Chapter 8

Colleen and Jon sat on the beach in the fading sunlight.  A picnic basket stood on the edge of the blanket, a bottle of wine was wedged into the sand near to Jon’s side of the blanket.  The basket held the remains of their dinner, dessert was still to come, and he had promised her ice cream. 

“Ahhhhhhhh I needed this.”  Colleen moaned as they leaned back watching the waves come to shore.  The stars were beginning to come out, soft music came from Colleen’s phone.

“Your students giving you problems?”  Jon places his hand over hers, not holding it in a clasp but just touching her fingers.

“You would’ve thought they had never heard of poetry before.”  Colleen sighed and turned to face her.  “I loved poetry and writing it when I was their age.  I tried to tell them that music was a form of poetry and they looked at me like I had three heads.”  She dropped her head back and looked at the sky above them.  “Is this a real life, or is it fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no except from reality.”  She looked over at Jon.

The look on his face, he knew she was reciting Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, then he suddenly saw what his teachers in high school were trying to teach him.  He looked over at her and spoke. “One heart one other, they met last summer, one move she started, Now they love that way. The Pain of pleasure, lying together, You’re at their mercy no one said there’d be nights like this, risk your life for a stolen kiss,”  Man he drug that out of the vault in his brain,  That was from his second album, wasn’t any better than the first, but he and Richie were still growing in their writing.

“See, getting them to see that is what I am having a hard time getting across.  If it’s not set to music they can’t see it.”  She sat up and reached for her glass of wine.  “Enough about my work, let’s talk about yours. Did you write any songs today?”

Jon sat up and took a deep swallow of his wine, letting it mull with his thoughts till he was ready to talk.  He swallowed and sighed. “Not really, I talked to David, Tico, Hugh and Bobby” He turned slightly to look at her.  “Tico has his art now, he’s really great.  Dave’s working on another Broadway hit, Hugh is working in Vegas, doing Rock the Vault with other band members.  Bobby, he has some family problems. Just doesn’t seem right for them to come together and write a new Jovi album.”

“Maybe they’re just waiting on you to call them together to start working together.   They’re probably giving you some time to heal.”  Colleen sat up and crossed her legs Indian style and reached over and took his hand.  “I haven’t been living under a rock. I know Richie’s leaving had to hurt, then your wife, maybe they were giving you time to heal and when you’re ready they’ll be there.”

He really listened to her, he knew deep in his heart she was right, he just didn’t feel it. He hadn’t for a while, it seemed like his world stalled and he didn’t like feeling like that. 

Instead of talking he leaned forward and touched his lips to hers. Now that felt right, maybe his world moved an inch. When he sat back and looked into her eyes he smiled, yeah it moved more than an inch.

“You promised me ice cream.”  Colleen said softly. As she kissed him again.

“Then we better pack up and get you the ice cream I promised you. I know just the place, I used to know the man who owned it.  Best ice cream in New Jersey.”  Jon said as he gave her another quick kiss.

“Sounds like a plan.”  She sat back and wiggled her eyebrows at him.

They packed up everything, hauled up to the car and got it loaded, and then they headed for Rumson.

The parking lot for Crazee’s was packed.  The majority of the people were all locals, high school kids, parents and senior citizens.  They waited in line, Colleen took a look around at the crowed, mainly looking for any of her students.  Knowing it was too far for some of them, but you never know when one would pop up.

“See anything you like?”  He whispered in her ear.

“Yeah, but it’s a little too crowded and public.”  Colleen whispered back over her shoulder.

Jon laughed, it felt so good to laugh, and yep his world is starting to turn.

They got their ice cream and walked out to the car. He had Colleen hold his and he drove down to the park and turned off the car.  They were all alone here.  Jon took his cone and they sat quietly eating.

“It’s really beautiful along the river.”  Colleen said as she ate her Elvis Ice Cream.

Should he tell her about the house he had on the river.  He could take her by and show her.  He hadn’t been there since Dorothea died.  They hadn’t even cleared out her clothes and personal items yet.  He made a mental note to get the kids and come out here and get it cleaned out.

“Yeah it is.” He finally said.  The ice cream seemed to sour thinking about Dorothea.  He tossed the rest of the cone toward the trashcan.  The next time he took Colleen out, they would take a car that they could sit closer.  Bucket seats were not romance inducing.

“It’s still early, we can take the long way back, if you want to.”  Jon said as she finished her ice cream.

“Whatever you want to do.”  Colleen said as she felt how the mood had shifted. Colleen was left wondering what she had said to kill the mood.

When they made it to her apartment, Jon got out and went around to help her out of the car, holding her hand as they walked up to the porch.

“Would you like to come in for some coffee?”  Colleen asked Jon as the came up the steps.  They had hardly talked on the ride to her apartment.

“I better get home, the boys are home by themselves, and I don’t want to come home to a mess.”  Jon hated this feeling, things were going so right tonight, then they had to go to Rumson and then thinking about the house and the fact they hadn’t cleaned it out like they did in the Hamptons, all of Dorothea’s stuff was right where they had left it.  Damn, he’s call Stephanie to see if she was free the next weekend.

Jon leaned in for a good night kiss, it was going to be a quick one so he could head home.  The look in Colleen’s eyes he knew he had fucked up the end of the evening.

“I’ll call you tomorrow.” Jon told her as he headed down the walk.

“I have a teacher’s conference tomorrow, it will be late before I get home.”  She said giving him an out.

“I’ll call.”  Jon repeated as he got in the car and started it.  He didn’t look back.  Maybe he needed to talk to Father Bob.

Colleen watched him drive off and thought about where it went wrong.  It was at the park by the river, must be something family attached to it.  Rolling her shoulder she went in and got on her laptop.  Googling Jon Bon Jovi, she sat it on the desk and went into the kitchen to get a glass of wine and waited for it to completely load.  Scanning the selections she hit on Redbank and Rumson.  Reading as she sipped her wine, she finally understood what might have happened.  One of them linked over to his wife’s Obituary, she sat the glass down on the desk and put two and two together and the pieces fell into place. 

Now all she could do was sit back and wait to see if he called her again.