Chapter 13

Keira pressed both hands over her heart and tried to keep her emotions in check. First love. She had no way of knowing if Jon had intentionally sent this little message by choosing lilacs. Her cynical side still believed that he’d just had an assistant order them for her. He’d always been the romantic type, but this was a little too smooth for any guy. The last thing she wanted to do was read more into the situation than what was actually there. Still, even the thought that he might have deliberately done such a sentimental thing had her heart racing.

She didn’t bother wondering how Jon had figured out her address. She imagined that he had the ability – and the connections – to find out anything he wanted about anyone.

Molly was still sitting there with a shit-eating grin on her face. “Now you have to call him,” she declared. “When a guy puts this much effort into something, you can’t just let it go unnoticed. Seriously, Keira -- this is blowjob worthy.”

Keira burst out laughing, which helped to relieve some of the tension she was feeling. Leave it to Molly to coin a phrase like "blowjob worthy". All joking aside, however, she knew that her friend was right; it would be rude of her not to call and thank Jon for the flowers. Still, she hesitated, trying to come up with an excuse not to. Molly could see that Keira was waging an internal battle between her heart and her mind.

“You’re afraid to talk to him, aren’t you?”

Molly knew her too well, and Keira knew that there was no point in trying to hide what she was feeling. “In a way, yes, I’m afraid," she admitted.

“What are you afraid of?”

I’m afraid that I won’t be able to walk away from him again. “I don’t know, exactly. That was a door that I shut a long time ago. The last thing I want to do is reopen it. Also, I have Rob to think about.”

Molly rolled her eyes. “Rob is driving you crazy and you know it. Maybe this is just the thing you need right now. I mean, it’s not like Jon is pledging his undying love to you; maybe he’s just looking for a friend. In his line of business, I’m sure there aren’t many people that he can fully trust. He knows that you’re one of the good ones, since you knew him from before he was famous.”

Keira considered this for a few minutes. It made sense; in fact, Jon had basically told her the same thing when she saw him. I need more friends in my life who knew me before all of this. Of course he was just looking for friendship, Keira told herself; after all, he had Cassandra.

Suddenly Molly was struck by a completely random thought – as usual, a dirty one – and she shot straight up in her chair. “You lost your virginity to him, didn’t you?”

Keira groaned and rolled her eyes. Knowing Molly as well as she did, she wasn't surprised by the question. In fact, the only thing that did surprise her was that it had taken her so long to ask it. They had always shared dirty details with one another, but in this case, it was just one more reason why she’d never told Molly about Jon. Some things weren’t meant to be shared.

Trying to make light of the topic, Keira said, "Good God, Molly, where in the world did that thought come from? I swear your brain hasn't made it through puberty yet."

"Honey, even if I had the brain of a centagenarian, I'd still want to know if you lost your innocence to Jon Bon Jovi. Wouldn’t that kind of, I don’t know—ruin all other guys for you?”

Keira wrinkled her nose. "A centagenarian? That's a very big word for a pretty blonde supermodel," she teased, trying to wiggle out of this particular line of questioning.

Molly knew when to stop pushing. She also knew that she already had her answer. Crossing her arms, she tossed Keira a look of mock hurt and shook her head slowly. "I can't believe you never told me that Jon Bon Jovi popped your cherry."

Keira's jaw nearly hit the floor. "Ugh! Molly - that is so crass, even for you!" She couldn't help but laugh as she said it, though. "And anyway, it wasn't like that. I didn't lose my virginity to Jon Bon Jovi, because he wasn't Jon Bon Jovi back then. He was just Jon." And she was getting tired of saying it.

Molly was unconvinced. "Oh please, he was NEVER 'just Jon' - I mean, have you seen the man that we’re talking about?" She sat forward and typed his name into the Google search box. She pulled up an image of him and grabbed a pencil from the desktop to use as a pointer. "Okay. Exhibit A: those eyes. Now I don't know what those eyes say to you, but to me they say, I may seem like Mr. All-American Nice Guy, but trust me, I know many, many ways to please a woman and I'm ready and willing to prove it to you. Exhibit B: those shoulders. Broad, sexy shoulders, perfect for holding onto when the ride gets a little rough. I bet they’d be really fun to bite, too. Exhibits C and D: that chest and those abs. Now, in some pictures he's got a nice mat of chest hair, and in others he's smooth, tan and ripped. Either way, it looks like a playground to me. Exhibit E: that ass. Hands down - or better yet, hands on - the best ass in the world. Period. And like exhibit B, it's also perfect for holding onto during rough rides. And finally, exhibit F..." she moved the pencil down the picture, then stopped and turned slowly to face Keira. "Okay. I know you don't want to divulge any of the dirty details, but you can please just describe exhibit F for me? Because I'm sure you can paint a much clearer picture of it than I can."

Keira just stood there, dumbfounded and speechless. Molly was always an animated person, but right now she was absolutely on fire. When she finally felt like she could speak again, all she could manage was, "And here I thought you liked Richie."

Molly smiled and winked. "Yeah, I do. I can give you a lesson on all the things I find sexy about him, but not right now. I still need to cool off after the Jon lesson. Anyhow... someday I'll get the details out of you. A few drinks and those lips will be a-flappin'."

Note to self: don't ever get drunk with Molly again. Suddenly a thought crossed Keira's mind and her eyes met her friend's. "So tell me, Molly...after showing me exhibit A through F, do you really think he's an easy man to just be friends with?"

Molly held her gaze for a minute, and then smiled slightly and nodded her head in understanding. Yup. Keira has every reason in the world to be afraid. She stood up, walked over to the dining room table, and grabbed the card with Jon's number on it and the phone from where Keira had dropped it. She carried it back to the computer desk and handed it to her friend. "Do it before you lose your nerve," she said.

Keira took the phone from Molly. “Tell me the number,” she said, and dialed as Molly read the phone number off the card.

The phone rang three times and she was preparing to leave a message on his voice mail, when suddenly she heard Jon’s voice. “Hello?” She was amazed that even after 13 years, his voice was still so familiar to her.

“Hi Jon, it’s Kathryn.”

“Hey, Kathy! I’m so glad you called.”

“I just wanted to thank you for the flowers. They’re beautiful.”

“I’m glad you got them. I wanted to let you know how nice it was to see you the other night. It really brought me back.” Keira could hear a lot of noise in the background, and Jon said, “Hang on a second, I gotta get someplace quieter…” She waited, and could hear a door closing. Then Jon said, “I’m sorry that Cassie interrupted us that night. I really wanted a chance to talk to you.”

She chuckled. “That’s okay. That environment wasn’t exactly conducive to having a deep conversation, anyway. There were too many people dying to meet you.”

“Yeah…” he said. “So…how about meeting me for a drink sometime this week? We have a show tonight and tomorrow, and then we’re done with the tour. We’re taking a few months off after this one.”

Keira hesitated. Her heart was screaming yes but her mind was vehemently telling her no. She thought about Cassandra, and Rob, and the fact that she was mostly happy with the way her life was right now. The last thing she wanted was to complicate things, and there was no way that letting Jon back into her life would make things easy. Still, it hit her how much she’d missed him. It would be a lot of fun to have a few drinks with him and talk about the old days.

She made a hasty decision and spoke before she had time to change her mind. “Thanks for the invitation, Jon, but I really can’t. I have a book that’s due in a week and I’m having a hell of a time finishing it. Also…I’m in a relationship with a really great guy, and we’re going to be moving in together. I don’t think he’d be very understanding about me meeting up with you.”

Molly’s eyes were as big as saucers. She looked at Keira, flung her arms in the air, and mouthed the words, “what the fuck?” Keira ignored her and waited for Jon’s reply. When he spoke, he sounded a little confused. “Oh…okay, I gotcha. Good luck with the book, Kathryn. And if that guy ever treats you badly, all you have to do is call me and I’ll take care of him, got it?”

Keira leaned back against the wall of her apartment, squeezing her eyes closed. All of a sudden she just felt sad. “Thanks, Jonny. Good luck with everything.” They said their goodbyes and she hung up the phone.

Molly was the first to speak. “Well, my friend, not only did you close that door again – this time you boarded it up and nailed it shut.”