pretty." She looked over towards Justin and then back towards the view. "Sounds like a plan to me. You know I love my arts and crafts." Dahlia grinned a bit. "Now that the weather's getting better, Declan's going to work on a little addition so I can have a space for all my craft stuff. Though, I might try and tell him again to not. He already works so hard, I don't want him to have to be working while he's at home, you know?"

"You know he's going to do it anyway, right?" Justin says with an amused smile. "So you may as well just accept it and appreciate it for what it is." He folds his arms on top of the railing and leans against it, looking out over the water as they talk. "Yeah, I love the ocean. I don't think I could live somewhere where I couldn't be close to the water."

"Yeah, I know he is." Dahlia agrees. "I just don't want him working himself to death. But, I won't push it too hard." She nods in agreement about the water too. "Me either. There's something kinda calming about a waterfront view. I've lived on the coast long I can't imagine being landlocked. Though I know the mountains and all surely have a nice view of their own. It's just not the same."

"I like to visit the mountains," Justin says as he looks out over the water, "Just wouldn't want to live there." He smiles and says, "Just remind him to take it easy and that you can wait for him to work on your thing slowly as he has time and interest. Let him do it, though, if he wants to. Let him do things that make you happy. It's his way of showing he cares."

"Maybe I will one day. Get out to the mountains. Travel some." Dahlia smiled a bit. "Yeah, I will let him. I'm sure next time you come over it'll at least be started." She turned a little to see Justin better. "Also I decided I'm going to try and hone some of my...abilities. Realistically? I'm not getting out of this town. Not permanently. And, I know Declan doesn't like talking about or acknowledging this stuff is a thing but...especially with how this town is? It's better to be equipped with what you have. You know?"

"Even if you don't leave Gray Harbor, there's no reason that you can't travel and visit other places," Justin says as he glances over at her. "Have you been practicing with them at all? Your abilities? I'll admit, I almost never use mine. I know they're there.. and I was practicing for a while when Stefano was around but.." He trails off a bit and shrugs. "There just hasn't been a whole lot of reason to. But yeah, I get it. Just be careful when you do, is all. For me, now that I know what I can do.. I save it for a situation where I feel like it might be necessary."

"Yeah, just a matter of finding time for it. Making the plans. We'll see how this movie goes." Dahlia nodded. "Well, I know I can move stuff. I can feel it...it's there. I just...haven't really done anything with it either. I'm a bit scared to honestly. But don't really have my own place either I can practice...well. Maybe I'll start doing some practice at yours." She pondered. "I just want to be able to know what I can do if I do ever have to use it."

"You can come over and practice at my place if you want," Justin agrees easily enough. "Just, you know, try not to break anything important." He gives her a little sidelong grin before looking back out over the water thoughtfully. "If you want some help, I'd be wililng to practice with you a bit."

Dahlia gives him an innocent look. "Me? Break stuff? Never." Flashing another grin. "Yeah? Could be...fun? I dunno if that's the right word but having someone to practice with a bit isn't the worst idea." She agreed and then turns back towards the water, resting her head on his shoulder. "We should do one of our movie nights again soon. Edibles and all. Well, on a day we're not due to be filming stuff at least."

"I mean, I don't know about fun. We'll see how it goes, but at least you wouldn't have to do it by yourself," Justin says with a little chuckle, choosing not to address the comment about breaking stuff. "Just saying.. using TK to move things around can be a little unpredictable when you're first learning it." He rests his cheek against the top of her head when she rests her head on his shoulder and says, "I'm not due to film for another couple of days. So, whenever you want. Hell, you could come over tonight if you wanted to. I have literally nothing going on right now."

"That's fair...we'll see how it goes." Dahlia mused and then thought it over a bit. "Yeah, you know movie night does sound fun. Let's do it." She lingers a moment against his shoulder before carefully starting to straighten up. "I'll just let Declan know we're heading back to yours and I will probably end up crashing there." She grinned again. "Some mindless fun for a few hours or so. Wanna head back to the car?"

Justin straightens as well so that she doesn't bonk him in the head when she does, and then turns to head back up the path slowly toward the car, not in any particular hurry and enjoying the slightly warmer weather than they'd had to deal with all winter. He nods when she says that she's going to call Declan and says, "Invite him to join us if he wants to. I know he's probably beat, but.. don't want to leave him out." Then he's quiet so that she can make her call while they walk back to the car.

Dahlia makes the call as they walk back. It's not too long, just asking how is day was, she told him that dinner went well and that she and Justin were heading back to his place for a movie and did he want to meet them there? Ultimately it was a no, but maybe next time. An exchange of 'Love you's' and then Dahlia was pocketing her phone again. "He said he just got out of the shower and we going to hit the hay. But he says hi and that we should all hang out soon." They arrive back at the car and Dahlia starts sliding in to the passenger seat. "Do you have the appropriate amount of necessary junk foods for this movie screening or do we need to make a pit stop?"