The Sauna Part 266

I’d finally fallen asleep after knowing that all was well and, of course, after several glasses of wine to help ease me off into dreamland. I had just woken up after a very long nap and I’d enjoyed a rather delicious dream in which Jon’s talents were other than musical. Jim nudged me gently as I stretched and struggled to orient myself to where I was.

“Hey, sleepyhead! You must’ve been dreaming about Jon, eh?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Why do you ask?” I wondered suspiciously.

“Because the only time I see you smile quite that way is when he’s in the room” he said a little wistfully.

I nodded and looked directly at Jim without hiding the flush I felt stealing over my face. There really was something to what he had said, I knew, because Jon made me feel things I’d never felt before in my life. I wasn’t surprised that I had become so transparent as I knew I had begun opening up more than I ever had and I no longer felt I needed to disguise my emotions. I wasn’t afraid to show my feelings like I had been when I first met Jon.

“You’ve gotten to be a pretty observant guy” I acknowledged, thinking back to how he had been when we were together.

“I guess we’ve both grown, Trish” he said somewhat sadly.

Jim and I had been very different back then. Sure, we’d had fun and we laughed quite a lot, but there’d always been something missing. We never really talked about us, or what we were feeling, and we certainly never shared what we needed from each other. We were too busy back then with judging each other’s shortcomings to take an honest look at our own. Jim held my eyes as he looked at me and we each felt a trace of regret.

“Jim, I’m sorry…” I began, but he stopped me.

“It was a long time ago, Trish. Let’s not revisit the past, let’s just keep moving forward as we seem to be headed in the right direction these days” he said wisely and I bowed to his wisdom.

My phone rang just then and I saw it was Jon. He still had a few hours before he’d be landing and I guessed he was bored and feeling restless. My flight was a mere eighteen hours where his was closer to twenty-four after several stops to refuel.

“Hi baby” I purred into the phone. “Miss me?” I asked playfully.

“Every single minute of every single day, babe, but that’s not why I called” he said, sounding a bit more serious now.

“What’s up?” I asked, sitting up a bit straighter in my seat.

“Guess who just called me” he challenged.

“Matt?” I answered immediately.

“Worse. Who do you suppose Matt went running to with his tail between his legs?” he said sarcastically.

“Oh shit, Jon, not your mother? I guess we should have expected that” I realized with a sigh.

“I knew it was coming, babe, but I was ready for it this time” he told me.

“Are you okay?” I asked worriedly, fearing he could slip into melancholy.

“I’m okay, really. Ask Richie, he gave me a standing ovation” Jon teased but he handed the phone to Richie to reassure me.

“Trish? Yeah, damn, you should have heard the ole boy. He gave her hell and he done me right proud” he said with a twang and I knew he was grinning.

“Seriously, Rich, is he okay?” I repeated.

“Yeah, darlin’, he’s good, really” he said honestly and I heard the genuine relief in his voice as he handed the phone back to Jon.

He didn’t reveal the entire conversation but he gave me the gist and shared some of the more colorful exchanges and I had to admit he sounded okay. It seemed as though a great weight had been lifted and his voice came across lighter. He’d finally shed the denial he’d carried for so many years and it felt good to walk in the sun again. Jon was back.


**************


We finally arrived in Australia and it was almost three in the morning on Thursday. We’d lost a day crossing over the dateline and it still felt like Wednesday to me. We disembarked and planned to head straight for the VIP lounge where Jon had been waiting with Richie. The others had gone back to the hotel as they’d arrived a few hours earlier, but Richie wanted to see me and Jon appreciated the company.

It took longer than I expected to clear customs as the plane had been full and we hadn’t been the first ones to exit. I looked just beyond the checkpoint and saw Richie’s Stetson and the figure of Jon pacing beside him and waved. Richie saw me first and nudged Jon as he pointed and they both came running towards the gate. Security wouldn’t let me get close enough to hug him over the barrier, but they finally let Jon through to me since he’d already been cleared.

He scooped me up in his arms and whirled me around as Jim and Richie looked on and laughed. They nodded to each other while Jon and I kissed and Jim finally tapped my shoulder to indicate that the customs officials were ready to clear us. Jon let me go, but he held my hand and we walked through the metal detector looking like love-struck teenagers.

“Hey! Don’t I get a hug?” Richie pouted and I ran straight at him and nearly knocked him right over, his hat flying off as he caught me up in a hug.

“Damn, girl, we could use you on defense at the next Soul game! Let’s sign her up, bro” Richie grinned and I stooped down to pick up his hat.

“It’s so good to see you” I gushed, hugging him again before I felt Jon’s arms slip around me.

“It’s good to see you too, darlin’. And you must be Jim?” Richie smiled, extending his hand.

“Since you’re Richie Sambora, I must be Jim. Yep, seems everyone’s present and accounted for” Jim smiled back, shaking his hand.

“C’mon, let’s blow this place. Richie and I’ve seen enough of airports and planes to last us a lifetime” Jon insisted, pulling me along with him.

“What about luggage? We need our bags” I reminded him as they’d sent theirs on to the hotel.

“Shit, I forgot about that. Good thing there’s three of us to help carry your bags, babe” Jon winked at Jim.

“Hey, you’ll be impressed. She only brought one” Jim announced.

“One? No fuckin’ way” Jon quirked his eyebrows at me.

“Only one. Like you said, there are stores in other countries” I smirked and the three of them groaned.

We collected our luggage and walked out to the limo and piled in. Richie cracked open the champagne and poured us each a glass and Jon raised his for a toast.

“To better times and smooth sailing” he proposed and we all drank to that.

“To good friends and great memories” I said, raising my glass.

“To wine, women and song” Richie added, winking at me.

“To sharing the wealth” Jim laughed, nudging Richie and we laughed and kidded each other all the way back to the hotel.