Chapter 107
Fifteen minutes later, Richie was in the passenger seat and Jesse was driving. As she pulled out into traffic, Richie pulled out his cell phone to make a call. Jesse listened as he talked to Heather. She could tell Heather was the reason Ava had called to say she wasn't coming and she didn't understand. The last time she'd talked to Heather, everything had been fine.
Richie hung up and reached into the back to grab his guitar. Jesse gave him a sideways glance to see his mood was not good. Why did exs have to be so difficult?
The sweet sounds of Richie's music filled the truck as he began to sing.
Everybody wants
somethin', just a little more
We're makin' a livin', and what we're livin' for
A rich man or a poor man, a pawn or a king
You can live on the street, you can rule the whole world
But it don't mean one damn thing
What do you got, if you ain't got love?
Whatever you got, it just ain't enough
You walk in the road, but you're goin' nowhere
You're tryin' to find your way home, but there's no one there
Who do you hold, in the dark of night?
You wanna give up, but it's worth the fight
You have all the things, that you've been dreamin' of
If you ain't got someone, you're afraid to lose
Everybody needs just one, someone... to tell them the truth
Maybe I'm a dreamer, but I still believe
I believe in hope, I believe the change can get us off our knees
What do you got, if you aint got love?
Whatever you got, it just aint enough
You walk in the road, but you're goin knowhere
You're tryin' to find your way home, but there's no one there
Who do you hold, in the dark of night?
You wanna give up, but it's worth the fight
You have all the things, that you've been dreamin' of
If you ain't got love, it's all just keepin' score
If you ain't got love, what the hell we doing it for
I don't wanna have to talk about it,
How many songs you gotta sing about it?
How long you gonna live without it?
Why does some somewhere have to doubt it?
Someday you'll figure it out
Solo
What do you got, if you ain't got love?
Whatever you got, it just ain't enough
You walk in the road, but you're goin' nowhere
You're tryin' to find your way home, but there's no one there
Who do you hold, in the dark of night?
You wanna give up, but it's worth the fight
You have all the things, that you've been dreamin' of
If you ain't got love, it's all just keeping score
If you ain't got love, what the hell we doin' it for
Woahhh, I ain't got, if you ain't got love
Woahhh, What do you got if you ain't got love?
Woahhh, What do you got if you ain't got love?
As the last cord faded away, it was Richie's turn to glance over in time to see Jesse dash away tears. "Are you okay to drive?"
"I'm fine. Richie, it was so beautiful."
"I had beautiful inspiration, baby."
Jesse laced her fingers with his and gave a gentle squeeze. "I'm flattered."
"One day I'll write one about how much I love you."
Shaking her head, she said, "This one tells me just how much you love me, Richie. I won't ever doubt your love for me."
Richie smiled pulling her hand to his lips and placed a kiss on the back. "You're definitely worth fighting for."
Jesse lifted her finger to caress his lips. "So are you! How much farther to your mom's?"
"A couple hours. Are you tired already?"
"No, I just want to know how much longer I get to listen to you playing."
"You don't ever get tired of hearing me, do you?"
"I told you your voice is one of the things I love about you!"
"You also said you like my funny voices," teased Richie.
"Uh huh....especially Uncle Richie!" she smiled.
"Woman! You just love me, don't you?"
"With all my heart." Jesse's phone rang and she had to let go of Richie's hand to answer. "Hey, Pop!! I'm great...Richie really went all out this weekend....Thank you so much for doing that. Richie told me this morning about you checking on him.....Stevie had already gone to school so Richie called Kevin for me before we left Virginia.....around noon, I guess. He just said we're a couple hours out....here, talk to him."
Richie took her phone. "Hey, Tic!....I thought we'd head into the city for dinner first....sounds like a plan....We'll meet you there."
As Richie handed her the phone, Jesse asked, "What's up?"
"We're going to meet everyone for dinner before the show. Tico wants to show you his latest exhibit before we go to the show."
"His paintings?"
"Yeah. Looks like you'll finally get to meet Dave's fiancée too."
"Dave is engaged?"
"They're getting married in August."
"Oh my god! Richie, we're upstaging them!"
"No, don't even think that way, Jess. Besides, I talked to Dave and he's cool with our wedding date."
"When did you talk to him?"
"Before I proposed...I talked to all of the guys about it. If your dad were alive, I'd have asked his permission."
"That is such a Southern tradition....I can't believe you would have done that."
"It's an old world tradition, baby."
The couple continued to talk as Jesse drove and Richie played as well. He even let her request songs but she was respectful of his wishes and didn't ask him to play too many of his own songs.
