Chapter 128

As the cab approached Sara’s house, she searched through her bag, finally locating her keys tucked into an inner pocket. Even though she protested, Jon paid the cab driver the hefty fare, then he grabbed her travel bag from the trunk, carrying it up to the door.

“Well, it’s still standing.” He observed as Sara unlocked the door, forcing it open with difficulty past three weeks’ worth of mail.

“Would you mind dumping my bag in the bedroom?” Sara asked, crouching to try to gather up the mail as Jon squeezed past her.

“No problem.”

As Jon disappeared to the bedroom, Sara closed the door again and carried the pile of mail into the living room, dropping it on the couch while she went to the kitchen, quickly starting a pot of coffee. She’d just started going through the mail when Jon came back, and he dropped into the single armchair while Sara flipped envelopes into two piles - separating the obvious junk from the mail she might actually be interested in. When he heard the gurgle of the coffee, Jon grinned and asked Sara if she wanted coffee.

“Ooh - yes please, baby.” She giggled. “It might be a bit strong for a wuss like you, though.”

Jon made a face as he got to his feet and headed into the kitchen. He found mugs in the cupboard, but when he opened the fridge he discovered there was no milk.

“Babe - you’ve no milk.” He popped his head out of the kitchen and Sara looked up from what she was doing.

“Damn. I’ve some powdered stuff I think, in the……..oh, hang on.”

She joined him in the kitchen, opening a couple of cupboards before she found the powdered milk stored beside all her baking stuff. As she turned to hand it to Jon, she realised he was looking out of the window, a sad expression on his face.

“What’s wrong?” She asked, turning to look, then remembering. “Oh. Sorry. I guess I had a bit of a tantrum before I left for the UK. I’ll have to clear that up.”

The tiny patio was strewn with the roses Jon had bought Sara, shattered glass mixed with wilted flowers from where she’d thrown them after their fight.

“Sorry.” She repeated softly. “They were so beautiful, but, well, when I woke up that morning and saw them…..”

“Yeah, I know, darlin’.” Jon turned from the window and gathered her into his arms for a hug. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Why don’t you finish up your mail, and I’ll tidy that up for you. My fault after all.”

“No, Jon. It’s fine. My mess, I’ll clear it up.”

Jon was about to argue when he saw the determined glint in her eye, and wisely backed off. “Okay, baby. What can I do, then?”

“Me.” Sara said, then laughed at his expression. “Sorry - I couldn’t help it! Just give me a few minutes, then we’ll head for the studio.”

“Hey - where’s your car?” Jon suddenly asked, realising it wasn’t parked outside, and remembering it had been gone when he tried to find Sara before she left.

“It’s along the street. If I’m going to be away for a while, I park it at one of my neighbours’ houses - that way it’s not quite so obvious the house is lying empty.”

Jon poured coffee and added some of the powdered milk to Sara’s. She took a sip and made a face, but carried the mug through to the living room anyway. While she opened the mail which looked important - mainly bills - she hit the playback on her answering machine and listened to the few messages, smiling when she heard a familiar voice.

“Sara……I just got this magazine you did the photos for…..you gotta tell me………is he really naked behind that guitar? Oh, sorry. It’s Dana, in case you haven’t guessed! Call me, sweetie. I need details. Details, woman!” A tinkling laugh. “Okay. Bye. Call me!”

“Hey - was that the girl who called you when we were in Cornwall?”

Sara jumped - she hadn’t heard Jon come through from the kitchen. “Yep. That’s Dana! Guess she wants me to call her, huh?”

Jon chuckled, a wicked smirk on his face. “Where is she? Around here?”

“Nooo…..Dana’s in Utah. Why?”

“She wanted details. I was gonna call her, give her some details.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“Sure I would.” He laughed easily. “Dial her number.”

“Wait……she’s two hours behind us, so it’s just after eleven there.” Looking over at Jon, Sara saw that soft smile on his lips, the one she couldn’t ever say no to, and she gave in, pressing the monitor button on her phone.

Still smiling, Sara punched in Dana’s number, and after a few moments they heard it ringing. When the call was answered, Jon recognised the voice from the answering machine, but he let Sara speak first.

“Hi, Dana. It’s Sara. I got your message.”

“Sara! You’re finally home?”

“Mmmm. Just got here. I got delayed leaving Scotland, so I went straight to Jon’s concert when I hit the US.”

“That was two days ago.” Dana pointed out. “And you’ve only just made it home? Sounds like quite a reunion.”

“You’re so bad!” Sara giggled. “I’ll tell Dale.”

“Don’t you dare. So - come on, then - details!”

“Details of what?” Sara teased, and Jon grinned as he decided he’d kept quiet long enough.

“Yeah - what d’you want to know, Dana?” He chimed in, and they both clearly heard Dana’s sharp intake of breath as she realised Sara had put her on speaker.

“Now, that was mean!” She told Sara, but she was laughing. “Hi.” She added.

“Hey Dana.” Jon said, with a smile at Sara. “How’s Utah?”

“It’s fine.” She decided to get a pet gripe off her chest, since she figured she wasn’t likely to get the opportunity again in a hurry. “It’d be a whole lot better if you’d included it in the tour, though.”

“Oops. Sorry.” Jon said. “Now that I know you’re there, though, I’ll make sure we come visit next time.” He promised. “Now you said you wanted details!”

“Well, yes, I do, but that’s girl talk.” Dana told him, and Sara stuck out her tongue at Jon.

He laughed, the sound buzzing through Dana’s ears - and other parts of her anatomy - even all the way out in Utah, so she could barely even imagine how it felt for Sara, having him right there with her.

“Okay - I can take a hint. I’ll leave you two to talk. Nice talking with you again, Dana.”

“You, too. Bye.”

Dana heard Jon say goodbye, then there was a click as Sara picked up the handset, taking the call off speaker just as Dana heard Jon’s voice asking Sara if she wanted more coffee.

“Please baby, but just leave it black - I’d forgotten how much I hate that powdered stuff.”

Jon hesitated briefly as he thought. “There’s a store up the street, isn’t there?”

“Yep - up that way.” Sara pointed, and Jon grinned as he stooped to kiss her.

“I’ll be right back.” He promised, then headed out of the house, leaving Sara to chat with Dana.

“Please tell me that rock star didn’t just run out to buy milk for your coffee?” Dana blurted, and Sara couldn’t help laughing at the distraught sound in her voice.

“You know how much I need my coffee, Dana.” Sara chuckled. “Is he destroying your illusions? Guess I shouldn’t mention him cooking and washing up, huh?”

“Uh…….no. I don’t need the mental image of walking into my kitchen to find a naked Jon Bon Jovi washing dishes. Oh, hell - too late now!” Dana laughed at herself, then her sweet voice grew serious for a moment. “Are you happy, honey? Is he making you happy?”

“He is, Dana. He really, truly is. I think I really love him. It just feels - I don’t know - just feels right.”

“Well, it’s about time!” Knowing Sara wasn’t really one to share her feelings too much, Dana moved the conversation on again. “So - tell me! Was he really naked behind that blue guitar?”

“Dana - I haven’t even seen the magazine yet.” Sara teased. “But if you mean the photo of him sitting on the floor with his ankles crossed and the guitar between his legs, then………yes, he was.”

“Oh, my sweet Lord! Truly?”

“Mm-hm. It was one of those fluky shots that wasn’t even planned, too.”

“What? You threw him on the floor to have your way with him and he grabbed the guitar for protection?”

“Stop being horrible! No - Jon was stripping down…..” Sara paused as she heard a strangled squeak from her friend. “You okay, Dana?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just the casual way you were talking about him getting naked. Sorry, hon, what were you saying? Start from the ‘stripping down’ part.”

“Bad Dana! Well, he was taking off his jeans so we could do………hey, did they use any of the shower shots?”

“Ummm……wet, naked, ultra-hot rockstar drinking beer? That’d be a very big YES!”

“Oh, good. Paul has the magazine at the studio for me. We’re heading over there soon. Anyway. When Jon threw his jeans onto the couch, he knocked my guitar over and he grabbed it to stop it falling. Gave me the idea for that shot, when I saw him sitting there holding it………holding the guitar, Dana! Get your mind out of the gutter you filthy girl!”

“Nope. It’s nice down here in the gutter. You should try it.”

Sara gave a soft, husky laugh. A dirty laugh, Dana thought.

“Oh, I think it’s safe to say I’m pretty deep down there with you, Dana. The things that man can do to me, in fact, some of the things I’ve done with him, to him…….God, I’m blushing, even though there’s nobody else here! He just makes me feel sooooo good, Dana. So wanted.”

“Good. You hold onto him, Sara. You know where I am, if you need to talk. About anything, ‘kay? I gotta go - the kids are coming over soon, and I haven’t even started to cook! And, y’know, if you get bored with Jon………just send him on down to Utah!”

“Not a chance, babe. Okay - I’ll talk to you later, Dana. Take care.”

Sara had just barely replaced the phone in it’s cradle when she heard a key in the door, and belatedly remembered that she’d given Jon her spare key.

“Just me, babe.” He said softly, then saw she was no longer on the phone and raised his voice to a more normal level. “I got milk, so you can have a decent coffee.”

“My hero. Thanks, Jon. That dried stuff’s okay if I’m desperate, but it really tastes like hell!”

“I gathered that, from the look on your face earlier!”

Jon collected the mugs which he’d left on the coffee table when he went out, and they both went into the kitchen, Jon pouring coffee while Sara headed on outside, finding a broom in an outdoor cupboard and making a desultory effort to sweep the dead roses into a pile. She got the flowers and broken vases swept up against the wall, then gave it up, leaving the mess to be picked up and dumped into the trash later. As she put the broom away, Jon came outside to hand her a mug of coffee, and Sara closed her eyes blissfully as she sipped.

“Now that’s better.” She smiled. “Thanks, Jon. You’re a lifesaver!”

Jon looked briefly down at the heap of crushed petals, resolving to replace the flowers as soon as he could.

“Guess we should head for the studio.” Sara said eventually. “Oh - Dana said they used one of the shower photos.”

“Yeah? And what else did Dana say?” He asked curiously.

“Well, I told her that - yes - you were naked behind the guitar, and I think that made her morning! Her kids are coming over, though, so she had to go start cooking. She just wanted to make sure you were making me happy.”

“And am I?”

“Oh, you know it, baby.” Sara grinned at him as she turned, and Jon followed her back indoors.