Arrival

The plane from Michigan was going too slow for Richie’s taste. He wished he hadn’t given in to Jennifer and agreed on this later flight – though late was relative, it was only 7:30 in the morning – because then he’d be there already. Of course, he thought wryly, he’d still have had to wait to greet Jennifer the way he wanted to because she had company. He chuckled. “Be careful what you wish for,” he muttered to himself. He’d told Jennifer he wanted to meet her friends, and he meant it, but he had to smile that she took him at his word, trusting implicitly that he said what he meant.

Another half an hour and he’d be on the ground. Most of his gear was traveling with the band; he’d only brought one guitar and a small bag. He had wanted her to come on the bike to pick him up, but they were going out for breakfast, he and Jennifer and her friend Stephanie, and the three of them on a bike wouldn’t work. He smiled. Well they would probably all fit, but it wouldn’t be a good idea.

He thought back to the brief conversations he’d had with Stephanie. The first one, Jennifer had put him on speaker and the two girls ganged up on him, teasing and flirting with him, and he felt instantly at ease. The second one, Saturday night, was by accident. He had just ducked away from the Soul’s celebration of their playoff win, and it was still a little loud, so he couldn’t hear all that well.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Hello?” a voice answered. Richie thought it must be Jennifer, though with all the noise, he couldn’t be sure.

“Hey there darlin’,” Richie answered. “It’s Rich. What’cha up to?”

Stephanie nearly dropped the phone. She buzzed the intercom and told Jennifer to get her ass upstairs like NOW. “Oh, we were just watching you on a rerun of SNL.”

Richie laughed. “Not my finest moment,” he said. “So, you ready for me on Tuesday?”

“Uh, yeah, I think so,” Stephanie hesitated, not sure that Richie knew this wasn’t Jennifer.

Richie frowned. “Baby, why the hesitation? Nothing’s changed in these few days. I still want you so badly I can taste it. In fact…”

“WAIT!” Stephanie shouted, turning beet red. “Shit, um, this isn’t Jennifer,” she said softly.

“What?” Richie wasn’t sure he heard hear correctly. Stephanie repeated herself, a little more loudly. He started to chuckle. “Are you sure?”

Stephanie laughed. “I’m pretty sure I’d know if I was a statuesque blonde,” she answered. “Hang on, she’s just come upstairs.” Stephanie handed the phone to Jen. “I am NOT answering your phone anymore,” she groused. “It’s HIM, and he thought I was you.”

Jennifer laughed and took the phone. “Hey baby, still trying to get us to do that threesome, huh? Dirty-talking my girlfriend isn’t the way to do it.”

“Yeah, well, I woulda had her if you just gave me a couple more minutes,” Richie said, chagrined at his mistake. “How are you?”

“Just fine, baby, we watched you on SNL, and are waiting for Who Says…I miss you something awful.” Jennifer had taken the phone out into the hallway so she wouldn’t bother Steph.

“I miss you too,” he said. “Just a couple more days.”

“Tell Jon congratulations for us, would ya? You too.”

“Thanks, and yeah, I will.”

Jennifer could hear someone calling his name in the background, and chuckled. “Your public awaits, sir,” she said. “Go back to your party sweetie, and have fun. I’ll see you on Tuesday.”

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow after the show,” Richie promised her.

“I know, and I look forward to it,” she answered.

Richie sighed. “OK, then, good night, Jennifer darlin’.”

“Good night, Rich.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Smiling at the memory, Richie settled back in his seat and watched out the window as the clouds went by. He felt a slight dip in the wing and smiled. They were making their descent. As they passed through the clouds, his heart raced. Boston never looked so good.

At about the time Richie’s plane took off, Jennifer and Stephanie were just getting up. They had been awake for a while, each lost in her own thoughts of the day. Stephanie was still a little nervous about meeting Richie even though she had talked to him on the phone – especially after that second conversation. Jennifer was excited about having time with him before he went off to work. She laughed at herself, and wondered if she’d have a different perspective of the concert now.

The women showered and dressed, and had a light breakfast before getting into the convertible and heading into town. The day was already hot and sunny, and the air breezing through their hair felt great. They got to the airport with a minimum of fuss, and surrendered the car to short-term parking. They consulted the board and saw that Richie’s flight was right on time. They went to the arrivals gates, and waited.


When the plane bumped along the tarmac, Richie breathed a sigh of relief. He was always glad when the landings were smooth. Now he wished the plane would hurry the hell up and taxi to the gate faster. He was fidgety and tense, and Jon would be laughing his ass off if he could see Richie now. It’d been a long time since a woman had gotten this far under his skin. He’d meant what he told Jon, that he was willing to see if Jen was “The One” as she had put it jokingly in Southampton: capital ‘t’, capital ‘o’.

Richie was an eternal optimist; even after everything he’d gone through in the past two years, deep down he was always hopeful that the next one (whatever that ‘one’ was, be it a woman, a project, whatever) would be IT. With Jennifer, he was more than hopeful. He was approaching ‘sure’, though he was keeping that to himself for now. No sense scaring the crap outta her this early in their relationship.

Finally, the seatbelt sign clicked off, and Richie was out of his seat like a shot, grabbing his duffel from the overhead bin. The flight attendant had retrieved his hard-back guitar case from the captain’s closet, and he winked at the woman as she handed it to him on his way past. “Thanks, darlin’,” he said absently, just wanting to get off the goddamned plane.


When the first few people started to trickle out of the jetway, Jennifer thought they had the wrong gate. Surely Richie had flown first class, and should have .....THERE!

She turned to nudge Stephanie, but her friend’s wide-eyed expression said she had seen him, too. Jennifer grabbed her hand, and was practically bouncing up and down in excitement. Richie looked around, saw Jennifer, and smiled. His heart leapt at seeing the joy in her face, and he had to work to keep from running to her and making a fool of himself. He dropped his bags at the girls’ feet, and took Jennifer’s face in his hands and kissed her thoroughly. He smiled at her, touching his forehead to hers, then turned his full attention on Stephanie, who looked like she was going to die.

“You are so NOT kissing me like that, Sambora,” she said, winking. “I refuse to have a heart attack in the airport.”

Richie laughed and pulled Stephanie in for a tight hug, and kissed her briefly but soundly on the lips. “Sorry, darlin’, I have to kiss pretty women, it’s part of my DNA” he said. “But I controlled myself just for you. It’s nice to meet you, Stephanie.”

“You too, Richie,” she said, giggling. He was being silly, and that put her at ease, and she started to understand what Jennifer meant when she said that he was just ‘Rich’ to her.

“So?” he asked expectantly.

“So what?” Stephanie answered, confused. Jennifer laughed. She knew exactly what Richie was waiting for.

“So,” he answered, motioning with his hands, “you were going to be appropriately stunned at my presence.” He pouted. “You aren’t swooning.”

“Oh, I wasn’t stunned? Sorry,” Stephanie answered seriously, though a smile played at the corners of her mouth. “Get back on the plane and come back off, and I’ll try again.”

“No,” he said melodramatically, “that’s alright, the moment is ruined forever now.” He sighed. “I guess I can deal with that.” Stephanie just laughed at him and rolled her eyes.

“C’mon,” Jennifer said. “Let’s get outta here before it gets too crowded. We’ll go have breakfast, and be back here in time for Stephanie’s 11am flight home.”

The trio went out to Jennifer’s car and they took off for breakfast. Richie sat in the back, settling back for the ride to wherever it was Jennifer was taking them. He didn’t care. He was here, with her, and that’s all that mattered.