Chapter 73

“Jon?” Kim entered his office.

“Yeah, hon?” he quickly put away his mobile.

“Hey, you promised no work!” Kim told him and wrapped her arms around him.

They would spend the last four days with the kids in New Jersey. Kim was a little nervous at the beginning, because it was the first time the kids were with them for a longer period, but everything went very well.

Actually, Romeo asked her to come with him when Dorothea picked the kids up about one hour ago.

“Well, it wasn’t work.” Jon told her while petting Kidd’s head. The dogs loved to wander around big the house or play in the huge backyard. Kidd was glued to Jon since they arrived though.

“Oh, come on…” she grinned.

“No, really. Actually I have a surprise for you.”

“Really?” she looked at him curious. He gave her a gorgeous wristlet for Christmas, beside other small items.

“Yep, it should come through the gate any minute.” He chuckled when she turned on her heel and headed downstairs. He found her peeking through the kitchen window trying to figure out what it could be when a black SUV drove through the gate.

“How did they know the code?” Kim frowned and turned to Jon.

“Oh, I gave it to them.” He had problems hiding the smirk on his face.

“You shouldn’t do that, Jon. It’s way too dangerous.” Kim told him and looked out of the window again.

“Nah, I can trust those people.” He laughed lightly when she gave him a disapproving look.

“OH MY GOD!” she squealed the next moment and rushed to the door.

“FRAN!” she screamed when she ripped it open and gave her best friend a big hug. Jon grinned at Richie who was giving him the thumbs up. They didn’t manage to pull it off for Christmas, but their girls would be together on New Year’s Eve.

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I had no idea where Rich was taking me until we landed in Newark.” Fran had tears in her eyes and hugged Kim again, before Jason launched himself at his aunt.

“Uncle Jon!” Ava rushed over to him and he pulled her close for a long hug as well.

“Hi babygirl. How was your Christmas?”

“Great! Fran showed me how to bake cookies and Jason and I were playing Christmas songs on our guitars!” the girl’s eyes were shining happily. She was always much more relaxed and in balance when she spending time with her father.

“Aren’t you forgetting something, princess?” Richie watched the interaction between Jon and his daughter smiling. She turned her head and looked at him for a second. He raised his eye browns.

“Oh, yeah. Thanks for the Christmas presents. I loved the dress and the other stuff.” Jon grinned.

“You are welcome, baby. Kim helped me picking the items out.” Ava turned around and looked at Kimberly hesitating only a few seconds.

“Thank you, Kimberly.” She gave her a short hug. Kim smiled.

“You are welcome, Ava. When Steph saw the dress, she said it would be just perfect you. Seems she was right.” Ava nodded agreeing.

“Is Steph still here?” she asked Jon.

“No, I’m sorry baby. She is already back in the city with Dorothea.” Ava frowned lightly. She always liked to spend time with Steph. The girls got along pretty well.

“The boys too?” Jason asked him.

“Yeah, Jason. They are all back with their mom.” Jon said and watched amused how the boy looked at Richie before he was giving him a short hug.

“Oh, ok.” Fran and Kim looked at the boy worried. He sounded relieved that the other kids were not here.

“Can I show Jason the house, Uncle Jon?” Ava asked anxious.

“Sure, baby. You know where your room is and maybe you can show Jason his room too.”

“The blue-greenish one next to it?” she asked.

“Yes. Do you like blue and green, Jason?” Jon asked the seven year old.

“Yeah, as long as it is not pink, I’m fine.” He said and cringed his nose lightly. Jon and Richie laughed.

“I can understand that, buddy.” Rich squeezed his shoulder lightly. “Here, take your bags upstairs and put them in your room.”

“Ok, dad.”

“Sure, Richie.”

The adults shook their heads when the two kids rushed upstairs and laughed about Ava telling Jason never to enter Jesse’s room, because it was a garbage dump and smelled horrible.

“Is Jason worried to meet the other kids?” Kim asked when they sat down in the living room. Fran sighed.

“I don’t know. He didn’t say anything to me.” She looked at Richie.

“I think he met so many new people lately that he simply needs some time to let it all sink in, darling. I’m sure he’ll be fine when he meets Jon and David’s kids and Hector.” Rich assured her.

“Maybe you are right. You know he had the chance to meet some of his future class mates a couple days ago.” Fran explained to Kim.

“They were having a get-together and the school told us they would be very happy if Jason would come as well.” Richie continued.

“That sounds great. How did it go?” Kim wondered.

“Well, he was a little shy at the beginning. Clinging to Richie a lot, you know.” Kim smiled and looked at Richie, who was grinning lightly. He loved Jason and was very happy that the boy was trusting him.

“But when some of the boys started to talk about transformers he was right with them.” Fran said smiling. Jon laughed.

“That seems to be the lowest common dominator for boys these days. For girls it’s shopping, for boys transformers.” Rich nodded agreeing.

“Well, he was interested in the girls as well, I have to say.” Richie said. Fran shot him a look.

“What? I think it was cute. And he was very nice to her.” He grinned.

“What did he do?” Jon wondered.

“Well, there was this sweet little girl. Deep brown hair, huge green eyes…looking a lot like Fran.”

“Oh, please!” she rolled her eyes. Jon laughed lightly. Richie chuckled lightly.

“When they were all sitting down at the table to eat the girls were sitting on one side of the table while the boys were occupying the other side. The last available chair was right in the middle of all the boys and you could see the little girl didn’t wanna sit there at all.”

“Little Diva she is.” Fran commented.

“Oh, come on, Fran. She simply knew the boys better. And she was right as we all found out later.” Richie said.

“So, Jason got up from his chair next to a girl and asked her if she wanted to sit there. And when she sat down he even held out the chair for her.”

“I’m sure the other mothers were totally over the moon.” Kim laughed.

“Yeah, they all asked if we could arrange for a play date.” Rich told her laughing. Fran smiled lightly. She had to admit it was sweet how her son behaved. He did what his daddy always did for her and the approving glances she got from the other parents sure felt good.

“So, he made some points, huh?” Jon grinned.

“Yeah, until he joined the food fight of the boys.” Rich said laughing. Kim looked at him shocked.

“You gotta be kidding?” she looked at Fran.

“I wish he was. The boys really made as mess, while the girls left the room in a hurry.” Fran sighed. Jon chuckled.

“I don’t think it’s funny, Jon. We had to cover the backseat of Rich’s car with garbage bags before we could let him in there.” Jon laughed out loud.

“Garden hose?” he asked a laughing Richie.

“Nah, I put him under the shower with his clothes still on. Only way to get rid of most of the food pieces.” Fran shook her head.

“Please, don’t remind me. It took me hours to clean the bathroom again.”