Chapter 78

Dragging smoke into his lungs and holding it until it burned, he finally let it stream out his nose. He’d been cutting back in readiness for a tour within the year. The summer air kicked his ass with allergies and he knew the cigs didn’t help. Too bad he loved them so much. Staring at the tip for a moment, he lifted for another drag and felt the nicotine flood his system like a welcome balm.

He dragged his fingers through his hair and longed for a shower and to sleep for a week. Maybe when he woke up, his brain would be able to juggle all his personal shit into a pretty solution.

And maybe Frank Sinatra would come to a Soul game in March. Christ. He stubbed out his cigarette and went back inside.

Covering the open box of donuts he tucked them away in a cabinet, wincing at the number left in the box. It was going to be a long day.

When Romeo gave a shrill whine he held up a hand. “Two is more than enough for you buddy.”

Licking chocolate off his palm, Jake informed him that Romeo actually ate three donuts. That was just great. Like his toddler needed a sugar high. “Hey guys! Why don’t you head upstairs and get ready to go to Mom’s house.”

Jake latched onto Jon’s pant leg and he cringed as chocolate smeared across his thigh. “Will Gramma be there?”

Lifting him up, he went for the sink. “Yup, both of your Grandmas will be there.”

Jake wrinkled his nose. “Stinky, Dad.”

Jon tipped his head back. “I know, bad Dad. I’ll wash my hands too, okay?”

Jake curled his fingers around the neck of his T-shirt and tugged until he leaned down. “They’re no good for you,” he mimicked the tone Stephanie used all the time to get him to quit. Hell, even Dot wasn’t immune to the lectures.

He wrapped his arms around his neck and Jon just stood there, letting the water run as his kid held onto him. “I know, I’m sorry.” Turning him around, he put Jake’s hands under the water and scrubbed him down from fingers all the way up his arms. “How did you get chocolate on your elbows?”

Jake just shrugged and put his arms out, obviously done with his lecture. “Fly, Dad!”

Jon groaned. He was getting too big to fly, but he hoisted him over his head and hit the stairs.

Romeo ran after them, slowly climbing the stairs. “Me fly too! Dad! Me too!”

“Okay, here we go.” He deposited Jake onto his bed in a fit of giggles and closed him in. “We’re leaving in a half hour.”

“Okay,” Jake said and wiggled out of his pajama top.

Walking down the hall he shouted, “Thirty minutes! We are leaving in thirty minutes so put down the toys!” he paused, “And the cell phones!”

Steph stuck her head out of her door. “Are you kidding? Thirty minutes?”

“Yup.”

“But Dad!! I need an hour to get ready!”

“And I need a helpful kid,” he said in the same overly distressed voice.

She huffed in his face and shut the door. Walking down the hall he pounded on Jesse’s door. “Turn the game off and take a shower.”

A huge sigh and then the controller hit the floor and the door opened. “Dad, I can get ready in five minutes!”

“Well then get ready in five minutes then play.”

Another huff and a slamming door was his answer as Jesse hit one of the bathrooms own the hall. Making propeller noises he snatched Romeo off the landing and quickly buzzed him into his bedroom. Fighting his way through a quickie scrub down, he managed to get him dressed.

Grabbing Legos he rushed down the hallway and settled Romeo on his bed. “Can you be a good boy and play Legos while I take a shower?”

“Uh-huh!” And with that Legos scattered all over his bed.

Leaving the door open he listened with half an ear as he hurried through his own morning ritual. Thankfully Romeo was in the same spot when he finished.

“See! Look what I did!”

Smiling at his youngest he praised the…well, he was pretty sure it was supposed to be a pirate ship. Ruffling his hair he stepped into black trousers and shrugged into a white dress shirt.

Grabbing his cell and wallet like he always did when getting ready, he stopped. Curling his fingers around the cell he flipped it open and dialed before he could stop himself.

A little disappointed when he got Tessa’s voicemail he left a message and finished getting ready then rounded up the rest of the kids. After ten minutes of goodbyes and another five of complaints on who got the front seat, Richie and Ava headed out to his folks and the Bongiovi clan headed to Dorothea’s.

Hoping he didn’t forget anything Jon took a left and passed Chapters with a heavy heart. He hoped to God he could make things up to her that night.


~


Tessa traced her thumb over her phone. There was a red bar along the bottom of the screen.

*new message*

Part of her wanted to listen, the other part of her wanted to chuck the phone out the window and head for California. She was supposed to call him. She wanted to call him. God, she just wanted to hear his voice.

“You are way too quiet back there for sitting up.”

She curled her fingers around the cell, “Huh?”

Nic twisted around in her seat. “Are you going to tell me what’s up before I have to beat it out of you?”

They were on their way back into Jersey and she just didn’t have enough in her to keep up appearances obviously. “Nothing’s up, just doing some thinking.”

“Well you better stop that kind of thinking because it’s giving you lines and black eyes, so it cannot be good for you.”

If she didn’t stop obsessing she was going to have a friggin’ ulcer she thought darkly. Taking a deep breath she flipped open the phone and dialed in her password for messages.

“I was hoping to catch you this morning,” there was a pause. “I miss you,” he said low into the phone. “Merry Christmas, babe. I’ll see you tonight.”

Stupidly she hit repeat and listened again. His voice was that delicious husky tone that made her insane. Or was it low so no one would hear him talking to her? Snapping her cell shut she shot it into her purse.

Pulling down the pillow from the pile of suitcases she grabbed the throw blanket she brought on trips and plugged in her IPod. She would get through this Christmas if it killed her. And she would stop thinking about their problems and focus on the positives.

He loved her. He wanted to be with her. Wasn’t that enough for now? Everything had been happening at warp speed since she’d met him. She wasn’t even taking the time to just enjoy the moment. Enjoy him.

And…her evil IPod that had some sort of karmic mojo spit out Keith Urban. All the stress she put on herself just melted as the guitars hummed in her ears. And the playful words melted into her heart as she just laughed.

You Look Good In M...

When you walked up behind me and covered my eyes
And whispered in my ear, guess who
I rattled off names like I really didn't know
But all along I knew it was you

And, the longer we talked, the more we laughed
And wondered why we didn't last
It had been a long time, but later last night
Baby, we caught up real fast

And maybe it's a little too early
To know if this is gonna work
All I know is you're sure looking
Good in my shirt
That's right
You look good in my shirt

Well now I'm not saying we solved overnight
Every way that we went wrong
Oh, but what I'm seeing I'd sure love seeing
Every morning from now on

And maybe it's a little too early
To know if this is gonna work
All I know is you're sure looking
Good in my shirt
That's right
You look good in my shirt…

And as the song drifted on so did she. Sleep finally found her and she dropped off with the silly crooked grin of his in her mind as he told her on a number of occasions just how good she looked in his shirt.