Water Ch. 59 - Out Of Bounds

No call missed when he woke up and looked at his cell phone.  Now he was starting to wonder.  With having the day off today, he thought he would just hang out in New Jersey and take the kids to dinner, the ones that wanted to go wit him.  Tomorrow and Thursday he had shows at Giants Stadium and then he had a couple of days off.  He was really looking forward to them. 

 

With coffee brewing in the kitchen and him home alone, he sat at the kitchen counter and smoked a cigarette, waiting for the goodness of the first mornings coffee.  Not much better than a hot cup of coffee and a cigarette, first thing in the morning, he thought.  Specially when you're home alone.  He sits there and plays with his Blackberry, running the track wheel up and down.  There aren't any missed calls, he hasn't even missed and email.  He's pretty bummed because he hasn't heard from the woman that has his heart.  He did decide that he isn't going to call her again.  He's left two messages and she's not returned a call.  It's her turn.  The coffee is ready, he sits there, sips his liquid gold and smokes his cigarettes.

 

Meanwhile, in the Bahama's, a very tired Beth is coming to.  Waking she feels confused and out of sorts.  She remembers waking up and getting her pajama's on, but that's it.  She sits up and looks at the time.  It's 7:00 am.  She looks around and grabs her bag.  Pulling out her cell phone she sees that she JUST missed a call from Tammy and that she missed two calls from Jon.  Getting out of bed, she makes he way toward the bathroom, tousling the hair that keeps falling in her face.  She grabs her tooth brush and starts to brush her teeth, that's the one thing she does every morning before she does anything else.  Her return phone calls can wait, her room service order can wait and so can everything else.  Her teeth were first.  Finishing her teeth, she heads back out into her room and hunts down the room service menu, and orders herself some toast and fruit.  She no sooner hangs up the phone and there is a knock at the door.  Having no idea who could be at her door, she yells, "Who is it?"  And waits for the answer.

 

"It's Tammy."  says her mousy little assistant thorough the door.

 

"Hang on a minute."  she tells her assistant, wondering what the hell she is doing at her door so early.  Beth opens the door and ask, "What are you doing here so early, it's only 7:00."  Beth is totally forgetting that there were team building exercises today and everyone was required to be there.  When Tammy reminds her, she also reminds her that everyone is to report in the lobby at 7:45.  All electronics are to be left behind.

 

"I need to call Jon before we leave, I can't be without my phone." She looks at Tammy and crosses her eyes, indicating that it was crazy that they couldn't take phone with the.  "Oh well, I guess they don't want us working today.  That's fine."  Beth turns around and sits on her bed, taking her phone in her hand and dialing Jon's number. 

 

Looking down at the ringing phone, he sees that it's Beth and smiles.  "Good Morning beautiful." she can hear the smile in his voice and that makes her smile.

 

"Hi babe, how are you?" she asks with the sound of her smile in her voice.

 

"I'm doing much better now that I've heard your voice, how's the Bahama's?" he asks, because he really wants to know.  It's only been a day, and he misses her immensely. 

 

"Gorgeous as usual.  Fell asleep in the sun, got a really bad sunburn, missed the meeting that was for my promotion, and slept for the last 18 hours.  The Bahama's are the bomb."

 

"A promotion?  You got a promotion?  That's wonderful, tell me about it." he gets up to refill his coffee and grab his cigarettes, because he's taking a walk by the river. 

 

"Ok, I can quickly.  As soon as my breakfast gets here, I'll have to go.  I need to be downstairs by 7:45 for a field trip.  I feel like I'm in god damn high school.  And oh yeah, no phones allowed.  So, I have no idea when we can talk again.  Um, my promotion was to Vice President.  I got a lousy 50K raise and two more weeks vacation a year, oh yeah, and I got a new office."

 

"That's awesome babe, congrats!  Are you excited about it?  It doesn't sound like you are."  he questions, he can hear the sarcasm in her voice. Walking out in the cool morning air felt good to Jon, rarely did he do that.   But he wanted to walk down and take a look at the river.  Maybe he could spot the dolphins that he's heard so much about. 

 

Beth care tell that he's walking, so she asks, "Are you busy?  It sounds like you are?" she never gave it a thought when she called him.  Truthfully, she thought he might be sleeping.

 

"I'm just walking down towards the river.  Thought it might be a nice morning for a walk."

 

"Is it sunny up there too?' she wonders.  "It's 78 and perfect down here in the Bahama's"  now she's teasing him. There's a knock at the door and Beth can hear, "Room Service".  Beth covers the mouth piece on her phone and asks Tammy to get the door. 

 

Tammy opens the door so the room service attendant can wheel in the cart.  She signs for it and he leaves.  Tammy hands Beth a cup of coffee and says, "You better get ready."

 

Beth looks over at the clock and says, "Crap, I gotta go.  I have to shower and head out.  I'll call you later, okay?"  she says with question, not wanting him to be upset. 

 

He isn't wanting to hang up, he wants to talk for hours.  "Okay, call me when you get back and have a minute."  He's standing on the waters edge, picturing her down there in the Bahama's with a bikini on.

 

"I will, hey, what are you doing today?  Aren't you off today?"  Beth thought he had mentioned being off, but wasn't sure.

 

Jon starts to walk back up to the house as he tells her, he has plans to have dinner with the kids and he was just going to hang out in New Jersey. 

 

"How are things with Dorothea?" she's dying to know, but doesn't have time to talk.  She wishes she could take back what she just said, but it was too late.

 

Stopping dead in his tracks, shocked by a question he didn't expect, he tells her, "The lawyers are working out the settlement right now.  She is not able to stop the divorce, it's progressing like it's supposed to.  I told you I would take care of it.  She wants the Hampton house and the New York apartment." 

 

Beth is walking around, gathering the clothes she's going to put on and getting together her things for the bathroom.    Tammy is waiting patiently like she always does, Tammy tells Beth all the time that her job description was wrong.  Beth asked for someone quick on their toes, and Tammy is - but she waits on Beth alot.

 

"What will that leave you with?  The New Jersey house?" those are all that Beth could recall that he had.  But she wasn't sure.  She needed to get going.  "Honey, I am sorry, I have to go.  I'll call you later."

 

"Ok, go - take care of what you need.  Have a great day!  I love you." he confesses.....

 

"I love you, too.  I'll call you tonight.  Have a good time with the kids, and if it's appropriate to tell them hello for me, will you?" she knows he will.  He'll talk about her to anyone that will listen.

 

"I will.  Talk later. Love you!" he tells her.

 

"I love you too.  Until next time."  She hangs up her phone. 

 

Hurried to get ready, she takes a quick shower and throws on the lightest amount of make up that she thinks she can get away with.  Her hair goes into a big braid and she's ready.  She decided on the turquoise yoga suit and matching tennis shoes for it.  She's learned over the year at these company retreats, try not to wear anything expensive or nice to these exercise.  They always include water, dirt or  both - mud.  One year it was foam.  These team building exercises did work, and the money that Deloitte pays to have these is paid back 10 fold with employee morale and commitment.

 

When she's ready, she grabs her little Coach clutch and puts the essentials in it.  I.D., lip gloss and hand sanitizer.  What more could she need?  Her and Tammy were out the door and downstairs by the waiting bus that's going to take them to their secret location. 

 

 

 

Feeling better, having talked to Beth, Jon goes into the house and refills his coffee cup and walks on out to The Shoe Inn.  He's feeling music and he needs to get it on tape.  He's challenged himself to record two songs today, and that's what he is off to do.  He gets everything ready and starts with the music - it's Jon Bon Jovi on his own.  He's thought about the music for The Last Night and is pretty sure he has the sound he wants. 

 

With his guitar, he starts to record The Last Night.  It's an acoustic version and when he plays it back, he loves it. In his own mind, being his own worst critic - he pats himself on the back.  It's the first song that he has recorded since his heart went dormant.  It felt good, he felt good.  Now, he couldn't wait for Beth to hear it.  He knew that she would love it, too

 

He recorded the entire song, with her on his mind.