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."