The Long And Winding Road
Notes: The usual disclaimers apply, and remember that all episodes that came after "This Charming Man" aren't canon in this story.
Chapter 62 - Baby It's Tonight
Feeling a wide range of emotions as a result of JT's proposal earlier in the evening, Emma opened the front door to her home. Walking into the living room, she noticed the lights were off. Her mother was sitting on the couch with a now empty popcorn bowl in her lap as the movie she had been watching came to an end. Snake was sitting beside her, although he was slumped over toward the right arm of the couch asleep.
"Hey," Emma greeted.
"Hi Em," Spike responded, sounding surprised.
She turned off the television with the remote control and then stood up.
"You're home early," she continued while turning the lights back on. "It's only a little after 10. And where's JT?"
"Probably on his way home."
Emma looked over at Snake. The added light and sounds of conversation weren't interrupting his sleep in the least.
"Must have been a very dull movie," she commented.
"He made it halfway through before dozing off," Spike explained. "I'm going to assume for his sake that he was just tired after spending a full Saturday at school working, and it's not a sign that he's starting to get bored with my company."
"I don't think you ever have to worry about that happening," Emma said while the two walked into the kitchen. "At least until the two of you reach the mid-life crisis stage in a couple years."
"Very funny," Spike replied sarcastically, though they were now both laughing. "But what I'd like to know is if everything is okay between you and JT? An early ending to the evening. He doesn't come in for awhile afterward. Not exactly typical for the two of you."
"Mom…" Emma rolled her eyes.
"That's right. I'm a mom. That means I claim the right to get curious and concerned from time to time."
"Well don't worry," Emma assured as she removed a water bottle from the refrigerator. "We had a very good evening. Unforgettable would be the best way to describe it. Perfect in every way."
"That's great, Em."
"I just needed to come back. Be by myself. Think about things."
"Things?"
"Things," Emma repeated in response. "As in ideas, notions, ponderings, ruminations…"
"Okay, okay…you win," Spike said, not wanting to start sounding too nosy. "No more prying."
"It's just that…I have a very important decision to make," Emma explained. "An opportunity that came as a complete surprise. But definitely not a bad surprise."
Spike restrained herself from asking her daughter to elaborate, though one idea kept popping up in her mind for consideration.
"Do you know the response you'd like to give in answer to this surprise?" she then decided to ask.
"Oh yes," Emma answered without hesitation. "But there's still a lot of other things to factor in before I make the decision."
"Of course. But knowing what you'd like to do is at least a good place to start."
"That's true. Still, no matter what I decide, this is one of those crossroads moments where there's no turning back."
"I'm sure you'll figure it all out," Spike said confidently.
"Yeah. Well, I think I'm going to head downstairs."
Emma, water bottle still in hand, turned to leave the kitchen.
"You and JT…" Spike spoke up before her daughter had a chance to leave.
Emma turned back around, looking curious.
"Whatever's going on," she continued, "the two of you have been through a lot together – good and bad. And you're strong – individually and as a couple. You're both good at dealing with crossroads moments. So whatever choice it is that you're trying to make, the two of you are going to be fine."
Emma smiled.
"I know," she told her mother. "But it's still good to hear."
Meanwhile, after dropping Emma off JT wasn't ready to go home yet. Driving around the neighborhood for a few minutes, he finally stopped at Ryan's Grille.
JT slowly made his way inside the still busy establishment and over to the counter. After serving a customer on the other side of the counter, Patrick noticed his onetime friend and approached him.
"Hello, old buddy," Patrick greeted sarcastically. "Sorry, but you can't fire me from this job, too."
JT, however, didn't appear to be listening.
"Are you hungry?" Patrick continued. "Or are you here to tell me that Liberty's come to her senses and wants me back but she's too much of a coward to face me herself?"
JT, who was staring past Patrick at the wall, finally looked over at him.
"Huh?" JT asked, confused. "Sorry, I think I missed it."
Patrick then noticed that JT seemed almost lost.
"Hey, are you feeling okay?" he questioned, now genuinely concerned.
"Uh…a Coke," JT said after standing silently for a moment. "Yeah, I could use one of those."
"Sure. No problem."
As Patrick proceeded to grab a cup, JT thought he heard someone calling his name. It was only after hearing it a second time that he turned around. Sitting alone at a nearby table, Craig had seen JT at the counter and was motioning to him.
"Over here," Craig said.
After being handed his drink and paying for it, JT walked over to the table.
"Hi," JT said without emotion.
"Hey. You here alone or is Emma around here somewhere?"
"Just me," JT answered quietly.
"Have a seat," Craig invited, curious about JT's formal attire as well as his downcast attitude.
JT sat down opposite Craig, who was halfway finished eating a sandwich and a basket of fries when he'd spotted his friend standing at the counter.
"I got it," Craig remarked. "This must be laundry day."
"What?"
"The suit," Craig explained, pointing at JT's clothes. "I do that too sometimes. You wear everything you normally wear, then the only clean stuff you have to put on when you get around to doing your laundry are the clothes you hardly ever wear."
"No, that's not it. Emma and me…we went out. I just dropped her off."
"I see," Craig said, knowing something was obviously bothering JT. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah. I guess. I don't know."
"Did the two of you have a fight?"
"No," JT answered. "Unless we did and I missed it."
"Either way, I wouldn't worry about it," Craig advised. "Best thing to do is just put it all out of your mind for awhile. For me, music is the best medicine."
In response, JT shook his head.
"Craig, you know I don't play any instruments. Well, that's not completely true. In Grade 3, I had to play the triangle as part of some class musical number for the school's Christmas show. And even then I ended up dropping it during another kid's violin solo. Emma and Manny kidded me about it for days. But at least the sound of the thing hitting the ground woke up some of the people in the audience."
"I was talking about listening to music, not playing it," Craig clarified. "Just turn it on and disappear into it as you're listening. Even if it's just for a few minutes, music can make you forget your troubles."
"I had the radio going while I was driving over here," JT recalled while Craig finished his sandwich. "Scanned through several channels. Some hip-hop station was playing a song called, 'Out of All My Ho's, You're the One I Love.' Obviously a love ballad.
"Then I ended up on some country station. I'm not sure what kind of audience listens to this, but the song had lyrics like 'You can take all my money, honey, but my horse stays with me.' After that, I wound up on some pop station that was having a Jessica Simpson Music Appreciation Night and I knew I'd better turn the radio off altogether or go completely insane."
"You definitely need to get satellite radio," Craig urged.
"Maybe I needed to get her flowers to go with everything else tonight," JT commented, his mind having returned to thoughts about where he might have gone wrong with Emma that evening.
"Everything else?" Craig repeated.
"No, that's not it," JT said in answer to his own suggestion. "She's okay about having flowers, but it's not that big a thing with her. But that still leaves the question of why she needs time."
"Time for what?"
"Sure, this was big. But it was good big. Well, it was good big to me. Apparently not so good big to her."
Craig looked increasing puzzled as he listened to JT's rambling.
"I know I didn't say anything dumb tonight," JT continued. "Wait. Maybe… Okay, I said that stuff about still being nervous sometimes. About not wanting bad surprises. No, it wouldn't be that either. And even if it was, she'd have just said so. She doesn't exactly hide her opinions. So…I'm still in the dark. Waiting and not knowing why."
"This is getting to be a very confusing conversation," Craig observed.
"Confusion breeding confusion," JT remarked. "Sorry. Nothing to worry about. Anyway, what's going on with you? Since when do you eat alone on a Saturday night?"
"Tonight didn't go quite the way I'd planned," Craig answered.
"Welcome to the club," JT cracked. "Hold on…You didn't get chased off another stage, did you?"
"No," Craig replied, rolling his eyes.
"Because I still remember a couple months ago when that club on the other side of town had that Open Mic Hour thing. You got up on stage and started singing one of those love songs of yours. Only it turned out most of the crowd was there for the death metal band that was going on later that night, and you were lucky to get out of there in one piece."
"Thanks for reminding me."
"Hey, it was no falling triangle, but still memorable."
Craig noticed that JT was starting to sound more like himself
"Well, tonight wasn't about music," Craig continued. "I don't think me and my girlfriend are going to work out."
"That's Bridget," JT interjected. "The one you met while you were out of town on that photo shoot the week I was…the week of my hospital stay. Right?"
"No, that's been over. Ever since I figured out that long-distance relationships are too much work."
"Scarborough isn't exactly a long distance," JT reminded him.
"Yeah, but it was enough. And I gave it every chance, but after being back home for two days, I had to end it. Anyway, this is someone new. Cindy. We've been together for about a week."
"You said tonight didn't go as planned. Things are bad already?"
"I swear it's not my fault this time," Craig prefaced. "You see, she came over to the apartment tonight. Listened to some new songs I've been working on. Then we were going to go out for dinner. Only, before we could leave she…um…well…"
"Well what?" JT prompted the now hesitant Craig.
"She got stuck in my bathroom," Craig admitted.
"Stuck?" JT asked curiously.
"She couldn't get the door open when she was ready to come out. I guess she didn't realize she'd pushed down on the lock on the doorknob once she was in there."
"Why didn't she just turn the knob? Your bathroom door isn't any different from most. It'll unlock automatically from the inside just by turning it."
"I had to get her to calm down before I could even start to get into that with her," Craig explained. "Seems she was pushing and pulling on the door knob to get it open and hadn't even tried simply turning the knob before she started getting all panicky. Finally, she did listen to me. But once she turned it and came out, she accused me of having a stupid door and said she didn't feel like going anywhere but back home. Then she grabbed her purse and stormed out of the apartment."
JT was almost to the point of biting his lip to keep from laughing.
"You have the most…interesting…relationships of anyone I've ever known," he then said. "I'm almost afraid to ask how you met this one."
"At an ice cream stand," Craig responded. "She was ahead of me in line and asking the guy that worked there if she could have hers with more cream and less ice. That should have been the tip-off right there for me not to get involved. But she was so beautiful. I couldn't help it. I just had to introduce myself."
"Between your photo jobs and your music, there's got to be a few really good looking women you run into who don't have to ask things like, 'How do you spell IQ?'"
"But this way everything stays simple," Craig reasoned. "These things never seem to work out for me. So the best thing for me to do is just enjoy the ride while it lasts. A few days of fun – maybe even a few weeks – then move on. No pressure."
"I don't buy that. Besides, someday you'll get married and have kids. Do you really want them to have a mom who doesn't know how to get out of a bathroom? Or someone like… What was her name? That girl you dated for a few days a month or so ago."
"Which one? Bonnie?"
"Yeah," JT confirmed. "The one who gave names to each pair of shoes she owned."
Craig laughed.
"You're probably right," Craig then said. "But that's a long way off. After almost becoming a father, I don't want to get too close to anything that serious again anytime soon. I can't. But that's just me. Now you and Emma…that's something real."
"Yeah. I think it's great. I just don't want to mess it all up. And I hope I didn't do that tonight."
"Whatever's going on right now, you two will sort it out," Craig stated firmly. "As usual."
JT took one final drink from his cup.
"I know. But it's still good to have the confirmation."
"Hey, you want to go do something?" Craig asked. "It's still early."
"We could always go dancing," JT suggested sarcastically, "but with this suit on, I'd have to be the one to lead."
"Now I'm thinking my choice of girlfriends isn't half as crazy as my choice of friends," Craig joked.
"But seriously," JT continued, "it's been a long day. I'm gonna head home."
He stood up and was about to leave but paused.
"Couldn't figure out how to get out of the bathroom?" JT questioned, referring back to Craig's girlfriend of the moment. "I met the shoe namer, but THIS…"
"Okay, maybe that was a little much," Craig replied. "But just saying Cindy had a stomach virus and couldn't come over tonight wouldn't have been an interesting enough of a story to take your mind off your situation with Emma for awhile."
JT rolled his eyes and started to laugh.
"Nice one," he then said.
"But the way we met," Craig added, "and the whole thing about the ice cream, was true."
"Scary. Even scarier is that I can easily believe that part is true. I'll see ya."
Leaving Ryan's, JT got back into his car. As he pulled out of the parking lot, he decided to give the radio one more try for the night. He turned it on and decided classic rock would probably be his best bet. Pushing a button for the appropriate station, AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" was the song currently playing. He couldn't help but laugh.
'Good thing I'm not superstitious,' he thought to himself.
JT left the song on and continued driving. By the time it was over he had made it home. After he turned on the lights in the living room, he walked over to the bar. There were no messages on the answering machine. He took the nearby cordless phone with him over to the couch and sat down.
JT was going to call her. He was going to tell her to stop joking around and answer the question one way or the other.
One word. One syllable. That's all he needed to hear.
Only he knew this would be exactly what she had asked him not to do. He stared at the phone for a minute before setting it down on the seat beside him.
No phone calls. No pressure.
And no answer to his question. At least not on this night. He knew she'd find a way to reach him when she was ready. In the meantime, he would have to find something to do the next day to keep his mind off the wait.
Back at the Nelson-Simpson home, the young woman dominating JT's thoughts was sitting on her bed, legs stretched out, listening to the radio. However, if asked, she wouldn't have been able to identify what was playing. Her focus was not on the music. Not even close.
In Emma's left hand, she held the open ring box and was staring at the ring. She was impressed by its beauty, but she was even more excited over what the ring meant.
She looked over at her phone on the nightstand. Glad as she was that JT was thus far honoring her wishes, she almost wanted him to call. She wanted to give him an answer right at that moment. It had already taken her great effort not to blurt out a response in the restaurant.
But Emma felt she should be cautious. Cautious enough for both of them. She had concerns, but they weren't things she thought could be discussed while both were feeling the excitement of the proposal. She wanted this time for him as much as for herself.
Emma was sure that once things were calm they would make the right choices.
Next Chapter – A Change Is Gonna Come
End Note: Okay, there were no major happenings here, but this was meant to serve as more of an aftermath to the events of the previous chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.