2 - Dismissed

Special thanks to the always generous Kellene Trygg for digging through her personal pics from the Hawaii soundcheck to add to the chapter!  xoxo  Happy Reading!

One new habit Rachel had learned in the last four months was to avoid her phone first thing in the morning.  It turned out that if she wasn’t disciplined enough to ignore the work it represented, she ended up missing out on her simple daily pleasures – that sacred first cup of coffee, the morning news, her daily run and a hot, stress-free shower.  The one day she’d tried to do a ‘quick’ check, she’d sat in her pajamas fixing problems until almost one o’clock in the afternoon. 

No more.

Technology was wonderful in allowing her to work from almost anywhere in the world, but the recent months had shown her that she was too plugged in to work mode.  Rachel had to make herself re-learn how to just be.

So, in theory, her work day began at nine each morning, but the reality was that she rarely slept past five in the morning on any given day.  That meant, even with the workout and leisurely coffee routine, she was almost always in front of the computer by eight.  She liked to think of it as a workaholic’s ‘diet’ plan.

But today at five o’clock, the sound of gentle rain hitting the roof had coaxed Rachel into turning over and burrowing down in the soft bed to enjoy the coziness of her blankets for a while longer.  A ‘while’ turned into hours.  Eventually, she did emerge from her snuggly cocoon – just long enough to grab a cup of coffee before returning to savor the decadence of the hot beverage in bed and wait for the house to warm up.

By the time she settled in at the kitchen counter and turned her phone on to check in with work, it was nearly ten o’clock.  The usual email alerts began to chime with the cadence of a slot machine hitting the jackpot.  She didn’t pay much attention to the sound until it was interrupted by the distinctively different tone of a text message alert.

A text message right off the bat can’t be anything good, she thought as she tapped into the message with the index finger of her right hand while cradling her second cup of coffee in the left.

{07:04 A.M.}JOHN BONGIOVI: Wish you were here!

She had been right – it was nothing good. 

Seeing Jon’s name pop up was enough to make her draw in a sharp breath, the motion sending her beloved caffeinated brew sloshing over the cup’s rim and onto her hand.  She swore under her breath as the burn turned the skin an angry shade of pink and abruptly set the mug down, wiping at now-tender flesh with a napkin. 

Still dabbing at the burn, she flicked on the screen that had since gone black and tapped the picture accompanying the seemingly harmless message.  The lush scenery and tropical landscaping gave no doubt as to where the photo had been taken, and the knife that pierced though her heart delivered a much sharper pain than the scalding coffee.

There was a time she had looked forward to making the hike up Diamond Head with him.  She had wanted to be the one who showed him how to enjoy his surroundings while still keeping up with his hectic pace, and Diamond Head had been the first and foremost place she had longed to take him.  In fact, as their relationship had been unraveling, she had clung to the image of the two of them standing on the peak of that mountain, certain that they would work things out. 

She blinked away the pain and swore out loud, her voice echoing in the quiet room. 

“Dammit, Jon!  Why do you do this?  Just when I think I may be getting over you!”

~ ~ ~

Jon pulled the monitors from his ears and jerked the wireless pack from his belt, tossing them both to the nearest tech with a forced smile and inaudible growl.  He nearly kicked over an abandoned video camera and barked at his brother, Tony, to get the piece of shit out of his way before it got broken and he had to flush money down the drain replacing it.  The middle Bongiovi brother rolled his eyes and had a staffer gather the equipment with a minimum of backtalk.

Good thing for him, because Jon was beyond annoyed and wouldn’t have hesitated to rip a new one for anybody who decided to cross him in that particular moment. 

The venue was just as old and tiny as he’d recalled.  The acoustics sucked, making it equivalent to playing a high school gymnasium and bearing no resemblance to a ‘real’ arena.   The other venues would seem like Buckingham Palace compared to this place, meaning that his soft opening was essentially useless in terms of test-driving the equipment and stage show. 

Total waste of fuckin’ time.

The silence of his phone wasn’t doing any favors for his mood either.  He pounded down the stairs in the center of the stage, grumbling as he went, and accepting a fresh cup of hot tea from his wardrobe mistress. 

It had been nearly six hours since he’d sent the text message to Rachel.  Six hours.  Even taking into consideration the two-hour time difference, Jon knew she had surely read his message by now.   Yeah, she had told him she didn’t want to hear from him, but …

The vibrating of his phone interrupted that thought process, and he thunked the tea mug down on his dressing table to fish it out of his pocket. 

“Goddammit,” he grumbled, getting his big knuckles caught on the finished edge of his over-tight pants pocket.  Scraping the flesh of his middle knuckle in the process, he finally got the freaking thing out and swiped the screen to retrieve the text message that had sent the phone buzzing. 

Rachel.  Finally.

{12:33}RACH: Told you it was gorgeous! ALOHA!

His lips curved into a smile and, for a moment, Jon felt the familiar peace of having a thread connecting the two of them.   It didn’t matter how small or inconsequential the thread was – it was something.  She loved Hawaii and seeing that her response was warm… Well, he knew he should leave well enough alone, but he just couldn’t stop himself from trying to maintain that connection just a little longer.

{12:35}JOHN BONGIOVI: Any suggestions for dinner tonight?

He impatiently bounced his leg and took another swig of tea while he waited, but fortunately he didn’t have long to wait.  Her response was almost immediate.

{12:37}RACH: Because room service at Four Seasons isn’t up to par?

{12:38}JOHN BONGIOVI: I see you still have a smart mouth.

{12:39}RACH: Maybe. But at least I know where to get a great meal in Hawaii. BAM!

Jon’s grin went full-fledged, teeth and all.  God help him, he was still completely smitten with the woman.  Without realizing it, his fingers took over and went in for the kill…

{12:41}JOHN BONGIOVI: You could be here in time for dinner tonight. That way, I won’t end up with another club sandwich. 

This time, the reply wasn’t instant.  In fact, it seemed to take forever and two days before the short response lit up his phone screen. 

{12:45}RACH: You’ll like Roy’s in Ko’Olina…. Take care, R

And that was it.  Just like that, he’d been dismissed.  Nicely dismissed, but dismissed nonetheless.

“Jon, I found a place for dinner,” Matt popped his head into the quick change room.  “One of the locals suggested a place called Roy’s.  You in?”

His baby brother was lucky not to be neutered for his inopportune timing  and ‘helpful’ suggestion.  Jon snarled and shouldered his way past the big brute.  He had to get the hell out of there.  Out of Hawaii, for that matter.

“No and hell no.  Fuck that! I’m ordering a club sandwich from room service.”

I can’t wait to get the fuck out of ‘paradise’!