51 - Growing Up

After a long day of meetings, Jon cursed under his breath as he fumbled with his key. Balancing his phone and jacket in one hand he was finally able to stuff the key into the slotted lock. Giving a sigh of relief, he walked into the room, slamming the door behind him with a kick of his foot. He walked to the room's sitting area, dumping everything on the coffee table and made his way into the bathroom where he changed out of his clothes and into a pair of sweats and his ratty old Giants' t-shirt.

 

Jon sank into the soft leather couch, sighing deeply as he switched on the television. It has been a hectic few days. After spending the weekend traveling back and forth to the city to spend time with the kids, Jon hired a car to take him to Philadelphia. He spent the first few days with Sister Mary tending to some Soul Foundation commitments, and today he had meetings regarding the football team.  

 

What was supposed to take one day, didn’t, the lawyers talked excessively about things that weren’t important and they never accomplished what they were supposed to. So, it was back to the drawing boards tomorrow and hopefully he would be back in Jersey getting ready for his trip to London.

 

Jon huffed as he flipped through the different channels. Hotel television sucked. There was nothing on, never. His only options were CNN, Sports Center or adult entertainment, and seeing as he was past that stage in his life of watching hotel porn, Sports Center it was.  

 

He was yelling at Chris Berman, who was discussing his picks for this week's football games while he answered his ringing phone.

 

“Dad? Who are you talking to?” Stephanie asked as she heard her father yelling something about ‘better my ass’.

 

“Hey Steph, no one, just the television.” Jon reached for the remote and muted the sound.

 

“Well, you should keep your voice down, the other guests might call security on you.” Her soft chuckle made Jon smile.

 

“What’s up?”

 

"Nuttin' just calling to say hi."

 

"Stephanie Rose, why don't you tell me the real reason for this call."

 

There was a pause of silence before he heard Stephanie's voice. “Really, Dad. I was just checking on you, making sure you were okay.”

 

“Well, I’m fine. Stuck in boring meetings all day. How was your day?”

 

"Just your typical day, school, homework. I was just reading."

 

Jon could sense there was more his teenage daughter wasn’t telling him. It wasn’t unusual for his kids to call just to chat, but he was sure she would rather be talking to one of her girlfriends about boys or whatever girls talk about than be talking to him. She either had more questions or something happened between her and her mother.

 

Even before they told them about the divorce, they were always disagreeing about something. It was the stage she was going through he assumed, and Stephanie had even tried to get him to pick sides a few times and he'd always tell her he would have to talk with Dorothea first before making his decision. Dorothea was more the disciplinary one than he was. She would always say she had five kids when he was home.

 

Clearing his throat, he was about to call bullshit. "Did something happen with your mother?"

 

"No!" Her tone was adamant.

 

"Steph, then why else would you be calling me on a weeknight when you could be talking to one of your friends."

 

"Dad, nothing happened. Honest."

 

"Then, what? You know you can tell or ask me anything?"

 

Stephanie blew out a long breath, then rattled off a barrage of questions that he had to stop her so he could answer them."

 

Who is she? What's her name? What does she do for a living? Do you really love her? More than Mom? Where does she live?

 

"Whoa, slow down Princess!" Her numerous questions had him up on his feet, pacing and running his free hand through his hair.

 

"Her name is Ariana. Right now, she is living in Montreal where her family has owned a bar. She also works for TELproductions where she’s rigger."

 

"And.."

 

"And, give me a second, you asked a lot of questions!" It was Jon’s turn to exhale before continuing.  

 

“You asked if I love her. The answer is yes. Regarding your Mom, it’s not about loving someone more. I will always love your Mother, it’s just a different love now. Your Mother and I loved each other very much once upon a time, but somewhere along the way we fell out of love. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

 

“Yeah, sorta. Can I ask you something else?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Did Mom ever have someone else too?”

 

“I think that is a question for your Mother.” Jon had no problem answering her questions, but he knew Dorothea wouldn’t appreciate it.

 

“Please, Daddy. You know she won’t answer if I ask. Besides, it might help me understand things better.”

 

Fuck it. What’s the worst that could happen, she’d be mad. Like he wasn’t in the doghouse already.

 

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean she has someone now.”

 

“Did it hurt you? Her?”

 

Jon sat down on the couch again, elbows on his knees. When did his little girl get so smart? As much as he wanted to be honest with her, there were certain things he wouldn’t discuss with her. She was still too young to understand it all, or so he thought. Sitting back he propped his feet on the edge of the table.

 

“Of course, we hurt each other, but we also forgave each other.”

 

“You can’t do that now?” 

 

Ouch! There she was, blunt and to the point, again.

 

“Stephy, listen to me. There is so much to relationships you have yet to learn. You are still young and I don’t want what your mother and I did to tarnish that. Maybe what we did wasn’t always right, but at the time it worked for us. The time has come that it doesn't work anymore so instead of continuing to hurt each other we decided to do what’s right for a change.”

 

“Speaking of change, now that you’re not together will things change? Will we be able to join you on tour like we used to? Can Mom come too? Will Ariana be on tour with you?”

 

“None of that will change. You are my kids and you will always come first. Ariana will be on tour. I am hoping you could all meet her before the tour starts. Is that something you would want to do?”

 

“Yes, I am. I’m not sure Jesse will though.”

 

“Have you talked about this before with him?”

 

“Yeah, we kinda had a feeling something was going on.”

 

“Is that why he was upset when you brought it up the other night?”

 

“I don’t really know why. He is the one who approached me about it first. He never said how he’s really felt, just that he knew you and Mom weren’t getting along.”

 

“I see. Maybe I should call him.”

 

“No, don’t!! He will be mad at me for saying something. Can I tell him what we talked about tonight?”

 

“Fine, I’ll let you handle it for now. I trust you to explain things to him if you want. Just remember not to let Jake or Romey hear you.”

 

“I know.” Stephanie paused for a moment. “Daddy, I love you.”

 

“Aw princess, I love you too. That won’t ever change. I’ll always be here. You know that?”

 

“Yes. You know I’ll be here too, for you, that is.”

 

“Thank-you sweetie. Now I need you to do something for me?”

 

“Sure, anything.”

 

“Don’t give your mother a hard time. She’s not to blame here.”

 

“Yes, Dad.” He could just see her rolling her eyes.

 

“Now go. It’s still early enough for you to call your friends. Your old man is going to bed.”

 

“Goodnight, Daddy.”

 

“Goodnight, Princess.”

 

Dropping his phone onto the cushion, Jon ran his hands through his hair as he fought back the tears. It was finally sinking in that his baby girl, his little overall-wearing, tutu-loving, blond haired angel was growing up.

 

He’d had enough for the night. Standing he slowly moved towards the bed. Readjusting his head on the pillow, the last thought that crossed his exhausted mind before his eyes closed for the night was of his little girl.