My Sunshine (32 page)

“Are you planning on coming home?” his mother asked.

“I’m planning on going home, to my home, with Chloe.”

“Oh,” Isabella said curtly. “How long is she going to be in
the hospital?”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh, John,” Isabella said, coming to the bed. “What are you doing with her? They admitted her to the psych ward for Heaven’s sake. I’m not stupid, I know they don’t just send people up there for post-traumatic stress.”

John
could barely hold his eyes open. “I love her, Mom.

We’re getting married.”

“Yes, John, I know. Why her?”

“I love her.” He closed his eyes.

“She’s crazy, John.”

“Mom, I think he’s asleep,”
Catherine said. “You can get off his case now.”

John
kept his eyes closed.

“I am not on his case,” Isabella said. “I just think he should
think about what he is doing. That girl is liable to ruin his life.

You can’t trust crazy people.”

“Mom!” Garby said, “You don’t even know Chloe.

John
says he loves her.”

“
John is stupid,” Isabella said. “He’s always been stupid over girls. He never has made the best choices.”

“Isabella,”
John’s father scolded. “You shouldn’t say that.

He might be able to hear you.”

That’s right. I can hear everything you’re saying.

“I don’t care if he can hear me,” Isabella said. “It’s nothing
that I wouldn’t say to his face. If it hadn’t been for his stupid behavior, he wouldn’t have gotten himself shot.”

“You can’t blame
John for that,” Catherine said, jumping to his defense. “Scott Gerber was a bad man. He was crazy.”

“Really?” Isabella said. “Crazy like
Chloe?”

John
’s eyes flew open. He looked right at his mother.

“Leave. Get out of here.”

“Fine,” she said. She turned on her heel and left. Arthur followed. Garby and Catherine, not knowing what else to do, kissed John goodbye and left.

John
turned his head toward the window and began to cry.

Here he was, a world-renowned celebrity with all the perks life
had to offer, lying all alone in a hospital room. His life should have been so full, but he felt so empty. He had just tossed out of his room the one person who should have never turned her back on him. Mothers were supposed to love their children

unconditionally, but since
John’s fame and passed Isabella’s her resentment and jealously of him had destroyed their relationship.

Hours later, John was enjoying the company of Tyler, Dennis, Josh and Dana, when Dr. Stan knocked on the room door. “John, do you feel like one more guest?” He opened the door wider and Chloe stepped inside.

John
winced as he tried to sit up straighter. “Chloe!” She went over and sat on the edge of his bed.

“Hey, we’re gonna go,” Dana said. “We’ll see you in the
morning.” She kissed John’s forehead. They all left leaving John, Chloe and Dr. Stan in the room.

“I’m going to wait in the hall,” Dr.
Stan said. He stepped back outside.

Chloe
immediately wrapped her arms around John’s neck.

“I’m so glad you’re going to be okay.”

John pulled away from her. “What about you?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry,
John. I messed up.”

“I promised you that you’d get better. I promised you that
this wouldn’t happen anymore. I let you down.”

“It’s my fault. I didn’t take the medicine.” She paused. “Dr.
Stan is starting me on injectable meds. I can’t fake taking that.”

“When will you get out?”

“Probably before you do.”

John
’s eyes welled up with tears. “I’m so sorry, Chloe.

I’m so sorry that I put you through that.”

“It’s okay. How are you doing, John? With it all?”

He knew what she was trying to ask. “Dr.
Stan was already down here asking me about that. I don’t know. I don’t think it has hit me yet that I actually killed someone.”

Chloe
delicately stretched out on the bed next to him, making sure not to jostle him too much. “We’re certainly a pair, aren’t we?”

“Certainly are,” he ag
reed. He kissed her on the top of her head. “I love you so much, Chloe.”

“Me
too, John. I realized today just how much. I can’t live without you. I don’t want to live without you.”

“I wonder how long Dr.
Stan will let you stay here with me.

I just want to lay here and hold you.”

“Me too.”

John
clutched her to him. The void he was feeling earlier had almost disappeared. He didn’t need his mother. He had a family in the other guys, and in Chloe he had everything else he needed.

                         Chapter Fourteen

A week later, John and Chloe were both discharged from the hospital. Jane and Bright drove them to their own house where they would be staying while recuperating. Jane had volunteered to take a few days off work to play nurse to them.

“I’m not sure I ever want to go back there,”
Chloe said from the backseat.

“To the hospital?”
Jane asked.

Chloe
shook her head. “No, to the house. I’m not sure I’ll ever forget what happened there.”

“Me, either,”
John agreed.

“Y’all don’t have to go back,”
Bright offered. “We’ve got plenty of room. You could have the whole upstairs.”

“Nah,”
John said. “We couldn’t impose.”

“I think it might
be a good idea,” Jane said. “I mean, none of us are going to be there much while the tour is going on and afterwards you can stay as long as you want.”

“Just stay until y’all are ready to buy or build a house,”

Bright suggested. “It’s no big deal, really.”

“You’re there two or three times a week to eat anyway,”

Jane added. She turned around in her seat. “What do you think, Chloe?”

“I don’t want to put anyone out.”

Jane rolled her eyes. “Don’t be silly. Do you want to?”

Chloe
looked at John. His eyes told her that the decision was hers to make. She sighed. “Come on, John. Give me more than that. Do you want to?”

He shrugged. “I want to go some where different, and I
know you do, too. Why not there?”

She looked back at
Jane. “Okay. Thank you.”

“When is this big meeting again?”
John asked. “Am I going to have time for a nap first?” Parrison’s manager, Carl Black, had called a meeting to discuss the new plan for the tour.

“Maybe for a couple hours,”
Bright said. “Carl said he was coming over around dinner time.”

“No doubt to snag a free meal,”
Jane muttered.

“He might as well,”
Bright said. “Everyone else will be expecting to eat.”

“I’ll surprise them all and order pizza,” she replied.

“Suits me,” John said. “Anything has got to better than hospital food.”

“A-men!”
Chloe exclaimed.

Everyone laughed.

When they arrived at Bright and Jane’s house, John struggled with the stairs leading to the second story. Jane wrung her hands. “I should have thought and given you our room,” she fretted. “You shouldn’t have to climb the steps.”

John
leaned against Bright for support. “It’s okay, Case. Probably won’t be coming down much anyway. I’m sure the exercise is good for me.”

When they finally reached the second story,
Jane led them into a guest room with a private bath. “I've already unpacked your things,” Jane said. She opened the closet door to show them. “If there’s anything else you need, let me know and I’ll go get it.”

John
looked around the large room. It reminded him of a hotel room with a king-sized bed, a television hidden in an armoire, a desk and a small dining table. “This is great, Jane.

Thank you.” He held out an arm to her and she came to him for
a one-armed hug.

Chloe
sat on the bed. She felt sleepy, a side effect of her medication. Dr. Stan had started her on a new injectable medication. It was a guarantee that she wouldn’t miss a dose because now it would be Jane or another health care provider giving her the shot.

“You okay,
Chloe?” Bright asked. He put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and covered his hand with hers.

“Yeah, just a little sleepy.” She offered him a weak smile.

“Thank you so much.” She looked over at Jane, who was still wrapped in John’s arm. “Thank you, Jane.”

Jane
pulled away from John and grabbed Bright’s other hand. “No problem. That’s what friends do.”

“Families,”
John corrected. “That’s what families do.”

Jane
nodded and pulled on Bright's hand. “Come on, babe. Let’s let them get to sleep.”

Bright
nodded and pointed to a baby monitor next to the bed. “If you need us, just turn that thing on and yell.” He smiled broadly. “Just remember to turn it off, or we’ll hear everything that goes on in here.”

“Good to know,”
John said. He sat down on the bed next to Chloe after Jane and Bright left the room. ‘Feeling okay?”

“Tired.” She stood up and walked to the dresser, pulling
open drawers until she found her nightclothes. She quickly disrobed and pulled a nightshirt over her head. John followed suit, stripping down to his boxers. They climbed under the covers.

“Don’t you need your earplugs?”
John mumbled.

“I’m so tired I could sleep through tornado,” she said. She
wiggled close to him and pressed the front of her body against his back. She laid her hand gently on top of his bandages.

“Sleep tight, baby.”

“I’ve been on the phones all week rearranging and

rescheduling,”
Carl said. They were finished with dinner, and all had retired to the living room. Carl, sitting in an armchair, reached in his briefcase and pulled out a stack of papers. He handed them out to the guys.

“We’re starting the tour a month late.
John’s doctor has said that he should be back to normal by then.”

“Why not just cancel?”
Dennis said. “Or postpone until this winter.”

Carl
shook his head. “The tour has to go on, you know, to coincide with the release of the CD.” He looked at John.

“You’re on board with this, aren’t you? You’ll be good, right?”

“Not one hundred percent,” John said. “I won’t be able to keep up with dancing.”

Carl
shook his head. “No, but you can sing. You can walk around the stage and dance as much as you feel like you can.

You can sit in a chair the whole time; I don’t really care. The
tour has to go on, and I’d really like you to come with us and do as much as you can.”

“Well, I’d never consider staying home. I’m going, and I
plan to be in every show. I just don’t know how much dancing I’ll be up for.”

Carl
nodded. “Good.” He held up a copy of the papers he had just passed around. “This is the new itinerary. We’re going to be doing a lot of radio interviews and CD signings and things like that.”

“I still don’t see why the tour has to go on,”
Dennis said.

Chloe
glanced at him and frowned. She had had the feeling that things weren’t right between him and Shannon since he had visited her in the hospital. In fact, Shannon was conveniently missing from this meeting.

“It’s okay,
Dennis,” John said. “I want to do it.”

Dennis
stood up. “Maybe I don’t want to.” Worried glances flew across the room.

“What are you saying, Dave?”
Carl said. “You’re under contract, you have to.” Dennis rolled his eyes and walked out of the room without speaking.

Bright
began to follow him, but John stopped him. “Let me go,” he said. He grunted as he pushed himself off the couch.

He stumbled into the kitchen.
Dennis was standing at the sink filling a glass with water.

“What’s going on, man?”

Dennis shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Yeah, right. What is it?” When
Dennis still refused to answer, John took a guess. “Shannon? This is about Shannon, isn’t it?”

Dennis
nodded. “She won’t go on tour. She won’t even commit to coming out on the road and seeing me.”

“Oh, man. So that’s why you don’t want to go?”

Dennis turned to face him. “Yeah, that’s why I don’t want to go. I think my marriage is in a lot of trouble, John. I might need to quit in order to save it.”

“Quit? Quit
Parrison? Man, you can’t do that.”

“What else can I do?”

“This is her problem, Dennis. You were in the group when you started dating her. This is your job and it’s just as important as hers.”

“That’s what I said,”
Dennis mumbled. “We had a fight right before I came over here. She didn’t want to hear any of that.”

“So you’re seriously considering pulling out of this?”

Dennis sighed. “I can’t do that to you guys. I don’t want to do that. I love touring. I love the crowds. I love the fans. I love singing. I just kinda hoped that the tour would just be canceled.

I love my wife, too,
John. I don’t want to have to chose one over the other.”

“Is she making you choose?”

“No, she said go. She’d try to make it out some. She said she’d be here when I got back.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, man,”
John said, shaking his head.

“It’s okay. It will work out.” He looked at his watch.

“Listen, I’m going to go on back home. I’ll get the itinerary from Carl later.” He walked to the back door.

John
watched him leave before going back into the living room with the others. “Dennis went home.”

“Everything okay?” Dana asked.

John shot her a look that he hoped relayed the message
she’s-your-best-friend-and-you-better-do-something-about her.

A week later, John found Bright and Jane in the den curled up together watching television. He eased down into an armchair.

“What’s up, honey?”
Jane asked. “Can I get you anything?”

He shook his head. “No, I’m fine. Just feeling a little stiff. I
didn’t move around enough today I guess.”

“
Chloe asleep?” Mike asked.

John
nodded. “Yeah.” Her new injectable medication

made her extra sleepy and she often went to bed right after
supper. John, who was still taking pain relievers, took several naps during the day, and it seemed that they were never awake at the same time.

“Hopefully, once her body gets use to the medication, she
won’t be sleeping all the time,” Jane said. “She just had an injection this afternoon.”

“Oh, I know.”
John sighed. “I was hoping to take her away for a weekend before the tour starts.”

“To where?”
Jane asked.

“I’m thinking somewhere in the mountains. She likes the
snow.”

“That sounds nice; being holed up in a cabin, snuggled up
on the couch in front of a roaring fireplace and a blizzard outside.”

“And both of them sound asleep,”
Bright added.