Chapter 88

“Yes, master.” Sara replied, mockingly putting her hands together and bowing over them like some kind of harem girl.

“That’s what I like,” Jon grinned, “a woman who knows her place.”

Sara rolled her eyes and got off the bed.

“A woman’s place is in charge.” She told him as she took the kettle to fill it up.


While Sara and Jon were joking around, thousands of miles west, in LA, Richie was sitting sipping coffee and impatiently watching the clock. It wasn’t quite six am there yet, which meant it should be almost nine o’clock in New York, where Linda was. He was trying to work out exactly what to say to her - he’d promised to call her the previous week, but with the trouble with Heather over Ava, and Jon’s problems with Sara, he’d just never had the chance, and he hoped he hadn’t blown it. Sighing, he picked up the phone and dialled her cellphone number from the business card.

“Hello?”

“Hi Linda. It’s Richie.”

“Oh, hi.”

In her office, Linda spun her chair around so her co-worker couldn’t see her face. She’d been bitterly disappointed the previous week, when Richie hadn’t called her, but by now she’d convinced herself she’d never hear from him again. Hearing his voice, though, made her realise how much she’d hoped he would call her.

“Linda, I’m sorry I didn’t call you last week.” Richie decided that honesty was the best policy. “I had some trouble with my ex, over Ava, and a friend was having some problems, too, and I got kinda tied up with all that.”

“Friend? You mean Jon? I heard that there seemed to be something wrong.”

“You did? From who?”

“One of my girlfriends who was at the Hard Co….. uh, Hard Rock concert. She managed to get front row, and she said Jon seemed, I don’t know, upset or something.”

“He was, but he’s okay now. He was just having some woman trouble, I guess.”

“With his new lady - Sara Holland?”

“Okay, now you’re freaking me out!” Richie laughed, wondering where the hell Linda got that little tidbit of information. “How did you know her name?”

It was Linda’s turn to laugh. “I guess you don’t read the gossip mags, huh? There’s an article just been published which tells you all about her. Pretty girl.”

“That she is. Shit, I wonder if they know. Which magazine is it? I’d better warn Jon.”

“I could fax you a copy, if you like.”

“Thanks, Linda - that’d be great.” Richie gave her the fax number quickly, then got back to the point of his call. “So, have you given any more thought to coming out to California? When could you come?”

“My weekends are free for the next few weeks - I’ve stopped doing overtime for the moment.” She laughed. “I’ve finally paid off the credit card bill from the concerts, so I don’t need to work quite so hard now!”

“How about I get you a flight out this Friday, then, and we can have the weekend at least?” Privately, Richie was hoping to convince her to stay a bit longer, but he could wait until he had her on his home ground before he started to work on her. In more ways than one.

“Are you sure? I can pay for my own flight.”

“Girl, I’m inviting you to come visit, so it’s only right I pay for the flight.” He looked at her business card, which he’d been toying with while they talked. “Is this email address current? On your card?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay - I’ll get them to send you the confirmation there then. I’m really looking forward to seeing you again.”

“Me too.”

Linda’s co-worker suddenly appeared in front of her, holding up a piece of paper which said ‘Frank’s on his way up!’.

“Richie - I gotta go - my boss is coming up to see me, and I’m really not supposed to use my cellphone here.”

“Okay, then. I’ll see you soon, though. Bye Linda.”

“Bye.” She echoed, clicking her phone off and dropping it into her purse as she turned to her friend. “Thanks for the warning.”

“No problem. So…….was it him?”

Her friend had seen Linda’s face light up when she answered the call, and having listened to her spend most of the previous week trying to be brave, saying she wasn’t surprised he hadn’t called, she really hoped it was Richie.

“Yep. He got tied up with some stuff last week, which is why he couldn’t call me, and……oh, before I forget!”

She pulled the magazine out of a drawer and quickly photocopied the pages about Sara, then faxed them to Richie’s number, crumpling the pages and dropping them into the trash just as her boss appeared for their meeting.


Richie was still smiling as he heard the fax beep, and walked over to grab the pages. His smile faded quickly as he scanned the pages, seeing the old photos of Sara and the personal details of her life laid out in print. He grabbed his cellphone and called Jon, still holding the sheets of paper.

In Cornwall, Sara and Jon were tucked up together in bed, drinking coffee and fighting over the last cookie, when Sara’s cellphone rang. She picked it up, smiling when she looked at the display.

“It’s Dana - you remember? The girl who practically ordered me to watch you in that movie?”

“Ah, yes, the lady with good taste!”

Sara slapped his leg through the cover as she answered the call.

“Dana? How are you?”

Jon could hear an excited voice from the other end of the call, and Sara started giggling.

“Yes, Dana, it’s true.” Silence from the other end for a moment, then the voice started again, sounding more serious now.

“I know about that, babe. We saw the article last night. Believe me, I’ll speak to Kay about this, but not until I get back.”

“Wait a minute!” Dana suddenly said. “What did you just say? ‘We’ saw the article? We who?”

“Jon and I. We were in a restaurant when somebody brought it over.”

“Jon and you.” Dana repeated. “He’s there with you? Right now?”

“Mm-hm. Wanna say hi?” Sara turned the phone to Jon before her friend could protest. “Say hi to Dana.”

“Hi Dana. How you doin’?”

“Uh……hi……..I’m good. How about you?”

“I’m great, thanks.”

Sara took the phone back, and just then Jon’s own phone rang, somewhere in his jeans on the floor. He got out of bed to find the phone while Sara laughed as Dana stammered something unintelligible.

“Dana - you okay?”

“Yeah, I guess. Sara, don’t do that to me! You could’ve warned me!”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

Jon was climbing back into bed, holding his phone to his ear, mouthing ‘Richie’ as he pulled the cover up over his legs again.

Sara heard a doorbell from Dana’s end of the phone, then her friend sighed.

“Sara - I gotta go. As you probably heard, my next lesson’s here. Call me when you get home?”

“Sure, Dana. Have fun - kiss the grandbabies for me.”

As Sara hung up, Jon was still talking to Richie, nodding as though his friend could see him.

“It’s okay, Richie. We already know about it. How did you………….oh, right.”

Jon twisted the phone away as he spoke to Sara. “Richie’s lady friend told him about the article, and she faxed him a copy.”

“Hi Richie!” Sara called out, snuggling against Jon, her arm wrapping across his waist as he draped his arm over her.

“Sara says ‘hi’. Did you catch the byline on the article?”

“No - lemme look.” Richie looked at the bottom line, reading the name. “K Warner? Oh, no way. Kay? That Kay?”

“Yeah, that Kay.”

“Treacherous bitch! Is Sara okay?”

“She’s fine, bro. In fact, I’d tell you what she said, but I don’t wanna offend you with bad language.”

Richie roared with laughter at that, and Jon winced as Sara lightly bit his chest, just where her head lay. Contritely, she kissed where she’d bitten, then looked up at him through her lashes as she tenderly licked the area, then bit him again, her mouth gradually moving up toward his ear. When she reached his ear, her teeth nipped at the lobe before she whispered to him.

“I’m going to take a shower.”

Instead of climbing out of her own side of the bed, though, Sara came up on her knees beside Jon, then straddled him, grinding her hips down on him before moving clear as he tried to catch a pigtail. She slid out of the bed and disappeared toward the bathroom, pulling the bands from the ends of her pigtails so she could wash her hair. Jon watched her go, and he must have been lost in contemplation for a second, as he suddenly heard Richie’s voice yelling.

“Earth to Jon! Hello?”

“Shit, sorry bro. What were ya sayin’?”

“I don’t even want to know what’s going on to distract you so much!” Richie joked. “I was just asking you to let Sara know Linda’s coming out here for the weekend.”

“Really? That’s great, Rich. I’ll let her know.” Jon stretched luxuriously as he spoke. “So, what you doing today?”

“I have no idea. What time is it there, anyway?”

“It’s almost two in the afternoon. I think we’re having a lazy afternoon now - we spent the entire morning surfing.”

“Surfing. In England. Isn’t it too cold for that?”

“It was fuckin’ freezin’, but I did get to see Sara in a wetsuit, so it wasn’t all bad.”

“I can imagine. Well, I’m gonna go see if there’s any food in this house. Catch you later, bro - don’t forget to tell Sara about Linda.”

“Yeah, sure. Bye Richie.”

As Jon ended the call, he could hear Sara singing softly in the shower, and he threw back the cover to go join her.