63:Relationship Land

August 28

Despite the fact that it was mid-morning back home, here in California, the morning was still early and Jon’s body knew it.  The coffee he was mainlining tried valiantly to saturate his brain cells with vim, vigor and clarity, but it was a vain effort thus far.  All he could manage to do was stare blindly out the plane window somewhere between San Jose and Los Angeles, and let jumbled thoughts tumble through his mind with the hope that they’d eventually separate and make some kind of sense.

Because, right now…  His head was having trouble catching up to his heart.

How in the hell he came to be in this position was still somewhat of a mystery. 

Charlie Del Vecchio was his ex-wife’s divorce lawyer who gouged him repeatedly, trying to either piss him off or cause his bank account to require life-saving measures.  He hated her and everything she stood for.  She had been cussed a million times in his head and called every name in the book – some of which scarcely ever crossed his mind when referring to a woman, but she’d earned them. 

Satan in silk panties was one of the nicer monikers, and when she went toe to toe with him behind the guest house that night, he considered it an apt title.  Then she cracked the door and showed him a tiny peek of Chiara – along with a damn good time and another dose of that mouth of hers.  It didn’t change his opinion, but it intrigued him enough to go again – and again, and again – each time finding a more prevalent sliver of her alter-ego until that damn soft kiss goodbye in the Hamptons.

The one that haunted him and his preconceived notion of the lawyer with balls of steel. 

Oh, not that she didn’t have them.  She did, and wasn’t afraid to whip them out when the occasion called for it.  Now that he understood it was the exception more than the rule, Jon actual admired her spunk.  There was something oddly appealing about a woman who could fight her battles along with everyone else’s yet broke her neck to take a homeless woman coffee. 

Who called a damn dog crate a condo to ease her conscience for locking the dog inside, played dolls with his nieces and painted whimsical Disney characters on her bedroom walls.

Who told him he was always welcome at her place when he got lonely and that she had a crush on him.

Yesterday, when he’d watched her keep her shit together in every possible way, yet left that one thread hanging – the one that could unravel it all – Jon wanted to be the one who tied the knot in the end so it wouldn’t slip.  That’s why he had his assistant make all those arrangements, and kept checking in on her. 

She had a million family members to keep in the loop about her son’s health, but at the end of the day it wasn’t them she turned to.  It wasn’t them she said she needed. 

It was him.

Standing there, completely vulnerable and with Charlie nowhere in sight, Chiara needed him to hug or fuck her.  She needed to hold onto him.

Maybe that made him a sap, or that dreamer he kept writing songs about, it felt good to be the one she turned to for something as basic as human contact.  If she could just do that another couple dozen times, asking for nothing more, maybe he could learn to trust her without the reservations that still nagged at him.  He was going to hang around and find out, anyway. 

After last night, Jon was loosely considering her his girlfriend and, since they’d breached the threshold between casual sex and a relationship, Chiara owed him an explanation about her marital status.  That explanation was to come complete with, as she said, all the details, including those that no one else knew.   

Today wasn’t the day for it, and Jon was okay with that. 

They’d both practically passed out after she joined him on the “other side” in Relationship Land last night.  Then, this morning, her east coast family had started ringing the phone off the hook well before six and Caleb had called in the middle of that to request her presence at the hospital.  That put her out the door early and leaving them saying nothing about anything.

He remained in the dark about what happened at the hospital yesterday, what was really going on with Caleb or what her plans were for the next few days.  Honestly, he also remained in the dark as whether she comprehended that the “other side” was Relationship Land.  He figured she had a pretty damn good idea, but it was one of those things that could become a clusterfuck of misunderstanding if everybody wasn’t on the same page. 

The primary objective for today, if they only spoke half a dozen words from opposite sides of the country, was to make sure that was crystal clear.  His thoughts may still be jumbled about how they’d gotten to where they were, but his heart liked the scenery and was ready to settle in for the foreseeable future.

Love wasn’t part of that foreseeable future, because it was fucking idiotic to think he’d fallen in love in three weeks’ time, but she’d seriously wormed her way under his skin.  Caring for her, he would readily cop to, because it was also fucking idiotic to try and act as though he didn’t.  He cared about her enough to be sitting here with concern over how she was holding up this morning.  

It had him trading the empty coffee cup for his phone and tapping out a message.

[8:17 AM]JON: Call when you get a minute

Depending on how things went, he would also take this chance to ask her about Matt’s party.  It was possible that she wouldn’t even get back east by then, but since Jon was heading that direction after his meetings today, this might be the only chance they had to talk, so he wanted to find out.

The plane passed through a cloud, obstructing his outside view when the phone vibrated in his hand.

“Counselor,” he greeted with a quiet warmth, after identifying her as the caller.  “How ya doin’?”

Her huffed hello wasn’t filled with quite the same warmth, and she sounded almost nasty when responding, “Annoyed as hell, so your timing was great.”

“Great for what?” he chuckled, completely unaffected by her bitchy attitude.  This was child’s play compared to what he’d seen in the past.  “For you to take it out on me instead of whoever pissed you off?”

“Hey, I’d let you yell at me if it made you feel better.  It’s not like we haven’t both survived it already.” Her voice was a little lighter with this exchange, he noted. 

“I was just thinking the same thing.”  The cloud broke and, even with sunglasses, he squinted against the bright sunlight as a smile crept onto his face.    “How’s the boy?”

“Doing really well, actually.  He says there’s very little pain since the surgery was done laparoscopically.  The doctor’s happy and we’re just waiting for discharge papers.”

“Good deal.  What does that mean for your stay on the west coast?  What’s the game plan?”

“Hotel tonight, I guess.  If he feels well enough tomorrow, he’ll go back to the dorm and I’ll catch a flight out of here on Sunday.”

“Call me when you’re ready to come home,” he instructed, pleased that things were progressing well with Caleb.  “I’ll have a plane for you.”

“Jon, that’s not necessary.  I can fly commercial.”  She must still be harboring some residual annoyance, because he recognized that twisted panties tone creeping back in.  “I accepted the extravagance yesterday because I was scared and wanted to get to my baby.  This is just me going home.”

“To you, maybe, but I have an ulterior motive.”

“Yeah?  What?”

Crossing his legs and absently watching below as urban California gave way to desert, he smirked at her blatant suspicion.  He could only imagine what was running through her mind.  “Well, I figure if I fly you home, then you’ll feel indebted and go with me to Matt’s birthday party.”

What ensued was… nothing.  Not a single word.  Not a laugh.  Not a breath.  She just didn’t answer.

“Counselor?”

“You know what they’ll think if I go with you,” she sighed quietly. 

“That we’re dating?  Seeing each other?  In a relationship?”

“Yes.”

“Well, we are.”

The lull in conversation wasn’t as long this time.  “The way you did that…  Well, it packed kind of a punch and I had to wait to catch my breath.  Sorry.”

Jon laughed out loud, amused by the utterly female creature who didn’t resemble Charlie Del Vecchio in the least.  “Did you miss that whole ‘other side’ thing last night?”

“I’m a lawyer.  Conjecture isn’t admissible.”

“Oh for chrissake, Chiara,” he snorted with feigned disgust at her switch to lady lawyer.  “This is some fucking feminine ploy just to get me to talk about it.”

“And?  Your point?”

“Ah, for fuck’s sake.”  In what world did he ever think he’d find this woman’s sassiness cute?  Whatever world it was had just intersected with his.  “Listen up.  We crossed the line, last night, baby.  Casual sex is in the rearview mirror and, according to your promise, your gut-spilling session about Owen is at the next exit.  Is that admissible enough in your courtroom, Judge Judy?”

“It’ll do,” she conceded smugly, not seeming bothered by the topic of Owen.  “So you’re going to write a song for me now, right?”

“Jesus.  Evel Knievel couldn’t make that fucking leap.  What makes you think that’s the next logical step here?”

“How is it not?” was her rationale.  “I’m using my artistic talent to create a mural for you, and I agreed to do it before we ever started dating.  You can throw me a bone and write a song.  Jeez.  And don’t put roses in it, okay?  Vivi has soured me on them.”

His head fell back against the cushioned seat as he snickered.  “I’m paying you for that mural, and I’ll never write you a song with roses.  Bitching and screaming, maybe, but never roses.”

“You’re not paying me for the mural.”

“And here we go with that bitching,” Jon drawled. 

“Okay, no bitching.  I won’t mention it at all for now.  When it’s done, we can talk about it.”

“Fair enough.”  He accepted a fresh cup of coffee from his flight attendant with a nod, taking a sip before asking again, “So you’ll go with me to Matt’s?”

“If that’s what you want.”

“I do.  If nothing else, it will get them off my back for a while.”

It was nice to hear laughter considering her mood when this call started.  “You don’t want a relationship.  You want some peace.”

Jon wouldn’t say that.  In fact, if he thought the family would give him hell over hooking up with the counselor, he’d still pursue it.  That’s just the way he was.  He followed his gut and, so far, he had very few regrets. 

He hoped this wouldn’t be one of them.