Chapter 65
Jesse sat in the green room with her laptop looking through what Obie and Anthony had done with her site. Richie’s guitar solo for Wanted Dead or Alive was the background music and there was a wanted poster with her on it. She’d also logged on to see that she already had close to fifty members.
“WOW!” she said to the empty room.
“Hey, Jessica,” greeted Billy as he came through the door.
Jesse looked up and knew something was up since he’d used her full name. “Hey, Billy,” she greeted and spotted the older woman behind him. She recognized the lady from a picture at Richie’s house in Laguna Beach and suddenly became nervous.
“Mrs. Sambora, this is Jessica James. Jessica, Richie’s mother, Mrs. Sambora,” introduced the bodyguard.
“Nice to meet you,” smiled Jesse trying to ease the obvious tension. “Richie didn’t mention you were coming.”
Coolly, Mrs. Sambora said, “Seems he’s been neglecting to tell both of us some very important things.”
Jesse shrank inwardly and looked to Billy who shrugged his shoulders. “I’m…ah…I’m going to go get Richie. He should be ready by now,” she said nervously pointing to the door.
“That would be a very good idea,” stated Mrs. Sambora.
Jesse quickly slipped out of the room and rushed down the hall to the guys’ dressing room. She spotted Tico and Dave already out and talking to some of the crew so she knocked. Hearing Jon’s response, she pushed the door open.
“Hey, baby,” greeted Richie when he saw her.
Jesse moved into his embrace. “Richie, did you forget that your mother was coming tonight?”
“My mother?”
“Yeah. She’s here, in the green room, and she’s NOT happy. When was the last time you talked to her?”
Richie cringed, “Before I met you.”
“OH MY GOD! RICHARD! No wonder she was so cool towards me. She’s probably seen all the press about us.”
“She knows better than to believe the tabloids.”
“Even if it’s true?”
“Yes. Do me a favor, get her a room and keep her company. You can get my credit card out of my wallet in my jeans.”
“Aren’t
you going to at least speak to her?”
“She’s probably pissed that I haven’t called and I really don’t have time to
straighten it all out, Jess.”
“So you want ME to do it?”
“Baby, you’ll be fine. You start talking to her and she’ll fall in love with you.”
Aggravated, she said, “You can at least speak to her.”
Richie looked at her and caved. “Fine, I’ll go say ‘Hi’ to her.”
Jesse looked at him and it hit her causing her to start laughing. “You’re scared, aren’t you?”
“Hell yes! I ticked my mother off and I really don’t want to admit that I forgot to call her.”
“You big chicken!” she teased.
Wrapping her in his arms and hugging her tight, he pleaded, “Protect me, baby!”
“Come on…face the music,” scolded Jesse as she pulled away from him and took his hand pulling him to the door.
Jon laughed, “Not even married and she’s telling you what to do!”
“Uh huh!” smirked Richie.
“You’ve got about fifteen minutes before we have to go on,” said Jon. “Give your mom a hug for me.”
Together, the couple made their way down to the green room.
“Richie, did you forget she was coming?”
“No, she wasn’t supposed to come until the New Jersey shows. I have no clue why she’s here…other than she has seen all the stories and wanted to ask me about them.”
“She was really cool to me,” said Jesse, a touch of concern in her voice.
“It’ll be okay. I’ll explain what’s going on and she’ll understand.” Pushing the door open, he saw his mother sitting at the table with Jesse’s laptop in front of her. “Hey, Mama!” he greeted happily and moved to give her a hug and a kiss.
Mrs. Sambora smiled seeing her son but it didn’t change her whole demeanor. “I think you have some explaining to do, Richard.”
“Mama,
I’m really sorry I haven’t called to tell you about Jesse but so much has been
going on since we met. I promise, we’ll talk after the show. Jess is going to
keep you company and get you a room….”
“Amy has already taken care of that for me.”
“Amy? You mean Amy Garner, my former personal assistant?” questioned Richie, an edge to his voice that Jesse heard immediately.
“Yes, that Amy…the Amy you’re supposed to be engaged to, the Amy who is pregnant with your child!”
“WHOA! Slow down!! I am NOT engaged to Amy…I didn’t even have a serious relationship with her outside of her being my personal assistant. Yes, I took her out a couple times but it was more for business than pleasure and what the hell do you mean she’s pregnant with MY child?”
“Do NOT take that tone with me, Richard,” warned Mrs. Sambora.
“Mom, I fired Amy back in March when I met Jesse.”
Jon stuck his head in the door. “Richie, let’s go!”
“On my way! Mama, I don’t know what Amy has been telling you but I never had any interest in her. Jesse can explain to you what I told her…which is everything…about Amy.”
Mrs. Sambora looked at Jesse standing off to the side of Richie, a concerned look on her face. “Is this the girl in the tabloid pictures you’ve been seen with?”
“We’ve been together since March 29th and she’s met Heather and Ava who ADORES her. Mama, I promise…”
“Go to work,” said Mrs. Sambora, her voice softening. “We’ll talk later.”
Richie turned to Jesse to see the look in her eyes and he took her in his arms hugging her. He whispered in her ear, “It’ll be okay. Just tell her everything about Amy and make sure she’s in the same hotel we’re in.”
Jesse ran her hands along his sides, “I’ll handle everything, Rich!”
Kissing her, he said, “I’ll see you on stage.”
With a groan, she said, “Okay.”
Richie laughed, “I’ll make it all up to you later!”
“You’d better!” she smiled up at him. “Now go…Jon and the fans are waiting for you.” Richie rushed out to join the guys and the tension in the room immediately thickened the second he was gone. Jesse took a deep breath and turned to her future mother-in-law and asked, “What hotel are you in?”
“The Hampton Inn…Amy met me at the airport and took me to check in.”
“Let me get you a room where we’re staying. I know Richie would prefer you to be close to him.”
“Where
are you two staying?”
“The entire entourage is at The Riverside Hotel on Las Olas. It’s a really nice
area of the town with shopping and so forth. We’re going to be here a couple
days and Richie and I were going to do some looking around for stuff for the
wedding.”
“I’d
like that.”
“Would you like to come with me? We can talk in the guys’ dressing room. It’s
a lot more comfortable.”
Seeing the way Richie had been with Jesse and now the way the young girl was trying to make things easier, Mrs. Sambora had softened even more. “That’s fine.”
“Let me get my laptop and we’ll go down.”
Jesse got her stuff together and then led the older woman down to the guys’ dressing room. While she took care of all the details with Mrs. Sambora’s hotel rooms, Mrs. Sambora looked at the pictures on Jesse’s website.
“There, done,” said Jesse as she turned her phone off. “Mrs. Sambora, Amy is just trying to hold on to Richie. He never wanted anything serious with her and she moved into his Malibu house after he left to go on tour….” And she continued to tell Richie’s mother what he had told her about Amy. “I take it Amy is still at The Hampton Inn?”
“As far as I know, yes. I guess that explains why he never told me much about her.”
“Probably.”
“So when did you two start dating?”
“We met in DC before the show while he was out taking in the sites. My best friend spotted him and asked him to ask me out for a drink. We’ve been together ever since.”
“And why hasn’t he bothered to call me?”
Jesse hung her head, and then started to tell the older lady what had been going on since they’d started dating. She included all the details about Stevie, Kevin, and her mother kidnapping her along with the fact that she had mono. “Mrs. Sambora, Richie had every intention of taking me to Woodbridge to meet you after the Charlotte show.”
“Sounds
like you two really haven’t had time to get accustomed to being a couple?”
“Not really. He also asked me to take over Amy’s job so I’m sure she’s not
happy with all of that.”
“I think she’s here at the show tonight.”
“He’ll handle it then.”
Looking at the laptop, Mrs. Sambora asked, “Is that your website?”
“Yes ma’am. We just set it up today for the fans to follow everything that happens for the wedding…so that we can control it. Would you like to see what is there?”
“Sure, but do you have the time? Didn’t I hear Richie mention something about you going on stage with him?”
“I’m supposed to be doing a song with them. I can show it to you later, when Richie is with us and we can tell you all our plans for the wedding.”
“That would be wonderful.”
Jesse looked at her ring on her hand, then at the older woman. “Mrs. Sambora, I really do love Richie even though we just met and despite of the age difference. He’s….so….he swept me away, completely.”
Mrs. Sambora smiled as she patted Jesse’s knee. “I insist that you call me ‘Mama’. Go get ready. I’ll get Billy to take me out to my seat. What are the plans for after the show?”
“Jon and Richie set up a party for the VIP ticket holders at The Voodoo Lounge after the show and we are headed there.”
“Then why don’t we meet for brunch tomorrow in the hotel restaurant? If I know my son, he’ll sleep most of the morning and YOU need your rest as well if you have mono.”
‘’I’ll tell Richie.”
The two ladies hugged and then Jesse headed out to the backstage area.
