Chapter 10

Jon woke slowly and painfully. There was a musky taste in his mouth, and his head ached brutally with his first real hangover in years. Cautiously, he opened his eyes, unsure if it was a good idea, but fortunately the room was dark, although a faint glow was visible from somewhere behind him. He was lying on a couch, a soft, thick blanket over him, and he could smell a strange, but somehow familiar, perfume lingering faintly in the air. Trying to see in the gloom, he realised he didn’t recognise the room. The glow gave just enough illumination for him to see the table in front of him, and, underneath the table, his boots and a whisky bottle.

Oh, yeah, whisky. He remembered the whisky now, and it certainly explained the headache. His brain was slowly starting to function, and he recalled his discussion with Dot, and the as-yet-unofficial end of his marriage. So where was he? Jon remembered leaving the house, in a cab. He remembered staggering out of the cab, up to a door. Sara’s door. As the realisation hit, he involuntarily sat up, grunting softly as his pounding head protested the movement.

“Sara?” he whispered, looking around the room. Nobody. Now that he was upright - more or less - Jon carefully stood, ignoring the pain in his head as he slowly turned to look around the whole room.

Standing, he could see that the glow came from a tiny nightlight plugged into the wall, just outside the door, and he walked softly out into a short hallway. Three other doors led off the hallway - at a guess bedrooms and a bathroom - and Jon approached the first one, opening it quietly. Bathroom. He walked to the next door, then noticed dim light under the furthest door, so headed there instead. From the flickering of the light, he assumed it was a television, and he pushed the door open.

“Sara?”

She didn’t hear him. She lay on top of her bed, wearing a tight, bright orange t shirt, with matching hotpants, both bearing the words “Las Vegas County Jail”. She was fast asleep. Jon crept over to the bed and touched her hair, still tied into pigtails. “Sara?” He said again, and she moaned, smiling in her sleep at his voice. Careful not to wake her, Jon lay down beside her, and Sara just naturally turned to lie close against him, her head on his chest. With a smile, Jon closed his eyes again. Just for a minute.

Sara woke as the sun began to flood the bedroom with light. She had a moment of panic when she felt something holding her, preventing her from moving, but then she looked down to see a strong, tanned arm wrapped around her waist, and she remembered the previous evening’s unexpected visit. Running her fingers across Jon’s arm, Sara wondered if he was awake, but the only response he made was to tighten his arm around her, pulling her tightly into his body. She could feel his warm, even breathing on the back of her neck, and she relaxed against him briefly, savouring the contact, then caught sight of the bedside clock, and realised the alarm would soon shatter the silence.

Reaching across, she flicked the switch, killing the alarm before it could start the irritating beeping, then she managed to slide out from under Jon’s arm. She looked down at him for a long moment, then crept silently out of the bedroom and down the hall to the bathroom. While the shower warmed, Sara cleaned her teeth, then untwisted her hair from the pigtails before stepping into the steamy water. She’d left her fluffy robe in the bedroom the previous morning, so once she had dried off, she pulled on her favourite robe - short black satin with a huge red and yellow dragon embroidered on the back. Cheesy, maybe, but she loved it anyway.

Hair swathed in a towel, she went back through to the bedroom but, since Jon was still asleep, decided to make some coffee before starting her usual search for clothes. She picked up her book on the way out of the bedroom, opening it on the kitchen counter while the coffee began to drip into the pot. Breakfast crossed her mind briefly, but she knew she had nothing in, so coffee would just have to do for now. Her eyes were focused on the book, but she wasn’t reading, her attention drifting off to things she needed to do, and she was so lost in thought that she didn’t hear Jon walk into the kitchen, didn’t know he was there until he slid his arms around her waist, making her jump.

“Jon!” Her heart was racing from the fright he’d given her, and she heard a light chuckle as he spoke.

“Sorry baby. Did I scare you?” He bent to drop a kiss on her neck, just where it met her shoulder, leaving his head resting there as she replied.

“Scare me? What do you think?! I didn’t hear you come in.” Sara moved her head, rubbing her towel-covered hair against the side of his head. “How are you feeling?”

“Mmm?” Jon sounded distracted. “Oh, I’m fine.” He inhaled deeply. “God, you smell good. What is that?”

“Snow Fairy.” Sara replied.

“Excuse me?”

Sara giggled “Snow Fairy. It’s shower gel, Jon. Do you want coffee?”

“Not right now.” He said, nuzzling her neck. He moved his head forward a little, peeking down the front of her robe as he nipped at her neck, seeing that the black satin was all she wore.

“Hey - you’re sparkling!” he said, looking at her bare skin, then a sneaky hand reached around and pulled the belt of the robe so that the front fell open.

“I told you - Snow Fairy.” Sara tried to pull her robe closed again. “It’s got glitter in it.”

Jon pressed against her, pinning her to the counter so she couldn’t close her robe as he kissed her neck again. Sara sighed, tilting her head away so he could kiss up behind her ear, loving the feel of his mouth on her skin. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Jon knew that he shouldn’t take this any further, not this morning, and he drew his head back, keeping Sara pinned against the counter with his hips, arms wrapped around her slender waist.

“Sorry.” he said. “Do you have any aspirin? For some reason, I’ve got a bit of a headache.”

“Oh, I wonder why!” Sara poured coffee for them both before she moved away from Jon, closing and belting her robe as she stepped away. She found aspirin in a cupboard and handed them to Jon, who swallowed a couple with his coffee.

“Can I grab a shower?” Jon asked, and Sara nodded.

“Sure. First door on the right. There should be some dry towels in there.”

Jon kissed her on the cheek with a grateful smile, then disappeared off to the bathroom. Soon, Sara heard the shower running, and she took the opportunity to go back through to her bedroom to dry her hair and dress.

The shower helped a bit, and Jon could feel the aspirin taking the edge off the headache as he dried off and wrapped a towel around his waist. His mouth still tasted of old whisky, not helped much by the strong coffee, and he sneaked a look in the bathroom cabinet, hoping to find a spare toothbrush. No such luck, but he did find a bottle of mouthwash, which would just have to do for now. He pulled his jeans back on and gave his hair a quick rub with the towel, dropping it on the floor. Before he left the bathroom, though, he looked back, then went over, picked up the towel and folded it, hanging it neatly on the side of the bath.

Leaving the bathroom in just his jeans, Jon could hear a hairdryer in the bedroom, but he went back to the kitchen to collect his coffee before going through to see Sara. She was sitting on a low stool, head thrown forward as she dried her hair quickly, and Jon sat down on the end of the bed to wait until she was finished.

Flipping her head up to finish drying her hair, Sara caught sight of Jon in the mirror, and smiled at him while continuing to dry her hair. He gave her a lazy grin that tightened her grip on the hairdryer, but she finished what she was doing, then killed the hairdryer and reached for a brush. Jon took another mouthful of coffee, then stood up to walk over to Sara. She watched in the mirror as he came up behind her, then he took the brush out of her hand, running it gently through her hair. Sara couldn’t believe how erotic she found the simple act of Jon brushing her hair, and when she glanced at him in the mirror, she was even more surprised to see by his face that he felt it too.

As he finished, Jon laid the brush back down and crouched beside Sara, pulling her around on the stool to face him.

“Sara, I….” She laid her fingers on his soft, full lips to silence him.

“Jon, you need to go home. If you want, I can drive you to the studio, so you can get your car, but I really think you need to go sort things out. In fact, you should call home just now - they’ll be worried about you.”

Sitting back on his heels, Jon gazed up at Sara. “You really are very special, you know that?” He said, and reached for his cellphone as she gently stroked his face.

He dialled home and spoke briefly to Dot, telling her that he’d spent the night in a hotel, but had passed out from the whisky and only just woken up. There was real relief in her voice when she heard he was okay, and he knew, even though the divorce was a foregone conclusion, they’d still be friends, and he was glad of that.

Sara had slipped out of the room while he spoke to Dot, and he found her in the kitchen, pouring another mug of coffee.

“I’m sorry - there’s no food in the house.” She apologised. “I was going to go to the store last night, but I didn’t get there.”

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t know if I’m up to food yet, anyway.” Jon said. “I spoke with Dot, and we’re going to tell the kids tonight.”

Sara looked serious “Well, you know where I am, if you need to talk.”

“Only talk?”

“Jon, I’m not going to be a crutch for you through this.”

“You don’t understand. Last night, well, I was upset and hurt, obviously, but not for the reason you think. I think I was mourning the end of my marriage, but not the fact that Dot’s leaving me. Does that make sense?”

Sara looked dubious. “I don’t know. What are you trying to say?”

Jon took her mug from her, laying it on the counter, and held both her hands as he tried to express what he was thinking.

“When Dot and I talked last night - before the whisky - she said something that I agreed with. She said she still loves me, for the kids, and for all the times we’ve been through, but she’s not in love with me. Not anymore. When I was in the cab from your studio going back to the house, I’d been thinking about it, for the first time in years probably, and I’d come to the same conclusion. We’ve stuck together because it was easy, and we had the kids, but when you think about it, we live separate lives anyway - Dot is home most of the time, but I’m on the road, whether it’s with the band, with the Soul, or just doing charity stuff. She told me she’s been seeing this other guy for over eight months! I hadn’t even noticed, so what kind of husband was I being to her?”

Jon shook his head sadly, but Sara still didn’t look convinced, and he thought he knew what was bothering her. He looked directly into her eyes, bright blue staring into deep chocolate brown, as he tried to persuade her, needing her to believe him, or believe in him, he wasn’t sure.

“Sara - you and me - well, I’m not going to lie and say this was the first time I’ve cheated on Dot. It isn’t. It’s no excuse, but when I’ve been on the road, with the guys, sure - things have happened that I’m not necessarily proud of. But I can honestly tell you that I’ve been faithful to Dot for the last year - completely faithful, even through the tour, right up until the day I met you. We barely know each other - I know that - but I also know I’d like to get to know you. Can you let me do that? Will you give it a chance?”

Sara was smiling slightly now, and Jon was relieved when she gave a gentle nod.

“I’ll give it a chance.” She promised, and Jon smiled.

“Baby, that’s all I ask.” He folded her into his arms, feeling the warmth of her body through the thin satin robe.