Chapter 41 - That Fateful Night, Changed Our Lives

 

 

When they are done taking care of the twins, Jon jumps in the shower.  He hates travelling right after a show without a shower, but this trip had to be made. 

When he finishes, he takes the liberty of laying on the bed and waits for Beth to join him. 

It takes her a while because she does all of her puttering at night.  She had a few things to take care of regarding the vineyard, she hand was some delicates and then she was ready for bed.  She showered too, taking hers as quick as possible.  She was so excited that he was laying in bed waiting for her, she can hardly contain herself.  She has only been with out him for a few days, but she missed him like he had been gone a lifetime.

With her favorite Victoria's Secret lotion in her hands, she sit on her side of the bed, naked, with only a towel wrapped around her head.  She starts to apply the lotion to her legs and Jon stops her.  She looks at him and smiles, "I got this."

"Lay down, so do I." he winks at her.  Beth pulls the towel off of her head and lays back. Watching every fluid movement that Jon makes.  With lotion on his hands, he starts to rub her left leg.  She loves the way his touch feels and she missed it.  As she laid there, soaking up the affection she can't help but notice the distance that is still between them. 

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" she asks, unsure that she wants to know the answer.  "You seem very far away."

"Alot on my mind."

"Can you be a little more specific?"  She asks, knowing that he always has things on his mind but he's never been this far away.

He squirts more lotion on his hands, rubbing them together before he rubs it on her, "I'm a little pissed off that neither you or Richie failed to call me when Steph was in trouble."

"Jon......" he stops her with his hand.

"You not calling me for her drug overdose and now this drunk driving makes me wonder what else you have kept from me."  She sits up in bed, anger mounting.  "How many other things have you and Richie kept from me?"

"Nothing!  That's it, just the drunk driving.  I don't share our business with anyone, you KNOW that."

He's rubbed all the lotion in, on her leg and gets up from the bed.  "I just can't believe that you would keep anything, especially those things from me.  My daughter, has had to life threatening scares and you kept them from me."

"Stop it Jon." Beth demands as she gets up to walk to him.  "You know that I keep nothing from you, except those and I did it at Stephanie's request."

"What if she had been hurt?"

"Then you would have known."  Still naked, she's at his side.  She reaches up to touch him and he pulls away.

"You know how I feel about Stephanie and to think that she was in LA scared, without me, that makes me sick to my stomach."

"She was fine Jon, just a little shaken and a little nervous."

"But she was alone."

"No she wasn't.  As soon as she was able to call, she called Richie because he was right there.  She then wanted me there and I got to her as fast as I could."

"I should have been called, god damn it.  And now she's gone."

"What the hell is the matter with you?  It's done, it's over with.  How long are you going to be mad?"

He turns and faces her, "I think I'll be mad for a while.  About as long as you're going to hold Melissa against me."

Her stomach does flips and her heart begins to race, "What did you say?"

"I'm going to be mad at you about this for a while."

She steps into his space, gets in his face and says, "What did you just say about Melissa?"  He can feel the warmth of her breath on his face and when she enunciates each word, the change in her breath pattern changes and he blinks.

He steps back and says, "I'm going to hold this against you as long as you've held Melissa against me."

"Jon!" she can't believe what he just said.  "How can you even say that name?" 

 

He's getting pissed off that she isn't seeing the seriousness of her betrayal, she's not getting the magnitude of what she's done.  His daughter, his oldest child was in a car accident, while intoxicated and Beth AND Richie thought that it didn't warrant a phone call.  He is still floored about that, even a couple days later.  "Am I not supposed to?"

"Why would you?"

"To prove a point." he snaps back at her, "To prove a fucking point.  Do you not get it, do you not see the ultimate betrayal here?  Do you not see what you single handedly have done.  YOU, you god damn it have taken any trust I had in you and ruined it, by keeping that from me."

"Whoa.  You need to stop with this Jon.  She is an ADULT and didn't want us to call you or Dot.  Did you really want me to break her confidence?"

"YES!"

She starts to walk away, she realized that being naked wasn't appropriate for the conversation that they were having.  She grabs her robe and pulls it on, "I'm sorry, I don't see it that way.  I needed her to feel safe and that she could trust me."

 

"That's bullshit and you know it." he barks at her.  Beth stands there, shocked at the words that are coming out of his mouth and even more so, the reason in which they are flowing. 

 

"Oh really, than for what reason did I keep it from you?"  she barks back.  "Tell me Jon, why would I not tell you?"

 

"I think you and Richie have something going." he says as he stands in her path, feeling better getting that off of his chest.  "I think you're the reason that he bailed on the tour."

 

"WHAT?  Have you lost your damn mind?" 

"He bails on me and then Stephanie has her accident?  It's a little suspect Beth."

Running her fingers through her damp hair, she screams at him, "He bailed on you because her was helping your daughter."