Chapter 85

"Richie!" Sarah gasped, "It's past four o'clock!"
He checked the time on his watch, she was right but he didn't mind.
"Soundcheck." Sarah clarified. "You'll be late."
Richie waved it off. "Don't worry about it."
She gave him a stern look. "Jon will be angry."
"Don't worry, I talked to him. We've got it all covered. I'll get there a little later."
"Are you sure he won't mind?"
He nodded. "I'm sure. We'll finish up this bus ride and head back to the hotel and then we'll go join them at the arena."
Sarah smiled at him, relieved he wasn't going to get into trouble. "Okay."

He moved a little closer to Sarah on their little bench and put his arm around her waist, holding her closer against him as they watched the views of the city around them.

The tour had lasted longer than they had anticipated but Richie didn't mind, he had already made arrangements for soundcheck and was glad to spend the afternoon with his wife who seemed a little more cheerful as she got to see more of the city of sin. He was relieved to know he was able to put a smile on her face and at least put her mind at ease for a little while. That's what he was there for, take care of her.

The sightseeing bus dropped them off an hour later at the same stop they had entered it. They made the short walk back to the hotel as Richie texted their road manager for a driver to pick them up in about an hour. He didn't want to rush Sarah and thought of having a little bit of downtime with her before heading out to the arena and get ready to work.

He received a text around 6 pm, telling him their driver was waiting outside of the hotel for them.

He'd been watching TV with Daniel as Sarah laid down in the bedroom. Carrying Daniel, he walked over to the bedroom, knocked and pushed the door open quietly. The curtain was drawn and the room was fairly dusk.

"We have to go." He said as he sat down on the bed next to Sarah, he reached a hand out to her.
"I think I'm going to stay here."
It took him aback, he hadn't expected her to change moods again, he could hear it in her voice. "Oh." He knew he sounded disappointed.
"I just want to relax and be alone for a little bit."
He nodded, knowing he had to get going, he didn't have time to convince her otherwise. "Okay." He didn't want to leave her but he knew she would be fine without him too. He just wanted to be there for her. "Do you need anything before I go?" He asked as he moved Daniel to the middle of the bed where he could leave him safely.
"Yeah."
"What's that?"
"A tight hug and a kiss." She sat up and reached in for the kiss she wanted.
He would never deny her a kiss and pulled his close in an embrace as he kissed her.

It tore at his heart when he walked out of the bedroom, leaving her alone for the rest of the evening. It'd be at least six hours before he would be back to console her.

With a sigh he walked out into the hallway. He'd keep his phone on him the whole time, he turned up the sound just in case Sarah needed him. He wouldn't be able to get back to the hotel until after the show but if she needed to talk before then, he would gladly do so.

Not much later he was in his dressing room, making sure everything was good to go. His phone had been plugged in on the side table by his couch to make sure it was within reach and it wouldn't die on him for the rest of the evening.

A knock from the door made him look up. "It's open." For a change, Jon walked into his dressing room. Usually he would find Jon when he needed something.
"Brought you the setlist." Jon handed him the sheet of paper.
"Thanks." Richie took it and looked it over, no surprises tonight. "I'm sorry I missed soundcheck."
Jon waved it off and Richie was glad he let it slide. "Don't worry about it. Where's Sarah and Daniel?"
Richie sighed as he sat down on the couch, he checked his phone. "She wanted to stay at the hotel."
Jon joined him on the couch. "Maybe she didn't want to be around everything going on around here." He suggested.
"Yeah, I guess. She wanted to be alone again. We went out and did some sightseeing, she seemed alright until we got to the hotel again and she wanted to have a quick nap."
"Don't worry too much about it, she'll be alright."
Richie nodded shortly. "I know, it just hurts to see her like that. There's not much I can do to make it better and I like making things better for her."
"I know." Jon agreed, surely he had been in the same position multiple times. "Don't worry. She'll pull through this. Life has it's ups and downs, it's like a roller coaster." He said.
"It definitely ain't a merry go round." Richie agreed.
Jon nodded. "One point you're up so high it's like stars are on your shoulders and the next moment you're going for a thrill ride, it takes you upside down."
Richie nodded in thought. "You should write that down."
Jon looked up at him questioningly. "Yeah?" He pulled his phone out and opened a note to write down what he had just said.
Richie looked over at the note Jon had created on his phone. "Add the merry go round thing I said." He watched Jon type out the words. "Text it to me."
"Sure."
"I like it."
"Yeah, I figured." Jon said. "We're not songwriting right now, let's get food."
"I like food." Richie agreed and reached over to unplug his phone, noticing the text from Jon, he swiped it away.

He had texted Sarah when he got to the arena and he wanted to text her now but understood she was most likely not keeping an eye on her phone as she had not replied to his last text either so he decided to pocket it until showtime when he would text her again.