Chapter 77

“Hi Kim. Welcome to Hawaii.” David greeted her in an awful looking Hawaiian shirt when she entered the backstage area in Honolulu. She laughed and gave him a hug.

“Hi David. How are you? Did you recover from your birthday party?”

“Barely! But it wasn’t such a wild party, right?”

They celebrated David’s birthday four days ago at the National Arts Club in New York. Just his family and close friends nothing big, but that didn’t restrain his ‘brothers’ from singing, jamming and drinking all night long. Lexi had problems getting her unsteady walking husband home.

“Nah. How was your headache the next morning?” Kim laughed when he grimaced.

“It’s all your boyfriends fault!”

“You turned 48, man. You should be old enough to resist me.” Jon said dryly and checked some papers Matt handed to him.

“Come on, hon. I give you a short tour before the madness begins. I want you to meet some people.” Jon grabbed Kim’s hand and pulled her along.

“Ok, see you later, David.” Kim waved at him shortly.

“Don’t let him corrupt you!” David called after her and earned laughter from the crewmembers that were constantly rushing down the corridor.

“He’s really something. I have no idea how Lexi can stand him every day.” Kim laughed when Jon pulled her into a room where a portable kitchen was set up.

“She knows how to reign him in and he knows when to stop the jokes and get serious. You’ll see it later. He gets all professional.” Kim nodded.

“Kim, I want you to meet Juliana. She is the good soul of the crew. She cooks and keeps us all happy.” Jon introduced her to an elderly resolute looking woman who was cutting different vegetables.

“Ah, Jon…finally. Didn’t you tell me you would be here early to go over the menus I created?” Jon ducked lightly when she gave him a stern look. Kim had to stop herself from laughing out loud. Juliana turned her attention to her.

“Hi dear, you look gorgeous. Don’t let him give you any shit. He is just a guy. You need to tell him what to do.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Kim responded grinning while Jon groaned lightly and rolled his eyes.

“Don’t you roll your eyes John Francis.” She told him sternly. “I raised six of your kind. You’ll behave yourself or go home, sonny.”

Kim chuckled, when Jon spit out a ‘Yes Ma’am.’

“You know I didn’t mean it that way.” He wrapped his arms carefully around her shoulders and placed a kiss on her cheek before giving her his irresistible smile. Juliana looked at him for a second.

“Why can’t I stay mad at you, Jon?” she sighed and patted his hand. Jon grinned.

“Because you love me.” He said and grabbed Kim’s hand to pull her back into the hallway. Juliana snorted.

“Don’t forget to check the menu, Jon!” she reminded him and he grabbed it before leaving the room.

“I’ll give to you back later.”

“Of course you will! Or you won’t get any chicken noodle soup!” she shook her head and continued to cut vegetables.

“Chicken noodle soup?” Kim asked grinning.

“Yep, helps my throat. I always have one bowl every day when we are on the road.”

“Interesting. She wouldn’t really send you home, right?” Kim asked chuckling.

“Well, I wouldn’t count on it.” Jon said only half joking. Juliana had proven that she had no problems letting them go to bed hungry when they all didn’t behave well. Jon was sure she was secretly meeting their mothers a couple times a year.

“This is my dressing room.”

He pulled her into a room in which the walls were draped in black and white. A black couch was sitting in the middle and a dark haired woman was just placing some green pillows on it. On various boxes and small tables, the green accents appeared again in combination with silver skulls.

“Kim, I want you to meet Dawn, my stylist.” Jon said and introduced both women.

“Hi nice to meet you.” Dawn shook her hand and gave Kim a short look over. She liked what she saw.

“Hi Dawn. Did you decorate all this?” she asked a little impressed.

“Yeah, I decorate Jon’s dressing room differently in every city. Don’t wanna get him bored, right.” Kim grinned about Jon’s pout.

“By the way, I got some great new stuff for this tour.” She told her boss and grabbed a folder with photos. Jon raised his hand defensively.

“Please Dawn don’t. You know I don’t like to look at all this. Just surprise me.” Kim looked at him in disbelieve.

“Well, that could make the renovation of our place really interesting, Jon.”

“Kimi, I told you I like it the way you already decorated it.” Kim snorted lightly.

“You are re-doing your apartment or house?” Dawn wondered.

“Apartment. Yeah, here I got some pictures. Maybe you can help with some new ideas?” Kim pulled her IPhone as well as folder from her handbag.

“You gotta kidding, Kim. You carry it around with you?” Jon couldn’t believe it. She already drove him crazy with this folder the last couple of days. It contained different textile, fabric and colour samples for each room.

“Of course, I do. I wanna start with it when I’m back in New York.”

“It’s a gorgeous place. I see you have dogs.” Dawn pointed at a picture with the dogs bowls in it. Kim nodded.

“Do they pick things up they shouldn’t?”

“No, they are very well trained.” Kim told her.

“Well, then you could use some low shelves or maybe a side board over here. In combination with this color it should look great.”

Jon watched the two women sitting on his couch going through the different photos and samples. They completely forgot he was in the same room.

“Where are my Halls cough drops, Dawn?” he tried to get the women’s attention.

“Over there boss, in the little skull.” Dawn pointed at a small table without taking her eyes off the samples and pictures.

“Ah, great.” He took one drop and wondered what else he could do to get them away from the decoration stuff. Finally, he had to realize that he didn’t have a chance.

“I think I go and see if Rich and Tico are already here.”

“Yeah, sure baby. Have fun.” She only looked up for a second to place a short kiss on his cheek. He shook his head and sighed.

“You too, hon.” He waited for a reaction, but didn’t get one. Pouting lightly he left his wardrobe.