Thirty-Nine

Allegra stretched leisurely and smiled in satisfaction, feeling deliciously sore and achy in all the right places.   Richie had gotten up really early and left hours ago, but not before giving her a sweet goodbye kiss.  Her heart swelled at the memory. 

That one memory opened the floodgates of a million more from their night together.  She pulled the covers up under her chin, content to let her mind wander aimlessly as she relived the night in vivid detail.  A flush came to her face as she thought of all the ways he’d touched her.

She’d been accurate when she assumed that he knew how to please a woman.  Man, did he know how to please a woman!  But then again, maybe she was just easily pleased after all her years of abstinence?  Possibly, but that wasn’t the whole picture.  It had all seemed so natural and effortless for him, which – to her – was a clear indication that he knew exactly what he was doing.  The reality of how many sexual encounters it would take for him to develop that ease and level of confidence hit her hard and caused a wave of insecurity. 

It wasn’t even the first time he’d been with a woman in the few days she’d known him.  She’d seen him to be always seeking female companionship, and it made her a little sick now.  He’d told her that he considered theirs a monogamous relationship, but she’d seen the beautiful women who fawned over him at the shows.  Any one could be his for the taking.

Stop it, Allegra!  This serves no purpose other than to cheapen a beautiful milestone in your life.

The vision of his gentle kiss on her tattoo danced through her mind’s eye.  She’d seen his features soften and knew he’d been remembering her words about Tessa and her struggle.  He was so sweet, and her heart filled with an emotion she wasn’t willing to identify a second time.  It was bad enough she’d thought it in the moment, but it was too soon to be throwing those kinds of words around.   

Clearing her mind of such notions, she turned to bury her face in the sheets where he had slept and wallowed self-indulgently in his scent.  It was the first time she’d slept cuddled up with anyone, and it had taken her a bit to relax enough to go to doze.  She hadn’t wanted to crowd Richie, so when she felt his breathing even out and thought he was asleep, she’d tried to gingerly ease away and give him a little room.  At the first inkling of space between them his arm had tightened around her, and he’d murmured, “Stay.”  The simple word had her smiling and she’d resumed her position, resting her cheek on his chest.  He made a perfect pillow, and it wasn’t long before the quiet, steady thump of his heartbeat lulled her to sleep.

She burrowed into his side of the bed, imagining she still felt his heat there.  He’d definitely fed the hormonal monster inside her, but the aroma and memory of him stirred it to life again.  She idly wondered if it was possible to become a nymphomaniac in such a short time.

 It was going to be a long two weeks.

She laughed at herself and threw back the covers, anxious to get started with her life so she could take a break from it. 

The quick shower gave her a chance to come up with a game plan for the day, and she grabbed some clothes to get dressed.  Not that she had much too choose from.  Her wardrobe was still full of saggy, baggy jeans and shirts as her casual attire, and she fully intended to change that in the immediate future.  Her femininity had been unlocked and she felt like there should be at least a subtle outward display of it.  A shopping trip to find some jeans and tops that fit was definitely in order.   

For now, though, she needed to make a laundry list of things to do and then, later, go see Dot up at the main house.

♪♪♪

“Jon, calm down,” Dorothea told her husband for the third time.  “Don’t give me your pouty brat attitude.  It wasn’t my place to tell you, and you know it.  You’re just mad because you got left out of the loop.”

“No, I’m mad because this has disaster written all over it.  We’re just starting an 18 month tour, Dottie.  How do I know where her head is?  She could drop him in five minutes if something different comes along.  I mean, that’s her prerogative, but I can’t fuckin’ stand to see him get hurt by another woman, even if it is Frannie.  I have to have him fully functioning to do this tour the way I want to do it.”’

My God, make up your mind.  Does it even matter what you’re going off about as long as you have something to freak out over?  She sighed and tried to get him to see reason. “You’re saying two completely different things.  Are you worried about the tour or about Richie?  Because you know damn well the tour is already through the roof and you’ve only played a handful of shows.  If you’re worried about Richie, then just stop.”

“Stop?” he barked.  “Gee that would be fuckin’ nice to do, but for some reason it just doesn’t work that way.  I’ve spent the last three years looking out for his ass twenty-four seven, making sure he’s sober, safe and sane, and it’s a little hard to just stop because you think it’s time.” 

Dot knew that he really was concerned underneath the pissy attitude, so she relented a little and used her soothing mommy voice. “I didn’t ask you to stop altogether, just stop worrying about him together with Allegra.  Do you remember who you’re talking about?  Allegra.  She’s not a cold hearted man eater, Jon.  I’ve watched her fight her attraction to him practically since they met, and I know this isn’t some game.  She was really excited that he wanted to be in a relationship with her.” 

“Yeah, but that could just be because of the novelty of actually having a relationship.  She didn’t even date that much in high school, from what I remember.”

“Who doesn’t get excited about a new relationship?” she asked reasonably, before trying a different tactic.  “Listen, you and I both know Richie still isn’t whole, and I think Allegra could be the glue that finally puts him back together.  He needs somebody to believe in him, Jon.  He needs somebody who isn’t afraid to give him a kick in the ass when necessary, and who doesn’t have a hidden agenda.” Like some actresses I could name…

“I do all that!”

“I’m sure that I don’t need to explain that it’s not the same,” she told him dryly.  He could be so cute sometimes, but he really didn’t get that the world wasn’t always revolving around him.  “Besides that, Allegra could stand to be coddled the way Richie can coddle. I may have thought a lot of shit about him through the years, but nobody is any better to his girlfriends than Richie.  She deserves that, so butt out.”

She could hear his slight ‘hmpf’ travel all the way across the country and saw that piqued little frown and the way he would toy with whatever was sitting in front of him. She’d bet he was at the desk in his suite, poking at the laptop keyboard.  His predictability could be comforting at times.

“I can’t deal with this, Dottie.” 

“Honey, the good news is you don’t have to, you control freak.  Just do what you do best, which is sing and shake your ass.  Everything else will take care of itself..”

His grumble told her he wasn’t letting it go.   When all else fails… “Jon, I love you.  Don’t make me come karate chop your ass.  I don’t have time this week.”

There was a soft chuckle at the other end of the line.  She knew he’d still think about it, but he would give it a break for a while.  “Yeah, yeah.  I love you too, baby.”

♪♪♪

Allegra had just tucked her laptop under her arm and was reaching for the front doorknob when her phone chimed with a text message.

Hey Sunshine!  Talked to J and he seems ok.  Tell u about it when I call later. :)

A grin of pure delight crossed her face and all her misgivings from earlier simply evaporated.  I have a boyfriend!

K.  Looking forward to it. :) 

She pushed the phone into her pocket and continued on her way to see Dot, all the while chiding herself for acting like a teenager.

Approaching the house, she tried the kitchen door and found it open.  Dot was sitting at the table there with a salad in front of her.

“Hi there,” Dot greeted her.  “Would you like some lunch?  I can have Sophia fix you something or you can rummage around in the fridge and see if there’s something there that you want.”

“Nah, I’m okay.”  She put the laptop down on the table and pulled out the chair across from Dot.  Tucking one leg under her, she dropped to the seat and propped her elbows on the table. 

“Jon said Richie got back okay,” Dot commented.

“Mm hmm, Richie sent me a text.  I guess he told Jon about us.  He says Jon seems ok, but I won’t know anything more than that until he calls me later.”

Dot’s mouth drew into a flat line for just a second, before she changed the subject. “How was the big date last night?”

“It was really nice.  We had dinner, he played and sang for me, there was candlelight.  I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

“And I probably don’t need to know anything more,” Dot said with a smirk and slight roll of her eyes. “Except that you’re still happy with this.” 

“I’m having a slight attack of insecurity, but other than that, yes, I’m very happy.”

“That’s outside of my area of meddling, sorry.”

Allegra laughed.  She was so glad she’d gotten this opportunity to know Dorothea better, and couldn’t help but be captivated by her.  Who else would be able to stay so grounded and sensible with a rock star husband and four kids?

“That’s okay.  I really came to ask for your help with something else anyway,” Allegra told her. 

“I’ll do whatever I can.”

“Well…  Stephanie made an off-hand suggestion that kind of got me to thinking about a potential job opportunity.  She mentioned the Soul Foundation, and the more I thought about it, the more logical it seemed.  Do you know anyone there that I could talk to about helping out and possibly getting a paying position?”

Dot looked thoughtful for a moment before reaching for her phone.  “I can’t remember her name, but she’s a very nice woman.  Let me just ask Jon.”  She started to type out a text.

“No!”

Brown eyes flew up to meet blue in surprise.  “O-kayyy...”  Dot carefully put her phone down on the table.  “Care to tell me why not?”

Cheeks tinged pink with embarrassment, Allegra explained, “Sorry, I should have told you that I’d prefer he not be involved.  It would be me under his thumb again, which doesn’t work well for either one of us, and I’d like to see if I can get in on my own merit.”

“Then we’ll just look it up on the website.  May I?” Dot reached for the laptop only to have Allegra covered it with her arms.

“My computer isn’t working right,” she hedged.  “I brought it hoping you’d know someone who could fix it.”

Dorothea waved her hand carelessly.  “Let Jesse look at it when he gets home from school.  He’s screwed his up so many times that he’s gotten pretty good at fixing them.”

“I… don’t think that’s a good idea.  This is kind of a delicate problem.”

“Computer problems can be delicate?  What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s just doing weird things.”  She couldn’t tell her what the problem was without admitting what had caused it.

Dorothea pinned her with her best disapproving look.  “What happened?  And don’t tell me you don’t know, because it’s obvious you do.”

So Allegra had to spill the whole story about her internet searching.

When she finished, Dot wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes and tried to regain her composure.  “You do realize how funny that is, right?”

“I think I got the picture after the first five minutes of you laughing hysterically.”

“I’m sorry, but when I think of the look that must have been on your face.  Oh my God… It’s priceless.”

Allegra rose from her seat, gathering the laptop with her.  “Now that I know how to find the information I need, I’ll just get somebody to fix this and make the call.”

“Don’t get all bent out of shape,” Dot ordered lightly, putting her hand on Allegra’s arm.  “Jesse can fix it, because I guarantee that’s been the source of most of his computer problems.  I just can’t let on that I know what’s wrong with it.  Leave it on the table, and we’ll go to Jon’s office and use the desktop computer to look up the name.” 

Within ten minutes, Allegra had the contact information she’d been seeking, and within fifteen minutes, she had an appointment to speak to Sister Mary the next day.

Sister Mary. This could be a really good thing.  Or not.