My Sunshine (9 page)

“I haven’t really thought about it. It’s running fine now.”

He scarfed down two pieces of pizza without speaking. He phone started ringing as he finished the second slice. He wiped his mouth on a napkin and flipped open phone. “Hey Chloe.”

“Hey. Did you make it back yet?”

“I did. I’m home. I’m going to be hitting the sack pretty soon.”

“It’s only 8:30.”

John yawned. “I know, but I’m exhausted.”

“I won’t keep you. I just wanted to make sure you made it
back okay.”

“Thanks. I did.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, baby girl.” He clicked off the phone and
looked up to the stares of Tyler and Christine.

“New girlfriend?”
Christine asked.

Tyler
shook his head. “You gave a girl your cell number?”

It had been
John’s practice to always be the one doing the calling. It prevented him from getting unwanted calls from girls he’d rather not talk to again, and it also kept him from having to change his cell phone number every few weeks.

John
nodded. “Yeah.”

“Someone from home?”
Tyler asked. He and John were from the same hometown.

“No, actually it's someone I met while I was stranded.” He
yawned again. “What time do we have to be where tomorrow?”

“Nine, at the studio with Brian.”

John gave a small nod. “Okay, good night.”

“Goodnight,
John,” Tyler and Christine said in unison.

John
went to his bedroom
.
Thirty-two days. Am I going to be able to do this? I want to do it. Why didn’t I tell Tyler and Christine about her? I just really don’t really understand any of this.

He could go the thirty-two days without sex. That was easy,
even for him. He wasn’t person with a lot of patience, and he knew he would get frustrated with the situation quickly. He hoped his frustration didn’t turn to boredom. He laid his phone on top of his dresser and fought an overwhelming urge to call her back right then.

“Crazy,” he said aloud as he sprawled out across his bed.

 
Three weeks later, John followed Jane up her driveway to the house. He joined her in the garage to help her carry in the shopping bags. “Where’s Mike?” He asked as he followed her into the kitchen. He sat the bags of groceries on the counter.

“He’s at the studio with
Benice.” She sat her infant, Will, in the baby swing. “He should be home any minute.”

John
smiled. “Oh, Benice.” He raised his eyebrows.

Bright
and Josh had co-written most of the songs and Bright was producing a couple of tracks on the debut album for the eighteen-year-old newcomer. Benice had very serious and obvious case of the “hots” for Bright.

“That doesn’t worry you?”

Jane smirked and shook her head. “Not in the least. Why should it?”

He’s got a hell of a lot more self-control than I d
o
.
If some barely legal hottie were making plays for me, I’d have to go for i
t
. “You know she’s after him, don’t you?”

Jane
nodded. “I know.”

John
sat down at the bar. “Can I wait here for him? I need to talk to him about something.”

“Sure. I haven’t seen you in a while. Where have you been
keeping yourself?”

John
shook his head. “Hanging out at home mostly.”

“
Tyler said you hadn’t been going out any.”

“Nope,”
John said. “I haven’t been out, except with Tyler and Christine or Dennis and Shannon for a couple of weeks.”

“Why?”
Jane asked.

John
shrugged. “I don’t know. Just tired of it all, you know?

So what are you fixing for supper? I’m hungry.”

Jane shook her head. “You never come over not hungry.”

John
laughed. “I miss having you cook for me everyday.”

Jane
had been the traveling chef for the group during their last tour. He watched as she put away the groceries.

“Is
Mary coming down for Mike’s party tomorrow night?”

He knew he was skating on very thin ice by asking
Jane about her sister.

Jane
frowned. “Yes, she is. And Matt. They’ll be here in the morning.”

“Are they bringing the kids?”

“No.” She eyed him suspiciously. “Why do you want to know? Don’t you think you’ve meddled in that family enough?”

John
sighed. “I was just curious.” He drummed his fingers on the countertop. He had come over to talk to Bright, who was like the “big brother” of the group, but he couldn’t contain himself. “I’m bringing a girl to the World Series.”

“Who?”

“It’s not anyone you know,” he said. He saw that he had her attention.

“Who is it?”

“Her name’s Chloe Boston. I met her that weekend when my car broke down in the mountains. Her brother was the mechanic.”

Jane
sat a glass of tea down in front of John. “She wasn’t just a one-night stand?”

John
shook his head. “No. It started out that way, I guess, but I ended up spending two nights with her, and then I went back the next weekend. I’ve talked to her on the phone two or three times a day since then and we email almost everyday. It’s different with her. Anyway, last time I was there, I asked her if

she wanted to come, and she said she would.”

Jane opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted by Bright entering the kitchen through the back door.

“Hey honey,” he said, kissing his wife quickly. He moved
to the baby and scooped him up out of the swing. “How’s my little man?”

He turned to
John. “What’s up, man?”

“Can we talk?”

Bright nodded and handed baby Will to Jane who was already reaching for him. “We’ll be upstairs.” He lead John upstairs to the large room he had converted into a small recording studio. Bright flopped down on one of the two overstuffed couches in the room. “What’s going on?”

John
sighed and sat down on the other couch. “I don’t know what’s going on with me, man.”

“What do you mean? Are you okay?”

“Well, it’s this girl, Mike. Chloe. You know the one I

met a few weeks ago when my car broke down.”

Bright shook his head, like he wasn’t familiar with her.

That didn’t surprise
John. Although he was looked upon as being the big brother of the group and the other four often came to him for advice, he made it a point not to butt into their personal lives.

“When I was on my way back from the beach, my car
broke down in the mountains, and to make a long story short, I met a girl and ended up spending the whole weekend with her.

I went on back to Nashville and spent the week. Well, when it
was time to come back here, I found myself driving hours out of the way to see her again.”

“And that’s a problem?”

“I spent the night with her again, and I asked her to come with us to the World Series.”

“Did you mean it?”

“Oh, that’s not all. I told her that she was my girlfriend.”

“Did you mean that?”

“That’s the bothersome thing, Mike. I did mean it. I meant every single word of it.”

“So what’s the problem?” He was smiling and obviously
amused.

“Hell, I don’t know. It’s just not me, you know?”

Bright cocked his head to one side. “Maybe it is. Why are you telling me all this?”

John
shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to get your take on it. About bringing her, I mean.”

Bright
stood up and walked over to the filing cabinets where he kept his music. “I guess if you want to bring her with us, great.”

His cell phone rang. “Sorry,” he said
to Mike and Jane as he pulled it from his hip. He checked the caller ID before flipping open the phone. “Hey, baby girl,” he said as he walked toward the door.

“Hey
John, is this a bad time?” Chloe asked.

“No,
Chloe. Quit asking me that. If it were a bad time I wouldn’t have answered. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. What are you up to?”

“I’m over at Mike’s house. We were just going over some new music. I told him and Jane that I was bringing you to the World Series with me.”

“What did they say?” Her voice quavered. He knew she
had been apprehensive about meeting his friends.

“They’re looking forward to meeting you. Listen sweetie,
you have nothing to worry about. Everyone is going to like you.”

“But I’m such an outsider.”

“It’s cool, Chloe.”

“It’s only two more weeks until we see each other again,
you know.”

“I know. The offer to come down for this party tomorrow
night is still open. I’d really like for you to come down. I’ll get your ticket and everything.”

“I can’t,
John. I have to work tomorrow and this weekend.

I can’t take any more time off without losing my job.”

Oh, quit your stupid job
s
. “I know,” he said. “I just want to see you so bad.”

“Two more weeks.”

“Two more weeks,” he repeated. His phone beeped and he checked the caller ID to see who it was. “Hey Chloe, that’s Garby on the other line. Can I call you back?”

“Yeah, no problem. Talk to you later.”

“Bye, baby.” John clicked over to the other line. “Hello?”

“Hey,
John.”

“
Garby, where’ve you been? I’ve been trying to call you for three days.”

“Around. I’m so sorry that I can’t be at your beckon call.”

“What’s the attitude about? You’re starting to sound a lot like Mom.”

“Sorry. What do you need?”

Johnshook his head. “I don’
t
nee
d
anything. I was just wondering if you were still planning on coming this weekend.”

“I’m coming, yes. Cliff is coming, too.” Cliff Jacobs,

Dennis’s brother, and Garby had been flirting around a courtship for several months. John thought Cliff was a nice enough guy, but he was not supportive of the budding romance.

John
, like most big brothers, was protective of his little sister, and he was not excited about her getting involved with someone with an incurable, life altering illness, especially HIV.

John
sighed. “You’re coming down to see him?”

“Yes, and I’m really looking forward to it.”

John shook his head for his own benefit. “Are you staying at the house with me and Tyler?”

“I’m not sure.
Dennis and Shannon said I could stay there, but Mom is giving me major grief over that.”

“You can stay at the house, Mel. Cliff will be only ten

minutes away.”

“Yeah, I’ll think about it. Well, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you
later.” Click.

John
stared at his phone and shook his head. “Errr,” he growled. He walked back into the room, joining Bright and Jane.

“Was that her?”
Jane asked. “John, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything is fine. It was
Chloe. I’ve been trying to get her to come down this weekend, but she won’t. She’s afraid of losing her job.”