Chapter 82

When the amazing colours faded, they turned and continued their walk to the Watering Hole, Jon holding the door open for Sara then following her inside. The restaurant was much busier than earlier, music playing, and Sara was glad to note there was no decrease in the noise level when Jon entered. Alex was still working the bar, and he smiled when he saw them walking over.

“Evening.” He said when they reached the bar. “Do you want a table?”

With a quick glance at Sara, Jon nodded. “Thanks Alex. And can we get a diet coke and…….actually, just make it two.”

“Sure - I’ll bring them over. Take table fourteen - it’s the one over in the corner there.”

He pointed them to a secluded table, and Sara at least was grateful that he seemed to be trying to protect their privacy, not making a big deal of having the megastar visiting the restaurant. Jon escorted her to the table, seating her in the corner and sitting with his back to the room.

“Nice of Alex to put us over here - nice and private.”

“Good.” Sara reached across the table to take his hand. “I don’t feel like sharing you right now. Not even with your fans.”

Jon pulled her hand up and kissed her fingers with a smile, and they were still holding hands when Alex appeared with two glasses.

“Here you go, guys. Menus are on the table, so just shout when you’ve decided what you want.”

He walked back to the bar as Jon plucked a menu from the holder and handed it to Sara, then took one for himself, too. Sara flipped hers open, glanced at it, then closed it again, Jon looking at her in surprise.

“You know what you want?”

“Oh yeah. But I’ll settle for a cheeseburger right now.”

Jon gave a delighted grin as he took a look at his own menu, deciding to just copy Sara. On the bottom of the menu it instructed that you should make your selection, then order at the bar, so he folded the menu shut and pushed his chair back.

“I’ll be right back, darlin’. You want fries?”

“Mm-hm.” She looked up at him wickedly through her lashes. “Need to keep my strength up.”

“Hussy.” He whispered as he walked away.

Up at the bar, Alex took the order, including a couple of additional items Jon saw on the specials board. He paid and headed back to Sara, who was toying with her straw, gazing blindly down at the table, lost in her thoughts.

“Penny for them.”

“Huh? Oh, nothing - I was just dreaming.”

“About me, I hope.”

“What do you think?”

Before Jon could answer, though, his cellphone buzzed and he frowned but reached into his pocket, smiling as he read the display.

“Richie.” He told Sara, then answered the call as she smiled at him. “Hey, bro. What’s up?”

From California, Richie could hear the unmistakable sounds of a bar seeping through the phone, and he hoped Jon wasn’t somewhere alone drowning his sorrows. Didn’t sound like it, though.

“Hi Jon. I just wanted to see how things were going.”

“Things,” Jon reached out and took Sara’s hand with a grin, “are great, thanks. Better than that, actually. Things are perfect.” “Just like you.” He added in a whisper to Sara.

“So you found her, then?”

“Oh, yeah.” Jon held the phone across the table. “Say hi to Richie.”

Sara took the phone out of his hand. “Hey Richie.”

“Sara! Good to hear your voice again, girl. So has he redeemed himself? Or are you still making your mind up?”

“Oh, I think he’s forgiven.” She giggled suddenly. “And I only hit him once.”

From across the table, Jon could hear Richie roar with laughter, and he rubbed the side of his face ruefully as he remembered the slap. Sara gently stroked his cheek, where she’d hit him, and he grinned as he pressed his face against her hand.

“That makes it feel better.” He whispered.

Sara said goodbye to Richie and handed the phone back, after promising to call him once she was home. Jon took the phone and said goodbye, too, after Richie had made him explain about Sara hitting him, then he hung up just as Alex brought over two huge plates of food.

“Cheeseburgers and fries, twice.” He laid a plate in front of each of them, joking. “Glad to see you’re health conscious!”

He left them to eat, and the cheeseburgers certainly lived up to the hyperbole on the menu. They savoured the rich meat and cheese, laughing at each other as relish escaped, dripping onto the plates and trickling down Jon’s chin. Sara reached across to wipe it with her fingers and Jon caught her hand, licking it away, but stopping when he saw her look uncomfortable at him doing that in public. When they were finished, Alex reappeared to take the plates, then came back again with two mugs of coffee and a large wedge of chocolate cake, which he laid in front of Sara when Jon pointed.

“Chocolate cake?” She asked. “Aren’t you having any?”

“I was kinda hoping to share yours - figured you’d be full after the burger.”

“Oh, I always have room for chocolate cake, but I’ll let you have a little.”

They shared the cake and were just enjoying their coffee when a girl came across to the table, glancing behind her at a small group of girls who were obviously egging her on. She was carrying a magazine, folded open, and holding a pen.

“Excuse me. Are you Jon Bon Jovi?”

Jon managed to control his grimace, though Sara saw the flash of annoyance in his eyes before he turned to the girl with a slight smile.

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry to intrude, but would you mind signing this for me? I’ve been a fan for years.”

“No problem. What’s your name?”

She told him, and he scrawled a short message across his own photo and signed it for her. Both Sara and Jon were shocked, though, when she turned to Sara.

“You must be Sara. Sara Holland, right?”

Sara’s mouth fell open, but no words came out, as she tried to figure out how the girl knew her name. Jon, being much more accustomed to this type of intrusion, was able to ask the question.

“What makes you say that?”

The girl flipped the magazine open, pointing to the facing page, which had a small version of one of the photos from Matt’s party, and a whole lot of photos of Sara, along with a slew of text.

“May I?”

Jon took the magazine back from her, scanning the text, which seemed to give a lot of personal detail about Sara, and a lot of the photos looked kind of old, as though they’d been taken from photo albums. He frowned as he read the byline at the end of the article, but said nothing, just passing the magazine back to the girl.

“Thank you.” He stood up and pulled Sara out of her seat.

“What…..?” She began, but he leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

“Babe, just come with me. I’ll tell you outside.”

He quickly led her to the door, nodding to Alex as they went, and they got outside without attracting any more attention. When they reached the sand, Jon led her to the right, away from the town, figuring that anyone who wanted to follow, to see where they were staying, would automatically turn left. Within a few steps, they were outside the flood of light from the restaurant, and basically invisible in the darkness. There was just enough light to see where they were going, and he took Sara up toward the dunes until he found a secluded spot to sit down.

“What is it?” Sara asked.

“Babe - what’s Kay’s surname?”

“Kay? Warner. Why?”

“Shit!” Jon spat. “I was afraid of that.”

“Jon, you’ve lost me. What was in the magazine? Did they have photos of your kids?”

“No, darlin’. It was photos of you. A lot of photos, and a lot of information about you, and about us.”

“Photos of me? From Matt’s party?”

“Well, yeah, there was one from there, but there were a lot that look like they came from somebody’s photo album. One of you riding a horse on a beach…..”

“I’ve only ridden on the beach once, when I was on vacation with……… Oh no! She wouldn’t………she didn’t………. Kay?”

“The byline said K Warner. The piece gave quite a bit of detail on you, Sara.”

“And about us? Damn her - all the things I told her when she came to apologise? Or pretend to apologise. Has she used all the stuff I told her in confidence, as a friend?”

“I think so, baby. Hell, I’m not ashamed of being with you, and the kids know - well, Steph does, and she’s probably told the boys - but it’s not how I wanted people finding out. I know you like your privacy, and I wanted to keep the press away from you, if that was what you wanted. Shit. I’m sorry, Sara.”

Sara’s mind was racing, but the overriding thought that kept coming through, strangely enough, wasn’t the feeling of betrayal, although it was certainly there. All she kept thinking was how much she loved Jon, and she reached a decision, fumbling in the dark to take his hand.

“You made me leave my coffee behind.” She told him, confusing Jon with the strange comment. “Come on.”

She stood up and pulled him to his feet, leading the way back toward the Watering Hole. Jon tugged on her hand, stopping her again, and she turned to face him, the light from behind throwing her face into shadow.

“Baby?”

Stepping forward, Sara touched Jon’s cheek.

“You said you’re not ashamed of me, didn’t you?”

“I said I’m not ashamed of being with you, but there’s no way I could ever be ashamed of you.”

“Well, I’m sure as hell not ashamed of you, or being with you. You said it yourself, when you invited me to Matt’s party - the best way to deal with this is to face it head on. So let’s do it. Let’s go back into the bar.” She grinned in the dark. “To put it as politely as I can, fuck Kay and her games. I love you, Jon, and that’s all I care about right now.” Sara felt suddenly unsure. “I mean, if you want to go back in.”

In answer, Jon grabbed her shoulders and pulled her to him for a long, wet kiss, then released her.

“You amaze me sometimes, Sara, you really do. I’m with you - let’s go. Anyway,” she saw the shine of his teeth in the light as he smiled, “you said ‘fuck’ again, you bad girl, and you know I can’t resist you when you say that.”

Jon took her hand firmly in his, lacing his fingers through hers, and they re-entered the restaurant, going up to the end of the bar. Alex came right across to them, looking slightly concerned.

“Is everything okay? I saw you leave in kind of a hurry.”

“Fine, thanks, Alex. We just, well, there was some stuff in a magazine somebody had, and we just had to discuss it for a second.” Jon answered him. “Can we get a couple more coffees?”

“Sure. Cappuccino, latte, mocha……”

“Just regular coffee.” Jon replied.

“Strong.” Sara added with a grin.