Chapter 43

When Richie walked out of the gym, sweaty from running and lifting weights, he could hear sad piano music being played down the hallway. Instead of heading upstairs for a shower, he followed the sound of the piano.

His beautiful daughter was sitting at the piano, her eyes concentrated on her fingers as she played her tune.

Richie walked over and sat on the bench next to her, making Ava look up at him. "That's some sad tune you're playing." He said blatantly.
Ava shrugged and repeated the scale she had played a second before.
"Ava," he sighed her name, understanding her feelings, "I only want to go if you want me to go."
"But you want to go." Ava said.
She was right, he knew she was too smart for her own good. "I do." He confirmed. "But if you want me to stay home, I will."
Her hands dropped from the keys to her lap, she looked up at him again. "Will you?"
"Yes." He pulled her close against him. "I'll tell Jon I'm staying home then."
She shook her head against him.
He was sure he heard a sniffle as well. "What?" He asked, now confused at what she was telling him.
She sniffed again and wiped at her face.
"Ava?" He asked, looking down at her, knowing she had started crying.
"You can't not go." She said between sniffles.
"I can't?" He was still confused at what she was saying.
Ava sighed before she continued. "You should go. You like playing concerts in front of thousands of people."
"I know princess but if you're going to be upset, I don't want to go."
"You should go." She repeated. She pulled away from his embrace, and wiped her eyes dry.
"I should?"
She nodded firmly. "Yes."
"Are you sure though?" He wanted her to be absolutely sure.
"Yes." She confirmed again.
He pulled her close in a hug again and kissed the top of her head. "I love you." He told her. "Do you still want to go shopping?"
"Yes, I just need like half an hour to get ready."
"Yeah, me too." He agreed.

He watched Ava leave but stayed in the room sat by the piano, he was tempted to play it but he knew he also had to get ready if they were going shopping and he sure needed a shower.

Just as he finally got up, Noah walked into the room.

"Hey man, how's your morning going?" He asked him.
Noah shrugged. "Alright. I heard the same sad tune over and over so I was going to check it out."
"Ava was playing the piano." Richie clarified for him. "She was sad I may be leaving for two months."

Noah nodded as he walked over to the piano and sat down.

Richie frowned at him, he knew Noah was a man of little words but he was sure he knew he did not play the piano.

"Do you know how to play?" Richie asked him, walking back to Noah. He wasn't going to pass up on social interaction with his son.
"No."
"Okay," Richie sat down next to him like he had done with Ava just minutes ago. "so the piano starts with A, then each key just follows." He played all the keys from A to G. "And end at G, then it starts over at A again."
"What about the black ones?"
"All black keys are either a sharp or flat, but not all sharps and flats are black keys." He played them between the white keys, letting Noah hear the difference.
Noah nodded.
"Want to try some?" Richie suggested to him."
"Sure, why not." Noah agreed.

Starting off easy, Richie played a few tones with only a few keys and just one hand, starting out easy. That way Noah could try for himself. He was impressed when Noah copied him exactly when he played himself.

"Nice." He said, complimenting Noah. "What about this though?"

He played something more complicated as Noah watched his hands move over the keys. Then he sat back and looked at Noah, challenging him but Noah played it flawlessly as well, surprising Richie even more.

"Alright, two hands then."

Once again Richie placed his hands on the keys and started playing a tune that was very familiar to him. Noah watched him closely as he played but Richie wasn't cutting him any slack this time. It made Richie happy he was interested in playing music so he let Noah try and repeat him again, sure he wouldn't be able to repeat him this time.

He was entirely blown away when Noah played the exact same tune he had just played. He was dumbfounded for a few seconds, he couldn't believe it.

"What the hell?" He was entirely sure Noah had never played the piano before. In two years he had never touched the instrument or any instrument for that matter.
Noah looked at him, confusion obvious on his face. "What?"
"That was the opening of Prayer, you shouldn't be able to know that after two seconds."
"But you played it." Noah pointed out. "I saw you play it, so I did it the same as you."
"Okay." Richie pulled his phone from his pocket. "Now don't play til I video you."

He played the opening tunes to Runaway, letting Noah watch as he played the song the way it should be played, no slowing down to make it easier. Once he finished his part, he grabbed his phone and recorded Noah repeating the song to him flawlessly.

"You're amazing." Richie said. "I can't believe this. Why haven't you ever played before?"
Noah shrugged. "Not really my thing, that's Caleb's thing."
"Okay but you're playing these songs perfectly."
"I just copied you." Noah said distracted as he checked his phone for the time.
"I have to go get ready to take Ava out. do you want to come shopping?"
"No, thank you." Noah got up from the bench.
Before he could leave, Richie called him. "Hey, are you okay with me going on tour?"
"I'll miss you." Noah confessed. "But it's two months you won't want to teach me to drive." He said and left the room.
Richie shook his head.

Chapter 42

The next morning they were woken up by an early cell phone alarm.

Richie reached for the phone to snooze the alarm but Sarah reached over.
"Time to get up." She told him. "No snoozing."
"But it's 6 am." He complained at her scolding.
She snuggled into him. "Yeah, but you're making Ava and Noah get up early to prepare for school, so it's only fair. Besides, Daniel will be up soon so I'm going to shower while you make breakfast."
"Oh I make breakfast?"
"Yeah." She let go of him and got up from the bed. "You make breakfast."

His phone started playing the snoozed alarm as Sarah walked to the bathroom.

"Alright, alright." He groaned as he turned the alarm off and got up to dress in some temporary clothes, he'd get dressed after breakfast.

Leaving his bedroom, he headed down the hallway to Ava's room, where he knocked on the door and pushed it open a little bit. Just enough so she would want to get up to close it again if she wanted privacy. "Wakey wakey, eggs and bacey." He said into the room before repeating the knock on Noah's door. "Good morning sunshine, the world says hello." He said in a singsong voice before heading down the hall again. He enjoyed bugging his children in the morning, just a little playful teasing.

He peeked into Daniel's open room and was met with big brown eyes looking back at him.

"Good morning buddy." He said as he picked up his son and gave him a good morning cuddle before changing his diaper.

Once in the kitchen, he sat Daniel down in his highchair.

From the fridge he took out the jug of milk and a carton of eggs. He filled up a small bottle for Daniel, heating it up for him before giving him the milk. He was impressed how Daniel was able to hold his own bottle now and be a little more independent, he was growing fast.

In the large cabinet he found two pans to heat up on the stove. Carefully he cracked his first three eggs into the first pan, making sure the yolk didn't run. Then he scrambled 3 more in the other pan. While his eggs were cooking, he started toasting a couple slices of bread. He knew what everyone would eat, which made it easy to have breakfast ready by the time everyone got downstairs to join him and Daniel.

"Morning dad."
He looked over his shoulder. "Good morning my princess." He smiled at her as she sat down next to Daniel. "How did you sleep?"
"Alright, just too short."
"Come Tuesday you won't have a choice anyway."
"Unless I have a spare on Monday mornings." Ava pointed out.
"Doubtful." He didn't know, but he hoped not. "Do you want anything on your toast?" He asked.
"No thanks, I'll just use it to dip my egg." She answered. "I thought you were making bacon? I was told there'd be bacon."

Richie walked back over to the fridge to check it's contents. He'd happily make bacon for his little girl, anything for her.

"Turkey or piggy?" He asked without looking up.
"Turkey, let's be healthy." Ava suggested.
He took the package out of the fridge and went to retrieve another pan to cook bacon as well.

As he prepared the rest of the food, getting everyone's eggs and toast onto plates, Daniel finished his milk and started fussing.

"Maybe he's still hungry?" Ava asked, trying to be helpful.

Taking that as his cue, Richie went back to the fridge and fetched the container of diced fruit and a cup of yogurt. He loved taking care of his family. He pulled the blender from the corner where it sat, added a slice of bread to it, blended it up to crumbs, then added in the fruit and yogurt to blend up once again. Then passed the small container to Ava with a spoon. Who knew what that meant, she started feeding her little brother as her dad finished plating up everyone's plate. The next time he turned around, Noah was sitting at the table as well.

"Morning." He said to his son while handing him his plate of scrambled eggs, turkey and two slices of toast, along with a small bowl of diced fruit. He repeated the same with Ava and placed Sarah's place at her seat before he sat down with his own.

"Good morning." Sarah said, walking into the kitchen last and joining them at the table. She kissed her husband before taking a bite of fruit.
"Thanks for breakfast dad." Ava smiled at him as she tore her toast into pieces and dipped it into the yolk over her sunny side up egg.
"No problem." He said, he enjoyed making breakfast for his family. The last few months it had become a nice routine. "The least I can do for making everyone get up so early.
"That is true." Ava teased him.

He enjoyed his family. Times as simple as having a meal together were one of the most important things a family could do he thought. It was the perfect time to catch up on what everyone was doing and to discuss family issues. The time to bring up travel and have everyone included. The thought of telling his children that he may be going away for two months made him anxious. Instead, he watched how Sarah took over from Ava and fed Daniel the rest of his breakfast.

"Do you guys need anything else for school?" Richie asked them both.
Ava looked at him confused while Noah just shook his head. "Like what?" She asked.
"I don't know. Pens, erasers, markers, pencils, notebooks?" Richie suggested.
Ava chuckled at his list. "No dad, everyone uses iPads or laptops."
He frowned at the idea of that. "I'm amazed half of you school folk still know handwriting." He joked. "What about clothes then?" He suggested to her and caught her interest. "I'm thinking of going for a run first and maybe head out around 10 or 11?" He asked her. He would suggest to Noah but he knew the boy would not be interested in clothes shopping with his dad and sister.

Once everyone had finished their plates, he figured he had made himself anxious enough by now and needed to tell them eventually, may as well do so now before everyone dispersed from the room.

"So guys, I've got a question." He started out, making both teenagers look up at him. "I was thinking of maybe going back on tour for a few weeks." He finally said the words. "But I only want to go if it's okay with everyone."

Chapter 41

As always, appreciate the comments and feedback

Sarah peeked her head into the baby room, smiling at what she saw.

"Are you coming to bed?" She asked him quietly.
"Yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes." He replied as he started putting his phone away.

Sarah headed to their bedroom as he got up with Daniel and carefully laid him down in his crib as to not wake him up. Picking up his sheet, he tucked his son in. He made sure the light was dimmed before he left the room, leaving the door ajar as always.

Before joining Sarah in the bedroom, he headed down the hallway to Ava's room to wish her a good night. He knocked on her door, then peeked his head into her room, just like Sarah had done with him a few minutes ago.

"Getting ready for bed?" He asked her while she obviously wasn't yet, as the TV was still on.
"Almost." She replied.
"School starts soon so I don't want you staying up til the middle of the night."
She gave him a little glare but smiled as she got up from the bed. "I won't."
"Good, otherwise I'll be back here at 3 am to check up on you."
Ava laughed. "Yeah, right. As if you'd get up at 3 am." She reached in for a hug which he was all too happy to return.
"Good night." He said. "I love you."
"I love you too." She said as she let go.

This time he made sure to close the door before walking to the next room.

He repeated his last entry as per his nightly usual.

"Getting ready for bed?" He asked again.
Noah looked up, just noticing his dad. "After this chapter."
"Unless it ends in a cliff hanger, right?" Richie asked.
Noah shook his head. "I know what happens anyway."
Richie smiled, he knew it was true. Noah could most likely reiterate most of the books he read. "Good night."
"Good night." Noah replied. "Hey, dad." He said as Richie was just about to leave the room. "Thanks for the e-reader."
"Of course, I love you bud."
Noah smiled. "Love you too."

Once again Richie made sure to close the door before walking down the hallway. As he passed Daniel's room, he quickly peeked in, making sure he was still asleep before going across the hallway and entering his own bedroom.

He pulled off his shirt as he walked over to the bed, making Sarah looked over at him with interest. He smiled at her when he noticed.

"Yeah?" He knew what she was thinking.
"I like it." She said.
"Do you now?"

He continued to take his clothes off and got into the bed next to her after fluffing up his pillows against the headboard so he could sit comfortably.

"Did you have a fun evening?" She asked him.
"I did actually. It was nice." Richie said before kissing his wife. "But, I have to ask. Did you invite Jon and Dorothea over?"
Sarah shook her head. "No, I had no idea they were coming. I got a call from the gate and they asked if they could let a visitor in so I asked who it was and when they told me, I figured there must be a reason why so I said yes. I was going to text you but then I wasn't sure if you were already driving or not." She explained to him.

It was pointless to point out that his phone was connected to blue tooth and the car would have read her text to him. He knew Sarah still thought that was an unsafe distraction.

"It was nice though." Richie repeated himself.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it. Were you okay with them being here last minute? You seemed to get along pretty well."
"Yeah we did," he agreed, "it was nice how we could fall right back into our usual. It was still a little odd but it was a good start."

He was surprised how familiar and comfortable it felt to rekindle a friendship he thought might not be amendable. It was hardly as if anything had happened to them. After such a long friendship, it was hard to stay angry at a friend over anything, especially after having apologized and understanding where both of them were coming from.

"I'm glad." Sarah said as she reached in for a kiss. "I'm happy you're happy. You guys had a good talk then?"
"Jon asked if I wanted to join them for the rest of the tour."
Sarah sat up, surprised, and looked at him.
"I don't know if I will." He said.
Sarah made sure she looked him straight in the eyes. "Do you want to?"
Richie shrugged.
She held eyes with him, reading him. "I think you want to." She could see the excitement in his eyes when she said it. She moved over and straddled him. "And if you want to, then I want you to go."
He smiled at her and sat up to kiss her. "Thank you." He laid back down. "I think there's something else I want to do." He reached up to feel her breasts, making Sarah giggle at the change over conversation.

She grinded against him as he continued playing with her breasts, already getting the tell tale sign from him.

Once again he sat up, this time he wrapped his arms around her and rolled her off of him, onto her back so he was on top of her. He kissed her passionately and trailed kisses down her neck as his hand reached under her shirt, shoving the fabric, exposing her to him. Once she was bared to him, he moved his lips off of her skin and moved to her breasts. Tasting and sucking them as once again his hand disappeared into fabric on her and shoved down her pants. She lifted her hips to make him able to. He sat back and pulled the panties over her legs, then dropped them on the floor beside the bed.

Next, he pushed his own briefs down, he was more than ready,

Gently he moved inside her, resting on his elbows above her, kissing her deeply as he started thrusting inside her.

Sarah could quickly feel her first orgasm approach as he made long, slow thrusts with her.

She captured his lips again as his hand grabbed her breast. She moaned as they kissed.

Moments later his pace sped up, making Sarah want him even more. She reached her hands into his messy hair and held him close to her as he groaned his release.

He kissed her again. "I love you." He said gently before moving away and laying down next to her.
"I love you too." She replied as she moved to her side.
Richie wrapped his arm around her, moving his leg over thigh, he kissed her neck. "Are you sure?" He asked.
"That you should go on tour and do what makes you happy?" She asked. "Yes."

Chapter 40

After watching the fireworks together in the back yard, Jon and Dorothea wished them a good night and prepared to drive back to the hotel the four of them were staying at.

Richie asked his daughter to help him clean up the table and take dishes inside to load into the dishwasher.

Sarah in return, put her hand on his arm as he made ready to get up, she stopped him. "How about you get Daniel ready for bed? I'll help clean up." She offered as she passed Daniel over to his lap.
He took his son from her and held him close. "Are you sure?" He asked.
"Of course, you did all the work tonight, I'll do this."
"Okay." He agreed.

With Daniel on his lap, he still helped stack the places he could reach around him, perhaps he would eat another rib or two before Sarah took it all away. He'd work out tomorrow.

Daniel started snuggling into him and that was the sign for Richie that he was ready for bed. He got up from his lawn chair and took Daniel to the kitchen, where by now the sink was being filled and the dishwasher was being loaded as well.

"You don't have to clean everything up." Richie said as he grabbed milk from the fridge and grabbed one of Daniel's bottles.
"Rather get it all done, then it's done." Sarah replied.
"I know," He sat Daniel down on the counter so he could pour milk into the bottle, "but it's late and you're probably tired as well." He picked his son up again and walked over to the microwave, heating up the milk.
"I'm alright, Ava's loading the dish washer so that'll do most of the work anyway."
"I guess so."
"Besides, I can sleep in tomorrow." Sarah pointed out with a smile.
Richie smiled back at her, then the microwave beeped at him. "I like the sound of that." He agreed and took Daniel's bottle out of the microwave. "I'll see you in a bit." He said before leaving the kitchen and taking Daniel up to his room.

Once in Daniel's bedroom, he laid him down on the change table and started undressing him, changing his diaper and dressed him in his pajamas before getting comfortable in the rocking chair and feeding his son his bottle.

It didn't take long for Daniel to dose off as he drank his warm milk and cuddled with his dad.

When Richie was sure he was sound asleep, he put the bottle away and got his phone from his pocket. He found the email Jon had sent him earlier and opened the file that showed him the tour schedule along with all the other information about rehearsals or media days.

Today was the last day of August, in three days school would start. There would be two days for rehearsals in New York before they'd fly to Mexico on the 9th. They'd fly home on the 23rd and then it would still be about a week before the concert in Vancouver so he would have time to see Caleb, he liked that idea. He scrolled further down to the list, after the show in Las Vegas, they'd have a couple days off so he would have enough time to go home for at least 1 night, maybe they would be able to celebrate Thanksgiving in October as well, Sarah would definitely enjoy that. At the end of October there would be a handful of days off before doing 5 nights in November, then the rest of the month off. At least he'd be home for American Thanksgiving then. December didn't have many nights either and after that he'd be home for the rest of the holidays.

All in all he didn't think it was a bad time to come back, sure he would miss out on birthdays but he also knew Ava was understanding about his work, she has known her whole life what it was like. For Daniel, he felt a little different. His first birthday was a big milestone but he also wouldn't know the difference if they celebrated it early or later. He would be there for Daniel's first Christmas where he would be able to open his own gifts and be amazed by everything that comes with the holiday.

He smiled at the memory of Ava's first Christmas, the bright, big eyes looking everywhere, discovering all the sparkling and colorful lights.

He would be committing to just about 2 months of touring, then they'd have to work on a new album before another tour would start. Two months and then they'd take a couple months break again. It probably wouldn't be until later into the next year that they'd start writing or composing for a new album.

Two months was all he wanted to commit to, at least for now. See how the last legs of the tour went instead of committing for a lifetime.

Chapter 39

A little while later he was heading down the stairs with Ava, her friend and Noah in tow behind him.

Once they reached the ground floor, Ava turned to walk to the living room, just before Richie stopped her. "Ava, come help carry things outside." He asked, making sure she came to the kitchen to help as well.

Ava turned back around and followed her dad and brother to the kitchen. "So Jon's here?" She asked once they were in the kitchen and Richie opened the fridge to retrieve everything he needed. "Yeah," he replied, "figured we would have a labor day get together." He explained to her, not wanting to let her know too much about what may or may not be happening. Starting out casual, he could still see where it goes and ask what his family thought about it as well. "Can you grab the flat of soda and the box of beer as well?" He asked her, dividing tasks between children. "And actually put them in the cooler outside, not on top or near the cooler, inside it." He clarified for her.
In response, Ava rolled her eyes but grabbed everything he asked for.
After Noah had put down his new e-reader, Richie handed him some packages of meat that he could carry with one arm.
Following both teenagers, he grabbed the remaining items.

Halfway out the kitchen, he turned around and headed back to the kitchen island, where he added Noah's electronic to his pile of items.

Once outside, he dropped all his items with Noah on a side table by the barbecue. "Can you go turn on the outside music?" He asked as he handed him his e-reader back, knowing he would be spending most of his evening reading at the table while everyone would be lost in conversations.

With Daniel on her hip, Sarah got up from her chair next to her mother and walked over to her husband.

"Do you need a hand?" She asked him gently.
He looked up at her and his son, giving them a small smile. "No, I'm good." He said as he started arranging which foods to put on the grill first.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." He reassured her.
"Even with..." She trailed off as she nodded in the direction Jon and Dorothea were sitting at the table with their children.
Richie looked over, then replied. "We talked. We're good."
Sarah nodded. "Okay." She leaned over to kiss him and walked back to the table to continue her conversations.

The outside speakers were turned on and music started playing around them.

Once his vegetables skewers for appetizers had grilled on the barbecue, he brought them over to the table as he left his racks of ribs and potatoes to themselves. From the drink cooler, he grabbed his own drink.

"Jon? Want one of these near beers?"
"Sure, sounds good."
"Does anyone else need a drink?" He asked before he left the cooler.
Ava raised her hand. "Can I have one of those?" She asked among mumbles of everyone else declining a drink.
He grabbed another, then noticed Noah walking back out to join the rest of the family. "Noah?" He asked, gesturing to the cooler.
"Sure." Noah walked over and grabbed a can from him.

Richie passed out the drinks and took a seat next to Sarah. He opened up his can, then grabbed one of the skewers he had just made when he noticed Noah struggling to hold the can still with his arm in a cast and opening it with his free hand. Reaching over, he opened the can for him. He loved his dorky son.

A few minutes later he went to check on the barbecue, this time Jon got up to follow him, leaving the rest to their own conversations.

They talked casually as Richie turned all the meats and potatoes to ensure they all cooked evenly before he added more to the grill.

"You said Caleb is in Vancouver during our show in October, what's he doing there?" Jon inquired.
Richie shook his head, still not believing it. "That's where he's going to university. He's going to UBC, apparently they have a better film production course there than they do anywhere in Los Angeles." Richie grunted. "Sarah was pretty upset about it but I get it, he wanted to do it on his own, you know? Prove that he could be on his own two feet."
Jon nodded, he understood that as well. "He's taking film production?" He asked.
"Major in film production and a minor in music technology. He wants to make music for movies and tv-shows and such."
"That's pretty neat."

Just then Jon's two sons ran past them, into the house, followed by all three teenagers.

Once all the food was ready, Jon helped carry it all over to the table with Richie, who grabbed them another round of non-alcoholic beers before sitting down and joining the wives. Minutes later, the children returned, all in swimsuits carrying towels, except Noah who joined them at the table while the four others went straight for the pool. On a regular day Richie would prefer his kids having dinner as a family but today he didn't care. Ava seemed to have fun and that was good enough.

Chapter 38

"You miss me?" Richie asked skeptical, he hadn't exactly heard much from Jon in the last couple of months. Then again, he hadn't contacted Jon either.

Jon shrugged, not knowing what else to say as Richie sighed and looked back up at him. "I miss you too."

They met eyes, "Yeah?" Jon asked.
Once again, he leaned back in his chair along with a sigh. "Yeah man, you've been my best friend for the last 30 years, of course I miss that. You know me better than I know myself sometimes."
"Same here." Jon agreed. He shook his head before taking a drink from his water.
Richie sat up and waited for him to finish before he spoke. "You know what, you were the one person I wanted to talk to the most and you weren't there." He sounded more angry than he intended but he did not care, he was honest.
"I know." Jon owned up.
"Those six weeks, I just wanted to be able to talk to you about how stressful it's been and how scary it was. It fucking scares the shit out of you when your son that's hardly even 6 months old gets so sick that he needs help to fucking breathe. Who do you talk to that about?"
Jon nodded. "I understand. I know. I was dealing with my own shit, with Steph, and your solo album-"
"My solo?" Richie cut him off. "How was that hard for you?" He realized he was sounding harsher than he intended.
"Because I wanted to work on the band's album and get on the road for that but I didn't want to force you into that either because I knew the solo was important to you which was why I tried not to show that I was excited for this new album we made and take away from your solo." Jon rambled his explanation. "I felt bad for being so excited about it so I avoided having conversations with you. I thought you might think I wasn't happy for your solo. I didn't want you to think," he made air quotations, "I wasn't allowing you to pursue your own music."
As Richie listened he ran his hand over his forehead, into his hair, where he ended up scratching the back of his head. "I wouldn't have thought that. I was excited for the band's new album too."
"And then with all of Steph's stuff, I just wanted to ask you for all this advice about what to do and how to handle it and..." He trailed off in thought, "I just needed to talk to you but I couldn't because that'd be inconsiderate."
Richie frowned at him. "How so?"
"'Cause you've dealt with going to addiction counselling and I didn't want to be the asshole that brought it up."
"Fuck man, if you needed to talk about that, I would have talked to you about that."
"So..." Jon started, "basically we were both too wrapped up in our own issues, not wanting to depend on or hurt the other to realize we needed each other?"
Slowly Richie nodded, a grimace forming on his face, "Sounds like it." He agreed.
"We're both fucktards." Jon concluded.
"Assholes." Richie agreed.
"Fucking cunts."
Richie laughed at that one.
"Oh!' Jon exclaimed, his mood changing entirely. "Jake told me of this one, douche canoe. what the hell is a douche canoe?"
Richie looked at him with a frown, but answered him trying to sound as serious as he could. "Obviously it's a douche that owns a fucking canoe." He pointed out.
"'Cause that's an insult." Jon said sarcastically.
"It just is." He shook his head, knowing it was a dumb insult but Jake was 11, at least he wasn't using his father's foul language. "Just like twat waffles."
Jon burst out laughing. "What?"
"Twat waffle." Richie repeated. "Kids are way more creative with insults than we were."
"Guess so."

Their conversation stalled, realizing it, Richie checked the time on his watch. 5 o'clock was approaching, dinner would be soon and he still had to start the barbecue as well.

"Wanna head downstairs?" He asked Jon, figuring he could help him cook the meat. At least that would be manly, unlike going to buy it from the grocery story according to Noah.
"Maybe in a minute."
He could sense there was something else Jon wanted to talk about but nothing was coming forward and he didn't want to continue to wait for it, besides that, he was getting hungry. "So..." He started, making Jon look up at him. "What's up? What are you thinking?"
"I was thinking of the tour, we head out again in two weeks to South America for a short stint down there."
Richie nodded in thought. "I'd have to talk to the missus but yeah." He shrugged, once again Jon watched him closely as if inquiring if he was sure. "Do you have the itinerary?"
"Yeah, I've got it." He wrestled his phone free from his shorts' pocket and unlocked it to search for it in the files he had stored on the device.

Once he found what he needed, he passed the phone over to Richie.

He grabbed the phone from Jon and enlarged the print so he could read it more easily.

As he read, he chuckled. "Liar." Rehearsals would start next week, then they'd be off to South America for two weeks. "Sure the South American leg is short but then it's straight to Canada and the rest of the country a week after that."
"It's a little over a month." Jon tried to sound more optimistic to make it look more appealing. "But then most of November we're off and then just a little trip to Japan and Australia." He said. "It'll be warm there."
"It'll be warm here too." Richie pointed out.
Jon shrugged.
"Vancouver sounds like a good plan and I could visit Caleb," he looked up at Jon with a shrug, if he was there, why not. "Tacoma show will be on Ava's sweet 16 though." He frowned at the schedule, starting to remember it. "L.A. and Las Vegas shows are the weekend between Ava and Daniel's birthday." He thought out loud, wondering what to do with that and feeling a little torn. 

He also knew these dates last year when the entire tour was being planned. A year ago he was happy with having the weekend between their birthdays, that way he was fair to both of them but now he wasn't sure and felt divided on a decision.

Richie gave Jon his phone back. "Send me the schedule and I'll talk to Sarah about it. See what she thinks as well."
"Sounds good." Jon selected the file and hesitated to send it off, "Text or email?" He asked.
"Fax it to me man." Richie laughed at his own joke. "Email." He clarified as he got up from his chair. "Now let's go cook us some meats."
"Sounds good." Jon got up and followed him out to the hallway.
"I'll meet you downstairs, gonna go get Noah before he finishes the entire Harry Potter series."

Chapter 37

"What are you doing here?" Richie asked confused to see Jon in his living room along with his wife and youngest sons. He was too taken aback to react how he wanted to and he knew he could not react that way. Not in front of children. Who was he kidding, he knew he wouldn't just lose his temper on Jon. He'd known him forever.

Jon had gotten up and walked over to Richie. "Do you have a minute to talk?" He asked, wanting a more private place than the living room in front of their families.

"Sure, my office?" Richie asked him, taking a step back so Jon could leave the room as he watched Sarah who was sure to keep an eye on him.

Dorothea feigned disinterest and acted as if she was busy showing Jacob and Romeo how to play nicely with Daniel and having a conversation with Abbey.

Jon nodded, leaving the room and headed towards the staircase. He knew where to go anyway.
Richie turned around to follow him up the stairs but looked back into the living room and gave Sarah a questioning look, a frown on his face. She just smiled back at him and gestured for him to go upstairs. He didn't know if this was her doing, if this was set up or not but he followed Jon up the stairs.

The office was the first room straight across the staircase before the hallway split up into the master wing and the teenagers bed rooms. Jon stood by the door, not wanting to intrude in his space and waited for Richie to open the door before entering the room. Richie followed and gave the door a little push, not bothering to close it all the way. Sarah would not hear them from downstairs and he was sure Noah had more important things to do than listen in on a conversation. Besides that, it was a casual conversation, not a meeting.

"So..." Richie said as he sat down in his office chair and leaned back in the chair. Not trying to show his discomfort but tried to seem as casual as he could.

On the other side of his desk, it was noticeable Jon wasn't as successful in trying to seem casual. He started to look nervous as if he was trying very hard to think of the correct words. Richie knew what he felt, he wasn't often lost for words in casual situations but often during formal events, especially when he had to give a speech. He would need weeks to prepare it and now he was right here, supposed to have a serious conversation, one he could not even remotely close have prepared for and he was at a loss for words. How did you start a conversation with your estranged best friend?

Richie sat up and looked at him, questioning, wanting Jon to start the conversation simply because he felt too stubborn to do so himself. He stood by his choices. There was more pressing realities than missing out on a leg of the tour. He understood many fans would be disappointed he wasn't there but if they had known why he wasn't, they would understand where he was coming from. Most of his fans are parents themselves, they all knew a child would come before anything.

Jon looked up at him and sighed, lost for words as well. He had no clue as to how to start a conversation after months of silence.

"Fuck." Richie sighed frustrated. "What happened to us?"
Jon chuckled at his frustration but he felt the same way. "A lot of shit." He finally answered Richie's question. "How's Daniel been doing?" He asked, genuinly concerned about the little boy he got to reacquaint with just a little while ago.
"Pretty good." Richie said as he leaned back in his chair again. "After his pneunomia cleared up, he's been good."
"Pneunomia?" Jon asked confused.
Richie almost chuckled. "Yeah man. He got it good. He started with a cold, then went into whooping cough, which is why they had to admit him to the children's hospital because he couldn't breath because of it. Then we finally get to take him home after like three weeks so he could recover at home with us but of course his body and immune system are low because of it and he gets pneumonia a week later." He shook his head, still amazed at how crazy last spring had been for their family. "So we take him back to the children's hospital and he gets admitted for another night and gets antibiotics but he did well and we went home the next evening." Richie explained the whole story.
"Wow." Jon said in disbelieve. "David told me about it but I had no idea it got so bad."
"I think it was June when he was finally better. At the same time Ava refused to stay at Heather's house which, I mean, it didn't make anything more complicated but just added onto the stress, you know?"
Jon nodded, acknowledging that he did understand that feeling. "How come she didn't want to stay at Heather's?"
Richie sat up in his chair and faced Jon. "Because the asshole she was dating then couldn't keep his hands to himself."
Jon's eyes went wide, immediately feeling angry himself. "What? Did he..." He trailed off, not wanting to speak the words.
Richie shook his head. "No. He was being a fucking creep. He'd sit unnesecarily close to her, hug her, hold her when she didn't want it."
"Fucking perv." Jon sneered. "Did you kick his ass?" He asked.
"That dude is lucky that I never got to meet him and Heather won't tell me his name. She had not been dating him very long yet and obviously broke up with him as soon as she found out." Richie explained, feeling protective of his daughter was something he would always  be. "How's Steph?" He asked in return.
"She's doing alright." Jon said. "As part of her charges being dropped against her, she had to join one of those group programs. She had to go to meetings twice a week for drug abusers for like 6 months, I think." He frowned in thought. "By then of course the school had expelled her for the rest of the year." Jon sighed, still in disbelief. "I always taught them to not do stupid things like that and then Steph, you know?" He looked at Richie.

Richie nodded, he did know. He understood what he meant. Daughters were precious, they had to protect their little girls.

"Now she's repeating her last year in college, at a different school so she should be graduating next spring."

Richie nodded. "That's not bad. Caleb left just last week for college too. Kids get old man." He sighed. "I mean, I've only known Caleb for 2 years and I'm sad he left. I'm gonna be depressed if Ava leaves me.
"You'll be crying for weeks." Jon agreed.
Richie laughed. "Stupid thing is that I probably will." He shook his head as he got up and walked to the drink cooler he had in the corner of his office next to some filing cabinets for all his legal papers as well as unfinished and unwritten songs. "What do you want? I've got water." He looked around in the fridge. "And more water apparently."
"You know what," Jon said, "I think I'll just have a water."
Richie tossed him a bottle and sat down again. "So what brought you here today?" Richie finally asked the question they needed to reach.
Jon sighed again, delaying his answer he took a drink from his water bottle first. "I miss you man."