Chapter 64

The next evening, Richie was exploring Vancouver in a taxi. Not so much exploring as actually going to meet Caleb at his work to pick him up for dinner.

Once the taxi driver parked the car in the parking lot, Richie asked the driver to keep the meter running and he'd be back in 10 minutes.

He got out of the car and walked into the building, straight up to the til where he ordered three coffees.

"Would you like muffins with the coffees?" The order taker asked him.
"Sure, why not." He said as he looked over at the display of muffins to make his choice on which ones. Banana chocolate chunk seemed like the best choice out of his options.

The order taker rung him up and he paid for the three coffee combos, then moved over to the side to wait for them to be prepared and bagged. From his new spot he could look into the back and saw Caleb working. It made him feel proud, knowing his son had been able to get a job all on his own, in a different country and by the looks of it, he was doing quite a good job. He was telling somebody else what to do, making sure they were doing it correctly. Then he walked away and over to the counter, it took them a second to make eye contact. Caleb smiled when he recognized him.

"Did you order food?" Caleb asked him.
"Yeah." Richie said just as someone else called his number. He grabbed his drink tray and bag of muffins.
"I could have given you my discount, if you'd waited." Caleb said as he walked over to the til and pressed a couple on screen buttons.
"Yeah, 'cause the $7 was really breaking the bank."
Caleb shook his head. "I'm a poor college student now. Free food is good food."
To that Richie laughed. "Pretty sure you still have my credit card."
"I don't use it though." Caleb said. "I'm going to go get my stuff and change." He walked to the back again.

A few minutes later he came back, saying goodbye to everyone on his way out to meet Richie who passed him the bag of muffins as they walked out of the building.

Inside the taxi, Richie passed one of the coffee cups to the driver and after taking two muffins out, passed the bag over as well.

"So are you enjoying McWork?" Richie asked his son, he picked a chunk of muffin off and ate it.
Caleb rolled his eyes in response. "Hilarious."
"I thought it was McFunny."
"Okay."
"They have good McCoffee and McMuffins." Richie paused.
Caleb was sure he couldn't roll his eyes any further.
"It's McGood." He smiled.
"Alright." Caleb said sternly. "You're done." Making it clear that he was ready for the joke to end.
"McDone?"
"Stop it."
Richie chuckled. "Just bugging you. I'm proud of you, it's not easy working in fast food. I'm sure it's stressful and not to forget customers complaining about everything they can."
"It's a lot of fun too though. Half of everyone is in college or high school so we're all about the same age and it's just fun. We are all dealing with the same crap from customers so everyone can relate."
"You guys make fun of your McCustomers?"
Caleb just stared at him. "Especially the ones that say Mc in front of everything they order."
"What if they order a McChicken?"
Caleb shook his head again. "You know what I mean."

Not much later they pulled into another parking lot and Richie payed the driver before the two of them got out.

Caleb had picked the restaurant for dinner, having heard great reviews but not having an occasion to go there or his own money to do so.

Once inside, they were seated at a small table and a waiter came around a few moments later.

"Have you been here before?" He asked them.
"No." They said in unison.
The waiter smiled. "Alright. So we have our buffet where you can get whatever sides you like. Then our chefs are preparing Brazilian barbecued meats continuously. Whenever one piece is prepared, they wil bring it around and they will slice you a piece. That's what the cards on your table are for." He pointed them out. "As long as the green side is up, they'll offer you meat. If you're done, flip the card over to red. You can flip it back to green if you'd like to be served more again."
"Sounds good." Caleb said.
The waiter took their drink order and disappeared to help other tables.
"So which side is green?" Richie asked as he picked up his card to inspect it.
"It was up." Caleb told him as he picked his own card to read it. Then pointed out the words on Richie's. "It says 'I give up' on the red side."

Not much later they were enjoying various  freshly cooked pieces of meat, that were so juicy, it melted in their mouth.

"Can I bring a friend tomorrow?" Caleb asked.
"A friend? Or a girlfriend?"
"No. Just a friend." He clarified.
"No interesting Canadian girls around here?"
Caleb shrugged. "Not really so far. I met one that would love to come tomorrow."
"So why don't you take her?"
"'Cause she's crazy." Caleb explained. "I don't even have classes with her. On like the first day of classes she came over to me and goes 'you're Caleb Sambora' as if I'm somebody."
"Well, you are." Richie pointed out to him. He took another bite of food to chew while he listened to the rest of Caleb's story.
"Yes, but she only knew because she knows you. She keeps trying to talk to me, even now, but all she talks about is you and Bon Jovi."
Richie shrugged at that. "I am pretty great."
"I think I'm pretty great so I'd like a girl to think that of me, not of my dad."
"I'm sure many of them like you."
"It's too early to be dating anyway." Caleb said. "I'm still trying to organize my time between classes and work to fit in study periods. I don't think I can fit a girl in too."
"School's important. I'm glad you know that."
"So can I bring a friend tomorrow?"
"Sure you can. I like meeting friends."

Chapter 63

The next morning he woke up early. On tour early, which was 11 am. Anything before noon was a win and counted as early enough. Going to sleep at 2 or 3 in the morning, warranted sleeping til almost noon.

He felt more energized than he had the day before and wanted to use that energy. He grabbed his phone from his night stand and for a change in habit, texted Jon first this morning.

11:02 What are you doing?

A notification popped up as he wrote his text to Sarah,wishing her a good morning and asking if she had a good rest the night before.

Jon Bon Jovi Cell:
11:03 Getting up, breakfast, then run. You?

He quickly typed out his response and started getting dressed, ready to start his day and kick it's butt.

After breakfast, he changed into some work out clothes and headed down to the gym of the hotel. He had been sure Jon would already be there but he found himself mistaken as he entered the empty room. He didn't mind being there alone and decided to get a head start on Jon. This time he wasn't going to try and keep up, he didn't have anything he really needed to prove. He shouldn't, even if it was to himself.

He was lifting some weights when Jon walked into the room to join him after all.

"Almost thought you were bailing on me." Richie said, putting the weights back on the rack.
Jon shrugged in response. "Had some things to do."
He put his weights away and gave his friend a puzzled look. "Everything alright?"
"Oh yeah." Jon waved it off, not thinking much of it or wanting to share. "How about you? You seemed pretty down last night." He got onto the treadmill and started the machine.
Richie followed him onto the machine beside him, setting the speed on his treadmill as he spoke. "Yeah, I just got wrapped up in my own head."
Jon frowned at him. "Don't do that man." He started his run.
"I know." Richie sighed as he slowly started up. "Sometimes I just can't escape it."
Jon nodded before he spoke. "I know that feeling. It's stupid how it's your own mind. It's yours, it should support you, not start doubting and working against you."
Richie chuckled in response. "Yeah." He set the machine to a pace he could keep up with and started to run.
"So, you excited to head to Vancouver tomorrow?" Jon asked him.
"Oh yeah," Richie nodded excitedly. "I've been talking to Caleb, probably going to pick him up from his work and then go for dinner together, catch up, you know."
"Sounds good," Jon said, keeping up his pace, not faltering once, "he'll be coming to the show then?"
"I think so."
Jon nodded, Richie could see he was thinking but waited for a continuation. "I suppose you don't want to do press then?" He finally asked after all. "If you're seeing Caleb."
Richie frowned, not sure how it was an issue. "I can do press with you, Caleb has school, I don't want him to skip classes for me."
"Alright, it's not a lot. One TV interview and I think a magazine or two."
"Sounds good to me."

They finished their work out an hour later and both headed up to their own rooms for showers. Richie showered quickly, then wrapped a towel around himself and went back to his main room to phone his wife as he got dressed.

Hearing her voice always made him feel good. Right now, he couldn't wait to see her in person. Just a few more weeks before he could see and hold her again. The L.A. show wasn't that far away. He'd get some family time tomorrow evening with Caleb, which wasn't nearly the same but he was excited about it as well.

As he talked to Sarah on speaker phone and got dressed again, he packed up his bag. Soon he would leave for the venue and he wasn't coming back here tonight. All he needed to do was pack up and his bags would magically be in Vancouver tonight. Sarah chuckled when he told her, she loved his cute and silly side.

Once he was ready to go, he left his hotel room open with the bar between the door and headed out of the building, meeting everyone outside. As always he shared an SUV with Jon.

"Ready?" He asked Jon as he got into the vehicle.
"Pretty sure I was born ready."
"Uhu, sure." Richie said. "Setlist is ready then?"
"Shut up." Jon grumbled.
Richie chuckled in response. "I have to ask you something though."
"Sure." Jon said, they could feel the car start moving, it wouldn't be a long drive.
Richie hurried and got his seatbelt on. "After our show in L.A., think the plane will have space for 3 extra people and a baby?"
"To Vegas?"
"Yeah. Ava wants to come for the weekend so I asked Sarah as well. She'd probably join us with Daniel for the remainder of the leg."
Jon got a little excited at that. "With Daniel? Of course, don't see why that'd be a problem. We like that kid."
"I'm pretty fond of him too." Richie agreed with him.
"Go for it, it'd be great to have them join us and we'll get to celebrate his birthday, right? What should I get him as a gift?" Jon said even more excited, actually looking forward to it.

Chapter 62

"What are you doing?"

He had accepted the call on his phone absentmindedly, then fumbled to put it on speakerphone as he couldn't hear what was being said.

"Are you okay?"

Finally, he collected his mind and was able to bring out a response.

"I'm here. I'm fine." He stumbled his words.
"Did I wake you up?"
He didn't want to let on he had been getting lost inside his own mind. "Yeah, I must have dozed off."
"I'm sorry." He could hear the honesty in her apology. "I can let you go back to sleep."
"No, no." His words were quick. Her voice is what he needed to hear. "What are you up to? Are you home?"
"I am. Do you want to see Daniel?" She asked, but the invite came as she said her next words. "We can video chat for a bit."

He accepted the invite and his call turned into a clear image of his son's face, who looked confused as to why a phone was being held in his face.

It made him smile. "Hey little buddy." He said, happy to see Daniel recognize him on the phone. "I love seeing you guys together." He said, smiling at his phone, glad the picture of two precious people was clear.
"We are excited to see you soon too. It's been a while since I got to see you perform. When is the L.A. show again?"
"The eleventh, it's a Friday so everyone can come."
She smiled back at him. "That would be fun too. The whole family but do we get you the day after?"

He looked for his itinerary, making the picture go small, into a corner of his phone so he could access the rest of its fuctions.

"Las Vegas the day after." He read, "we'll fly there in the afternoon so I'll probably be able to spend the night at home."
"You can make me eggs for breakfast." She said happily.
He shrugged as he chuckled. "Or you can make me eggs."
"Or..." she waited, "you can make me eggs."
"Or..." he waited, "you can come to Las Vegas for the weekend since we take a few days off there."
"That sounds like fun."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, I'd like that." She confirmed for him.
He nodded, liking the idea. "Great, I'll arrange it." He said excited, any family time he could squeeze in, he would.

As he enlarged the video chat screen again, he noticed how much time had gone by so unnoticed. He was starting to really enjoy the invention and ease of video chatting but nothing could replace the real thing. He knew tomorrow would be a busy day but right now, he felt happy and at ease. Sleep could wait.

He continued his conversation, even if she wasn't in the same room, seeing her and talking to her already made him feel much better than he had before.

Sometimes that was all he needed, someone to pull him out before reaching the bottom of the abyss.

"How's Noah doing?" He asked, he hadn't spoken to him in a few days and was curious what he was up to these days.
She looked up at the ceiling. "Probably upstairs in his room," She said, "I can go bug him for you." She suggested with a smile, almost getting up from the couch.
"No." He said quickly. "Let him be."
With a sigh, she sat down again. "Are you sure?" She asked with a smile on her face.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Leave him alone. I just wanted to make sure he was okay, we haven't texted as much as you and I do."
She shrugged. "He's been pretty much the same as usual," She explained, "Reading mostly, even at school, always has that ebook with him. I don't think he has many friends this year." A small frown and pout appeared on her face, as if she was sympathetic to his situation.
"He'll be alright. School only just started. Maybe some of his friends graduated last year already." He suggested. "Most of the kids in his honors classes were seniors after all. He'll make new ones soon enough." Richie said surely of his son bouncing back when given some time.

Even if he had an entirely different high school experience than Noah had, he could understand how easy it was to feel lonely in a crowded place. Reaching out wasn't always an easy thing to do.

"Hey, Ava?" He said to get her attention again as their conversation had stalled. He continued when she raised a questioning eye brow at him. "I love you." He reminded her.
That beautiful smile he loved appeared brightly on her face. "I love you too papa bear."

It's all he needed to come back to the surface were he was safe from his own mind.

Chapter 61

With each concert they performed, he gained more confidence in himself again. Why had he even been nervous for the first show? He knew what he was doing.

Being without the band for six months had left him a little uneasy about performing with them but the songs all came back to him and he easily got the hang of it again. His performance on stage was just fine but to himself it finally felt right again. The last four shows had gone smoothly. They easily transitioned into Every Road Leads Home To You in the middle of the setlist and Jon was okay with supporting him on guitar during the song instead of leaving the stage all together. This way, the song and the concert became more whole and part of the entire band.

They were heading back to Mexico where they would perform their rescheduled concert instead of going straight to Vancouver for a few days. Although he was looking forward to seeing Caleb, he didn't mind that it would be a few days later. Caleb was most likely busy with school after all and most university students weren't too big on hanging out with their father.

At least they could make it up to their Mexican fans, even if Tico had gone back home after his surgery instead of staying in Mexico, he preferred being closer to his wife and son. Soon enough he would join them again.

It was only the first week of the tour and already hotel rooms started to fade together. They all seemed the same once you'd been in them so very often. They were all comfortable, spacious rooms with a bed and lounge area, which was all he needed. Technically.

He'd been sitting in the hotel room for the last two hours, the pillows on the bed propped up behind his back. The room was quiet but his mind was not as he contemplated what he was doing here.

Two hours ago he finished dinner with Jon and they returned to the hotel.

It had been their day off after a travel day the day before. Tomorrow would be their last concert for their short South American tour.

Right now, he didn't know what he was doing or why he was doing it.

Dinner with Jon had been fine, the whole day had been fine. It had been a calm day, he slept in and had a late breakfast, most would call it lunch but he wasn't that technical about his meals or their times. Afterwards he video chatted Sarah and Daniel for a while and was happy to talk to them and catch up on everything they had been doing. He was proud to know Sarah had some time to continue studying, even while taking care of Daniel by herself. Seeing her always made him happy, even if the video quality wasn't as good as real life, he was always amazed at how beautiful she looked.

Afterwards he decided to continue the habit of video chatting and called Ava next. It was Saturday so he knew she would at least not be in school, he could call her anytime. He should have known better though as Ava was out for brunch with a friend. Ava always had a busy schedule of social activities, he was aware of that. Even when he was home, she was often out with friends or they were over at their house. It was nice to see Ava but after only a few minutes she decided to call him back later.

The rest of his afternoon he spent alone.

The thought of going down to the gym or pool had crossed his mind but the thought had not stayed much longer than that.

Most TV programs were in Spanish which wasn't helpful to him either. A word here or there that he knew wasn't sufficient to follow TV shows. There was always Netflix that he could watch on his laptop but he didn't feel like making a choice on what to watch and in the last week he had watched a lot of it already.

He kept to himself until his thoughts were disturbed by a knock at the door. For the first time in hours, he got up from the bed. As he moved, he noticed how stiff his body had become due to no movement.

At the door he found Jon, who invited him to come along for dinner with him. He tried to get out of it but Jon wasn't having it and waited for Richie to get ready before heading down to the hotel lobby where a car was already waiting for them.

He was amazed how Jon would always find them wonderful but small restaurants. The ones many people wouldn't think twice of but were a very nice quality. They could just as easily go to the upscale restaurants but the small places were always so much more appreciative of their clientele. Another benefit was the actual authentic food instead of food catered to foreigners tastes. If he was going to be in Mexico, he would much rather eat authentic Mexican food than a greasy burger he could find anywhere in the world.

It had been two hours since they left for dinner and here he was again, the same bed he had been sitting on all day.

His own thoughts were capturing him.

After his video calls, his phone had been silent for the rest of the day. Sarah was most likely kept busy by their little boy but he wondered what they were doing. Was Daniel finally walking? Were his teeth hurting him less? Had he said his first word yet? Noah was at home, he was sure of that much at least, most likely he was also in his room but his mind would be in an entirely different fantasy world of whichever book he would be reading by now. Had he finished the first Harry Potter book and continued on with the rest of the series? Then of course, Ava, always on his mind. She seemed alright when he spoke to her, was she doing better than when he had left a few weeks ago? Was she nervous for her driver's test next week? Did he have to go over how to parallel park with her again? He could tell her step by step just to remind her. What about her birthday? Was she excited for the exuberant event they had planned for her? Turning 16 was such a big step and he knew she was very excited for it but he was going to miss it while being in Washington Was she going to call him back today? At least he would see Caleb next week, since he had left for university, in a different country nonetheless, their conversations had turned to simple texts every couple of days. No more long conversations about guitars, melodies or lyrics.

Why was he here?

His iPhone on the night stand vibrated shortly, then started playing his ringtone.

What was he doing?

Chapter 60

As soon as he walked into his hotel room, he pulled his phone from his bag and requested a video chat with Sarah. He wanted to tell her everything about tonight's concert, how great it had been and how excited he had felt during it.

He waited for his phone to connect to Sarah's as he sat down on the bed and looked for the remote to watch some TV.

"Hey." He finally heard her voice from the phone and looked over at her instead of the TV.
"Hi sweetheart." He smiled at her, captured at how beautiful she always looked. "How are you doing?"
She smiled back at him. "I'm fine. How was your show?"
Richie sighed. "It was great." He said.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, it was great." He repeated before continuing. "The crowd was awesome too and just being on stage again, it's a pretty good feeling."
She smiled at him again. "I know."
"Oh," he said quickly, "the best part was having Jon play my song. My own song."
Sarah chuckled, sure of how it made him feel. "Which song did you decide on?"
"We did Every Road, I figured that's the newest and most known right now."
"That's true. I like that song too."
He knew that as well.
"So is Jon letting you play it every night?"
"Yes, he is but I will probably switch up the song and play something else, make Jon learn more songs to pick from."
"Sarah laughed again. "Are you having fun?"
"For once, I get to tell him what to do. It's nice." He watched Sarah for a second. "Where are you?"
She quickly turned her camera around. "I'm with Daniel. He's not wanting to sleep so I sat down to play with him." She called him to make him look at his daddy but Daniel gave no reaction and continued on with his toys.
"He's so cute." Richie sighed as he watched Daniel ignore him but it didn't matter to him. His son looked happy as he stacked his blocks and that's what mattered to him.

Their conversation turned to every day conversation about their family but also about performing and how Tico was doing while they went on with the tour. Soon enough, Richie was paying more attention to the TV than he was to his phone as Sarah kept Daniel occupied. It was nice knowing the other person was still there, it made him feel closer to them. There had been many nights where he had been watching TV as Sarah played with Daniel or was somewhere else in the house. Right now, it almost felt like that.

"Richie?"
He finally looked back at his phone. "Yeah?"
"I think I'm going to take Daniel to bed. Do you want to hang up or wait?"
"I don't mind waiting." He said as he watched his screen show various parts of the room, Sarah and Daniel as she got up and picked up their son.
Sarah faced the screen again. "Okay, I can just carry you around with me and you can get Daniel to sleep for me."
"I would love to." He said as he could see Sarah walk up the stairs as she carried Daniel to bed. "Do I get to watch you go to sleep too?"
She chuckled. "That sounds kind of creepy."
"To watch you sleep?"
"Yeah, that's creepy."
"Okay. I'll just watch you change for bed then."
Sarah chuckled again. "How about Daniel goes to bed first?"

He could see she had laid her phone down as she took care of Daniel as he now could only see the ceiling of Daniel's bedroom on the screen, momentarily, he watched TV again. It wasn't a very interesting show but it was keeping him occupied nonetheless.

"Still there?" Sarah's voice came again.
"Still here." He confirmed.
She turned her camera again and showed Daniel comfortably in his crib, ready to go to sleep. His heart melted a little bit as he watched his son with his sleepy eyes.
"I think he'll doze off soon." Sarah turned on the small lamp in the room and left the room, taking Richie with her to their bedroom.
"I get to watch you get ready for bed now?" He asked excitedly.

Chapter 59

It was Friday afternoon when Richie started feeling nervous, he knew it was silly but it had been a while since he stood on a stage as large as this one and getting back to performing was always a little daunting.

Sound check had been delayed as they had stayed with Tico for as long as they could. Their flight could not be pushed back any more for them to still have time for sound check and everything else before the show.

Perhaps his nerves were caused by the plane preparing for landing, outside the window he could see the ground coming closer and closer. He had flown too many times to remember but there was always that passing thought that if something went wrong, it would not end well.

Not much later, the plane landed and sped down the runway until the brakes slowed it to a taxi-ing speed and continued it's way to the gate.

"So Rich will be at the venue when we get there?" Jon asked him.
"Yeah, I sorted everything out. We just need to get there."
Jon nodded. "Okay, then sound check as soon as we get there."
Richie agreed with him. "Yes, then we get ready, eat and hit the stage."
"Don't beat up our stage." Jon said with a straight face.
"You're hilarious."

Sound check went much easier than two weeks ago in a small studio and they easily rehearsed a couple songs as Rich already knew all their most known songs from the times he had played drums when Jon performed solo.

Richie had been correct in his choice that this would be the easiest way to find a stand in drummer. It surely made sound check go very smoothly. The setlist had not been set up yet but Richie had decided on which of his songs he did want to perform tonight and was happy to introduce Rich to his music as well. He was most happy when Jon stayed during the song rehearsal and took his instructions on guitar without a complaint. He had expected Jon to let him be and not partake but he was glad he was incorrect about that. If Jon took part in this, it would be easier to transition between songs during the show, if they decided to do it before encores.

After a few tries he was happy with how it was sounding and gave the leadership roll back to Jon, asking if there was anything else he wanted to go over before they all got dinner and got ready for the show.

Backstage, they all departed in their own direction. Jon headed to his dressing room and Richie followed David in search of some dinner. His nerves were making him hungry and he just wanted to fill his tummy so it could calm down.

Together with David, he had dinner as he texted Sarah to catch up on how her day was going. He was always happy to hear how she was doing and looked forward to the video chat that had become an evening routine now. With the time difference, he was lucky she was still awake when he arrived back at his hotel. Soon, he would be closer and the time difference would not work in his advantage as much anymore.

Returning back to their dressing room, both of them were given the final setlist for the evening. Seeing his own song it, nicely in the middle of the show, made him feel proud. That's all he would need to be included in this whole thing, just some acceptance of his own creativity.

Having been able to work on his album alone and tour for it alone, had made him the happiest he had been in a while and being able to continue to share that while on tour now meant a lot to him. Their artistic differences had been rough on the band but this was a fair compromise.

He sent Sarah his last text, letting her know he was getting ready to go out on stage and finally kick off the tour after their short delay. Proofreading his text made him excited and nervous at the same time. He hadn't been out on a stage in a while and only a few weeks ago he would not have been interested in going onto that stage but here he was, ready to do it all again.

Chapter 58

"We had to cancel the show." Richie said into the phone to Sarah.
"Did they figure out what's wrong with him?" She asked him in return.
"Appendicitis." Richie replied. "They'll have to do surgery. I'm not sure how soon, he'll need to stay in the hospital."
"Probably a week at least." Sarah replied. "What about the other shows you guys have?"
Richie shrugged, not much had been discussed. "I'm not sure either. We haven't figured anything out yet."
"What happened?"
Richie thought for a second. "We were doing soundcheck and he didn't look well at all but he said he was fine but then an hour ago he went to the hospital. At least they were fast in diagnosing.'" He said. "I'm not even sure what's happening. We all went back to the hotel after we cancelled the show."
There was a knock at the door as Sarah spoke again. "I hope Tico will be alright."
"I'm sure he will be." Richie got up from the bed and walked over to the door. "He's at a private hospital so nothing sketchy." He removed the chain off the door and opened it up to see Jon.
"That's good."
"Hey baby, I have to go. Is it okay if I call you back later?"

He let Jon into the room and followed him back to the seating area by the window where he joined him in the chairs around the table. After years of friendship, he didn't have to ask Jon if anything was bothering him anymore, he would know.

"What are you thinking?" He asked, getting straight to the point and to Jon's thoughts.
Jon sighed. "I hate cancelling shows."
"I know."
"We need a drummer, we can't play without a drummer."
"I know."
"I could play guitar and sing but I can't drum and sing."
"I know."
"You're so helpful right now."
"I know." Richie smiled.
"Fuck off."
Jon's reaction made him chuckle. "What do you want me to do?" He offered his help.
Jon shrugged. "We'll stay here tomorrow because I don't want to leave Tico here alone, that's not cool."
Richie nodded, he agreed to that. "Yeah, don't want to ditch him. We'll do the other shows then?"
"Yeah, and we can reschedule these ones." Jon said.
"Sounds good. When can they reschedule us?"
"I haven't figured that out yet."
Richie frowned, everything had gone so fast, they hadn't had much time yet to figure anything out. "So," he hesitated, going back to his previous question, "what do you want me to do?"
Jon sighed, thinking everything over. "Find me a replacement drummer?"
"Alright." Richie accepted his task easily.
Jon looked over at him, frowning.
"What? I said I wanted to help you out with managing stuff and I know some drummers."
"By Friday?"
Richie nodded, sure of himself.
"Who?" Jon asked weary.
Richie laughed at his worry. "Rich Scanella man."
Finally Jon clued in. "Oh." He exclaimed.
"Don't worry, I'll set it up. You worry about other stuff."

Not much later he was alone in his hotel room again in the middle of Argentina making his phone calls and arranging transportation.

He was glad he was able to help Jon out with something related to the band instead of letting Jon deal with it himself even though this was a very easy solution. That was the benefit of playing some solo concerts as well, they learned to play with different musicians and who better to get than someone Jon had played with on several more private occasions as Jon Bon Jovi and the Kings of Suburbia? Personally, he thought he was pretty smart for thinking of it as Jon had obviously not. Richie had not met Jon's drummer but he knew of him, the man was pretty good. Nothing would be as good as Tico but he would be a close second that already knew all the songs as well.

Once everything was in place and he was sure they'd meet Rich on Friday for their next concert, he called Sarah back.