Chapter 92

Sara used her t shirt to brush off the worst of the sand that was sticking to her, then she shook the sand from her underwear and pulled her panties on.

“Hey, Jesus - why don’t you come put some clothes on?” She called to Jon, who laughed as he dropped his arms and turned around.

“What did you call me?”

“Well - you’re standing there like Jesus.”

By the time Jon reached the centre of the hollow, Sara had her t shirt back on, and when she bent to pick up her jeans, Jon ran his hand down across her ass, brushing at the sand.

“You’re covered in sand.” He told her, and she giggled.

“Oh, I wonder why!”

Once they were dressed again, Jon combed his fingers through Sara’s hair, smoothing it back and trying to shake the sand out of it. He took her hand as they walked out of the hollow, heading to the top of the dune.

“This could be interesting.” Jon mused, looking down at the steep slope.

“Let’s do this the easy way.” Sara said, going to the very edge and sitting down, pushing off with her hands and sliding down the sand on her backside. Jon followed suit, and they slid almost the whole way to the bottom, until the slope flattened out enough for them to stand again, brushing yet more sand off themselves.

The beach was beautiful in the moonlight, and the cliffs cast looming shadows across the glistening sands. By the time they reached the cliffs again, the sea had cleared a wide path for them to pass, though there were one or two patches of sand which had the look of quicksand, still saturated with water, and they skirted around them carefully. When they were clear of the cliffs, they moved inland a little more, onto firm, dry sand.

“So,” Sara said a little shyly, “when’s your next show? Could I come watch?”

“Could you?” Jon grinned at her. “I’d love you to come to a show, darlin’. You could meet the guys, too. If you want to, that is.”

“Are they all as sweet as Richie?”

Jon laughed. “Richie sweet? Jesus - I don’t think I’ve heard him called that before! The guys are great, and they’ll love you. Hell, Richie loves you, and he’s not an easy guy to get to know.”

“In that case, I’d love to meet them.”

“When do you get home?”

“Ummmm…..I’ll be home two weeks from yesterday I think. Yeah - Tuesday thirtieth.

“Well, we’re playing at a benefit concert for Habitat on the first. Could you make it to that? It’s at Wachovia Center.”

“I guess so - I kinda cleared my calendar for the rest of that week, because I didn’t know how tired I’d be, but I can certainly make it to your show.”

“That’s great, baby.” Jon kissed her enthusiastically. “I can’t wait for you to meet the guys. Tico especially - he wants to see who I washed dishes for!”

“Ooh - Richie told them, then?”

“Oh, yeah, he told them all right. That’s why I want them to meet you - once they do, they’ll understand.”

“Aw, baby - that’s such a sweet thing to say. Have I mentioned I love you?” Sara stroked his cheek as Jon grinned.

“You may have mentioned it, but I never tire of hearing it from you, darlin’.”

“Good. It’ll be nice to see Richie again, too.”

“Yeah, he’ll be………..oh, shit! I forgot to tell you!”

“What?”

“Richie asked me to tell you that Linda’s going out to LA this weekend for a visit. He made me promise to tell you.”

“That’s great news! I’ll maybe call him later.” She thought for a second. “Actually, I’ll call him tomorrow, while I’m travelling. It might keep my mind off missing you.” She finished quietly, looking down at the sand.

“Hey.” Jon said softly, tugging at her hand. “I’m not gone yet, sweetheart.”

“You’re right.” Sara forced a smile, determined that their last few hours wouldn’t be spent moping around. There’d be enough time for that once Jon was gone.

Bypassing the Watering Hole this time, they walked up into the town, finding a quiet café where they ordered the ubiquitous British fish and chips, although Sara balked when the waitress suggested tea, sticking with her coffee instead. The staff were all on the older side, and there was no sign of recognition when they looked at Jon, for which Sara was glad, because they were left in peace to eat. She did understand that, if she was in a relationship with somebody like Jon, she had to expect a certain degree of public scrutiny, but right now, tonight, she just wanted to stay as close to him as she could, and not have to share him.

“Where do you go from here?” Jon asked suddenly, and Sara had to think hard to remember.

“Yorkshire I think, then Scotland, where foxhunting’s already banned, to see how it’s affected things. I think the rest of the trip’s going to be a lot of travelling, and not much photography. Still, I’m getting paid for it, so that’s the main thing. I’ve got travel details back at the hotel.”

“Maybe we can share a cab to the airport tomorrow.” Jon suggested, and Sara nodded.

“Sounds good to me. What sounds even better, though, is getting back to the hotel, because I need to pack. So do you I guess.”

“It’ll take me all of about thirty seconds to toss my stuff back in the bag.” Jon grinned. “But getting back to the hotel sounds like a plan.”

Jon paid the bill, and they strolled back to the Seiners, seeing the lights of the Watering Hole sparkling on the beach, but they went into the hotel and straight up to the bedroom. While Jon switched on the kettle, Sara started trying to gather up her clothes and pack them away again. She left out some clean clothes for the next day, then sat on the bed looking at Jon.

“I think I’ll maybe take a bath.” She said quietly, and Jon could hear the desolation in her voice.

“Why don’t I join you? Room enough for two, right?”

She smiled at him gratefully - right now, she just wanted to keep him close, keep touching him for as long as she could. Before she could put it into words, though, Jon beat her to it.

“I don’t want to waste a single second of the time we’ve got left, Sara. I just want - I need - to stay close to you until we’re forced to go our separate ways.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth.” She told him, getting to her feet. “I’ll go fill the tub.”

While the water poured into the tub, Sara came back into the bedroom, digging into her bag again and finding a paper bag which said ‘Lush’ on the side. She tipped it onto the bed, and a variety of bubble bars fell out, Sara picking out a brown-and-cream bar which appeared to have a cube of brown sugar on top.

“Do I even want to know?” Jon asked with a grin, and Sara smiled back at him.

“Probably not. You’ll smell it once I put it in the bath.”

She went through to the bathroom, crumbling the bar into the running water and watching the water start to foam as the chocolately scent came through. In the bedroom, Jon sniffed, then grinned. He should’ve known.

“Chocolate?” He called, and Sara came back through smiling.

“Uh-huh. Well, it’s kinda meant to be a Mars Bar scent, but it’s really the chocolate you smell. Bath’s nearly full.”

Sara pulled off her t shirt, then scrabbled through the debris of hair clips and bands on the dresser, finding the band she wanted and tipping her head forward to gather her hair into a ponytail. She twisted the ponytail around into a bun on top of her head and secured it, then noticed Jon watching her with a grin.

“What?”

“Oh, nothin’. You just look cute like that.” He paused as Sara unzipped her jeans and dropped them to the floor. “You look even better like that though.”

She grinned at him, then stooped to pick up her travel bag, searching through it until she found the pink suede folio that held her travel documents. Pulling out a sheaf of paper, she checked the itinerary for the rest of her trip, nodding silently.

“Yorkshire next. I fly from Newquay to Leeds, then I get picked up from there. My flight’s not until eleven tomorrow morning. What time do you fly out?”

“My flight back to Newark is at five, so I just need to be back in London in time for that. Out of Newquay, it’s a private flight.”

“Rock star.” Sara muttered loudly, and Jon laughed.

“Hey! I resemble that remark.”

“I know you do. But you actually resemble a rock star wearing way too many clothes.”

“Now, that I can do something about.” He grinned, rapidly taking off his jeans and shirt.

Sara got out of her underwear as Jon vanished into the bathroom, and as she approached the door she could hear him cursing quietly.

“What’s wrong?” She asked as she watched him gingerly lower himself into the tub.

“Oh, nothing. I think you were Japanese in a previous life - you certainly like your bath hot, don’t you?”

“Mm-hm.”

Just as Sara began to step into the tub, they heard a cellphone ringing in the bedroom, and she hesitated, then went to get it despite Jon’s protests. It was Jon’s phone, and Sara picked it up and took it to him when she saw the display showed ‘home’. He answered the call, but when Sara made to leave the room, he shook his head, beckoning her to get into the bath.

“Hello? Oh, hey buddy. How you doin?”

The water splashed as Sara got into the bath, Jon pulling her around to sit with her back against his chest, his free arm around her waist.

“Huh? Sorry, Jesse - yeah, dad’s in the bath. What you guys been up to, then?”

Sara relaxed against Jon as he talked to his son - there didn’t seem to be anything wrong - just the little guy missing his daddy, and she was drifting toward a doze when Jon said goodbye a while later and switched off his phone.

“Ever’thing okay?” She asked drowsily.

“Yeah. He just wanted to tell me what he’s been doing.”

“He misses you.”

“Yeah.” Jon sighed. “I miss them, too, Sara. The only good thing about going home tomorrow is that I can see the kids. I think they’re going to like you.”

“I hope so. I’m not great with kids. Babies seem to like me, but I can’t talk to kids. Never had to I guess.”

“You’ll be fine, darlin’. They’ll love you. Just like I do.”