Chapter 6

It had been two years since Jon had seen an Australian sunrise. Two years since he had seen her.

The band was flying into Sydney from Brisbane after performing there the evening before. If possible they liked to fly to their next destination straight after the show. It gave them an opportunity to come down from the adrenaline rush they got whilst performing and also meant, that in most cases, they would get a whole day off between shows. Richie looked over at his friend as their private jet began its descent and could almost see the thoughts being played out in his mind. Dave, Tico and Alec had never known what had happened here last tour, just that for the remainder Jon had been despondent. They had all put it down to exhaustion; Richie knew better and was concerned about the coming week. Jon had sent a few letters but never received a response and so had given up hope of seeing Alex again. He had known it wasn’t a good idea anyway and if too many obstacles stood in their way back then, it was even truer now.

Life had been a hectic merry-go-round of touring, recording and press since Jon had seen Alex last. He had rarely been home and missed the comforts it provided. He had his high school sweetheart Dorothea join the tour for a leg to help ease the loneliness, and on an impulse had asked her to be his wife. Professionally he was on top of the world with a number one song and album. The band had been out celebrating their success, their show that evening was one of the best that tour and Jon should have been ecstatic; all his dreams were coming true. Yet he wasn’t, he felt that something was missing from his life, so impulsively he had asked Dot to marry him and to his astonishment she had said yes. Jon and Dorothea were married a week later in a Las Vegas Chapel and he had spent every day since trying to reconcile his feelings about the union. Did he love her? Yes, he had since he first laid eyes on her. Was he still IN love with her? Maybe, there was chemistry there but he had felt a stronger chemistry with another. Did he want to spend the rest of his life with her? Now that was the million dollar question, for when he pictured his future, he could see only one woman beside him and it wasn’t Dot. He told himself that Alex was just an infatuation. That she was his one and only failed conquest and that was why after two years she was still on his mind.

Alex had haunted his dreams since that one amazing night. He often thought of her and what his life would have been had the circumstances of their meeting been different. His life philosophy was to never be a woulda, coulda, shoulda person and he had no intention of starting now. But as the plane flew over familiar sights approaching Sydney Airport at dawn, so similar to that morning two years before, he could not help but feel sorrow and regret for what he had left behind. He wondered where Alex was now, what she was doing and whether he still entered her thoughts. Richie leaned over from across the aisle and gave his shoulder a supportive squeeze. Damn, that man knew him better than he knew himself. He had to pull himself together, he thought. Alex was in the past and now it was time to look to the future, but even as he thought that, an image of the two of them together and happy sprang to mind.

At about the same time that the Bon Jovi jet approached Sydney Airport, Alex was waking with the same thing on her mind that had been every morning for the last couple of years, Jon Bon Jovi! She had tried hard to forget him, and to come to terms with the impossible reality of their situation, but still he was the first thing on her upon waking, the last in her thoughts at night, and the sole focus of her dreams. Alex tried to move on. She was stunningly beautiful, so she was constantly told, and had a long line of potential suitors. She had dated a few but none compared, who could compare to perfection? Now eighteen, she was still “saving herself” for “Mr Right” but feared he had walked out of her life two years before never to return. She had not seen, nor heard from him since that one beautiful unforgettable night they had spent together, and that was ok, he had made no promises and neither had she, yet she was sure his sentiments had been sincere. None of it made any difference now though; he was still much older, still a rock star, still unattainable and now very, very married.

That press release months before had devastated her. Even though they had agreed it could never work, and her head knew that beyond a doubt, one small part of her heart had always held the hope that one day they would be reunited. That hope had evaporated the day he had married. Until the evening before Alex didn’t even have tickets for a show this tour, but Lanie had surprised her with tickets for the first and last Sydney shows. Alex was unsure as to whether or not she even wanted to attend the concerts. While she was still very much a fan of the band, and their music, she was hesitant to see Jon again or to be in a room with him, even if that room held twelve thousand plus other people, such was the magnetism of this man.

Ultimately, Alex knew she would attend both concerts and would embrace the hype and the joy and even the pain that they, that he, would evoke. She had been waiting at the record store the day their new album New Jersey had been released and had listened to it thousands of times since. There were songs on that album that, believing they were about Jon’s new wife, cut her to the core, so she was not looking forward to hearing the emotion he would infuse into those lyrics when they were performed live. Yet even as she lay in bed the feelings of excitement began to well in her, she was all jittery and felt like a kaleidoscope of butterflies had taken residence in her stomach.

Much had happened to Alex in the last two years. She had finally finished her schooling and had taken a position as a cadet at an inner city newspaper. After spending six months commuting to the city she had decided, along with her parents, that she would be best off living closer to work and so had moved to the city.

Luckily for Alex, the same year she had finished school she had received a much unexpected windfall. An old maiden Aunt had passed and bequeathed her entire estate to the young woman. She had never had a family of her own, so Alex had taken pity on her in her final years and tried to visit her weekly if only to pop in with a small treat on her way home from school. The woman had a lived a frugal life and it was assumed by all that she had very few assets, an assumption that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Alex’s Aunt Celia was scrupulous investor with uncanny foresight, a talent inherited from her father, and had over the year’s accumulated stock holdings in large conglomerates such as Apple, Microsoft and Coca-Cola, most of which had been acquired at entry level if not by her, then by her father before her. At the time of her death the woman held several million dollars worth of shares, real estate holdings exceeding five million dollars in value and an account holding an estimated two and a half million. Alex inherited it all. A stipulation in the will ensured Alex did not rest on her laurels, to retain control of the estate she had to remain in gainful employment or work for charity... she did both. It also provided for a yearly allowance until Alex turned eighteen so that the estate wouldn’t be squandered in the hands of a teenager, one wiser than her years, but a teen none the less.

In that first year Alex’s allowance was one hundred thousand dollars. She moved into a lovely four bedroom penthouse overlooking the harbour her Aunt had owned in Kirribilli. To anyone other than her family and her friend Lanie, she explained that the apartment belonged to a friend of her fathers, and she was house-sitting while he was on an extended overseas tenure. She had also acquired in the will, a lovely estate in a leafy suburb near by and moved her parents in there. Alex had a housekeeper come in twice a week but took care of the smaller daily house chores her self, taking a great deal of pride in her home. She enjoyed the domesticity and down time as it was an escape from the rigours of her chosen career.

Alex rose from the bed and padded softly into the adjoining bathroom. She examined herself in the mirror and was content with what she found. As a teen she had not suffered with acne, so her skin was clear and smooth and required no make up, so she splashed some water over it and followed up with a light moisturiser. Her hair still hung to her waist but was feathered into soft layers around her face; she ran a brush through it and deftly contained it in a ponytail high on her head. Alex had never liked the constrictions of pyjamas and so slept as nature intended. The only object that adorned her body was a simple platinum pendant that hung from her long slender neck, and fell just short of her full perky breasts. She moved into her walk in closet and selected her usual work attire a pair of jeans, a T Shirt and a cap, and pulled them on over a matching pale pink lingerie set. She never knew where the day would take her, but it was sure to be exciting.

The paper at which Alex worked was a prominent one in the city, where she had progressed quickly through the ranks. Her talent with a lens was undeniable, so despite her position as a cadet, she was often allocated assignments equivalent in importance to those of the senior photographers. Regardless of popular opinion, a career in media was not a glamorous one. Alex had seen, in her very short career, many scenes considered troubling to hardened experienced eyes, let alone a teenage rookie. But she had also had the opportunity to photograph some extraordinary events and people, and that’s what made her job worthwhile. As she headed out the door she wondered what the new day would bring.

Jon and the band had finally arrived at their hotel, after passing through customs and then battling the hoards of fans that waited for them on the other side; he was hardly emotionally prepared for the onslaught of memories that would bombard him on entering that same hotel, the one where he said his final goodbye to his Alex. But she wasn’t his and never would be. Jon got himself settled in his room but was too amped to relax. He needed to get out of there, so he donned his favourite sweats and disguise of sunnies and a well worn NY Giants cap and sneaking out an employees entrance he hit the pavement leaving his bodyguard behind.

Jon ran for a long time, it was his release; he ran through the infamous Kings Cross then crossed the city and set a course for the harbour. It didn’t help; everything in this city reminded him of her, now he was even seeing her everywhere. He had already mistakenly stopped one woman thinking it was Alex, then not five minutes later, while stopped at a pedestrian crossing, he would have sworn it was her behind the wheel of a classic silver mustang convertible, the hair was a little different but .... “Impossible” he muttered to himself. Her situation, as she had explained back then, did not allow for fancy homes and cars, it barely afforded her basic needs. And she “neither wanted nor needed his charity”. She sure was adamant on that so he didn’t even attempt to offer, he understood the importance of pride and the need to accomplish goals on your own terms, and admired her even more for it. Besides, the woman had looked straight at him without the barest flicker of recognition, when her hand lifted above the top of the door he had thought she was making to wave but she merely adjusted her sunnies and drove off.

While running, Jon had not attracted much attention, certainly nothing to be concerned about, but now standing on the foreshore he was garnering some curious glances and furtive whispers, and without his security guard present, he decided that a cab back to the hotel would be wise. He walked to the nearest road and hailed a cab. The cab driver, thankfully oblivious to his celebrity, was pleasant but not chatty, which was ok with Jon for he was in no mood for small talk. The cab weaved its way through the city streets and finally pulled up in front of the hotel. Jon gave the driver a hundred dollar bill and waved him away in thanks. As he walked towards the front door, some movement off to his left caught his attention; he paused and watched as Alex swiftly crossed the road, placed the gear she was carrying into the rear seat of a silver mustang then climbed in and moved off up the street, driving right past him. Damn, he thought as he looked towards the heavens, is someone trying to tell me something.

Alex had noticed Jon at the lights immediately; she had lifted her hand with the intent to wave but thought better of it and instead just adjusted her sunnies. No doubt over the years there had been countless groupies who were more than willing to satisfy him in ways she had been unwilling to, she was certain that all she was now was a faceless, nameless, distant memory. He had moved on with his life and she had too.

The next couple of hours of Alex’s day were mostly uneventful. She had made it into the office earlier that morning where her boss had detailed her next assignment. Fate had intervened; it was at the Sebel Townhouse, she was nearly there when she spotted Jon. Alex had been there several times since starting at the paper. It was a favoured haunt of the rich and famous, so it was no surprise to her that it was the location for her photo shoot of Juno Roxus, an exciting new talent on the Australian music scene whose band had managed to secure the opening for the Bon Jovi Tour.

Alex arrived at the hotel and set up for the photo shoot. She waited while the journalist the paper had sent, not her usual partner, completed his interview and then went through the motions to acquire the few shots the paper would need to accompany the resulting article; it was a short shoot and was soon over. She fended off Juno’s romantic advances tactfully citing professional ethics. He was cute and really very sweet, but at the moment her focus was her career and she would not jeopardise that for a rock star, she had already gone that route and only found heart ache. True, she was stronger and wiser for it, but she had never quite gotten over the fact that he hadn’t even penned a final goodbye or thankyou, and was glad that she had not given herself to him. As Alex was packing up her gear she heard a gentleman enter the room and move towards Juno.

“Hey Obie” Juno said in greeting. Why was that name familiar, Alex thought as she continued with her packing, then her question was answered as the stranger spoke.

“Jon has asked if you could make it to an early sound check in the morning.” He was the man Jon had been speaking to when she had gone backstage last tour.

“Fuck” Alex exclaimed, softly under her breath, or so she had thought. Obie turned his attention towards her curiously as Juno replied.

“Of course man, what time does he want us there?”

“Ahh... Ten O’clock” Obie answered absently as he examined this somewhat familiar young woman “Is everything ok over there?”

Alex bent to pick up her packed bags and stood to find Obie’s eyes on her “Oh, yeah, fine thanks just ahhh...” Alex struggled to find an excuse “...the zipper was stuck” she answered lamely. “But thanks again” She shot off over her shoulder as she made for the door.

The Mustang was parked out front, and all Alex could think of as she made her way to it, was getting out of there before she ran into him. As she exited the hotel she saw the cab pull up with a familiar figure in the back seat, so she rapidly made her way down the street, to put some distance between them before he disembarked the cab. By the time Jon was on the sidewalk she was making her way across the road, in her distracted state she had almost stepped into the path of an oncoming car but realised just in time and crossed safely after it passed. She didn’t even bother opening the boot of the car to stow her equipment, instead throwing it onto the back seat in her haste to escape. She could feel his gaze settle upon her as she slide in behind the wheel, gunned the engine and speed off up the street, passing him as he stood staring after her in awe.