Arriving at the hotel when she did was perfect timing. She had a nice nap on the plane and the weather was beautiful. As soon as the concierge drops her bags, she hands him a tip, and he leaves, she unzips her bag, grabs her suit and strips. She is hitting the beach. She thought of nothing but laying in the sun all day. With the weekend that she just had, she really needed some 'me' time. She's not real sure footed as she slips her bikini bottoms on hopping foot to foot almost falling on her face. Doing the 'look around to see if anyone was watching', although she knew no one was. Her top went on much easier. Grabbing her beach bag, sunscreen, sunglasses and a bottle of water; she was out of there. Her feet weren't moving fast enough, she wanted to feel the sand between her toes, exfoliate the weekend she had just had away.
Finding her perfect spot, she sets her bag down next to the chair she had chosen, pulls off her sarong and just looks around. St. Bart's is beautiful. White sand as far as the eye could see and blue water that cascaded even farther. This is paradise, she says to herself, only one thing missing. Of course that one thing was her rock star. Walking down to the water she noticed a father and his young son building a sandcastle and pictured Jon and Romeo doing it.
She knew she needed to stop with these thoughts, as they were going to do her no good. She wouldn't get anything out of this trip if she kept her mind on Jon. She walked out in the water far enough to know, she truly was in paradise. St. Bart's was always perfect this time of the year, and she jumps at every opportunity she's given to visit the islands. Cooling herself by sprinkling water on her arms and chest she works her way back to the beach and claims her spot. Sitting on her lounge chair, she lathers on sunscreen with a little bit on tanning lotion, puts on her shades and lays back. She can hear the father and the son building the sandcastle and she visions her, Jon and Romeo building a big one with the mote. She would even stop at the store and buy little alligators and things to put in the more. She is certain that they would have a blast.
About and hour later, he assistant Tammy finds her and wakes her up. "Damn Beth, you are fried, how long have you been down here?"
Beth looks at her phone and says, "Only a little over an hour. Is it that bad?" She reaches up and feels her face. "Ouch! I must have forgotten to add sunscreen to my face." She sits there with a slight anxious look on her face. She's thinking I'm going to look silly. She sits up a little straighter in her chair and gets her composure. "What's going on? She inquires of her assistant.
"Um, you were expected for dinner at 4:00 and you're late. The big boss was looking for you."
Beth sits up a little straighter, "He was? What for?" Beth is just about to hit the panic mode, because she didn't even know he was on this trip. He never comes to these things. Beth is now gathering her stuff up and she asks Tammy, "Where are they?' Wanting to know where the bosses were, so she could make an appearance.
"The last time I see them, they all were still in the restaurant, having cocktails. That was 5 minutes ago. Give me your stuff, you better hurry." She reaches out for Beth's bag and beach necessities. Beth hands her things to her assistant, wraps herself in her sarong and heads up towards the building.
Walking into the hotel lobby, she is in her sarong and flip flops, nothing spectacular but she makes heads turn. She walks with grace and confidence and she is a natural beauty. She presents herself as a professional, with high class and a expectation level of nothing less that where she is. Beth is confidence, backed with intelligence and beauty. She was an asset to any company that she chose, and any man would be silly to let her go.
Scanning the restaurant seating area, Beth spots Ryan, her boss and William Deloitte, her boss's boss. The boss she never sees. The boss that she hasn't seen since Brian died. All Deloitte staff was at Brian's service.
Walking up to to the men, in her bikini and sarong that was wrapped around her at the armpits, covering her breasts and most of her legs, she said, "Gentlemen, I am sorry to have missed this. But as you can see, I fell asleep on the beach. What did I miss?" She pulls out a chair to sit, and they stand allowing her to sit and then they sit back down. She looks around and spots the waitress at the same time the waitress spots her. When the waitress arrives at the table, Beth orders her usual. "Vodka, rocks please." The waitress nods and scurries off to get her her drink.
"Well, we discussed promoting you, to be honest." Chuckles Mr. Deloitte. with a big smile on his face. Mr. William Deloitte was a big man, everything about him was big. He was able to grab a basketball with one hand, his shoes had to be custom made and he had teeth that were proportionate to his size. That's all Beth could see, was his teeth. She had to look away when he smiled. "But since you weren't at the dinner, we passed your new position onto Chris Stevens." Again he laughs and she has to look away.
"I'm sure that Chris is pretty happy about that." Beth chimes back, knowing damn well Chris Stevens got nothing from Deloitte. "I didn't know that you were looking to promote anyone. I didn't know that there was a position open, I may have put in for it." She says with the confidence in knowing that if she had put in for a position, she would have gotten it. Her drink comes and she takes a gulp of it. This is the last thing that she wanted to do right now, but career comes first, right?
"We made the decision over the weekend to promote, from within, I in fact tried to phone you Beth." Now her boss is talking to her, so she gives him her undivided attention. "But it seems that you were unavailable, for work anyway." Ryan smiles at her, and that raises questions.
"Why are you smiling? What's going on?" She looks at both men, with a look that tells them that they better answer her question.
"You are on the cover of every newspaper that has printed over the weekend, don't you know that?" Mr. Deloitte informs her that she is front page news and there is quite the stir about her. "Press, whether it be good or bad, is good. I am thrilled at the number of new clients we are getting calls from." Beth is still a little lost, and asks the guys to clear it up for her.
"With you dating Jon Bon Jovi and being on the cover of every paper, whether it be gossip papers or the fucking New York Times, our business has increased by 18% in a week. That's phenomenal, Beth. Great job." She thinks, great job? GREAT JOB. My fucking relationship isn't their business, or their business tool.
She a little angry, but doesn't show it. She looks at Mr. Deloitte and says, "So tell me about my promotion. Do I get a corner office with a view?" She knows that there is one way for him to answer this question.
He looks at her, thinking that it's hard to take a woman wrapped in a sarong serious as a business woman, he then reminds himself that she just signed Warren Buffett, he needs to tread lightly. "Beth, with the income potential that you yourself have brought in in just the last week, hell, you can have my office. I'll use a broom closet if you keep working like you are." Again with those teeth, she can't look at him.
"What's the income increase? How much more vacation do I get?" she is now negotiating for a promotion that she hasn't even technically been given yet. But she knows it's hers.
'Your salary will go up 50K, you can have Thompson's office, if you want it and how about 8 weeks of vacation a year? We would like you to spend more time on the East Coast, if possible." Ryan is telling her all of this and she's thinking to herself that this is totally crazy. A salary increase, 2 more weeks vacation - there is negotiating room.
Beth sits up and places her arms on the table, there are other Deloitte employees around and what she's about to say, doesn't need to be heard by any one other than Ryan and William. "Well, this is where I am guys, I just signed Warren Buffett, one of the richest men on the planet and you offer me 50K more a year. My commission's alone are more than that. So, your 'raise' is an insult. As for my personal life increasing sales, don't get used to it. My life will no longer be displayed in the newspaper or in any media. I don't even know what they are saying." she stands to walk away, looking at William she says, "And Thompson's office will work. Order my new name plate, please." And she walks away. Ryan and William are left there with their mouths hanging open.
Beth meets her assistant at the bar to gets her things. She tells Tammy, "When we get back to L.A., we're moving on up." Smiling, she walks away and goes back to her room.
In her room, dropping her beach bag and kicking off her shoes she looks around the room for her 'retreat intinerary'. She not seeing it. Opening her laptop case she pulls out the folder that Tammy had prepared for her, opening it she sees the itinerary and tonight is wide open. There aren't any activities planned and no meetings scheduled.
Plopping back on her bed, feeling like she had just conquered the world she closes her eyes and takes herself to another place and time. Physically she's in the Bahama's, but her mind is in the desert. She wants to be in the desert.
Jon's Monday was typical, for being a tour Monday. He spent most of the day on the telephone with this person and that person, talking about this and that - with the crux being the conversation with Peter Laird. Jon was pleased with his conversations that he had with Peter. Dorothea was trying to stop the divorce all together, and they, Jon and Peter agree that it's because of Beth. Jon tells Peter that under no circumstance will he remain the the marriage, even if things don't work out with Beth, he isn't happy with and doesn't love Dorothea. That marriage is over. Peter assures Jon that he has filed the necessary paperwork to keep the divorce from screeching to a halt, since that it was Dorothea is trying to do. She wants it stopped all together. Peter will not let that happen.
Getting ready to head the the arena in D.C. Jon tries to call Beth. His call goes right to voicemail. He leaves her a message. "Hey babe, it's me. Heading into the arena. I'll try you later. Love ya, Until next time." He hangs up slightly bummed that he didn't get in touch with her. He's hopeful that she will call back. He heads in and gets ready for sound check, does his usual meet and greets and then retreats to his private place, his mobile sanctuary. The place where he is alone, with the world news on. He has the couches that travel with him from city to city and even the throw pillows are on tour. He has his coffee table that he uses for many things. He wants to be alone.
The show in D.C. goes off without a hitch, much like any other Bon Jovi show goes. Jon gives D.C. his all, and D.C. gives it all right back. Jon quickly leaves the arena after the show, he wanted to get where there was signal, so he could talk to Beth. The call never came in. She never called him back.
Jon went home, back to New Jersey and waited some more for the call that should have been returned. Pacing the floor of The Shoe Inn, he decided to lay down some vocals for the next album. He and Richie had worked on a few songs and a few just needed vocals. To kill time, he played around in the studio, until he noticed it was 1:00am. Grabbing the phone from his bag, he called her again. Again, he went right to voicemail. He left another message. Please call me when you have a minute, I'd really like to hear the sound of your sweet voice. And he hangs up.
He thinks it's best if he just heads into the house and goes to bed. He was tired and he was certain that Beth was sleeping too. It took a while, but he did doze off and he slept through the night. Beth did too. And she had been sleeping since she laid on her bed, hours ago.
So with her new promotion she will spend more time on the east coast. Jon is going to be happy about that.
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