Chapter 2

February 8^th was an overcast day, but Allegra’s attitude was not affected by the clouds.  Her excitement overrode even her exhaustion as she extended her arm from the car to press the buzzer, once again announcing herself outside the Bongiovi estate.   The past few days had been hectic, but she had expected no less once the decision had been made.  Guiding her Toyota through the grounds, she reflected upon the whirlwind that made up the last six days.

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After Jon had agreed to let her accompany the band, they had spent some time deliberating about her job duties.  Her resume wasn’t exactly vast, or varied, but that wasn’t coming as any surprise to him.

“So tell me what type of responsibilities you’ve had for the past few years,” Jon prodded.

She deliberated for a moment, in her mind trying to distinguish between things she just DID and marketable skills.  “Well, my ‘people skills’ are probably more developed than anything else, and what I’m most comfortable with.  I’ve been fortunate enough to provide counseling to a variety of individuals on a wide range of topics.  Organizational skills would probably be next?  I’ve coordinated multiple events in recent years for disadvantaged children, and a few fund raisers.  Then there are the basic human abilities.  Obviously I can clean.  And cook.  Sort of…” Her voice trailed off as she wondered if she should have even mentioned something so insignificant.

“That’s right!  I remember your lasagna being amazing.”  His eyes lit up with the possibilities.  “The guys have been onto me about bringing along a private chef to prepare some home cooked meals on the road for us.  What do you think?”

Of all the things for him to latch onto.  “I don’t know about that, Jon.  My repertoire is pretty limited. “

“Oh please,” he scoffed.  “Aunt Therese is an incredible cook.  You must’ve learned some of her secrets.”  The subject was already closed in his mind.  With a look of satisfaction on his face he declared, “This will be perfect.  Richie and Dave will love me for it.”

She tried to slow down the speeding bullet that was his mind.  “Now wait a minute, Jon. I don’t think you know what you’re asking.  This is seriously not my area of expertise.  Besides, how many people are you talking about feeding?”

“It would just be the band.  You can do this in your sleep, sweetheart,” he assured her.

Maybe in a nightmare, Allegra thought wryly.  She was still skeptical, but tried to convince herself it would be alright.  How hard could it be to cook for five guys?

“What will the functional details be?  Where will you want the meals?  Where will the food be prepared in relation to where it will be served?  This might get complicated.”  Apprehension tinged her voice as she desperately sought any justifiable reason to reject this notion.

He waved off her concerns.  “I’m not sure what the details will be.  I’ll have the tour manager figure it out and let you know.” 

With that decided, a laundry list of other questions swam around in her head, but he didn’t have the information at hand, telling her to just call his personal assistant the next day.  “Cheryl’s amazing.  She knows what I want before I want it, and she can help you with whatever questions you have.  Nothing is too big or small.  Call her.”

She hated to be an imposition on a woman she’d never met, but of course Jon expected her – and everyone else for that matter - to blindly obey his decrees.  Shaking her head, she wondered why that surprised her, since it was no different than what she’d always known about him.  If he was bossy and dictatorial in family life, there was no reason to believe he wouldn’t be even worse when he really was the boss.

In this case, he had happened to be right.  Cheryl had been an enormous help, making Allegra feel more self-assured about what to expect and, in return, what was expected of her.   She patiently answered question after question from the travel-challenged newcomer, guiding her through where to be, when to be there, travel documents and proper attire. 

“Your wardrobe should consist primarily of comfortable and functional clothes, but you will need to bring some more elegant pieces in case Jon wants you to attend a function or after show party.  I would bring at least two cocktail dresses, one formal dress, and a few chic casual outfits.”

That edict was enough to quickly deflate her newfound sense of self-assurance.  Chic casual?  Are you kidding me? I don’t know what that means, much less where to find it!  She realized Cheryl had a million other details to attend to before the launch of the tour, so she expressed her gratitude and allowed the other woman to resume her day.

Comfortable and functional were the epitome of her after-work attire, so she had plenty of jeans, slacks and casual tops.  At least that much would be taken care of.  But cocktail dresses, a formal dress and chic casual outfits?  The words alone were enough to send her into a state of panic.  Members of affluent social circles may have a different definition for each of those items, but they all meant the same thing to her.  Expensive.   Her finances were not in any state to support these types of wardrobe updates.   For heaven’s sake, she’d been reduced to living with her parents the last few weeks , and a job wasn’t realistic considering her immediate plans to travel.  

 Her mind raced to come up with a solution.  Sighing, she realized that there weren’t many alternatives.  So, given that her fashion sense was just as impaired as her cash flow, Allegra drew upon the only reliable resource she could think of – Dorothea.    She reached for the phone and dialed, hoping that Dot may have some recommendations.   After hearing what Cheryl had suggested, Dot readily assured her it would be no problem and they made plans to get together in the next couple of days.

The meeting proved to be quite successful, even if Allegra wasn’t quite comfortable with how things turned out. 

The journey began in Dot’s closet, as she and Allegra were about the same size.  There they found a few things to her liking that Dot thought would be suitable, and insisted that she borrow.  Maybe this isn’t going to be as big of a deal as I thought.  Then Jon and Dorothea’s sixteen year old daughter Stephanie joined them.

“Oh my gosh you’re not going to actually WEAR that are you?”  She glared accusingly at her mother, with a flip of her blonde hair.  “Mom, I know you don’t keep up with this type of thing, but these are SO out of style!  And let’s face it - you don’t exactly have your finger on the pulse of fashion anyway.  Frannie can’t wear these out with Dad and the uncles.”

“It’s Allegra,” her mother calmly corrected, opting not to acknowledge the personal attack on her fashion ability.   “Remember, I told you that she’d rather not be called Frannie anymore?  And I don’t see anything wrong with these clothes.”  She picked up a black, gathered satin gown and perused it with a critical eye.

Stephanie dramatically rolled her eyes as only a teenage girl can.  “Mom, you can’t be SERIOUS?  That looks like it belongs in a funeral home – on the windows!  Ewwww!  Let’s go into the city.  We’ve got to take Fran- I mean Allegra, to Saks where she can find something more hip.” 

Allegra was quick to interject, “I think these will be fine Stephanie.  It’s not necessary to spend a bunch of money on new clothes I may never wear, and definitely wouldn’t wear more than once.  My budget is a little tight right now, so anything your mom can loan me is really going to be a big help.”

With a wave of her hand, the teen assured her, “That’s okay, we’ll just take Daddy’s black Amex card,” and headed off to find her father.

“Stephanie!” Allegra called after her, but the girl either didn’t hear or chose to ignore her.  She turned to Dot for guidance. “She won’t really do that will she?”

The teen’s mother didn’t even hesitate to respond.  “In a heartbeat.  Finding new ways to part Jon with that card has been her life’s ambition since she turned sixteen.  This is a great new twist in her ‘Daddy can I have your credit card?’ routine.”

“Well, it is completely unnecessary.  I can make do just fine with what you’ve offered to let me borrow.  Jon isn’t buying my clothes.”

“Who says I’m not?” the man himself responded as he entered the bedroom suite.  “I came to see if the card was really for you, or if Steph had gone way overboard in the creativity department.”  He smiled impishly at his daughter, who had her arms crossed trying to appear insulted.

“I say you’re not.”  Allegra stated obstinately.

Dorothea and Stephanie settled themselves on the end of the bed to watch the two butt heads.

“Consider it part of your employment contract,” he told her, attempting to hand the card into her possession, but she flatly refused to accept it.

“Do you remember me telling you that I wasn’t asking for a free ride?  Does that ring a bell at all for you?  The things Dot has agreed to let me borrow are fine.  I don’t need to buy any more outrageously priced dresses to come and COOK for you.  ”

The tenacious set of her chin let him know that she meant every word, but so did he.  “Fine.  I guess I was mistaken.  I thought this was about you discovering who you are.  I’m pretty sure you’re not Dot, but if you want to dress like her that’s your choice. “

“Jon, don’t be ridiculous!  It’s just not practical and you know it.  There’s a good chance I’ll never even have a reason to wear the clothes.”

Jon Bon Jovi had all but mastered the art of getting his way during the last forty-seven years, and it was time to prove it.  “You will definitely have a reason to wear them,” he informed her.  “I’ll be asking you to attend several parties and other functions.  Functions with people who have seen my wife in those particular garments.  Do you want my business associates and friends seeing you as a charity case?  Then judging me because I build houses for the homeless, but can’t even help out my own family?  Yeah, that’s great Allegra.  Like I don’t have enough shit to deal with in the public eye.  Just take the damn card!  If it makes you feel any better then I’ll take it out of your pay once the tour starts.” 

Dot and Steph looked at one another with raised eyebrows, impressed with the way Jon had turn the tables.  Allegra, however, was speechless.  Really?  Had he really just tried to make her believe she would be an embarrassment to him?  Unbelievable!

“You listen to me, John Frances.   I may not be the most socially sophisticated woman in the world – or even in the room for that matter – but don’t try pulling that bullshit on me.  You don’t give a rip what anyone thinks of you, so don’t act like me in a borrowed blouse is going be the cause of your ruination.”  She snatched the card from his outstretched hand.  “If you’d told me that it would come out of my pay to start with, we wouldn’t have had to go through this whole charade.” 

She strode toward the doorway, speaking to Dot and Stephanie over her shoulder as she went, “Ladies, I believe we have some shopping to do.”

Dot and Steph saw the flummoxed expression on Jon’s face and burst into peals laughter.  Jon’s scowl only made them laugh harder, as they followed Allegra out.  “She busted you Daddy,” Steph giggled as she passed by. 

Jon couldn’t help but laugh with her at the comment.  “Yeah, I guess she did, didn’t she?”

Dot stopped to give him a kiss, saying, “You should know better than to try screw with family, Babe.  We all know you too well.”  She was still chuckling as she left the room.

And that is how Allegra came to be the proud owner of one scarlet evening gown, and two simple yet flattering black designer cocktail dresses – with shoes to match.

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She grinned as she remembered, pulling her car in beside the limousine parked at the front entrance of the house.   Jon had arranged for her to meet him here, where she would accompany him and a couple of his band members to the airport.

The limo driver saw her arrival and escorted her out of her vehicle, a nod of the head his only greeting.  Allegra smiled at the older man and walked around to the trunk, where her luggage was stored. 

“I’ll take care of those for you ma’am,” the driver assured her. 

Thanking him, she put her purse on her shoulder and walked toward the massive oak entrance.   She was raising her hand to ring the bell, when the door swung open and a dark-haired man came barreling out. 

His head was turned away speaking to someone still in the house, “Hang on man, I left my phone in the car.  Just let me  – “  He didn’t get the chance to finish the sentence before he was face to face – or rather chest to face – with Allegra.

“Whoa!  Watch were you’re going there, darlin’!“  He gripped her upper arms to prevent them from colliding, and one corner of his mouth lifted in a smirk.

She gasped with surprise at the strength of his grip.  Head tipped back, her gaze collided with pair of chocolate brown eyes that seemed to brim with superiority.   It was clear to her that she had been instantly judged insignificant by this man.  She bristled, and without warning, it became one of the rare moments in her life where her mouth spoke without her mind’s permission.   She hardly recognized the cold voice as her own when she replied, “I think maybe you’re the one who should watch where you’re going.  Or are you just used to the world anticipating your every move?”