Chapter Thirty Six

One week later

Jon sat with a pencil in his mouth strumming his well worn acoustic guitar, his brow furrowed in concentration. Stopping every few seconds to scribble a few lyrics under chords on a sheet, he resumed fingering the melody until he struck the right combination. Since getting back from Ireland, for whatever reason the creative juices were flowing and he’d spent everyday in the studio. Richie had flown back west to visit with Ava for a few days and naturally was now cursing Jon for finally finding his muse the minute Richie had stepped on the tarmac at LAX. He’d promised to be back for the weekend so in the meantime Jon was forging ahead on his own, tossing about harmonies and choruses in his head.

　

A sound outside made him crane his neck to look out the window to see what had distracted him. He just caught sight of the tail end of Dot’s SUV rolling over the gravel up the main driveway to the house. Kicking back on his swivel chair to roll closer, he watched as she got out, pulling a few shopping bags from the car after her. While Dorothea had full residence of the main house, with his purpose built studio on the grounds it made sense for him to keep it and the guest house for the band’s use. As she disappeared from his view, he continued staring at his former home, chewing pensively on the stub of pencil. That day when he’d left for Ireland, he’d left her a short voice mail telling her about Jenn’s parents and that he was going out there for a few days. She had never returned the call.

That in itself hadn’t been so surprising. It was obvious Dot had known there was something between himself and Jenn from that day on the farm. He was pretty sure it was what gave her the final push to give him the divorce papers. The date she’d had them drawn up though had been three weeks earlier, for some reason she’d waited……..perhaps in hope of a reconciliation?

Spitting a bit of lead out that had fallen away from the now sodden pencil, he tore his gaze away from the window and swivelled back to face the mixing room he had been working in. Apart from the odd goofy picture and newspaper clipping tacked to the walls here and there, they were otherwise bare of decoration. He always liked to remind the boys that they’d started their first record with no bullshit awards or sales hype and they didn’t need no ego boosting crap around them when they started working on a new record. After a few moments of listening to the silence around him, he flicked the pencil across the table and put his guitar back on it’s stand. Snagging his jacket off the chair where he’d flung it earlier he breezed out the door headed for the main house. He needed to talk things out with Dorothea for everyone’s sake.

The kitchen was empty and silent as he wandered in, the counter tops neat and tidy as ever. Picking up a stack of mail, he leafed through it quickly, sliding out the few that were addressed to him. Stuffing the envelopes in the back pocket of his jeans, he walked through to the main entrance hallway and stopped at the foot of the imposing staircase.

“Hey Dot? You up there?”

Hearing more shuffled noises, he climbed the three levels of stairs to the landing. Finding all the kids bedrooms empty he moved noiselessly along the deep carpeted hall down to the huge bedroom he had once shared with his wife. Leaning on the doorframe, he knocked lightly as he finally found her. Faced away from him, she was busily shaking clothes out from paper bags on the bed.

“Hey…”

Spinning around, she clutched at her heart in shock and swore.“Jesus Jon! You scared the hell out of me! Christ!”

Jon caught the brief flash of anger across her face as she turned away from him and continued to stiffly fold the clothes.

“How was your trip?” was her next icy response. She made it sound like he’d been away on vacation.

Shoving his hands in his jean pockets, Jon wandered across the room to look out across the lawns to the river. Searching for the right answer he paused before replying softly, “Emotional.”

“I’m sure.” was her curt response.

Jon bit his lip and forced himself to remain calm as he watched the dark waters flow smoothly by the river bank. The leaves on the tall trees nestled here and there along the edges were starting to turn amber and crimson in the low October sun.

“We need to tell the kids about our latest ….development.” He turned to face her, watching as she moved into the walk in closet.

“What development?”, the casual reply came floating back to him across the room. “That you’re screwing our daughter’s trainer?”

His fists clenched by his sides as he felt the heat flush his cheeks at her callous words. Striding over to the door of the closet, he glared defiantly at her. “You know damn well what development! At least you should do considering you were the one to get the damn papers drawn up!”

Dorothea looked up at him from where she was kneeling on the floor, sorting through drawers. Her face was contorted with fury as she spat back at him. “Get over yourself Jon, I wasted too many of my years sitting silently in the corner while you…” she gestured with her hands “….entertained yourself with whatever bimbo took your fancy.”

Getting to her feet, she pushed past him and strode into the bedroom defiantly. Jon stayed rooted to the spot, his jaw set like steel until her next words landed a punch to his guts.

“The kids know, I told them when you flew off to your latest conquest.” Her small laugh carried no humour. “As usual it’s left to me to be the actual PARENT around here!”

He stared at her in disbelief, his eyes widening with incredulity. “You told them we were getting divorced WITHOUT me being there? What the fuck Dot?” His heart pounded in his eardrums. “You had no fucking right!”

“NO JON! YOU had no fucking right to fly off to your God damn damsel in distress when your FAMILY needed you here!” Her eyes swirled in a dark storm of animosity as she wheeled around to yell at him. “Did you want them to read about it in the fucking paper? Or maybe have their friends tell them about it?”

She shook her head at him, “And do know what the really sad thing about it all was Jon? Steph and Jesse weren’t even surprised!” The bed creaked as she sat down heavily on it, leaning forward to bury her head in her hands.

Jon dropped his gaze to the floor, his shoulders slumped as he swallowed with some degree of difficulty. The weight of her words hit him like a sledgehammer mostly because he knew a lot of it was true. He should have been here.