123 - Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

“Hello, Pretty Dark Angel.  How ya doin’?”

Petey tucked the phone into her shoulder with a smile, handing the bags to Jon while they waited for Rocco to give the apartment a quick once-over before they entered. 

She and Jon had gone to City Hall, spent forever looking at wedding bands and spent two seconds finding the perfect pink shirt at Kenneth Cole.  The man himself happened to be in the store, and Jon had introduced her to him – her first introduction as his fiancée.  It had given her a bit of a girlish thrill.

“Well, well, Mr. Sambora.  You are still speaking to me.  Should I consider myself blessed?”

She turned her wink to Jon when she said it, but he just smiled and shook his head.  After his long talk with Richie last night, Jon told her that he was staying out of their friendship.  He leaned toward jealousy, and he was still a little ticked off with Rich, but he promised to work on it.  Truth be told, he wanted his wife and best friend to be friends. 

She was confident that it wouldn’t take long for him to find peace with it.  Just like Richie hadn’t seen them together, Jon hadn’t really seen her with Richie.  There was nothing to be jealous of.

“If you’re blessed, it has nothing to do with me,” he assured her with disparity.  “Do you have a minute to talk?”

Rocco was giving them the all clear, and Jon ushered her into the foyer ahead of him.  “Yeah, I think I’ve got a few minutes to talk.”

“Take your time,” Jon murmured, dusting her lips with a quick kiss.  “I wanna call Jess.  I’ll be in my office.”

She nodded, and shimmied to get out of her jacket without dropping the phone.  “Gimme just a second, Richie.  I’m just walking in the door.  As soon as I hang up my jacket, you’ll have my undivided attention.”

“Take your time, Darlin’.  Or you can call me back,” he graciously invited, but she'd already hung up the jacket and puttered into the living room.

Petey plopped her butt into her chair, kicked off her tennis shoes and curled her feet up under her.  Feeling squeak of the cushion against her jeans, she squirmed around until she was leaning comfortably against the arm of the chair.

“No need.  I’m in.  I’m settled.  Now, what can I do for you?”

“How are wedding preps going?  You get all the bats and cobwebs ordered?”

That sounded more like something David would say to her than Richie. A tiny laugh wanted to creep out, but she put a lid on it.   Even though she wasn’t angry, Petey wasn’t willing to let him off the hook quite that easily.  “So we’re going to pretend it didn’t happen?  Those last few days?  Where you acted like a jerk and then didn’t reply to any of my zillion text messages?”

To his credit, Richie didn’t hesitate – much – when coming back with his, “No.”  He was, however, tentative when going beyond that.  “I’m sorry Petey.  Can you forgive me?”

Jon hadn’t shared the details of Richie’s call, and she hadn’t asked, figuring that it was better kept between the two men.  If anybody wanted her to know, they would tell her.  By the same token, though, she didn’t know what reason Richie had offered up for his behavior.

“Can you tell me why?”

“Yeah, I can tell you why, but only just.  I had no idea until late last night, but apparently you already knew.  I was jealous.”

Her mouth pulled into a frown.  “I told you all along we would only be friends.”

“Turns out it’s a bit more complicated than that.”  He cleared his throat.  “Long story short, I’ve been single a lot longer than I wanted to be.  Jon wasn’t even looking for love and it smacked him in the face – with the one woman who managed to grab my interest in recent months.  I’m a lonely old curmudgeon and I took that out on the two of you, trying to make you as miserable as I was.”

“Richie…”  She didn’t know what to say.  How could the sweetest guy in the world – who wasn’t too hard on the eyes, either – not find a mate?

“For God’s sake, don’t feel sorry for me.  It’s not as bad as it sounds.”  She would bet it was, but she kept that to herself.  “Petey, I’m glad it was you.  Jon is going to be so much better for having you in his life.”

“That’s sweet of you to say.  Thank you, and you’re forgiven.”  There was no point in dragging it out any longer, since she’d never had any intention of staying mad at him.

His deep chuckle rumbled over the line.  “Is this where I make the lecherous comment about you being easy?”

“Aw come on, now.  You’re smarter than that,” she teased with a smile. 

“As a matter of fact, I am.”  His laughter faded into silence, and then he asked, “Sweetheart, is Jon really okay after yesterday?  I know how he can blow off something serious when it suits him.”

That explained the call more clearly.   Richie was worried, and she couldn’t help but find it incredibly endearing. 

“Yes, he’s okay,” was her pacifying assurance.  “I was concerned last night, but if he hadn’t seemed like himself this morning, I would’ve made him go to a doctor.  Being completely honest, he doesn’t seem any worse for the wear.”

“And what about mentally?”

That was a different story, Petey was afraid.  Jon had said and done all the right things today, but there had been phone calls that he stepped away for.  Phone calls that made his face darken and the muscles in his jaw jump. 

“Well,” she admitted.  “He’s mad as hell, but doing a pretty good job of pretending everything is right in the world, and then trying his hardest to make sure it happens.”

In the midst of his phone calls, Jon had pushed her about contacting her former colleagues at MIT.  They had been suitably impressed with what she had to tell them, and were anxious to meet with her and discuss the project.  Unfortunately, they weren’t able to see her until next week, which Jon had said wasn’t doable – they would be on their honeymoon.  Eager to have the whole process out of the way, she planned to email the data, along with a document that detailed everything, along with her wishes for its implementation.   

“That sounds like JB.”

“Then all is well,” she laughed.  “So when are you coming East?”

“Tonight.  I’m still trying to convince my assistant to come with me, but I don’t know if she’ll be able to or not.”

“Do…”  She didn’t really know how this worked, and it wasn’t technically her place to offer the guest room, but-  Oh, who was she kidding?  “Well, I started to offer you a place to stay, but it’s probably not a good idea with my bat shit crazy ex on a rampage.  I’m sorry.  And not to be nosy, but what are you going to do for two days before the wedding?”

“I’ll stay at the Four Seasons.  No big deal, there.  Tomorrow I’m hooking up with Tony for a while and Friday night I’m getting the guys together for a bachelor party.  Other than that, just hanging out.”

“A bachelor party?”  The idea inexplicably pleased her.  Jon would get a chance to be away with his friends and pretend that this insane life of theirs didn’t exist for a little while.  “I think that sounds like a fantastic idea!  I’m glad you changed your mind about coming, Richie.  Thank you.”

☠ ☢ ☠

“Hey, Jess,” Jon greeted his oldest son affably.  “How’s it going?”

“Hey, Dad.  Okay.” 

Sullen, short and to the point.  God love teenagers and their willingness to talk a blue streak to anyone except their parents.  “Everything okay with Ashley?  You two still talking?”

“Yeah, some.  We kinda had plans for Saturday, but that was before you decided to get married.”

He’s pissed because I messed up his plans for the weekend?  Lord, God, Jesus…

“Is that your problem with my getting married?  It’s interfering with your social life?”

“Who said I had a problem?”  Jesse went from sullen to belligerent just that quick. 

“Hey.  I don’t know what’s going on with you, but if you’ll can the attitude, we can talk about it.”

His man-child grunted, irritating the hell out of Jon.  Jesse wasn’t like this.  He was a laid-back, happy-go-lucky kid.  No, he didn’t spill all his secrets to dear old Dad, but they talked several times a week, because he made a point to keep in touch with his kids’ lives.  There were too many other things in the world willing to claim their attention if he didn’t – things they needed to have no part of.

“Jess…” Jon schooled his voice into a more relaxed tone, hoping to lure the boy out of his armored shell.  “Talk to me, kid.  Is this about me getting married, or something else?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Jon put a leash on his already frayed temper and fought to keep his impatience hidden.  “It matters to me.  I’m a fixer.  If there’s a problem, I wanna fix it.”

“Dad, you can’t fix it.  Or, at least, you won’t.  You’re told us you were getting married.  You didn’t ask our opinion, and that’s it.  The wedding’s on Saturday.”

Okay, I screwed the pooch on that one.

“You’re right.”  Jon kicked his feet up on the desk and let his head fall backward onto the chair’s headrest.  “I didn’t ask your opinion, and I should have.  What’s your opinion, Jess?  What do you think about Petey and me getting married?”

His son wasn’t finished sulking yet, though.  “What difference does it make?  You’re going to do it, no matter what I say.”

“Maybe not.  It depends on what you’ve got on your mind.”  It would take something pretty damn compelling to change Jon’s mind, but it wasn’t impossible. 

“Okay.  But are you gonna yell at me if I’m honest?”

“No, not as long as you’re respectful.”  Points to the kid for artfully paving the way for himself.  He could pretty much say whatever he wanted and Jon would have to bite his tongue.

“Okay.  The thing is.  Well, Petey’s nice, but she’s not exactly Mom, or anybody else’s mom.  According to Steph, she’s only had one real job as a teacher, that she quit to take crappy jobs in tech work.”

“All true, although I don’t know about the crappy tech jobs between teaching and working for your Uncle Tony.”

“That doesn’t bother you?” Jesse asked suspiciously.  “You’re always onto us about work ethic and all that, while she’s kind of floating through life.  Dad, I’m not being disrespectful, but don’t you think she’s probably just after your money?”

Relief swept over Jon, pushing out a short guffaw.  He didn’t want to laugh too hard at Jesse’s misconception, because it was Jon’s fault he had the misconception in the first place.  In all the ‘we’re getting married’ excitement, they hadn’t told the kids about Petey’s background. 

“Jess, you’re a helluva kid watching out for your old man that way, but you’re way off base.  Petey told your Nana this, so I think it’s okay when I tell you that she has more money than I do.”

“What?  How?  Mom always says you have more money than God.”

“Yeah, well, God doesn’t need as much as I do,” he grumbled, well-familiar with Dottie’s pet phrase.  She’d screamed it at him enough times that he should remember it.  “Petey comes from a wealthy family.  Her father was John Heinz, a successful businessman and senator from Pittsburgh who also was the son of Henry Heinz, founder of the H.J. Heinz Company.”

“Like Heinz ketchup and Heinz Field?”

“The one and the same.  She lost her dad a few years ago, but Petey is one of the heirs to the Heinz legacy.  Her mother is Teresa Heinz-Kerry and Senator John Kerry is her step-dad.”

“Holy crap.”

Jon couldn’t help but be amused by Jesse’s reaction.  “Exactly.  There’s more, but I’ll let her tell you the rest.  That’s probably enough to alleviate your worries about her being a gold-digger, isn’t it?”

“Uh.  Yeah.”

“Jess…  Thank you for having my back.”  Jon meant that in all sincerity.  Antagonistic teenagers were pretty commonplace, but he was lucky enough to have kids who were aware enough and cared enough to look out for their old man.  “It means the world to me.”

There was an unintelligible mumble from the other end.

“So?  You okay with me getting married now?”

“Yeah.  I suppose so, but…  Hey, Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I invite Ashley to the wedding?”

A wide grin claimed Jon’s mouth. Things were right in this part of the universe once again.  “Ask her.  I’ll clear it with Petey and your mom.”