Chapter 67

They left the kitchen area - which was barely big enough to hold the three of them anyway - and Sara headed for the couch. Paul hung back slightly, not sure if he was intruding, but Jon slowed to walk beside him with a friendly, disarming grin.

“So you’re my competition, huh? The other guy who keeps stealing Sara away from me!”

“I guess so.” Now that Paul was past the initial shock of Jon’s presence in the studio, his naturally confident manner resurfaced - working with Sara, he’d been around enough famous people to not be overawed very easily. “Although it’s more her work that steals her away - the girl’s a workaholic - and a slavedriver.”

“I heard that!” Sara called without looking back, and both guys laughed.

Sara dropped onto the couch, and Jon sat next to her, leaving Paul to take the armchair. They had barely settled into their seats when the phone rang. Paul made to get up, but Sara beat him to it.

“I’ll get it.” She told him as she headed for the workdesk.

After a few minutes of slightly awkward silence, while Sara seemed to be stuck on a long phone call, Jon tried to make conversation.

“So - are you a photographer, too?”

“Yeah. I mainly help Sara, but I also do some stuff of my own, mainly stuff for auto magazines so far. All joking aside, she is a great boss, and she gives me a lot of freedom to do my own thing, which a lot of studios wouldn’t do.” He looked at Jon, with an expression usually seen on a big brother warning a guy off his kid sister. “She’s very special, y’know, and - well - I wouldn’t like to see her get hurt.”

Jon smiled placatingly. “Paul - you don’t need to worry. The last thing I intend to do is hurt that girl. You don’t need to tell me she’s special, either. I know it. She deserves the best I can give her.”

Paul relaxed a little more, glad he’d said his piece, and feeling that Jon was pretty sincere.

“I liked the photos I saw in Rod & Custom, by the way.” Paul said, remembering the article. “Your two cars. They look like real nice vehicles.”

“They are.” As Jon replied, Sara finally managed to finish her call and came back over.

“Just ask Sara.” Jon continued as she sat down, looking a little confused by the comment. “Sorry, babe - Paul was asking about the cars - the Chevelle.”

“Oh, God, she’s gorgeous!” Sara enthused.

“You’ve seen it?”

“Her, not it.” Sara corrected. “Seen her, ridden in her, driven her. She’s downstairs now - and she may still have her wheels.” She teased Jon.

“You’ve driven her? Damn, now I’m jealous.”

“Do you want to come down and take a look at her?” Jon asked, and Paul nodded eagerly.

The guys got up, and Jon held out a hand to Sara, but she shook her head.

“You boys go look at engines and stuff - I’ve got some work to do - I need to check the itinerary for my trip, see if I can change my departure date.”

As they left the studio, Sara could hear a lot of talk about torque and hemis and horsepower, and a lot of other technical jargon that went straight over her head. She loved the car, loved the look and the sound, but she didn’t really need to understand how it worked!

She found the folded sheets of paper which comprised the itinerary for the trip, and it looked like her trip to Florida wasn’t going to happen. The schedule was pretty tight through the first part of the trip, although there was a notation that, a few days in, she had a couple of free days, and the editor’s assistant had noted that they’d booked her into a beachfront hotel for a few nights, so she could relax. Thoughtful of them. Now all she had to do was break the news to Jon that she wouldn’t be able to come and meet the other guys.

That thought reminded her of the first day she’d met Richie, and Sara realised that she hadn’t gone through the photos she’d taken that day, so she loaded them up and started looking through them. Within the first few pictures, she found that the brotherly love between them was clear in the photos, and she was thrilled at how well they had come out. She printed a few, dimly realising that the guys still hadn’t returned, then decided to go get more coffee.

While she was in the kitchen, the door opened then closed, and she heard the guys’ voices, still debating the relative values of different shock absorbers….or maybe it was air filters…..she really didn’t know. All too-technical gobbledegook to her, but it was cute, the enthusiastic way Jon was talking about his baby.

Smiling, she stepped out of the kitchen with her mug.

“So have you two finished drooling over that hunk of metal?”

“Hunk of metal?” Jon looked at her in disbelief. “I thought you liked her?”

“I do. She’s gorgeous, and I love the way she sounds, but I just don’t get the fascination with all the technical stuff. Must be a guy thing.”

“You’re probably right.” Jon laughed. “Listen, babe, I gotta go. What time d’you want me to pick you up?”

“I’ll be here for a good few hours yet. Are we meeting Richie for dinner?”

“Shit. I forgot to call him, and I’m gonna be late for a Soul meeting if I don’t get going.”

“I could call him, if you like.” Sara offered, and Jon nodded gratefully.

“Would you mind? I’m sure he’d rather talk to you than me anyway - I think he’s a bit in love with you, too.”

“Okay - I’ll call him, then I’ll let you know what’s happening. You’d better scat, if I’ve made you late.”

“You didn’t. Guess I just spent too long - what did you say - drooling over my car? I’ll see you later, baby.”

Sara walked Jon to the door, and Paul tactfully vanished into the kitchen, giving them a chance for a swift but sweet goodbye kiss. Jon headed off downstairs, and as she heard the outer door slam closed, Sara suddenly realised she hadn’t told Jon that she couldn’t go to Florida. Paul emerged from the kitchen carrying coffee.

“Is it safe to come out?” He joked, and Sara laughed.

“Yep. Jon’s gone. You two seemed to get on well.”

“Y’know, we did. I expected a bit more rock star attitude, really, but he’s actually a really nice guy. That Chevelle kicks ass, too. I can’t believe you’ve driven it - sorry - her!”

“Neither can I! Jon let me drive her yesterday, then he used her as bait this morning, to get me to leave my car at home. He was so insistent on bringing me to work - I don’t know why, especially when he had a meeting. I didn’t know I was making him late.”

“God, Sara, you’re so naïve sometimes! I think you’ll find he just wanted to keep you around for as long as he could, that’s why he brought you to work.”

“Yeah, right.” Sara laughed at that. “Oh, hey, I printed out some photos from the shoot I did with Jon and Richie. D’you want to see them?”

“Sure.” Paul let Sara change the subject - he’d only seen her temper once, but he didn’t want to be on the receiving end, so he let it drop and followed her to the printer.

Sara had printed a selection of the photos - some of the serious ones, and she’d printed one or two of the ones where Jon and Richie were goofing off, too, and Paul laughed at those.

“These are really good, boss. Are they for a magazine?”

“No, I just wanted to shoot them both together, and I’m really pleased with the result - you can see how close the two of them are. I’ll take them with me later, show them to the guys.” She checked her watch. “Whoops. Speaking of later, I’d better call Richie, see if we’re meeting him for dinner.”

She pulled her cellphone from her jeans and found the number, from when Richie had called her the previous day, hitting the call button as she wandered back to the couch. Sitting down, she kicked off her sandals, leaving them under the table, then stood up again, as usual more comfortable barefoot.

“Richie? Hi, it’s Sara.”

“Hey, beautiful. How are ya? Oh, I guess you survived Jon’s cooking, huh?”

Sara giggled. “He’s actually a pretty good cook, Richie. He even made breakfast this morning.”

“He cooked twice? Jesus!”

“Yep, and he even……….oh, I promised not to tell you that part!”

Richie’s laugh purred through the phone, making Sara smile.

“Girl, now you gotta tell me - unless it’s something dirty, something that a pure, innocent guy like me shouldn’t be hearing about!”

“Pure and innocent? You? Never! Besides, what would Jon and I possibly get up to?”

“Sara, if he isn’t getting up to mischief with you, I’m getting him to a doctor, fast! C’mon - tell me! I promise I won’t tell him you told….”

“Oh, okay - it’s nothing all that exciting, though. I just thought it was funny. He cooked breakfast while I was asleep, then he did all the washing up and tidied the kitchen again. Sweet of him, really.”

She heard Richie spluttering at the other end of the phone, then he roared with laughter before he responded to her.

“Oh, man - Jon washed up? Jesus! Wait till Tico hears about that!”

“Richie! You promised you wouldn’t tell!”

“Yeah, girl, didn’t you know I lie? I’m kidding - but I may have to mention it to Jon later!”

“Don’t you dare! Anyway, that’s why I’m calling. Are you busy tonight?”

Richie laughed again. “Why - you got tired of blondie already?”

“No way! Jon suggested the three of us could have dinner at the hotel, if you wanted. He’s run off to a meeting, so I said I’d call you.”

“Sounds good to me. I have absolutely no plans - it’s been kinda nice, actually, a few days to just kick back, no work, no nothing.”

“Yeah - no work - and what were the two of you doing the other night?”

“Aw, hell, that’s not work. That’s fun - writing is the fun part of the job. That and playing - you should know that - you play guitar.”

It was Sara’s turn to laugh. “Richie - there’s no way I’d call what I do ‘playing’ guitar. I mess about with it sometimes, but that’s as far as it goes. I do enjoy it, though, except for the sore fingers.”

“Ah, that’s just because you don’t play enough. So, dinner? What time?”

“I haven’t a clue. I don’t know when Jon’s coming back to pick me up. Can we give you a call when we’re on our way?”

“Yeah, that’s probably the best idea. Hell, if I know Jon, you’ll probably get - ummm - sidetracked before you can leave, anyway.”

“Richie! God, you’ve as dirty a mind as Jon!”

“Naw, girl - I’m worse. Now go - do some work - and I’ll see you later.”

“Okay, bye.”

Clicking off her cellphone, Sara dialled again, calling Jon, but his phone was turned off, so she left a brief message before getting back to work.