Day 5

When the pair awoke the next morning they were greeted by rain clouds and a heavy fog, rather than the California sun they had become used to. They opted to stay in for the day and watch movies, and Cynthia agreed quickly not feeling quite up to doing anything outside, especially in the dreary weather. Once they had decided on a movie marathon they set to work looking for their desired movie before Richie remembered he had lent them to his daughter. Cynthia put up a bit of a whine for the movies and convinced him to go to the movie store so they could rent them.

They were both dressed in sweatpants and tee shirts when they pulled into the parking lot of the local strip mall. Richie grabbed a hat off of the back seat and put it on before he exited the car and opened Cynthia’s door for her. They wondered through the new releases, and when nothing caught their eye they made their way over to the “Action/Adventure” section where they set to work looking for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

“I just love Viggo Mortensen, he was so cute in this movie,” Cynthia said holding the first movie.

“Uh-hu, that sounds strangely familiar. I think the only reason my daughter borrowed them indefinitely is because she loves Orlando Bloom,” Richie said as he spotted the last two DVDs.

“Hey, they can’t help that they’re gorgeous to look at,” Cynthia teased. “Here I’ll take them, it’s my treat because I needed these movies.”

Richie had learned it was easier to give into her than try to pay for things and he handed her the DVDs in his hand. “Here you go, Mrs. Mortensen.”

She gave him a look but her attention was drawn to the special edition box and she weighed her options of which to get. Richie was waiting for her down the aisle a little way and he was horrified when a woman, who he had noticed had been staring at him, finally approached.

“Oh my god, is that really you,” the woman asked. “Richie Sambora?”

Richie’s face turned beat red as he nodded along but looked down the aisle at Cynthia staring at him. She exchanged a movie with one on the shelf and she walked down the aisle toward him, though the woman was still happily chatting.

Cynthia stopped right behind him in the aisle pretending to look at something as she whispered only loud enough for him to hear. “It’s ok, I knew anyway. I’m gonna go pay, take your time,” and she smiled and walked to the register in the front of the store.

Richie was nearly speechless and tried to answer the fan’s questions as best he could before she had had enough and left him in the aisle still a bit dazed. He walked to the front of the store and exited once he saw Cynthia sitting on a bench outside of the store.

“Ready,” he asked as he took his keys from his pocket.

“Yup,” Cynthia said showing him the bag with the three movies in them.

They walked to the car and drove most of the way home in an awkward silence before Richie finally spoke. “You knew,” he asked.

“Yeah,” she answered simply.

“Why didn’t you say something,” he asked knowing he should just be grateful and not too picky.

“I was hoping that you’d tell me, and I knew that when you were ready and it was the right time you would,” Cynthia said.

“Oh,” was his simple answer.

“I don’t care, that’s not why I’m here if that’s what you’re afraid of,” she said.

“I didn’t say that,” he said.

“I didn’t say you did, just I want you to know that I’m here because Richie asked me to be here. I don’t care who he is or what he does. It kinda seemed like you liked that I didn’t know who you were so I didn’t mention it,” she told him honestly.

“I did like that, because when people know who I am they treat me differently,” Richie started. “But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t want to tell you and be honest with you.”

“That’s what I figured,” she said as he turned into his driveway. “Are we still on for movies?”

“Of course we are,” he said truly thankful that it seemed she understood.

Though there was obviously something hanging around them, it didn’t stop them from cuddling together on the couch as they watched the first two movies with very little interruption for nearly six hours. When the second ended they decided that it was time for dinner and Richie took out the leftovers from the night before and Cynthia helped heat them up and get plates ready for them. They took their overflowing plates of food to back to the living room when Richie opted for some soft music in the background.

“So now that I know who you are, will you tell me about yourself,” Cynthia asked what to her seemed like a legitimate question.

“What do you wanna know,” he asked.

“Well there’s some stuff that over the past couple of years I’d have to live under a rock not to know. I’ve taken that all with a grain of salt as I got to know the real you, but I’d like to hear your side of things, whatever you’re willing to tell me that is,” she said.

“Well, I’ve been married and divorced as you know. My ex was a wonderful woman, and at one time I truly loved her but we had our problems and it seemed best for everyone that we get a divorce. Regardless of what the media wants to believe we were way over before I started seeing Denise. It was one of those things where my personal life was falling apart and she was familiar and she knew me. It was a safe choice, and look how that turned out for me. But the best thing to come out of my marriage, hands down, is my daughter,” Richie said with a proud smile.

“She’s a beautiful girl,” Cynthia said and Richie gave her a suspicious look. “You have pictures of her all over the house. Even if I didn’t know who you were, I could’ve come to that conclusion.”

“Thanks,” he said and reached into his wallet and pulled out a picture of them together. “This was taken about a month or so ago, we celebrated my birthday before she left.”

“Left,” Cynthia asked taking the picture.

“Heather’s in Hawaii or somewhere shooting a movie and she took Ava with her because it’s summer break, but I miss her. I know she’s having a great time so I didn’t fight it. Her happiness is all that matters to me,” Richie said as he carefully placed the picture back in his wallet.

“I can see you really care about her,” Cynthia said.

“I’d give anything for her. When we we’re going through the custody bullshit I told Jon that if it came down to my daughter and the band, she wins every time. He’s a father so he understood, he didn’t like it but he knew where I was coming from. Thank god it didn’t come to that. She’s the most important thing in my life,” Richie said smiling.

“Call me crazy, but it seems like there’s been something more going on with you lately. I mean I don’t read all the tabloids, so I don’t know what’s been going on with you,” she said hoping to find out what happened to him to have changed him from a man that he described to her just days earlier.

“I’ve been through hell and back these last few years and I’m still trying to get on my feet. First the divorce, then I lost my dad, and then Denise and me broke up. All that together accounted for probably the darkest time in my life, which sent me to rehab. But Jon and the guys helped me through it all and we had this whirlwind tour and I started dating someone, it seemed like everything was finally falling into place. But then about a month or so ago right when the tour ended Jen and I broke up and I thought I was gonna lose it all, all over again,” Richie stopped a minute to take in what he was finally admitting aloud for the first time. On the coffee table his cell phone rang and seeing it was Jon he hit ignore. Jon would understand that this is important, he thought as he sat a minute trying to let his own words sink in.

“That’s ok you don’t have to tell me anymore,” Cynthia offered seeing how painful this was for him.

“No it’s good to finally say this out loud, for the first time,” Richie said as his cell rang again and he once again ignored his friend.

“Should you get that,” she asked.

“No this is important, I need to get this out. Because I felt myself spiraling out of control again and then I met you, and you seem to have this calming effect on me,” Richie said as the house phone rang. “Jesus Christ Jon,” he yelled at the phone.

“I’ll answer it, to give you a minute,” Cynthia said and rose to get the phone. “Hello,” she tried to answer cheerfully.

“Where is he,” an angry voice answered.

“Excuse me,” she said confused if the caller had the right number.

“Sambora, where is he? He’s not answering his phone. I swear if he’s ignoring me just to get some action, I’m gonna fly out there and kill him myself,” he answered.

“Hold on a second,” Cynthia answered walking back to Richie. “He sounds mad, as a heads up.”

“He usually sounds like that if you don’t answer the phone,” Richie said giving her a kiss before taking the phone in the other room. “Jesus Jon, what the hell is going on?”

“Don’t you start that with me. I called your cell twice and it went to voicemail, so good of you to pull yourself away from your flavor of the month to talk to me,” Jon said aggravatedly.

“You watch it right now,” Richie said feeling his usual even temper rise. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“You need to come to Philly,” Jon said.

“Ok, I’ll be out in a few weeks we can take care of whatever then,” Richie said not understanding the urgency in Jon’s voice.

“No, you need to be here Wednesday morning. I already booked your ticket for tomorrow night so you’ll be here for the meeting Wednesday,” Jon said.

“What ever happened to asking me,” Richie asked.

“Ok, how about the league is talking about going under and the sponsors are freaking out so we have a meeting Wednesday morning to try to smooth things over. Can I expect to see your presence there, or not,” Jon said heatedly.

Richie took a minute to take in what Jon had said. “Why didn’t you tell me about this before now?”

“Because there was nothing you could do in California for it, but now it would be pretty damn good for the team if you could show your face. Can I count on you,” Jon asked.

“Of course, but wait hold on a second,” Richie said as he could hear Jon cursing on the other line. He walked back to where he left Cynthia. “There’s some business problems and he needs me in Philly Wednesday morning,” he said to her.

“Ok do what you need to do,” she said smiling.

“You’re coming too, I hope,” he said.

“If you want me there, I’ll be there,” she said.

He winked at her before turning back to Jon, “Ok we’ll be there.”

“I had a feeling you’d say that. I have them holding two seats, I’ll call you back with the details,” Jon said.

“Ok,” Richie said.

“And Rich,” Jon started, “This time answer the damn phone,” he said before he promptly hung up.

“So that’s Jon. He’s a little intense and downright bitchy when things aren’t going his way. You sure you don’t mind tagging along for a couple days,” Richie asked her.

“Not at all, what’s a little more adventure,” she said pulling him down on the couch next to her.

“Even though the mood is kinda ruined, I wanna finish what I was saying before. You are a remarkable woman, and I am so thankful that you found me in that bar, because you were able to stop me mid-spiral. And I appreciate more than you know, that you treat me just like any other man, that’s something I haven’t been able to experience in 20-something years,” Richie said.

“I’m glad I could help you in some way, but I really don’t think I did anything. You should give yourself some credit in all this,” she said taking his hand.

“That may be so, but I needed someone to get the ball rolling,” he answered, “and for that I am truly grateful.”

They sat in what was now a comfortable silence listening to the music as they finished their dinner, both lost in their own very different thoughts.

God this feels so good to get this all out in the open. I hate to even think this but I think I’m falling in love with her, Richie thought as he stroked her hair.

I don’t know what he thinks I did, but I’m glad that it could give him some peace with his life. He was good to let me stay here, and I appreciate his hospitality its too bad it all has to end in a week and a half. He signed up for a two week adventure, no more, no less. When this is all over at least we’ll have a good story out of it. What was that line from that movie? “There is no future, there is no past, I live this moment as my last. There's only us, there's only this. Forget regret, or life is yours to miss.” That’s what we’ve gotta do, if I can do one thing for him that’s what I’ve gotta show him,” she thought as she leaned back into him.