Chapter thirty-two

Richie arrived in New York about five hours later. As soon as he got off the plane and had found phone reception, he phoned Sarah’s home number, he told himself to buy her a cell phone so he could text her easily.

Sarah sat by the phone for the last thirty minutes, waiting for Richie to phone. She knew his flight information by now he should have landed 10 minutes ago. She knew it was silly to be waiting for his call but she was worried and needed to know if he was alright.

When the phone finally rang, she immediately reached for it and pressed the button to answer the call.

“Richie?” She immediately asked, hopeful.
“Yeah darling, you alright?”
“Yeah, I was waiting for you to call. Are you in New York?” She asked back, the background noise was almost louder than his voice was, he was obviously in a very busy place.
“Getting my bags, then off to meet the guys.” He explained.

A few minutes later he had his bags together and made his way to where he was meeting everyone before checking in. Since Jon was in Iceland recovering from his operation, the rest of them had to fly commercial.

He caught sight of David and ended his phone call with Sarah, promising to phone back when he was in Turkey, warning her that it would be a long flight.

Sarah didn’t mind, today she would just wait for his phone calls, tomorrow she would do the things she needed to do, she didn’t feel like looking for a job or going places right now anyway.

The hours of flying always tended to get exhausting, only a few more hours now.

For Sarah it turned into afternoon while for Richie it turned into a big blur of what time it was and where.



After watching half of a boring movie and listening to a cd, Richie took out his blanket and turned around in his seat to go to sleep. The seats weren’t as comfortable as on Jon’s plane but he still fell asleep easily.

Only a few hours later he woke up, only to find out they weren’t even close, by now David had fallen asleep too and Tico was sitting too far away to talk. He didn’t expect to already feel lonely; he wasn’t even entirely gone yet.

He tried to watch some other tv shows, some movies, nothing was actually interesting enough to keep him occupied, every time his mind wandered off, back to Sarah, what was she doing right now? Was she bored too or was she enjoying time with her boys? Would she keep a calm day or was she already looking for some sort of job? He didn’t know and wanted to know, just to know.

He hadn’t even been gone for a full day and he already missed her.



When he got off the plane there weren’t much fans, they probably thought they were all coming in with Jon but still he smiled and waved at them all.

At the hotel, Jon was standing in the hallway when they all walked to their room.

“Where’s Sarah?” Was the first thing Jon asked when Richie walked up to his room.

Richie sighed; he had just stopped thinking about her. “She wanted to stay home.” He said somber. He couldn’t manage to count out how many hours he had been gone by now, all he knew was that he missed her already.

“Why?” Jon asked confused. Suspicious, Jon profusely hoped that nothing had happened to their relationship while they were home.
“She wanted to time on her own and find a job.” Richie explained with another sigh.
Jon ignored the first and said, “A job? Why does she need a job? She’s got you, that won’t change, will it?” He continued to ask, hoping to find the answer to his worry.
“No, I’m not letting her go.” Richie said honestly.
“Then why does she need a job?”
“Because,” Richie started but remembered he hadn’t phoned her yet, “You don’t know the whole story. I need to phone her.”

Without another word he left Jon alone in the hallway and went into his room, going straight for the phone, his iPhone’s battery had died while playing games on the plane.

He wasn’t sure if he could even tell Jon about Sarah’s past, he wouldn’t tell him the details but he could tell him something. Just a little bit, so he would understand what was going on.

He quickly dialed Sarah’s number, glad he had already memorized it or he would be stuck without his phone.

Just like last time Sarah answered on the first ring. “Richie?” She asked again, just as hopeful as before.
“Yes honey, it’s me. Sorry took so long, I’m at the hotel.”

He looked over at the bed and couldn’t wait to plop down on it and sleep till the next day, flying might seem like nothing but all those hours were exhausting. Then he remembered his bed was empty and just as lonely as he had felt a few minutes ago. Talking to Sarah he felt a little less lonely.

They talked about the coming show and what Sarah would do at home and before they knew it they had been talking for half an hour. Just talking already made him feel better.

Sarah felt the same way, even though she had a nice day with her family, just like they always had, it felt good to talk to Richie, to know he was safe, on the other side of the world, so far away from her but at least he was alright.

Richie promised to phone her back when he was going to bed and recharge his phone so he could phone her if she wanted to. He had to make sure his phone was always charged from now on, just in case, no playing games on it.



After he hung up with Sarah he plopped down on his bed, hoping for a bit of quiet before he had to go to sound check later.



But he didn’t get long, a few minutes later Jon walked in without waiting for an answer after knocking. “So tell me the story.” He said as he walked over to where Richie was laying.
“What are you talking about?” Richie asked confused.
“You said I don’t know the whole story about Sarah.” Jon explained in a few words.
Richie sighed and sat up. “Why she needs a job?” He asked.
“Yeah.” Jon hoped he’d get an explanation this time.

Richie thought for a few minutes of how he would tell Jon about Sarah’s past without telling him too many personal details.

“You know I met her in rehab.” He started.

Jon remembered and wondered if Sarah had been addicted to something too. Was it worse than alcohol or was it worse than Richie’s own addiction had been?

“She wasn’t there for any kind of addiction.” Richie said as if he was reading Jon’s mind. “She needed to socialize and get back into society.” Richie started his explanation.

Jon frowned confused at what Richie said, he didn’t understand, yet. He kept quiet and let Richie explain.

Richie noticed his confusion and continued explaining.

“Sarah had a really bad marriage and left the guy about 10 years ago. When she moved in with her mom she got depressed and started avoiding people. That’s why she wants a job, to prove she can be around people now without being scared.” He hoped he hadn’t said too many details and ran over the words he had said in his mind again, thinking he hadn’t really said anything that would be wrong.

“That makes sense,” Jon concluded, “but you said she wanted to be a doctor.” He remembered.
“Yeah, she wanted to but she says she doesn’t want to go to school anymore. Maybe she can do something else in health care.”

Jon agreed that was a good idea, hospitals always needed more staff.

“Was that why she was so quiet the first week?” Jon asked.

Richie smiled, he knew Sarah had made progress and no one would have guessed her past, other than that she might be a shy or quiet person.

“Yeah, she was scared of people just two months ago, you know, she was even scared of me.”
“I thought she was just shy.” Jon confessed.
“I know, she made so much progress.” Richie smiled again, feeling proud of her again.

“You saved her from her marriage, man, you know.” Richie said absentmindedly after a few minutes.

Jon looked even more confused than he had before.

“She watched your movie, Pay It Forward, and knew she had to leave that guy.” Richie explained.
Jon smiled softly. “Paying it forward. She’s lucky to have you to protect her now."
Richie shrugged. “I guess.”
Jon patted his shoulder. “She is, you’re good for her.” He said.
Richie nodded, agreeing. “Yeah, I think so.”
“You miss her already?” Jon asked knowingly. He hadn’t seen his wife in five weeks now.
“About five minutes after we said goodbye.” Richie gave a small smile, he’d phone her again later.
“Maybe she won’t take so long.” Jon said hopeful, a little encouraging, he didn’t want to see his friend down. He could imagine Richie would miss her on his birthday in a few days.
“Hopefully.” Richie agreed again, then remembered something. “Oh, I gave her your number, just in case. Do you want hers?” He asked, already reciting the numbers in his head.
Jon smiled and nodded, at the same time he started thinking of a plan. “Yeah, it might come in handy.” He said.