Chapter 23 - Wish Me Well, Well

 

 "Jon, Beth just called.  She wants you to know that she isn't coming."  Said Obie into Jon's ear pieces.  Jon is in the middle of That's What The Water Made Me when he hears him and he instantly gets pissed.  

They talked for days about her meeting him in Orlando, she was a logistical nightmare now.  She used her pregnancy as an excuse at every chance that she could, so why did he think that today would be any different?  When he seen her the last time, three weeks ago, they continued to stay in communication since and had planned her meeting him for days.  They were trying to put the pieces of their life back together, as much as they could with old glue and distance.  Jon gives Obie a signal to let him know that he heard him.  As much as he wanted to get off the stage, he refused to let her get in the way of his work again.  Yea, he loves her.  Yes, he wants to be with her more than anything else in the world - but he has bills to pay and fans to entertain.

They finish their sold out show in Orlando and as soon as Jon could get to his room, he did.  He didn't even turn his phone on until he was showered and in his running shorts.  He wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of her calling at her convenience, he was making this one all about him.  When he was relaxed, he grabs his phone and sits out on the deck.  Flipping his cover open, he finds her contact information and calls her.  Twice.  The second time she answers the phone, "Hello."

"What's going on?" he ask without so much as a hello how are you.  He didn't care right now.  He wants to know why she stood him up.  When he talked to her earlier in the day, she was fine.  She said she felt great and that she looked forward to seeing him.  She even that she needed to see more of him, more than what she seen when they video chatted.  She needed him and she wanted him.  

He had planned every detail of the night out in his head and had a staff of four put it all into action.  He was surprising her with a nice, late night candle light dinner.  He had arranged for a private show for just the two for them at Sea World, knowing that she's never been there.  He wanted to wow her again, like he did so many years ago, back in the desert.  "What happened?" he asks her, with a pissed off tone.  "Why aren't you here?"

"Hi babe, how was the show?"  she was trying, she really was.  She wanted it to work, she wanted them to be a family again, but she's not dealing to well with the traveling this time.  She doesn't want to leave the safety of the cocoon that she made for herself at the vineyard.  She thought that she would be able to do it, she hoped that she could do it - but she couldn't.  She knows that she let him down, but she couldn't help herself.  "Was it a good crowd?"

"Show was fine, crowd was good.  Why are you not here?" he asks again, with even more of a tone this time.  "You said you would be here before I finished the show, and I assume you're still in California."

"I am." she starts to tell him, she knows that she sounds silly - but she has to be honest about it.  "I'm sorry Jon, I just couldn't do it."

"Couldn't do what?"

"Leave the vineyard."

"What?  Why?" he demands to know, "What's going on?"

She can hear that he's upset, as he should be but she just isn't ready.  Her life has been so drama free, with very little upset she has managed to stay away from the public eye and she wasn't ready to be thrown back into it; just yet.  "I'm not ready."

"Ready for what?"

"To get back out there with you, to be in the public eye."

"You won't be, that's why we planned it at night.  Are you serious, you're really not coming?" he's pacing and getting more pissed off with each step that he takes, "My plane is there waiting for you."

"No, it's not.  I called Chris and told him I wasn't going.  I told him to get to Orlando."

"Are you really not coming here?"

She knows that she's hurting his feelings and she's sad about it herself, but she really doesn't want to go.  "Jon, I want to live the next few weeks without any drama or headlines.  It was bad enough when they knew you were here the last time.  Dorothea still calls me and gives me a hard time about it."

"This is bullshit and you know it.  If you don't want to be with me, if you don't want to see me - then tell me.  Don't let me get my hopes up that I'm going to see you and then in the 11th hour pull the rug out from underneath me."

"I would love to see you, you know that.  This isn't even about you Jon."

"You not being here isn't about me?  How do you figure?" he barks at her.  "How can that even make sense to you?"

Beth is in the house sitting on the couch, but the longer the conversation goes on, the more trapped she feels.  She gets up and walks outside.  It's dark out and the middle of the week, so the place isn't packed - but it isn't empty by any means either.  She can see couples walking hand in hand, children running and elderly couples happy to just be together.  She's jealous.  "Why did I have to fall in love with a rock star?"  she says out loud.  

"And what the hell does that mean?"

"Nothing Jon.  I'm outside looking at my guests and they all look so happy, so fulfilled and here I am arguing with you because I no longer want my picture on the cover of the Times.  I want privacy and anonymity."

He stops his pacing long enough to grab his emergency pack of cigarettes from his bag.  Back on the porch he lights one and says, "You were coming in under darkness.  No one knew you were coming, Beth."  He's furious.  He's waited for this day for three weeks and she goes and blows him off.  He's not sure if he's more pissed that she let him down or if he's more pissed at himself for getting his hopes up?  It's Beth, he really should have known.  Not wanting to sound lie a complete ass, he calms himself down a second and adds, "I knew you were going to do this.  I don't know why I'm so upset."

"Jon, I intended to come.  I swear."

"I don't think that you did."  he confesses, "I really don't think that you did."

"Yes I did, Jon.  Knock it off.  Why are you being such an asshole about this?"

"I was really looking forward to seeing you."

"Babe, I wanted to come."

"Good night.  I love you." and he ends the call.  He wasn't going to listen to anymore.  He heard enough for one day.  He sets his phone down on the table and looks out over the ocean.  He's really pissed that she bailed on him.  In his eyes, it was like a slap in the face.  How could she stay away from him because she didn't want to be in the public eye.  He has people to help him with that, he would protect her.  She has to know that by now.